GeoDUDE!

I did in fact confirm it was public before posting on the boards, you know  
 
Anyway, yeah all around a sticky situation; I was just playing Devil's Advocate and floating ideas. Hopefully things work themselves out, @sjoh197! Does your POI have *any* research money? Maybe it's not enough for an RA, but you could be a lab tech for a little while? Or even at somewhere like Rice, to stay in Houston? Doesn't hurt to ask people!

Got my first acceptance for M.S. in geology to do hydrogeology! I do not know if anyone else is waiting from Chico State...
My stats were posted on the 23rd of Feb if y'all care
Still waiting on SDSU, SFSU, and CSULA

Well, I contacted the dept. earlier today and asked when they might know about funding. Hopefully I will hear something soon.

This is so obtuse. 

If your interests have chanced in the time you apply... how do you know your interests wont change while in graduate school?  Mine sure have. If your research interests don't change, you probably aren't doing graduate school right. Pick a department that you really like, and work around that.  Don't go to a school thinking you will transfer: Those are much less successful than you think. 

the world is out to get you.

the world is out to get you.

I guess you have it all figured out then .

Davis is probably more liberal than SF. (Friendly) 

This is so obtuse. 

This is so obtuse. 

I've seen folks accepted to the MIT/WHOI joint program as late as April. The initial invites can cover a lot of those ultimately accepted (>80%), but not all. If you have a good connection with a PI and they have money but don't get their first choice student, you may end up hearing form them later. Obviously this isn't high probability, but also consider that the top applicants are often accepted to multiple top programs. As they can't accept everywhere, opportunities for others will inevitably open up later in the application cycle.

My Lehigh POI just emailed me with a financial aid offer as well as an invitation to fly out in March for the 'annual graduate student seminar.'  I am freaking out over here and I'm absolutely thrilled since the research I'd be working on IS SO FREAKING EXCITING!!!!!  The POI says everything will be made official next wednesday; I couldn't be more ecstatic!  
Sidenote: Everyone is super cool here, thanks for the kind words and support everyone!

1) in 2010 there were ~24k geology undergraduates. Physics I think is around 6k. By contrast biology and psychology are among the 10 most popular majors.  Geology is small.  Also the geology application process tends to be more lax than other fields, and frankly less competitive (unless you are talking about the top schools)
2) MS degrees tend to be industry oriented, so a lot of people doing a MS degree tend to come from companies. Also, a lot of people do MS degrees at their undergrad institution. PhD people tend to travel, put out more applications, so they are more inclined to seek feedback on them. That's just a guess. Also in the US, you don't need a masters degree before getting a PhD. More people in PhD programs (at least top programs) come directly from undergrad. 
3)Earth sciences is heavy on mentorship, so while rankings might be a general guideline, the actual field rankings are probably inaccurate from US News. There is a heavy bias towards larger programs, but no one would argue that Brown for example isn't one of the best geophysics and best planetary science programs in the world, depending on what you want to do. For example, there is no one who I could have done my PhD with at PSU, and maybe 1 person at ASU. I'm probably in one of the smallest subfields of earth science though. My point is that Earth science has many subdisciplines that really the ranking of the overall program should be just a general guide line.  I'm not really sure there is a quality of education difference between the 1st rank school and the 30th ranked school, but I don't really know. 
I think the programs that get the most applicants are the ones with the best oil and gas connections. Many of these applicants are international. University of Houston gets some of the most applications despite (i could be wrong) its ranked 64th by USnews. I wouldn't be surprised if it got more applicants than ASU or PSU. 

1) in 2010 there were ~24k geology undergraduates. Physics I think is around 6k. By contrast biology and psychology are among the 10 most popular majors.  Geology is small.  Also the geology application process tends to be more lax than other fields, and frankly less competitive (unless you are talking about the top schools)
2) MS degrees tend to be industry oriented, so a lot of people doing a MS degree tend to come from companies. Also, a lot of people do MS degrees at their undergrad institution. PhD people tend to travel, put out more applications, so they are more inclined to seek feedback on them. That's just a guess. Also in the US, you don't need a masters degree before getting a PhD. More people in PhD programs (at least top programs) come directly from undergrad. 
3)Earth sciences is heavy on mentorship, so while rankings might be a general guideline, the actual field rankings are probably inaccurate from US News. There is a heavy bias towards larger programs, but no one would argue that Brown for example isn't one of the best geophysics and best planetary science programs in the world, depending on what you want to do. For example, there is no one who I could have done my PhD with at PSU, and maybe 1 person at ASU. I'm probably in one of the smallest subfields of earth science though. My point is that Earth science has many subdisciplines that really the ranking of the overall program should be just a general guide line.  I'm not really sure there is a quality of education difference between the 1st rank school and the 30th ranked school, but I don't really know. 
I think the programs that get the most applicants are the ones with the best oil and gas connections. Many of these applicants are international. University of Houston gets some of the most applications despite (i could be wrong) its ranked 64th by USnews. I wouldn't be surprised if it got more applicants than ASU or PSU. 

Congratz ^^
I'm glad it seems grad cafers are doing a bit better this year than last year. 

Today a professor at Arizona State emailed me to set up a phone interview to talk about my interests and experience. I didn't mention this professor in my SOP, but he's involved in some projects that look interesting, though not exactly what I've envisioned myself doing. Regardless, I'm pretty excited.

I cannot disagree with this statement enough. If you cannot explain something to a non-specialist you have not really learned it. For many NSF grants there is a public abstract (one for the general tax payers to read) and a specialist abstract. While you might go into detail with a specialist, but I can explain my research to someone without a college education. I know because I've talked to high schoolers about it. 
 
Perhaps my research isn't as esoteric or technical as some others here.  

I think its a bit selfish to suggest this. Considering they worked just as hard as anyone else to get those acceptances, they should have the time they need. 

I think people overestimate how much time they spend working: you still need to be a human being. It is true that going to a top 10 + having a great POI that places you could be great for your career, but only if oyu are happy working there. You still need to produce great work, nothing makes up for that, and in my opinion being happy helps you do that more than most things. 

I depends on how well you interviewed, how strong your SOP is (not what you've done, but what you want to do). A lot of people make the mistake of making their SOP a rehash of their CV.  Almost everyone has strong letters that are connected to at least someone on the committee. Academia is a small world, even at big schools. 
 
Reasonably, they might have been super impressed by your application, but liked someone else more! Just because a professor likes your application doesn't mean he doesnt like someone more. If you are in a popular field, chances are you are competing against a lot of people. 
 
Maybe  you didn't convey enough confidence in your application (certainly you haven't in your posts here). There are a lot of reasons why someone can get rejected, like its been stated before. 
 
I'm not really sure a ton of research experience helps, but more like quality. Most undergraduate research is very mechanical, "easy mode". Professors are looking for evidence of being able to persevere, diligence when things aren't working. Now I'm not saying your work isn't quality obviously, I've never seen it, but there is a tendency for people to overvalue research experience that hasn't resulted in a publication. People with the most research experience tend to be people with the best grades and GRE scores, so its really hard to say whats more important.  I think research experience is important because people who have it are able to make a much high quality application with a strong SOP and strong interactions with future colleagues. I'm not so sure that research experience itself is such an important attribute (because there are some people who can do those things without having done a lick of research as an undergraduate, and they have all done well in grad school). In my program we have people with very little research before graduate school. 

So my POI from Iowa state called me yesterday saying that they would like to invite me to an on campus interview where they'll pay my travel expenses. Is anyone familiar with the geology program at Iowa State ? I know from looking at past posts concerning campus interviews that if the school pays for them then most likely it's an acceptance unless you screw up the interview. I applied for my PhD which would be fully funded.

Undergrad Institution: Appalachian State University
Major(s): Quantiative Geoscience
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 3.3
Overall GPA: 3.45
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: Domestic, male, veteran

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 160
V: 163
W: 3.5

TOEFL Total: N/A
Research Experience: 1.5 years as a research assistant doing stable isotope Geochemical analysis on the Devonian rock record of western China and identifying excursions of trace elements associated with ocean anoxic mass extinction events

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Chancellor's list x 2 
Honor Graduate from Defense Language Institute, Monterey, CA
Letters of Recommendation/Appreciation from the commanders of Navy Seals and Army Special Operations in Eastern Afghanistan (2011-2013)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 1.5 years as a TA teaching and assisting in introductory Geology labs
6 months working as a museum curator at the McKinney Geology Teaching Museum.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Completed undergraduate degree in 3 years
President of local Chapter of the Student Veterans of America and activist for veterans issues on campus
Member of Appalachian State's Military Affairs Committee, board which deals with student veteran issues, recruitment, and retention

Special Bonus Points: Veteran's are considered an underrepresented minority at universities and in STEM fields

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I speak French, Korean and German
I am a first generation college student
Coursework and experience in Geophysics, Geochemistry, Hydrogeology, GIS, and writing code in MATLAB
10 years of experiences as an intelligence analyst in the US Army and for the private company BAE Systems

Applying to Where:

Virginia Tech - Geoscience - Hydrogeology, PhD
Tennessee - Geology - Hydrogeology, MS
Alabama - Geology - Hydrogeology and Geochemistry, MS
WVU - Geology - Hydrogeology and Geochemistry, MS
UNLV - Geology - Hydrogeology and Geochemistry, MS

Results:
Virginia Tech- Accepted PhD with full support, NSF funded project, joint project between VT and University of Rennes, start F16 or S16 (1st Choice)

I think people overestimate how much time they spend working: you still need to be a human being. It is true that going to a top 10 + having a great POI that places you could be great for your career, but only if oyu are happy working there. You still need to produce great work, nothing makes up for that, and in my opinion being happy helps you do that more than most things. 

Interesting, I guess the truth is probably more like it doesn't really matter what stage you are at then  Or, maybe the Earth Sciences fellowships are awarded differently than the Astrophysics, Heliophysics, and Planetary Science divisions (I know that they are administered by different people).
I guess I am wrong about the eligibility then. But given the deadline is Feb 1, it doesn't leave a lot of time between acceptance into a program and applying!