geographyrocks

And see? I thoroughly enjoyed that thanks!

It depends on the program and school, but I think most send the email after you submit the app.

Since you actively talked to them, then yes. Had you just been a person in the audience, it might be a different story. Just thank them for taking the time to answer all of your questions. People always like getting thanks.

One word: yes. Edit: I've never been so thankful for a fall break which is only two days, but right now it looks like the holy grail of time off!

So...good news! Most graduate schools pay more attention to the last two years of coursework because that is when you tend to get into the higher level classes in your field. Most graduate programs have a much older student population than you would think. I have a story similar to yours. I started with CC first which due to circumstances (having to work to pay bills) and not following the proper procedures, I have several incompletes on my record. I got my act together and did all the things you did. Long story short, those things didn't come up even once. Even when I sat down with my adviser, he never even mentioned those incompletes. Sh*t happens and most professors and advisers are aware of that. So get your butt in gear and go take the GRE test. Take a couple of practice tests before so you can figure out how much you should study. And start finding programs that excite you. Also, I'm 31. You're not late for anything.

So...I did exactly what everyone else is advising not to do. Of course, I coupled it with a week long road trip so it was maybe 30% schools, 70% visiting friends and having a nice vacation. I don't think there's anything wrong with that approach as long as you can afford it. I didn't arrange any meetings with professors as I really just wanted to get a feel for the schools and the cities. It was by doing this that I realized that UC Denver feels like a prison school and Colorado State is a sprawling campus that feels like it's in the middle of nowhere. Are these or should these be deal breakers for most people? Nah...and not applying to those schools wasn't based on appearances alone, but it did really help when I started freaking out about only applying to 4 schools. jujubea: I applied to three out of the four schools that you are interested in. A couple of quick notes on those schools: Denver University is private with an annual tuition of around 50k. They tend to only offer partial funding. The area around the campus is nice, but it is definitely an urban campus. There are two or three major streets that run through campus. The big bonus is the light rail. There is a stop about a block from campus so it's pretty easy to get around. Also, Denver is just a cool city. CU Boulder is amazing and beautiful! I absolutely love the atmosphere. However, it is ridiculously expensive to live in Boulder especially near the university. Seeing as you have a family, I'm assuming you don't want to share a 5 bedroom house with 8 other people. So you would have a bit of a commute to get to school. I would advise that you look at places for rent on craigslist to get a feel for what rental properties are available. Most people experience sticker shock when they see the rents for the first time. UNM...well, I want to start by saying that I'm biased as that's where I choose to go. The campus is absolutely gorgeous with a adobe revival feel. I really enjoy the city although it has its bad aspects just like most cities. Also, they tend to guarantee full funding for four years through TAships. You have the option of working through a RA if your adviser has funds or if you win grants. Feel free to PM me if you have questions about Albuquerque. I spent waaaayyyy too much time reading forums before moving and waaaaayyyy too much time investigating job possibilities for my boyfriend who moved with me.

Stop with the emails and find them in person if you can. I've been in your situation , and it's definitely frustrating.

What courses did you take related to earth sciences or geosciences?

I had a professor like that. He taught a graduate class that I took as an undergrad. He liked to cut me off when I was talking or tell me my answer was wrong when it was actually right. Near the end of the semester, we all had to give 10 minute presentations. He interupted my presentation to lecture about something or another. When I finished the presentation, he said: "What was your presentation about again?". It's interesting to see 12 people drop their jaws all at once because I believe everyone will agree that was a really rude thing to do. He didn't do that to anyone else during their presentations. In other words, he obviously had a problem with me even though I had the highest gpa, I was the only student in the department applying to graduate school, and I won several awards from the department. He wrote letters for me (even though he told me I shouldn't apply to PhD programs because I wasn't a guy who was a genius) and even choked up when he presented me with the award. People are freakin strange. However, I ended up with an A in the class. I don't know how seeing as he told me that everything I did was wrong. So I would definitely wait for the grade before stewing.

I guess I should add that I'm in a 4 year PhD program straight from undergrad (not entering with a Masters). I have to submit two separate dissertation abstracts by the beginning of April and have two proposals written by the end of Fall 2015. I'm also applying for a ton of external funding. I instruct one intro lab, and I'm a TA for a GIS course. I'm taking 9 credit hours. I'm not really sure how this compares time-wise with other first years. Also, the majority of students in my department are Masters. I'm one of maybe 5 PhD students and the only one in the PhD program without a masters. While I generally would agree that a person shouldn't go to something they don't enjoy, networking is HUGE for future job placement as well as future collaborations. I guess I'm just wandering what functions others attend and what they find most beneficial. I've managed to attend one guest speaker lecture, but then I had to leave for class before actually talking to the speaker or asking any questions.

My department offers a lot of activities both academic and social. There is something going on almost every week. As a first year grad student, I have very little time to devote to these things. However, socializing and being involved in the department is a big part of graduate school. With that said, how much do you participate in department activities? What stuff do you participate in most? Did you participate more during your first year or did your participation increase over the years? I'm trying to reach that balance of not always saying yes but also participating in a decent amount of things. I know this will be different for different departments and based on the individual. I guess I'm just trying to figure out if I've been saying no to too many things such as the Alumni Day that is happening this weekend. As a side note, my adviser hasn't said anything, and I doubt he will as he doesn't attend most of this stuff. I've also managed to win a grant to fund myself next summer and started work on the first chunk of my dissertation which will lead to a poster presentation and a publication before I start my 2nd year. So academically I'm doing pretty good.

I'm betting that this is school specific. If they don't mention it on the website, call the school and ask. Every school does things a little differently.

I feel your pain as I narrowed down my schools the exact same way. However, geography was very important to me while it isn't to most people. So I was comfortable in dropping amazing schools from my list based on geography alone because I had reasons that were important to me. I was down to two schools as well (which just so happened to be the two that accepted me). So I went back through and considered all the schools that I may have arbitrarily cast off. Some stayed on the no list, but I was able to add two additional schools. The research fit was stretched, but I thought it was close enough. This is my personal anecdote so you should take it as such, but I actually disagree with what others have said (especially if money is tight). Apply to places you are excited about. UNLESS you want to go to graduate school more than you care for the environment you will be in. It's different for everyone.

I believe the GRE states that it could take 4-6 weeks for official scores to be submitted to your schools of choice. If you take the GRE on Dec. 13th, those scores may not get there. Your application won't be thrown out because of the Nov. 1st scores, but the committee may not see your second scores. Why are you planning on taking it twice? Are you actively studying and taking practice exams?

1. I only listed my name and "Personal Statement" or "Statement of Purpose" or whatever that particular school was calling it. 2. I wouldn't mess with the margins. There's always that one person who will notice that it looks off. 3. I talked about every professor I thought was interesting and tied in how my research interests fit in with theirs. This could be different in your field though. 4. The son issue is iffy. While there are those who will see it as a virtue, there are also those who will see him as a hinderance. Will you be able to put in as many hours? Will your research suffer? So on and so forth. On the flip side, you probably don't want to work with anyone who would see your son as a hinderance so including it in your statement would weed out those advisers.

Your post is much too vague for anyone to give you advice. How below average are your GRE scores?

Since you are applying to study at your undergrad institution, ask the department graduate school adviser or a professor you know well. They'll be able to give you much better advice than any of us.

I can't say what will or will not be considered a good score at the schools you are applying to. All anyone can do is make guesses. What I can say is that I had a 156 q and 160 V and I was accepted into a funded PhD program. Your scores should be good enough to surpass the bulk cut which is generally anywhere from 300 to 320 dependant on that year's pool of applicants. My opinion is: if you don't think studying will increase your score, then don't take it again.

This website can be helpful: http://www.bls.gov/ooh/life-physical-and-social-science/sociologists.htm

I was under the impression that none of the delivery fee went to the driver. Maybe it depends on the company? It does make me feel better to know that some of the fee is given to the driver.

Oh, wow! That is weird. I would send them based on the university policy. If they don't say, send them anyway. Better to be out $5-$10 than be automatically disqualified.

I did the community college to 4 year school as well. Send all transcripts. Some programs will accept unofficial, but I've never heard of a program that didn't want transcripts from every school attended.

It turns out that I don't enjoy teaching as much as I thought I would. Luckily for me, my goal isn't to be a professor. I'm hardcore research. On the bright side, it's about a month in and I've already started pulling and analyzing data for my dissertation. :-D

When I applied last year, I started mine in July. Don't be fooled. These suckers look easy to write, but putting together a cohesive story that has just the right touch of everything is harder than it looks. I also wanted time to have different people review it and the rewrites in between. I had the writing center look at it first. Then I had two different faculty look it over.