BlueSwedeShoes

I received some strange requests as well, from another university, saying that they did not accept my official (foreign) transcripts as official because, essentially, they did not follow the American standard of "official" (i.e. signed by a registrar and sent in official school envelope). So I contacted them and together with the lady working on my admission package we worked out a deal that hopefully will fly (I have to send official electronic copies to another office at that university, they will print them and hand them to her and that will magically make everything work again). That said, I would not send any original documents but rather contact them and ask what exactly they mean by "original". They might simply not want a xeroxed printout but an "original" as in provided by some official at the foreign institution.

Today I got an email from one of the universities I applied to saying that my foreign transcripts are not official (in their eyes) and thus not valid. This despite that they are as official as I can make them. They are even verifiable through an online system operated by my university! But nooo...they have to be signed by someone! They have to come in an official university envelope! The fact that neither practice is used at my university matter not apparently. Nor does it matter they have "OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT" printed on them, or that they include information on how to verify them at the bottom of each page. After a few emails back and forth to the lady at the admissions office (who I know is just trying to do her job so no flak in her direction, it's just frustrating when I have done everything according to protocol here but it's not good enough yonder in the States) I am finally directed to email the pdf-files (that I printed and sent hard copy) directly to another office, so that that office can print them and hand them over to the first lady. ... ... So...the printed hard copy is not ok, but sending the electronic version to another office at your university, have them print it and hand to you is perfectly fine? Whatever works for you I guess.

'Sup Cognitive Science buddy (I'm just about to take my Masters in cognitive science) I, too, applied to a certain cognitive science program that had a 2,5k word limit. My SoP was ~800 words. That was plenty

I've had similar problems. I'm an international student (Sweden), and our grading system doesn't even have a numerical value. Still, one program I applied to wanted me to convert it to 4.0 or some other numerical form. I contacted the program directly and they said to not worry about it; if it could be translated into a numerical scale, the admissions office would do so for them and I could just submit with a "N/A" written. So I guess I'm saying that you should contact them directly and explain your situation, hopefully they'll understand

They should, but, in fact, rarely does. In fact, I've gone mad over the old, inaccurate or even conflicting information often found at different parts of university websites (e.g. the program website saying one thing, the admissions office website another and when filling out the online application you get a third option).

Ok, advice from a stranger on the internet who doesn't know anything about that school: Don't do it again. If you're stressed out already, adding the GRE just means you'll, probably, perform worse all over (with the GRE and all the other things too). I'm not convinced you'll manage to get a better score either, you said you studied harder for the second time and still didn't make it as high as you wanted. Plus, it's expensive. This forum, and others, are filled with examples of people with low GRE scores being accepted to all sorts of programs, high and low, engineering or social sciences. GRE is just one factor of many. Some claim it's super important because you won't get funded without it, other says that's not true and the "anecdotal evidence"-level normally shoot through the roof somewhere around that point. In sum, don't do it, focus on the other parts of your application and don't fret over you GRE scores. You'll do fine with what you got. (and if you don't, you can blame the stranger on the Internet who told you otherwise)

I did relatively fine up until the last quant section. Since ETS only offer the (paper-based) GRE test twice a year here, I knew I only had one chance of getting the scores in on time. It was a horrible date for me, and I ended up having to take a night bus to another city a few hours away. So I had to get up at 0230 in the night, take that bus, my breakfast was a cup of coffee and a pre-packaged industrially manufactured pseudosandwich which I ate while waiting outside the testing center for two hours in the Swedish October cold. The test eventually got started, I did the analytical section and then expected that one minute cool-down-between-tests-break, but no. The guy who managed our tests just got up and read the instructions (i.e. turn to the next page, you have 30 minutes, go!" and then it was the next section. Needless to say, the last section, quant...yeah, x has never looked quite as foreign to me as it did then. All my energy was gone, and I did my best. When we got the "One minute remaining!" call, I decided to look through the answer sheet quickly. And saw a question I hadn't filled in. Panicking I just picked a letter and marked it, kept looking down the sheet...there's another unanswered one, and one more...and one more...yeah, somehow I completely missed filling in 5-6 questions out of the 30 But I got an ok score 50 points higher than the powerprep put me at, so I guess I'm awesome at guessing quant questions blindly...

I taught a seminar just the other week on nearly exactly this very question. I'm not going to hand you any answers, but I will point you to some easily accessible sources. Read "The General Intelligence Factor" by Linda S. Gottfredson in Scientific American Presents (1998) as well as "A Multiplicity of Intelligences" Howard Gardner also in Scientific American Presents (1998). Not truly scientific articles, they're rather debating the G-factor contra multiple intelligences but it's a very nice introduction and the arguments they present are well worth thinking about. For a fun read you also have "QI: the Quest for Intelligence" by Kevin Warwick, which is a quick and easy read. (Edit: Hrm, it's a book so you're not going to get through it in an hour. But in a day or two maybe ) Also, I would suggest going back to the origins, have a look at the articles in which IQ was first presented and what the author argued then contra what is known and argued know (it's been over 70 years after all). And why not what Gardner argued in the 80's about multiple intelligences. Last, consider practical applications; what is methodologically feasible to measure? What is "intelligence" more specifically/scientifically speaking? How do you operationalize it? On what criteria should talents/gifts/abilities be included in a test? What is the purpose and context of the test? There you go, now you have some readings and questions to get you started

I took the paper-based test Oct 24th, and while I could not (still can not) access my scores online nor call in myself (international student => toll free number != toll free), but I had someone I know and trust in the states call in for me and get the scores. So they're available to some via phone at least. It does also hedge on the website and says that there might be delays in some scores...

Except it doesn't work (at least not for me)... But hey, what did you expect? It's ETS...

Where do you guys find these ratings? Are they only done one some specific general fields or are there detailed breakdowns? I haven't seen any rankings for the programs I'm applying to. Then again, since I'm applying to both engineering and psychology (and engineering psychology in some cases) I guess they aren't comparable?

I can't say anything about that program specifically, but in my opinion; yes. Keep cutting. In academia, word counts matter. Just like when you write a paper or journal article; if they say you abstract is max 250 words, it won't do with 252. Now, are they going to enforce it just as strict? No idea. Are you willing to take the chance? What does the fact that you cannot follow a simple direction -max 1,000 words- say about you as a graduate student? Also I know some online applications cut the statement after X words/characters, so unless you're sending it in on paper you're risking to lose those last 167 words anyway. I can read through it, but...I'm a foreign student, English is my second language, and I'm writing my own SoPs for the first time this year. But hey, if you don't like what I say, you don't have to listen

*facepalm* I forgot the standard formatting in the States is double spacing. And you don't use A4 paper, and the margins are different. Yeah, makes more sense now length-wise. And I believe you; I'm sure it's possible and I know some people work best that way...I just don't think I could

I took the GRE October 24th. I won't know until earliest November 23rd, if I call in and pay $12 extra (thanks ETS). They won't even mail the scores until December 4th (according to their website), so that's 3 days after some of my school deadlines (thanks ETS). Also, the online ordering did not work for me either. Nor the phone. I sent a mail ordering more reports two weeks ago - still no confirmation. Thanks. ETS. Not a big fan of them right now

Woha, how's this even possible? 105 pages would be what...nearly 50 000 words? My uni gives 8-10k words for BSc thesis and 10-12k words for MS thesis as guidelines. And that's calculated from what's "reasonable" for the alloted time; 400 hours for a BSc thesis and 800 for a MS. Sure, a lot of people go over that word guideline (as well as time limit...) quite a bit, but I don't think I've heard of anyone with more than 25 000 words... Does those 3.5 weeks include all aspects of a thesis (the literature review, experiment design, data collection and analysis etc) as well? Because damn...I would not have been physically able to do my ~14k words (30 pages) thesis in that time! We also defend our thesis and oppose on another thesis at the same level (BSc or MS) - preparing that alone took me a good 1.5-2 weeks... Maybe it's just a difference in requirements between countries and/or disciplines, but I can't just see anyone pulling that off here.

I'm with JerryLandis on this one. All undergraduate students at my program need to write a thesis to get their degree. I think we have a 8-10k word limit, and the time limit is 10 weeks (á 40 hours per week). But how this more specifically differ from a senior/honor thesis, I have no idea. My got published, does that count as honors? Or is it simply some arbitrary college-specific requirement, e.g. write an additional 1 000 words of whatever, that makes it "honors"? And, yes, I am stressed out over my applications and yes it goes out over my regular coursework I'm trying to run an individual research project (actually two, but one is also for credit), and it's getting hard to keep up with it while also trying to get my applications in order...

I didn't know you Americans had other scales than that 4.0 one It's just that it's one of so many things for me, as an international student, that does not really fit the norm. If I were to start one of these "What's my chances"-threads, it would look something like: GPA: N/A GRE: No scores yet, they arrive a few days after some deadlines and a week before the other ones. (Go paper based testing...) TOEFL: 111/120 (Look, I know English!) Awards: None, Sweden ain't too big on those either. But at least I know I'll have 3 good LoR, since I'm helping two of my professors write them...*sigh* So let's just say that I don't really dare to hope for admission anywhere :/

That might be a good idea. I know one of my recs mentions that I have "excellent grades", but does not probe any deeper than that. There is also notes on my transcripts explaining whether the course has a fail/pass or fail/pass/pass w. distinction scale. But that doesn't say much either about how to compare my grades to anyone from the US...

While we are going on about GPA's...what if I don't have one? See, Sweden is great in many ways, but when it comes to putting numbers on people, we're terrible. So I can't calculate a GPA from my grades, some of my courses have 3 steps (pass w. distinction, pass, fail), some have two (pass/fail) and one have 4 (2-5). The only GPA I have is from my one year at an American college. That GPA is 4.0, so I guess that's ok at least. But will this hurt me? Will other international applicants who can put a number on themselves have an advantage? I don't expect anyone from the US to be familiar with the Swedish grading system either, so my lack of GPA might make them toss the application out right away?

I'm going for a similar structure. The very first paragraph is essentially "This is what I want to do". Number 2 & 3 there is a bit meshed together, mostly because a lot of the research experience I have has led to publications (two papers and one poster at large international conferences so far, two more papers in the works) but I have nearly no awards (Sweden isn't too keen on them...). So I have a rough draft now, but I need those people willing to read and critique it. Being in Sweden, there is nobody, not even faculty, that knows any better than I what a good SoP look like.

Same here. Everything is going smoothly, I got professors writing letters of recommendation, TOEFL & GRE are done, transcripts ordered...but the SoPs This is the first time applying to American universities for me too, so I'm just as confused. Should I be very specific about what I want to do, or should I be open to new ideas? Should I focus on the future, or my background? If there is anyone willing to take a look at my SoP I'd appreciate it very much. Right now I just need to get one SoP for one program done so I can model the other ones after it!

My opinion: Do in-person unless you have reasons to believe that you will do much better in the phone interview.

This. I presented an article at a conference in Washington last June and took the opportunity to network like crazy. It opened a lot of doors, one guy even phoned a lady that is a huge name in my field that he happened to know and just handed the phone over to me so I could talk to her right away. I wasn't prepared, but it went fine anyway, because neither was she. She recommended some places, and dropping her name in the contact emails really opened some doors. When I contacted another very interesting potential advisor (Dr. P) I got a tip from a friend doing her PhD under a friend of that potential advisor (Dr. Q) that he (Dr. P) would be giving the plenary at a conference only a few hours away from where I live. So I managed to arrange a meeting, bluffed my way in to the conference (no way I could pay $300 to attend!) and got an impromptu job interview during the nice, free, lunch. Got very good response from him too! And just as a sidenote, I later ended up sitting in for free at a plenary talk at another conference with the very same guy that my friend is doing her PhD for (Dr. Q), and he thought I should join him for the conference dinner. So I used his badge to get in to that conference dinner and had some interesting conversations with him over a nice, free, beer. I believe in networking. And free food.

I'm in a similar position, except I attended an exchange institution for a full year and all universities I'm applying to now requires a transcript from each post-secondary institution attended, no matter for how long. For you though, I'd say it's your call. It seems like they don't require it, and if the courses show up there won't be any "holes" in your transcript anyway. I can only see two reasons for sending the original exchange transcript, and that is 1) just to be safe, and 2) if you have good grades you want to show off. I personally would probably send it anyway, but that's only because I'm paranoid about these things.

The math is simple, but they do try to trick you. However, as an international student I did actually have problems with a few of the math questions...I remember one where they asked "if person X runs Y feet per second, how many miles an hour does X run?". Simple enough? Yeah, the math is no problem, but...how many feet there is to the mile? I had no clue; we use meters and kilometers! Another one concerned how many fluid ounces there was to a pint or something like that, again something that we with the metric system find very alien. Liters, please. While I looked up the most common measurements and how many there was of one to the other, it bothers me that the math section, which claims to be universal and whatnot because, hey, it's math! It's the same everywhere! Really...if you have those types of questions, it's not culture independent; it favors some specific countries. Another reason why I don't like the GRE...