eklavya

knee cap

how mediocre? but in some cases yes, it does. but it's the LoRs that do the trick more than your SoP. if you have some research done, GPA/GRE and some flunked classes won't lower your chances... i'm the proof! for biology, it's mainly research and LoRs they look at. but of course, other aspects of your application are also important. i have about 3 yrs of research in genetics lab with couple publications. i also did 2 internships at very very highly acclaimed national (American) and international (European) institutes, and made the PIs of the institutes write LoR for me. i already have two acceptances (from my 2nd and 3rd picks), and am waiting on few (1st pick and safety schools), which i'm confident i'll get in. my gpa is not bad and bombed the verbal gre.

just make something up and throw it in there. this (what you put on the site) isn't going to be the golden ruler to measure your future leaps and progress. but make sure you throw in some big words to scare the undergrad folks.. hehe

green squash

My home country is in the foothills of the Himalayas. But I hate snow. Perhaps because it never snows in my place, where I grew up and lived before coming to the US. In the state/town I live right now, it snows Nov-March. It's not fun. Ironic, most of my top picks are the most-snowy states in the midwest. And am heading to a school for an interview next month (my 3rd pick). I don't want to develop any negative attitude beforehand, but seems like I can't help it. Unless they offer a nice financial package that is able to melt my heart all year long, I can't see why and how I will end up in this school.

makin' love

stock watch

sure.. i for sure would be interested to know how this turns out. but my opinion is that twitter isn't a formal way (compared to email/phone) of getting to know profs. it certainly could be helpful IF you knew the profs beforehand... but for establishing contact for the first couple of times, i don't think it is going to be very useful/effective. on the other hand, i doubt tweets do a good job in delivering and explaining your intended message.

sweet!! i have been invited to university of minnesota for interview, plant sciences.

enforced statement

peace out

software piracy

there is no basis - it's whatever the hell they want. you would think that the processing costs would be more or less the same for institutions in the same country, and yet there's a huge fluctuation in the range of money they charge us. like i said before, i paid 30$ to 95$ for schools in the midwest... why there's such a gap, i have no freaking idea.

the first word that got my eyes - Queer

While it's not the (established) norm to have some sort of publication before applying for grad school, I believe that most people work really hard to get something published... at least a/few posters if not a peer-reviewed article. It's needless to say that having publication/s definitely boosts up your chances to get into the programs of your choice. I don't know how many of us here have a masters, but you're right about the fact that most people do have publications. I think a significant bunch of people here have also taken some time off after their studies (post-BS/MS) to work in some research-based place and have had some publications this way. Some choose to do post-baccalaureate internships and have publications that way... whatever they can to raise their chances. But that said, I know of at least 7 people who graduated from my lab (2 undegrads, 5 masters) within the past 3 years that had zero publications but still got into top 10 programs. In fact, 3 of them went to human research from plant research, and had no problem in getting full funding. And my school isn't particularly known for its research. So you see, publications aren't the only things that affect your chance of admission.

what are you even talking about!? giving up hope, this early in the season? due to various constraints involved, sending emails out to all interviewees can take some time. just to prove my point, go look at the list of UNC interviewees for this year, and you will see that there's a wide-spread in the dates when they got notifications. so, it's certainly not time to worry/panic about these things. the christmas eve isn't here yet for crying out loud!! c'mon man! get a hold of yourself.

i like how the font and dark background makes your stuff goth-like... a gothic fish, to be precise, hehe

not here!! dumb school charged me the whole 75$ - oh well, time to leave anyways.. almost!

bad idea

perhaps ask her to submit the letters using snail mail? this might cost you $ and cause her inconveniences, but if you fear that she might be challenged by the online system, this might be a better route to get the job done.

Not Baylor, but happened to me with another school. I re-sent the emails from the application page, and the issue was solved. If this doesn't work, delete all recommenders (or the ones who didn't get emails) and add their names and email ids again. This should take care of the problem.

I would agree with the person above. Go for it. Until you take chances, you are not going to know. Perhaps you will get in, who knows! Maybe your GPA will be compensated by your GRE, research, SoP and LoRs. Adcomms in different universities are looking for different things. So while you might have decent chances at some institutions, you have have great chances at others. Also, if you are really worried about your grades, contact few professors in places where you'd like to go and see if they are willing to take in students. If you have an approval/positive nod from a prof, you have even more chances of getting in.

Thanks! But I wasn't expecting a decision this soon... Good luck to you/us all!!

rubber tub

I beg to differ. Please don't think I am being ignorant or arrogant as I present my opinion. I am not willing to buy that idea that non-science majors have dominated the list 'because they are still important'. For one, I have always thought they were important. I mean, as important a doctor/engineer/scientist is to the society, a teacher/writer/historian is the same, if not more. Second, I think a lot of confounding variables have to accounted for in order to understand the list. Such as, perhaps the humanities majors have dominated the list because most people (choose to) study those majors? And/or, comparatively, many people from the humanities hover around in this board (again, because most people are in such majors)? And could it be that people from science/professional majors have less time than other majors, because of their course load? Or perhaps they just choose not to join these kind of forums? Further, may be they don't know about this and similar forums? Many reasons here. The point is, non-science majors could have been represented more either due to their still-existing-importance (as you are saying), or because of unexplained factors/trends that shift these statistics. And thinking that you guys don't get respect is a fear you have from within. Any educated person always respect another human being - regardless of class, rank and education. Please don't self-depreciate yourself... like I said above, you guys are as important contributors to the balance of our society as we are.