eklavya

If you are thinking about not attending the Australian school just because it is too far, think again. You are being offered scholarship, which is an A+ fact to consider. Leaving home and studying at a foreign place has its own benefits. You learn the culture, know people, the food is great, and so on. You will also have the time to do new things other than what you usually do at your home town/country. You are going to be gone for a limited number of years only. You can relocate as soon as you finish anyway. Go for it! I'm an international student in the US, and I've been away from home for about 5 years now. To get to home, I have to travel half the circumference of earth... literally!! It can get quite nostalgic at times, but leaving home to come and study here is probably one of the best decisions I have made in my life. I hope you will make a sound decision as well. Congratulations on the offer!

for science programs (from CS to geography to genetics), casual dress is just fine. jeans, tshirt (or a nice shirt) and a sweater/jacket will make you look nice, and science-professional. but don't opt for a punk themed clothes. the key is to look clean, be groomed and smell good.

2 weeks is (more than) enough time for the schools to receive the letters and match them to your application. you might want to consider the probability of the letters being lost. so, as someone told above, ask the letter writer to do so using electronic system - the LoR submission links are active and can be accessed even weeks after submission of your app and/or the deadline is over. most schools know that erratic and unpredictable things can happen during the application process, and will consider if some materials reach the admission office little late.

gloomy grief

the deadlines for biomed majors - are most of these quite early (dec first week)? i see that a lot of biomed/human/neuro programs have sent out interviews.

daily news

event horizon

galvanized steel

fallen angels

round house

I don't think they'll take the emails as annoying. Most of my schools provide online system of checking the materials (like yours). Still, I sent emails to all graduate secretaries just to make sure about everything. I think all of them replied within a day or two and gave me the appropriate updates.

arm rest

roadside inn

oppressive ideology

warrior nation

bright color

bland taste

fine line

workers strike

punk style

air borne

free kick

coming clean

i agree - while this has potential (actually, MUCHO potential) of acting positive, the possibility of adcomms not getting the letters might throw your status up in the air. so, how about contacting the gradsec and asking him/her to pick up the letters from the profs who got the letters? i'm sure you know that the adcomms comprises of other profs in the dept and i don't think they care about you (and us all) to knock doors of the profs to get those letters. so, contacting the gradsec might add a personal/professional touch to the issue as it's the job of the gradsec to care about applicants' stati. of course, it'd be a relief if your prof submits the LoRs via the online system.

way to go!! what were the deadlines for these? didn't apply here, and my field is different. but a school with Dec 1 deadline contacted me last week and invited for interview. another school with a rolling review process (although their hard deadline is Jan 15) also accepted me last week. some schools are sluggish though.. one school (my safety) told me that they were looking at my application about 2 weeks ago, but haven't heard from them yet. so, have been tenting my fingers mr burns style during the wait. perhaps you should too