bsharpe269

I think that bakalamba's comment it getting taken a bit more to the extreme than it was meant. No one here thinks that someone should let their work be all consuming. No one is suggesting that students should stop seeing family, replace their shower time with extra studying, etc. In my program, there is a definite distriction between the students who truely care, read extra for fun and have tons of knowedge to contribute to discussion vs those who sit in the back and skim by with Bs on the tests. I wish that all of these students could be replaced by people who actually care and love the subject. The students who do care suffer because of the slacker students. By asking good questions in class and discussing papers, I help these students learn more yet they continbute nothing to my education. I do believe that these sorts of students lower the quality of programs. I also think that it will be hard for these students to ever be top researchers. In order to be a great researcher you have to read and think about tons of different ideas, not only a small number of them that were forced on you. I believe that you more articles you read and more interesting discussions you have, the greater the chance that a new, great idea with spark. Obviously, PhD programs want students who will become great researchers and lead to greater recognition for their programs. Because of this, I think that it makes perfect sense for programs to seek out passionate students.

This is a great point. I am not a complainer at all. If anything, I find myself excitedly discussing everything I get to do with my SO and family. Also, I am also overloaded with intrinsic motivation. I want to study all the time and want have the top grade in all of my classes. As you said, this sounds great but what it actually leads to is an occasional breakdown or stress overload huge fight. A healthier balance of some complaining could potentially alleviate the buildup.

I think that an A in the easier sequence will make up the B- anyway!

Yes, in my opinion it is still worth it. The freedom + prestige are worth it. Its kind of like saying, Im guaranteed a place in my small state school for the phd program so is it still worth it to apply to Harvard? I at least definitely plan on applying for it in the fall. It is a pretty huge deal to be able to put it on your resume.

I feel like you are worrying for no reason. I dont even think that you should mention it to the school because it would draw attention to it. Just enroll in their summer quant prep thing. I dont think anyone will quesiton you about the course at all but if they do, give your reason for withdrawing.

I would make sure the info is on there somehow, either in a section like that or under your research experiences section. For example, if you helped with a big project and the diessertation stuff was a small part of it then you could include bullet poitns under that project for the dissertations you were acknowedged in. Alternatively, you could mention this in your SOP when talking about the project. I would definitely make sure the info gets into your application. I don't know if the way it happens matters that much so I would just go with what looks best.

1. I have improved my Sent Equivalence alot (the 1 black, 2 choices) by studying. Here are couple of the things that have helped me with this part: - first of all, you have to know the vocab. Studying that helped alot here. - dont focus on what two words fit the blank, focus on what two words fit the black AND mean the same thing. Before studying, I was in the habit of just looking for words that fit but the words have to pretty much have the exact same meaning as well. Focusing on looking for words with the same meaning really helped me here. 3. Yeah I agree. It seems that if a study is mentioned then mentioning the lack of info given on the study is a good point to make. You can say there is no information on the reliability, is it published in a peer reviewed journal, etc. I havent really timed my practice problems. I do the problems just for repetition and practice and then use ETS timed tests to see how well I am doing with time. I would use those tests for that. It is hard to watch the time on individual questions, especially for reading comp ones, because I use alot of time on the first one since I am reading the passage but much less on the following questions.

I agree that the grad class is overkill and that getting an A in the undergrad course would be better. Have you taken linear algebra? I think that would also be really important for biostats.

I totally get what you mean. I'm working on my MS (applying for phd this fall). I'm not bothered by people whining as much as just not caring. Most people in my program are looking to get a job after graduation so they arent involved with lab work and don't study to actually learn, just to manage As and Bs. I love my classes. I study my butt off and am dissapointed when I get less than a 95 because it means I should understnad the material better. I spend all of my free time doing research because I LOVE it. Everyone in my program just looks at me like im sucking up to the teacher by answering every question but actually, im the only one in the freakin class who reads the material ahead of time and knows the answers. One of my professors offered an extra credit assignment recently. I have a high A in the class but the assignment actually looked like a lot of fun and basically the professor needed some help doing something that required advanced math background which he doesnt have. I figured out all of the math for him and then the explained the math to the class the next week. After the class, someone came up to me and said "why did you do all of that extra credit... we both know you dont need any extra points in the class." I'm sorry for actually loving science? I hope that it will be alot of better when I get into a phd program!

Thanks for the input! I will luckily have 5.5 years of reserach experieince when I apply, including multiple presentations, a conference paper, and a peer reviewed paper. I will also have an outstanding LOR from my current PI (he already wrote an LOR for for me for something else and it basically says that I am among the top few grad students he has ever had and that I will be an excellent reseracher). From these research experiences, I know exactly what I want to study for my phd and have been working with my PI to identify perfect fit programs. I will apply to 8-10 programs that place their major focus on exactly what I want to study and there are at a minimum 3 perfect fit PIs at each program. I have also been working on reading all of the major papers in my field so I know alot about this area. Thanks for the advice! Alot of people seem to say that the most important thing is finding programs with a great fit. If this is the case then I think that I should be in pretty good shape. Hopefully they focus on my fit for the program and not the undergrad grades! Also, congrats on your offer!

What does your math and physics background look like? If you have some coursework through differential equations and a 2 semester sequence of physics then I think you would have a decent background for a chemical engineering MS.

Is it a BA degree? How many credit hours did you need?

It is basically like a typical grad package but a bit more money. It pays tuition and and a 30k stipend. Most people who get it are more excited about the reputation it brings than anything else I think. Having the NSF on your resume is is sort of like having harvard or MIT next to your phd. It just jumps out.It also relieves teaching duties for your first few years, giving you more time for research which could (and probably will) lead to more publications than if you didnt get it, helping you secure a great postdoc as well. you can apply during the last year of undergrad or first 2 years of grad school. I'll be applying this fall!

If it will change your final grade (A- vs A etc) then I think you should mention it. If it will not make a letter difference then I would let it go.

We can't tell you which grad schools to apply for. There are tons and it comes down to your preferences in research, location, size of school, etc. You need to look at each school individually that looks like a possibly and read all of the faculty research and see if anything fits with your interests. Yes, this will take hours upon hours but it is what we are all doing. If you are not a native english speaker then anything above a 150 on the verbal is probably fine. For chemical engineering, you want to shoot for above 160 on quantitative at minimum and preferably better than 165.

To find my advisor, I just emailed him once the semester started and asked to meet to discuss research. Keep in mind, it is often hard to find an advisor who has funding for MS students so depending on the situation, I wouldnt necesarily expect to be compensated for your work. I got funding after volunteering for a few months to prove my ability.

I think generic things like kitchen stuff, school supplies, etc can be purchased wherever. You might be better off saving packing money and trying to find a second hand store to buy stuff. If you are going abroad for school then I would focus on bring things that you will miss from home like pictures of friends or those decorations that you have had up for years that will make your place feel homey. For example, I have a huge warm blanket that Ive used on my bed for 10 years and decorations that I got traveling abroad in various places. Ive also been using the same bookbag since undergrad that Im sort of attached to. For me, these kinds of things are what I would want to use space bringing with me if I were to go abroad for school. I think Id get homesick without them! As far as supplies that you actually need for grad school... I dont think I could get by without my coffee pot, laptop, backpack, highlighters, pencils, and those multisubject spiral notebooks so that I have to keep track of a bunch of seperate notebooks for each class. Other than that, I cant think of much that you cant manage without. A printer/scanner would be convenient but it sounds like youll be on or close to campus and could print there if you dont want to buy one.

Hi guys, Anyone on here who did a masters before phd to raise GPA or get more research experience care to share how phd applications went? Were you majorly questioned in interviews about poor undergrad performance? Did schools seem to look at your MS work much more heavily or everything about equal? Do to a untreated medical issue (pretty bad ADD), my undergrad GPA is a 3.3 but MS is 4.0. All of my MS grades are like 97%+ and I have the highest grade in almost all of my classes. That uGPA isnt that bad but if you were to look at the transcripts, I basically have half As, half Bs and then one C or D every year and im sad to say that the Cs and Ds are in difficult but important classes. It looks horrible! In my SOP, I think I will mention that a resolved medical conidtion accounts for the poor grades. I think I might also ask one of my letter writers mention that I have top grades in all of my classes and that my undergrad performance is not indicative of my phd performance. How did phd applications after masters go for you guys? Did anyone ask a letter writer to say something like that for them? Thanks for sharing!

I am in STEM but I am also applying next application season. So far, I have emailed one faculty member and the reason I did was actually a genuine question. I couldnt access one of his publications and wanted to read it. I sent am email with a 1-2 sentance description of my research experience and interests and said I would be applying in the fall and asked if he would be able to send me a copy of the paper. He seemed very interested in my experience, sent me the papers and about a week after the cooresponence, he added me on a professional social media site. I feel like this probably helped me. I have experience doing exactly what the professor does so I think he was interested since I would be able to jump in his lab with fairly little training compared to most. I think I might continue with this method... if I have a question about something in the coming months then I will email but otherwise, I dont think I will email just for the sake of emailing.

I actually think this sounds absolutely delicous! Yumm now I really want some ramen...

OP, it sounds like you should feel out the vibe of your department. Are students usually open about this sort of stuff and is it accepted or do people not discuss it? You may want to just go with the department norm.

Your husband sounds like an amazing person! For people who descirbed their SOs as really great, intelligent people who dont have higher education, Id be interested to hear what their careers are if anyone wants to share. My post mentions that I really want to see drive and passion in someone I date and I fully recognize that these qualities can exist without higher educaiton but often seem to correlate with it a bit. For example, I would have no problem at all dating someone with a passion for a trade like carpentry or someone who owns their own small business as long as they were passionate about something and went after it. Also, I wouldnt have a problem dating someone who didnt care at all about their job if they were passionate about other areas of their life like fitness or hobbies.

Id retake. DId you study for them? If so what were your practice scores like? If you didnt study then I would study and try to raise them. Ive seen a huge change in my practice test scores before and after studying (I take the real thing in June so not sure how I'll actually do yet). I have been using Magoosh and really liking it. If you did study and were getting higher practice scores then I would say you were just nervous and should retake them. This happened to me before my masters. The first time I took them I did horribly because of nervousness. Even my Q section was low and I was a math major! I retook them and focussed on being calmer and just not putting pressure on myself and they were much much higher.

My experience has been pretty different than most people's on here. I dated someone without higher education and it didnt work in large part because of the lack of education. Ill start by saying that I could definitely see myself dating someone without higher education. For example, I have a family memeber who went the military route and never got his bachelors. He has a great job now using the military training, making more than I will ever make as an academic. He keeps healthy and fit, volunteers abroad, started his own small not for profit, paints, and is extremely well read about philosophy and politics. There are plenty of people out there like this who don't have advanced degrees but are super productive, motivated people. My previous serious boyfriends have been all been super different. They include 1) a man with a high school diploma who has been holding various non career type jobs like retail or restaurants, 2) a man with a BA in marketing (but horrible GPA!) who didnt really aspire to do much other than get into the family bussiness and live forever in his small town, and 3) my fiance who has a BS in international business and a BA in a foreign language and is now working on his MBA. During undergrad, he did an honors thesis, written entirely in the foreign language along with tons of internships and has a great job currently. The reasons my previous relationships failed had less to do with education (one of them did have a BA) and more to know with motivation. Its really important to me that my partner has goals and passions. I could date someone who didnt have higher education if they were motivated across the other areas of their life, like my family member is. I dont necesarily think that is super common though because most of the motivated people I know have the drive to pursue higher education (but definite not all). Passion,goals, and motivation are really important to me in a significant other.

I wouldnt go anywhere near doing this. At best, it shows you have no idea what you want to study. You will possibly be interacting with people in the other department and this would possibly put you automatically on bad terms with people. It sounds like you arent really positive what you want to study and I think it is a bad idea to spend your money on either program until you figure out exactly waht you want to do. I think it would be a better idea to work for a while, save up money for grad school, and figure out exactly what you want. Otherwise, you could end up being one of those people who keeps changing their mind about their studies, has multiple masters degrees, and is 100-200k in debt.