geographyrocks

That is a tough decision. Hopefully, the Ivy school contacts you with a full tuition waiver and a stipend :-D

Did you ever try to call or find him/her in person? I know that many of my professors get over 100 emails a day, and they simply end up missing a lot of the emails they get.

I have applied to a different department at DU, and I think that if I'm not offered full tuition, I will decline. Of course, if DU is the only school to accept me, then I have a very difficult choice. Is your only option DU or are you still waiting to hear back from other schools?

You could send him a follow up email that says something like: "I completely understand that professors tend to get overwhelmed with letter requests at this time in addition to all of the other duties you must perform. My first instinct was to contact you as I plan on obtaining a BA in Korean and one of the scholarships requests that one letter be from someone in my field. You are the only person I know that fits that requirement." You could also ask him who else might be able to write a letter for you. Just because he refused to write a letter doesn't mean he won't try to help in whatever way he can. Just don't pressure him for a letter. Call or email the contact for the scholarships and tell them your situation. I'm sure they would be happy to help as well. Also, remember that he has a lot more responsibility that 2 classes and writing letters. There is constant administrative paperwork and duties along with his own research and grant writing which is generally required of professors. He could also have a lot of responsibility outside of the classroom.

I caught a glimpse at one of the cover letters for a LOR that the chair of the department wrote. He checked that I was in the 1% and I thought, "I'm finally in the 1% and I didn't have to screw over the American public to get there!" lol Jamc is right. This process DOES do funny things to the brainpan.

Get on him. Be on him like white on rice. I spent an hour and a half following one of my letter writers because 2 schools couldn't find his LORs. It turns out, he is REALLY good and transposing numbers and letters. He wrote BOTH fax number incorrectly and if I hadn't been looking over his shoulder, those schools STILL wouldn't have my LORs.

You should definitely call them. So far I've had an email get lost that contained the department application and LOI, 2 recommendations get lost, and 1 confused admin who didn't realize that I submitted my GRE scores in July.

I don't know if this is common or if I'm just special. Others can feel free to jump in with their frustrating LOR stories as well. I've only applied to 4 universities. The department I'm in is very small, and I think I am the only one applying to Graduate school. One of my professors has managed to have issues with turning in recommendations to 2 different schools. My other letter writers seem to have no problem at all. I've had to speak with him several times to resubmit recommendations. He resubmitted one recommendation last week (I didn't yet know that another school didn't have his recommendation either) via email. I call today because it still isn't showing up in the web portal and they tell me that they haven't received ANYTHING from him. What the fudge, man? If that wasn't bad enough, while speaking to another senior professor here who has worked with him the entire 15 years he's been here, he expressed extreme doubt that he ever turned them in at all! I thought I was being smart by asking the Chair of the department to write recommendations, but I was clearly mistaken. Anyone else have these issues?

I tried to do all of these things, but I encountered several barriers: I was technically a junior until the beginning of this Spring semester because it's based on credit hours so I didn't qualify for the GRE fee waiver. None of the schools I applied to had application fee waivers that I could find. I had transcripts from 2 different schools both of which charged $7 per transcript. I can generally find the cheapest way to do things, but it didn't work out so well with applying to graduate school. GRE prep materials: $0 GRE: $185 GRE score reports: $25 Application Fees for 4 Programs: $225 Transcripts: $57 Grand total: $492

Political ecology is huge right now. I've seen several programs that specifically offer a political science track in Environmental Studies.

I think the most important question is what are your other stats? Is your GPA high? Do you have experience? Your GRE scores should be fine unless you're trying to make up for some other deficiency.

Thanks GeoDUDE! I called and not only were they missing one LOR, they never received my application to the department (which is separate from the Graduate School app) or my letter of intent! That's the last time I question whether to call or not.

CU Boulder and UNR are also in the review process. I have no idea what DU is doing as they refuse to accept my 3rd LOR. The professor submitted it online, but they say they didn't get it. He resubmitted it by emailing them directly (which is what they requested) and they still haven't updated by profile even though the deadline is today. I realize they're swamped and it's probably fine, but that doesn't make me feel any less stressed about the entire thing. I also have no idea what UNM is doing as the graduate department doesn't keep track of what the individual departments are doing. They only show the application and transcripts as the LORs go to the department. Should I call the department to verify that all of my LORs arrived?

I eventually went the route of writing down everything that could possibly make me sound interesting or anything that could be an accomplishment. I then spent about a month weeding out everything that wasn't relevant/was too wordy/no one would care about. This worked the best for me. Prior to using this method, it had taken me 2 weeks to write a paragraph which I didn't even use in the end.

When visiting a school and meeting with the graduate admissions contact, I was told repeatedly how difficult it was to get into the school and how I should probably leave my options open/think about applying elsewhere. The kicker was that the woman had no idea what my credentials were because we hadn't discussed them yet and I hadn't included them in the brief email I sent to arrange the appointment.

Oh, goodness. Anyone else feel like there is a living thing trying to escape their stomach when they think about grad school? This whole process is so damn nerve-racking! I'm still waiting (maybe) on a LOR that the professor already submitted, but there was a technical issue and the university didn't recieve it. As if it wasn't hard enough to get the LOR the first time. Luckily, the deadline isn't until 1/15.

It looks like we're in the same "jump to PhD" boat. Did any of your professors try to talk you into applying to Masters programs instead?

Thanks. I really couldn't believe anyone was concerned with gender at my current school. I really don't think that gender should be an advantage or disadvantage.

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/wmpd/2013/pdf/tab5-7.pdf Bachelors degrees awarded 2010 all fields: 1,668,227 Female all fields: 954,891 Earth, atmospheric and ocean sciences ALL: 4,802 FEMALE: 1,889 I should have specified Earth, atmospheric, and ocean sciences. Using the term physical sciences was misleading. It won't let me edit my original post so I can't fix it now. And whether you believe in it or not, it is still considered "special" to be a female in the physical sciences. Just ask my male professors who refuse to believe that I could be good at math or sciences in general. It may be more widely accepted elsewhere, but I still encounter prejudice and I suspect other women do as well. Also, none of this was listed in anything I sent to graduate schools (aside from first female to attend college). I was told that should be mentioned in my SOP for whatever reason. I think it would be extremely hurtful to quote statistics in a SOP.

Hi pohks! I'm applying for the MS program at the University of Nevada and the PhD programs at the other three schools. It's still unclear as to whether it was unwise to apply directly to PhD programs without first obtaining a Masters. I guess I'll find out in a couple of months.

All my apps are in more or less so I guess I'll be the first to post: Undergrad Institution: Medium state school Major(s): Geography with Environmental Analysis Minor(s): GPA in Major: 3.92 Overall GPA: 3.92 Position in Class: No idea. #1 in department, I believe Type of Student: GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 156 V: 160 W: 4.5 Research Experience: Summer research, publication in review, several presentations, additional research for senior thesis with suggested publication from mentor after it's written (I take it as a good sign that he recommends publication before I've even written the thesis) Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Won several scholarships, 1 of 20 (in the entire school) selected for the Summer Research Opportunity Program, 1st place in the KAS Annual Conference Undergraduate Research Presentation, was selected to present my research at the capitol, other various academic honors like dean's list and such Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Undergraduate teaching assistant for the 2013-2014 school year. 10 years of "real world" experience. Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: One of my recommenders was the state Geographer for 2 years and is currently the head of the department. Another one of my recommenders has told me repeatedly how highly she spoke of me in her LOR so I'm counting that as an accomplishment. Special Bonus Points: Only around 2,000 females graduate with a physical sciences degree each year out of the 1.7 million people who graduate with an undergraduate degree. Also the first female in my family to graduate college. I also have a Lifetime channel worthy sob story, but that shouldn't play a factor since I didn't bother mentioning it in my SOP. Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I'm applying to PhD programs without a MS. Some say that is a risky move. Applying to Where: CU Boulder - Environment Science - PhD - Hydrology/climatology Denver University - Geography and the Environment - PhD - Hydrology/climatology University of Nevada Reno - Geography - MS - Hydrology/climatology University New Mexico - Earth and Planetary Sciences - PhD - Hydrology/climatology

I think the biggest question is what facet of geoscience do you want to pursue? Once you have narrowed that down, it should be easier to find schools that match your interests.

Like surefire, my field also requires you to identify possible advisors in the SOP/LOI. This meant that I spent hours on end researching programs, research facilities, and professors to find ones that would fit. It was required for both Masters and PhD programs. I'm sure that the committees get tired of reading about their own program, but wouldn't you want to know if a potential candidate even bothered to research the program they want to go in to? That's the whole point of mentioning professor and program particularities, in my opinion. The committee knows what they do, and they want to know that you know as well.

Just make sure that you highlight your research experience including any possible publications. GREs are typically used to thin the pack and you're above average. I don't know if that helps, but I'm in the same boat. My GRE scores are above average but not spectacular.

I'm jealous hearing about these positive responses. I received 2 positive responses out of 5 emails. My emails were extremely professional and detailed but not overly long. I received no response on 2 other emails. One of my emails was met with a curt 1 sentence response about how they aren't looking for grad students.