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earlybird94

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  • Application Season
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    Materials Science and Engineering

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  1. Thank you, I have read through parts of the pinned threads but will look through them in greater detail later. My current plan is to go to grad school directly after graduating, and the test scores last for five years, but of course, my plans could easily change within the next few years. Good advice, hopefully I will be able to have worked on two good projects, published or not, by the time I apply for grad school. I apologize, that is closer to what I intended to write than what I posted is and I agree, in the end, the program, advisor, and fit are much more important than are rankings. Yes, this was my experience applying for undergrad as well. The bar is definitely set higher for admissions for international students, and I am not sure if the fact that I was completely educated in the US matters at all. I know that funding is a huge part of the decision making process for grads. Are admissions chances changed at all if an applicant could pay for tuition/a program without funding? Or is admission based solely on your application? It is often the case for many undergraduate universities to give no financial aid for international students, although whether or not it affects admissions is questionable. I will keep that in mind then, as I move on from here. I apologize again, I did not mean to imply that my life goal was to obtain a PhD, but it is indeed an important stepping stone to what I hope to achieve afterwards.
  2. I am new to this forum, so forgive me if I break any rules, both spoken and unspoken, and also for this extremely lengthy post! The topic of grad school has been on my mind a lot recently, despite being a sophomore in undergrad, and I was hoping to get some advice as to what things I'm doing wrong, or right, in terms of preparing myself for grad school and grad school admissions, so here goes. About me: As I said, I am currently a sophomore studying Materials Science and Engineering at a very highly ranked (depending on who you ask) school in my field. I am also pursuing minors in Computer Science and Electronic Materials, both out of personal interest. Here are some of my relevant stats: GPA: 3.80/4.00 GRE: 157 V, 168 Q, 4.5 W Important to note is that my GPA is only for freshman year, so it probably isn't a good indicator for anything right now. My GRE score is also official, not a practice test score. I took it freshman year to see if it was something I would need to focus on later, sort of also for fun as well, but I did decently well and am wondering if I should take it again in a year or two. I can probably do better, as I didn't do any prep whatsoever beforehand, but I'm wondering whether I should bother spending time and energy on the GRE if I don't have to. I have been involved in research since fall of my freshman year regarding hard drive disks. I also spent this past summer in a different lab at a different school working on 3D printed architectured ceramics. No publications yet, but I very well may have one by summer time. In terms of research topics for grad school, it is honestly too early to tell, as I have yet to take the bulk of my core classes, but I am heavily leaning toward topics involving nanostructured materials or are related to semiconductors, hence my second minor. I will have to admit that I do not have much of any relation, positive or negative, with any professors at school beyond my faculty advisor (who, luckily, also happens to be my PI), and is an area that I know I will have to work on, as I know letters of rec are extremely important. I know that most of the people here resent ranking grad school programs by the universities they are a part of, but in terms of my goals I would have to say that I am just aiming as high as I can right now. I should also mention that I am an international student who has gone through K-12 in the US, but I do not have a green card or citizenship. There is a possibility that I may have a green card by the time I graduate, but I don't know if I can count on that happening. I know that it is especially hard, in most cases, for international students to be admitted to grad school, so I am hoping to counter that by preparing early and maximizing my potential in any areas that I can. I do a fair share of extra curriculars as well, but the only relevant ones are probably that I tutor physics and calculus for my school and am an RA (resident assistant). Going to grad school has been always been long term goal for me, whether that be for a Masters, PhD, or both, and I would appreciate any constructive criticism or advice! I can provide any additional, relevant details if needed. Thanks again in advance!
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