joro

Don't be too discouraged about a practice GRE score. When I took a practice test from Kaplan I ended up with about an 800 total. I studied a month before the actual test and my total bumped up to a 1250. If I had studied for 3 - 4 months like I had initially planned, I think I could have at least a 1400+.

1. I signed up for a student credit card with Citi online for my first card. I was lucky that they didn't deny me considering that I had never worked in my life during that time so I had no financial income besides what I had in my savings account. My advice with credit cards is don't spend more than you have in your savings/checking account and don't even try to look ahead to see if you'll have enough to pay off the card when the time comes. I also wouldn't worry too much about APR if you plan on paying everything off each billing statement. Be mindful of what you spend your money on and don't fall into new spending habits. And always make sure you pay on time!

It was free for students in my department (computer science).

Degree Masters OS Windows 7 Pro (free for students) CentOS (free) Useful Fences - for organizing my desktop (free) Ccleaner (free) Defraggler (free) Avast - antivirus (free) Microsoft Office ($50?) Openoffice (free) Firefox/Chrome (free) Computer Graphics Maya - computer graphics stuff (free) Nuke - compositing stuff (free) Zbrush/Mudbox - sculpting stuff $$ Realflow - fluid sims $$ Massive - crowd sims (free) Photorealistic Renderman (free) Programming Visual Studios - C/C++ and C# stuff (free) Eclipse - Python, Java, Perl stuff (free) Notepad++ - anything really, but mainly renderman sl (free) Fun Steam - with all my games ($50 >) Topcoder contest applet (free)

I had my application reviewed in mid-January. They said I will know decisions by end of March to early April. I would have guessed that they finished reviewing my application and ranked it accordingly. Then they will probably accept their top applicants and reject the rest. This is what I'm assuming anyways.

I'm still waiting on my last 7. I hope I at least get 1 decision next week.

You guys are pretty lucky. My school's drop date was only 2 weeks into the semester.

There was actually a problem with the LOR. They accepted him first, but had to reject him because they required 3 LORs. They found the 3rd LOR and said they can finally take him. I think it's stupid to do that too.

Wow...that really sucks. That happened to my friend. They accepted him first, then sent another notice that he was rejected, and finally a few days later sent another email that said he was accepted for sure.

Just noticed someone revived a thread from July 2009. I hope the person who made this thread found a bag by now, but I'm going to give my opinion just in case other people are interested. I carry a laptop pretty much all the time. I'm currently using this bag from Brooklyn Industries: http://www.brooklynindustries.com/bags-backpacks/conduit6 (in navy) For laptops, Timbuk2 is a pretty good brand. Quality is great, but they might be a little on the expensive side for some people. Here is a great link to a list of different brands (not really just for laptops by the way). http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=50734

I normally open every other email before that particular email. Here are the titles for the schools I was accepted to: Decisions Are Available Online Admission and Fellowship Award Rejection: Graduate Application Decision Notification

I look forward to actually knowing where I will go. At the moment, I don't look forward to finding out whether I did get into my first choice or not.

I'm still waiting to hear back from them. The department I applied to doesn't have visitations till August I think. When all accepted get introduced to faculty and current students.

I'd wait since nothing will happen to you if you wait till then. Your first choice won't retract your acceptance if you wait unless you wait past the proposed deadline.

You can try to find contract or project based positions which last within that time frame of yours.

A 14 hour drive isn't too bad. It's better than my 29 hour drive if I get into my first choice.

I'm still at 30% complete. Waiting on my 7. I saw that 2 of the schools I applied to have results posted already.

Check if you can be a TA or RA after your first semester.

I also predict at least 2 schools will be sending out decisions for me this week and I have a feeling I know which 2.

That's actually what happened to me this time around. I discovered a program for this application year which is an absolute perfect fit for me and is within reasonable reach. I hope the same thing happens to you and maybe you'll find opportunities to strengthen your application for the next application year.

I don't pay attention to comments like that. I also assume those comments are just made out of anger. I'm going after a MS first, but my ultimate goal is a PhD. I have my plan already laid out (even schools I'm going to apply for a PhD) and now I just need to go through the steps till I complete it.

Considering I have yet to year from the 7 other schools I applied to. I suppose until my first choice finally denies me admission, then I'll decide among the schools that have accepted me so far. They said late March to early April, so I guess the latest will be early April for me.

Wow...that is horrible. I'd probably start demanding answers if I was in that position. What will happen now to your family? Are you guys going to stay there and have your husband attempt to reapply? I think it would be rather awkward for me to do such a thing. All that assurance of getting in and in the end you don't get in.

Last year was a nightmare for me. Rejections pretty much across the board and schools interested but will not fully accept me because I was missing my 3rd LOR. I almost let this happen to me again this year, but I found someone else to write a LOR for me last minute. This year, I have been fully admitted to 2 schools instead of conditionally admitted because of the missing LOR.

I'm really surprised that you haven't received an acceptance anywhere since you got a scholarship. Isn't outside funding from scholarships a huge plus when it comes to admissions?