eklavya

given that your major is english, and you scored pretty low in the verbal section, i recommend that you take it again. if you browse through the english sub-forum in this site, you will see how people have been doing in the past, and get an idea of how you compare with them. although admission depends on a lot of things including gre, you might not want to apply if you are not feeling confident about your whole application packet.

i didn't take it, and still got in but i had a lot of research experience with a couple of papers to back up my case. in lifesciences, i haven't very many people take the subject test. it entirely depends on you and your major - how solid your background is, how much competition there is in the program you are applying, and such.

my plan is hook my projector to the box when i move into my new place. just like you said, free online shows plus any dvd/bluray played on the box will be awesome to watch on the big screen!

don't worry, as soon as the schools get something pertaining to grad school, they will create a folder with your name, and put your stuff in it. you should be okay. but if it bothers you too much, you can always email the grad sec and let them know of the situation.

guys, please don't turn this thread (or any other thread that discusses phones and computers, for that matter) into a brawling ground. we all have used different devices, liked some more over others, and therefore have built preferences as the outcome. so, it is okay to suggest to others what we seem is right. btw, i too don't see the OP mention anything about an iphone. he/she has a 'my phone', which i assume could be any kind of phone.

again, set your priorities first. if you want to get a laptop for taking notes, browsing the net, making slideshows and such, get the cheapest (but with at least a couple years' warranty) possible. and get a desktop for beastly tasks - you can put the desktop either at home or in your lab/office and yet be able to access it with your laptop. with 800 though, you can get a really nice laptop that might handle most of your big tasks as well. and as someone mentioned above, i would stay away from hps if possible. i too have bad experiences with them. go with either sony or dell... or lenovo too. lenovo's new thinkpads are out of the world.

how much did you pay this time to get your visa? and will it cost you the same to do so every 2 years?

not a bad etiquette to send your cv with your email. actually, it's a great idea - almost every one of us here on gradcafe have done it. i would however be careful about not making that cv too long. i had mine trimmed down to 1 page, but try to keep it under 2 pages. keep the email short, and to the point and let the cv/resume do the talking. good luck!

try the samsung galaxy tablet - i've used various tablets (ipad, motorolas, samsungs) and find this to be the best as for pc, first decide what your priorities are. if you think you can take notes on a tablet (which i can't as i'm accustomed to typing notes in my laptop for years), don't get a laptop. instead, get a desktop. for about half the price of a laptop, you can get twice the size and speed in a desktop. but if you don't feel comfortable taking notes and doing your school stuff on a tablet, get a medium sized laptop (13 or 14 inch) so that it's easier to carry around. or, get a very cheap laptop to take notes and stuff, and buy a powerful desktop to do your research. if you haven't done so already, i strongly recommend that you go to a store like best buy or your university bookstore and try using tablets to see if you can take notes on them. then decide. i personally have a dell xps (the old type which dell used to manufacture for gaming, but they discontinued after they bought alienware) which i use for everything from playing games to taking notes to running my bioinformatic analyses. it's been running solid for 3 years with no problems. but i too am thinking of getting a desktop for research works and use the laptop solely for taking notes and browsing the net.

To answer your questions directly: (along with my experiences/examples) Cost - pretty sure it varies by states, but I paid ~200$ for a 2 weeks course which comprised of about 10 hours of theory (in-class instruction) and 10 hours of practice (4 driving + 6 watching someone else drive). this was 4 years ago. Passing the course - you don't pass/fail the course, as it is supposed to prepare you to pass the real driving tests: written and road. if you bring a license from your country, i believe most state will exempt you from the written test and only test your road knowledge (i.e. practical, on the road testing). but don't take my word for it. also, most states require that you score 80% to pass the written and road test, which is a B-. talk about easy! i passed both written and road test the first time. in my experience, the driving course prepared me really well for both tests, plus taught me how to be a good driver. Insurance - depends on the state (crime rate, taxation, road condition, etc), your car's age (older = usually cheaper to insure), your driving record (no tickets, experienced driver = low insurance costs) and so on. currently, i pay ~45$ a month on my 2003 mustang. if you choose higher deductibles, the less you pay for car insurance, but you will pay more out of your pocket if anything happens.

i haven't used those services so wouldn't know. but if you want to post your SoP here in the forum, someone will go over it and provide you with helpful suggestions. a lot of people do this, and we all try to pitch in. once the application season is in its full swing, you will be able to find a lot of friendly folks who will review your SoP.

The first thing you can/should do right away is search for a Singaporean association in the city, or perhaps in your grad school. There might not be a whole lot of them, but even 1 is enough. You can also contact the international student association at your grad school to forward your message to someone who is willing to help you - it necessarily doesn't have to be someone from Singapore. Also, as someone suggested above, using craigslist isn't that bad of an idea. After you find a nice place, you should exchange multiple correspondences to make sure that the person/party is not a scam. Calling them is also a good idea. I can personally vouch for craigslist as it has always worked for me... wherever I have moved so far, short or long term, I've used craigslist to find places to stay and I haven't been scammed or anything. That said, you do need to be careful when you are dealing from overseas.

most banks and credit unions these days don't ask for deposit to open an account.. even true if they offer some kind of student checking accounts. but they might require you to use that account to have your direct deposit (electronic payment to you by your school) set up.

I am shocked you dared to ask this question. Aren't you the one who started a thread on furby? ETA: here's the thread: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/topic/22886-post-your-worst-purchase-ever-in-this-topic/

screw the quant section. your 'mohr' there suggests that you need to be memorizing some vocabs dude.

Strangefox, you need to take a vacation. Right away! I can see where you are coming from, as I was in the same boat 5 years ago when I came here for my undergrad, but let me assure you: you don't need to freak out over every single detail. Laws and rules here are certainly different than in our countries, but nothing to worry about - you will learn/yield as you continue to live here. About paying taxes: yea, you will have to pay taxes (more or less % depending on which state you are going), but you will get it back at the end of the year. Penny for penny, I guarantee. Tho, state taxes aren't/might not be 100% refundable. Fellowship money, scholarship money, TA/RA money are all liable to taxation. Even after living here for >5 years, you will be able to claim the amount that was taxed and get it back, because you aren't a citizen here. That said, check the treaty between your country and the US, as Ninevah said above. For mine, I get everything back at the end of the year.

your two paragraphs contradict each other anyway, most smartphones these days have wifi on them. so if you aren't in an unlimited data plan and pay by the amount of data downloaded, you can use the wifi and not spend much on the internet and email stuff. as for getting the email service only, it depends on the service provider. some have that package available for customers and some don't. if they do, my assumption is that it might cost you more than 5$ (my guess would be about 15-20$).

jailbreak basically means you remove the OS from the phone which was installed by the manufacturer/carrier. however, this term mainly applies for iphone. in android arena, we call it 'ROM flashing' or simply 'flashing'. because the original OS that comes with the phone is loaded with lots of bloatware, you wipe out the factory installed stuff, and install yours. flashing your phone has lots of advantages... you should check out the xda forum if you ever buy/will buy a smartphone.

YESS!!! you are my new favorite person now! and good to see other android lovers on this board! i had a winmo phone but flashed it to android, and life's been so much fun! my contract was up recently, so am waiting for the evo 3d that comes out on friday.

yea, the silicone covers do help. i bought some at the same time when i bought my laptop, used them for few years till i wanted my fingers to run across the real keyboard surface. i recommend that you get those on ebay or amazon - you can get a good one for as low as 2$. the first few days, they will feel kinda sticky.

been a sprint customer for 5 years, and i find this assumption to be inaccurate. going back to original discussion: +1 for smartphones. although you will probably be paying 20-50$ more (compared to your 'flip' phones), they do make your life much easier. fwiw, i pay $50 for free data and all added bonuses on a 4g network.

currently, i own a western digital. it's been 3+ years, and still running strong, hasn't crashed on me even once. but brands such as seagate, toshiba, samsung are pretty good too. if you want a very robust hd, search for solid state drives - very expensive for little memory, but super fast speed.

i started taking notes on my laptop from my undergrad sophomore year and haven't gone back to hand-written notes even once. my handwriting isn't horrible, but i am a fast typist, and i am dead certain that if i were writing down the notes instead of typing, i would have missed a lot of the info. i use any/all of the wordprocessors, name them the day of the lecture and arrange them by directories labeled by their folders, classes, lab or not, and such. the best thing perhaps, of using computers to take notes is the 'search' feature you can use later to dig notes from past semester/s. if you decide to use a computer to take notes, make sure you back up your data frequently. external HDs are cheap these days. the other day, i was looking at a 2TB for around $100.

the area is very renowned for having an awesome public transportation system. that's why i am moving a little away from campus. check out the following links to get an idea on the bus and metro routes: http://www.metrotransit.org/ http://www1.umn.edu/pts/bus/connectors.html

you guys have no idea how horrible it is in mine. can't get worse than what we have. for real.