eklavya

nope, the ETS cannot/doesn't do that! even if they were (able) to do so, they would have to get your permission to disclose your health/medicinal condition. but no, they don't do that. and regarding your ADD and grad schools. don't worry about it too much. go through the app process as how any other student would. your app should be reviewed (be it positively or negatively) solely based on your performance and skills, and not on your health condition.

i used google extensively, and i swear i tried the top 100 or so sites. however, most sites have pretty much the same words, and after your skim through 5-10 websites, remaining aren't that useful. however, most websites have unique math questions, and that really helped me a lot. to find repetitive words, search something like 'most frequent gre words'. you can also search for 'barron/kaplan/princeton gre word list' and print the words, if you don't have the books already. there are plenty of softwares you can download (again, google is your best friend) and use on your machine locally.

if 80% is rare in your country, i see that it could be an error on the univ's part. email them and ask if it's what it is. and like the person above said, 74% from 11 years ago might mean something more now. on the other hand, you can also contact profs in the dept, and ask about your chances. it's likely that your 11 years of experience in the field will offset the grade requirement.

in your case, it is most likely that if something reaches after dec 1, you might be out of luck. however, schools are flexible, and often lenient and consider materials that reach a couple of days late. it's unlikely that they'll gather up all materials at dec 1 midnight and trash anything they receive tomorrow and after. however, it is not worth taking the risk at this point!! if you are 101% sure that the materials won't reach later than dec 1, go for the 24$ option. otherwise, make the materials reach early. better in time than on time!

now that you've turned in apps at few places and the deadlines for other schools are (presumably) not too distant, it's not worth fighting. even if you put up a fight, ETS might/will take weeks, if not months, to sort this out. for science folks like us, quantitative is what matters the most. not always, but mostly. if i were you, i'd send the latest scores as it clearly has the higher Q. and the V ain't bad either.. you got >500, which is an awesome score. while emailing sounds good, the school will also want a proof of what you're saying. and you'd want them to see the scores with higher Q score anyway. so, it's better to send the latest scores. make sure to explain about your name situation as well, otherwise it might create issues if your transcript/application/LoRs don't mention about your second name.

it sure does matter. otherwise, why would lebron go to miami instead of staying with the cavs? but in all honesty, being productive is more important than where you end up. look around, and you'll find that most of the nobel laureates are from schools/places unheard of.

sweet! am applying to phd at UF. i sure hope i at least get to visit the place sometime in feb/march.. that'd be a nice break from the frigid cold here!

south park. anyone?

free stuff

don't take my word for it, but 'the girl with a dragon tattoo' was much more hyped than it should have been. i didn't like it very much.

you can email current graduate students in the departments of all universities and ask how their situation was around this time when they were accepted. also ask how is the market placement of the graduating classes. based on what they say, you'll be able to sort out your odds from the evens. hopefully things will turn out well for you.

i'll take a look at it.. pm me whenever!

i can take a look at it.. send me a pm

it is unclear whether there's any funding from any/all three schools. if they say they can't fund your stay, then going for the cheaper school is a wise option. or, if you can get fellowship from your country, that's nice too. however, if you have heard nothing about funding, that means they might still be in the process of sorting out funds for MS students. unlike for phd candidates, funding decision for MS students can take a long time. so, you can contact the program and ask them what the situation is. wisc and duke are ranked high up there and i'd assume they'd have money to fund their students. just hang in there.

the first paragraph is the hardest one, ain't it? i swear to zombie jesus, it took me about 3 weeks to write the first line of my SoP! i finished first paragraph in about 5-6 weeks' time. after this was done, putting together the body and tail was almost like taking a candy from a baby when you say starting with a question, do you mean the first sentence ends with a '?'? idk if this is a bad or good idea, but what matters is that you make the reader feel comfortable. some people might not buy your idea of creativity. so, perhaps start with an indicative sentence of why you are pursuing your graduate degree? and then fill in with other supporting statements. i wrote my first paragraph the usual way - why am i interested in my field of science, and what have i done so far to prove that i really like this field, and that i'd absolutely love to spend my life on this field (thence, the application to the graduate program).

bringing this thread up so that all of us who are waiting to hear from schools can spend some quality time over thanksgiving break and upcoming winter/christmas break. i haven't been able to watch very many movies this year, so i am throwing in some old remarkables. and you might find my taste of movies little off, but check these out if you have couple of hours to spare... you'll come back to the thread to +1 my post red (2008) - this is a true gem valhalla rising (2009) - incredibly boring if you don't have the right perspective, but i guarantee, each and every scene is worthy of being blown up and made a poster out of!! dead man's shoes (2004) - very moving movie about australian brothers the jacket (2005) - psychotic; almost incites claustrophobia revolver (2005) - really nice british gangster film [on this genre, check out: trainspotting (1996), layer cake (2004), this is england (2006)] 9 (2009) - this is an animation movie, and didn't get much attention but is awesome! a scanner darkly (2006) - another movie that went almost unnoticed keep adding, folks!

no, you can still get by. see, you tell them that the gre is on its way, and should be there soon. and add that this delay quite possibly might have happened due to miscommunication between the univ (main) grad admission office and the dept grad admission office. some dept are adamant about getting the original copy of the scores, but i've found that the schools on your 'backup' (read: low-ranked) list pretty much don't care. once your app is reviewed and by the time you get your admission offer, everyone will have forgotten about the real copy.

you can/should throw in any and all information that you think will fortify your application. listing activities such as research, internships, seminars/conference, and so on related to your major is definitely recommended. mentioning titles, locations and host (if popular in your field) of the seminars and workshops will look good as well. however, you don't want to use tiny fonts, leave no margins, and go over a page. it should be a nice summary of your academic strengths and nothing more. also check out this thread:

being a student of another faculty, i do not have full knowledge regarding all the concerns you have. however, i don't think it's a good idea to go on and list names of all the places you want to work with. you can certainly say that you want to work in such and such areas with institutions like this company or that university, but enlisting all candidate places might represent you as a stiff character. other people in the forum might differ but imo you don't have to 'list one path that tightly corresponds to the degree'. if you think of it, one of the main reasons to why you are applying to graduate programs is to acquire certain skill sets (by focusing on a wide area or two) so that you can remain flexible and have the potential of jumping into other related ares, if required. and since you were away from school for a while and have learned a bit about your field of interest, the adcomm will be considerate and appreciate you being honest with your choice of multiple career options.

not a poem, worse. apparently, dude (he was some anthro/humanities major i think) tried to link the story of star wars with what he wanted to do in his grad program. idk how well he connected that story with his life, but one of my other friend who was roommate with this guy later told me that his star wars story occupied about half the length of his SoP. in my culture, this type of situation is referred to as 'monkey talent ball damage' hehe..

the undergrad thing sound great. another nice loophole is that you contact the graduate office in the program you are applying, and tell the gradsec that you reported the score couple of weeks ago, and ask if it has arrived yet (of course it won't have arrived ). then ask the gradsec if you can send a scanned/fax copy of the score for review, till they get the official one. the answer usually is yes. be proud - you just made the damn ETS lose 23$!! on the downside, you just lied and are going to hell

creativity is nice, but too much is overkill. one of my friends (US citizen) in a different major, an excellent scholar and great personality, went out of the line to be creative in his SoP, and got rejected by 6 of the 7 schools he applied to. an example i frequently recall to remind me that overdoing certain things can backfire. as previous posters have outlined, be professional in the SoP. mention the research and other experiences you've had so far and present them in a way that makes you stand out from others. i usually prefer the classical style of writing, minus the story part (eg: when i was 8 year old, my grandpa took me too a zoo, and that's when i started loving chimps). i like to mention few key points about how the situation in my place/town/country has driven me to pursue a degree in certain field, but without beating my drums too loud. swift, but subtle. and yea, i'd too throw out the dialogue part. fwiw, i am an int'l student as well.

try sending an email to the graduate secretary or the graduate program coordinator (usually a prof in the dept). you can expect to hear back within an hour to few days, depending on how busy they are.

higher cumulative gpa definitely helps, but is not a killer if your major gpa is high - especially as high as yours. if you can maintain the major gpa and increase cumulative by as much as you can, do well in the GRE, and have awesome research experience, LoR and SoP, you'll get into any bigshot school. most admission decisions are also functions of funding, positions available and severity of ongoing research. therefore, it all depends. going for a masters is a great idea! i have been telling this in most of the related threads around here that getting a masters boosts your gpa, research experience, and networking skills. you also get decent chances of publishing couple of papers and attending few conferences. and trust me, you'll cruise through the app/admission process after all this, than now. good luck!

GRE for science people doesn't mean much. in your field, it might be different. why not apply and see what happens? or, you can contact faculty in few schools and see what they have to say about your resume. most profs think GRE is useless anyway. also, if you are planning to apply to PhD programs, think about getting a masters first. not only it will make your application for PhD much stronger, it will definitely help you in the long run.