geographyrocks

I guess that depends. Did it significantly alter your GPA? If not, no. I also have a weird background, and I also felt the need to explain it thoroughly in my SOP. Every proof reader of my SOP told me it was unnecessary. I put one line in my SOP: "I am a non-traditional student who has faced a number of hardships along with the consequences of some of my own bad decisions." I followed that with all of the great things I did during the rest of my school career. If you feel so inclined to mention it, I would encourage you to do something similar. I would place it before you start talking about how awesome you are and definitely keep it at one line.

Flashcards improved my score. I think I have a decent vocabulary, but they have the most obscure words on the GRE.

I felt the same way. Actually, I still feel the same way. I studied on and off for a couple of months. My practice scores were awesome (over 160 on both portions) and I finished with almost 10 minutes to spare each time I took a practice test. I ended up taking almost 10 practice tests. When I took the actual GRE, my scores were not as awesome, and I had to rush to finish the quantitative sections. I think on one section, I had to answer 5 questions in 3 minutes or so because I ran out of time.

That's a terrible GRE. How do you even show your face? In all seriousness, GRE and GPA seem to be used mostly to disqualify students. Your scores are high enough to avoid that cut in the application process. The real question is: do you have any research experience, conference experience, or publications in the works? Will you be able to get fantastic references? Do you think you'll be able to write a strong SOP that clearly defines your goals? I've found those things to be more important factors on whether you get accepted or not. I must also mention fit. If your research goals don't fit in with the research goals of the program, they are very unlikely to accept you.

I'm currently finishing a degree that is low on the physics and calculus requirements, and I was admitted into a PhD program with full funding that required way more calc/physics than I have. I figure that the rest of my application was above average enough to make up for the fact that I don't fulfill some of the prereqs. My quantitative score on the GRE was 156 which isn't exactly spectacular but still above average. I think it really depends on how you sell yourself and how your LORs speak of you. As for my prereq deficiencies, I plan on completing a couple of the MIT open courseware courses to lessen the risk of being behind during my first semester. I haven't recieved my official acceptance yet, so it's possible that I'll have to do the prereqs during my first year.

I think it really depends on what you want to do with your career. A "social sciences" degree may not set you up to work on the things you want to work on in the future although NS/ES is not always on the social side of things. I know I've tried as hard as possible to stay on the physical sciences side of ES because that work appeals to me more than the policy side of ES. Maybe you should send her an email that outlines your concerns. It's your future so you definitely have the right to be choosey.

OSU is DEFINITELY the right school for glaciology. The chair of the department I'm in still works with OSU and travels to several glaciers to retrieve ice cores. It's really fascinating work. If I didn't hate the cold so much, I might have went that direction. However, I hear OSU is really hard to get into due to popularity. I do think the majority of Masters candidates aren't notified until later. Good luck!

Considering all of the stuff I've seen on here of people not getting in no matter how great their credentials looked, I went with a safety school as well. I figured that if I didn't get into a PhD, then I would give Masters a go. The Masters program is doing interesting work so it wouldn't be terrible, but I'm definitely not choosing that over a PhD program. I also applied to a safety school because one of my LOR, who is also the chair of the department I'm in, took me aside for a 45 minute lecture on how I shouldn't apply to PhD programs because only geniuses go straight to PhD. I later learned that he had no idea how the process worked now since 1) our department only has a Masters program that's in its baby stages and 2) he graduated over 25 years ago. Even though I was pretty sure I had a competitive profile (and so far, 1 school agrees), it still made me feel terrible to hear all of that from him. So...there's another reason why someone would pick a safety school and then withdraw the application after being accepted elsewhere.

Did you just send an email to the graduate coordinator? How did you do it? I'm thinking of withdrawing my application from UNR.

Considering your profile, I'm willing to bet you'll get an offer from Columbia.

Good advice, Loric! And I know, Boba! I feel like I should be compiling a list of questions and really thinking about all of the important stuff. Instead, I'm gonna jump around a bit more, do a little more happy dancing, and then eat pizza. I'll start thinking maturely tomorrow...lol

Have you checked your universities and programs on the results pages for past results? That could give you an indication of when they generally start sending out emails.

I am absolutely thrilled about being offered admission at UNM. My potential adviser emailed me with the news and said that I would receive an official email soon. He also said I should email him with any questions that I have. So here are my questions: 1. Do I have questions? I'm so stunned/excited right now I can't think of ANYTHING! 2. Do I email him back and thank him for his email? I'm kind of awkward when it comes to correspondence. I never know if what I'm saying sounds good or sounds like an excited teeny bopper seeing New Kids on the Block for the first time. (Sorry for the reference. I heard Hangin' Tough on the radio today. That song is corny, buy catchy!) Any advice is greatly appreciated.

bean soup

Just received an email from my prospective adviser at UNM. He told me to expect an acceptance letter in the mail with full tuition, health insurance, and a $16,000-$18,000 TAship that will turn into an RA as soon as he gets funding.

Thanks for the support! And it just so happens that when I read the very last line, my prospective research advisor at my #1 choice emailed me to tell me to expect an acceptance letter in the mail with full tuition, health insurance, and a $16,000-$18,000 TAship that will turn into an RA as soon as he gets funding. I think I broke my voice I screamed so loud! Ah hells...I get to change my signature now. Whooo!

NICE!!! I wish I would hear back from just one of my universities.

So far, I'm at three existential crises since Monday. I'm just hoping my sanity holds up through this process! What little I have left...

Blast off

I'm so obsessed with Astrophysics and Neil DeGrasse Tyson I'm starting to wonder if I choose the wrong major.

Gummy bears

I've totally had this in my head during my "up" moments. In my down moments, it's the same thing except the professor is saying "Oh, dear god! We have to get this to the shredder immediately!" I'm laughing while I'm crying. lol

I wanna add my office rant! It was brought to my attention on Monday that my coworkers (most of which hold non-descript Bachelors degrees) don't think that I am capable of doing their work because I only "handle the data". Now it is true that I'm not in the Bachelors club yet, but I could run circles around most of these jerks. I hate to lump them all together because not everyone here is a total bufoon, but their last intellectual conversation consisted of whether McDonald's coffee is not as hot as it once was or how awesome that one show about real people fighting over a bunch of coconuts was last night. And I almost forgot the most important thing: the position that I currently have was specifically create FOR ME after I worked here as a temp for 3 months because I was THAT DAMNED GOOD. I tried to turn in my two weeks notice when school started back in 2012 and they BEGGED me to stay. No one else is allowed to work part-time or to make up their own hours. ADDITIONALLY, I was brought in as a temp because those effing bufoons couldn't do their work correctly!!!!!! ARAARRARARARGAGGGGG! Wow...that was cathartic. I guess I really should thank my coworkers. If it wasn't for their poor quality of work, I wouldn't have a job. It's just so frustrating when people assume your intelligence level. Did I mention I also work with a bunch of right-wing, "science is dumb" nuts? A graduate school better take me cause I don't know if I can handle working here past May.

My process was a bit different because I wasn't very knowledgeable about which schools had the best programs or even where they were doing research I was interested in. So I started with the places I could see myself living for 5 years. Then I looked for programs in my field and professors doing research I'm intersted in. Then I visited all but one of the schools on a crazy summer vacation road trip. That narrowed my choices down because I absolutely hated two of the campuses. I also had a program debate at one of the schools, but the graduate coordinator of one of the programs convinced me that I definitely didn't want to be in that department by being rude and haughty. The one school I didn't visit was actually added late because I started panicking by only having 3 schools I was interested in. Of course, I'm now starting to question everything. I'm pretty sure that's normal at this point. Especially since I haven't heard a peep out of any of my schools. I never realized how demoralizing it can be to watch others be accepted and rejected when you've heard nothing, even when all of the rections and acceptances are for schools you didn't even apply to. *sigh* Anyone else feel like you weren't properly warned of the emotional rollercoaster that is the graduate school application process?

From what I'm gathering by obsessively reading threads on here, it's not over until you are officially rejected.