efs001

I think the buses are good for what they are...free transportation to UNC.  However I wouldn't go so far as to say that you don't need a car depending on where you live.  I live in Carrboro and can take 3 different bus lines.  But none of them run particularly late and where I live there is no night bus.  And the CW which goes through downtown Carrboro comes so infrequently that I would never want to rely on it to do my grocery shopping or run other errands.  I still recommend having a car even if you live on a good bus line.  It gives you the luxury of doing the things you want or need to do and not leave you at the mercy of the bus schedule.

I wish you would apologize to the person who really wanted to get into UCSD but was declined because they offered the spot to you.

I haven't followed this season at all, so I can't really predict what will happen during the finale. I'm guessing that one sportsball team will earn enough points to be the winner over all the other teams, though.

I got into every school I applied to.  I'm going for a professional degree so there are more slots available.  
 
I bombed my last semester because of deaths in my family and dealing with other family issues at the same time which dragged my mediocre GPA down to a 2.89. I took 2 years off and worked in my field to make sure this is something that I wanted to do and would be willing to spend the money to get the advanced degree.  I had decent GRE scores (which I need to compensate for the GPA) and I wrote a very compelling personal statement about what this field means to me and how working made me realize I want to be an archivist for the rest of my life.  I think I had really strong recommendations from two professors and one of my bosses.  I think if you have the other pieces of the package, you have a chance to make up for the lower GPA (within reason of course, I think it's really hard to make up for anything below 2.7).
 
As far as mentioning my GPA in my SOP, I left that out.  I didn't want to draw any more attention to the GPA and with word limits, I wanted to make sure that I came across as excited about this field.  I felt if they were interested in an explanation for why my GPA suffered in my last semester, they would ask me.  One school actually did ask me and I wrote up a small piece that stated this is what happened, I handled it poorly, and that if something like it were to happen again in the future, I would handle it more maturely.  I didn't try and sugarcoat it or try and get them to pity me, I didn't dwell on my mistakes, I was straightforward in my explanation and how I learned from it.

I got into every school I applied to.  I'm going for a professional degree so there are more slots available.  
 
I bombed my last semester because of deaths in my family and dealing with other family issues at the same time which dragged my mediocre GPA down to a 2.89. I took 2 years off and worked in my field to make sure this is something that I wanted to do and would be willing to spend the money to get the advanced degree.  I had decent GRE scores (which I need to compensate for the GPA) and I wrote a very compelling personal statement about what this field means to me and how working made me realize I want to be an archivist for the rest of my life.  I think I had really strong recommendations from two professors and one of my bosses.  I think if you have the other pieces of the package, you have a chance to make up for the lower GPA (within reason of course, I think it's really hard to make up for anything below 2.7).
 
As far as mentioning my GPA in my SOP, I left that out.  I didn't want to draw any more attention to the GPA and with word limits, I wanted to make sure that I came across as excited about this field.  I felt if they were interested in an explanation for why my GPA suffered in my last semester, they would ask me.  One school actually did ask me and I wrote up a small piece that stated this is what happened, I handled it poorly, and that if something like it were to happen again in the future, I would handle it more maturely.  I didn't try and sugarcoat it or try and get them to pity me, I didn't dwell on my mistakes, I was straightforward in my explanation and how I learned from it.

I was in Carrboro this past weekend.  The Food Lion is decent sized and there's also a Harris Teeter.  The Harris Teeter was nicer than the Food Lion.

My grandparents who live in my hometown want me to move closer to home.

Grandmother: Why don't you apply to Buffalo's library science program, I don't want you so far away.
Me: But Buffalo doesn't offer my concentration!
Grandmother: But it's closer to home!

When I was working in my undergrad's archives as a student, I discovered someone had written a murder mystery about History PhD students getting murdered in my alma mater's library. The book was called "Death By Dissertation" and what little I read of it was as cheesy as it sounds.

When I was working in my undergrad's archives as a student, I discovered someone had written a murder mystery about History PhD students getting murdered in my alma mater's library. The book was called "Death By Dissertation" and what little I read of it was as cheesy as it sounds.

When I was working in my undergrad's archives as a student, I discovered someone had written a murder mystery about History PhD students getting murdered in my alma mater's library. The book was called "Death By Dissertation" and what little I read of it was as cheesy as it sounds.

Work experience definitely can make up for a low GPA.  

I'm not 100% sure what you intend to get out of going to graduate school.  You sound like you have an impressive background in research but you come across as a bit egotistical.  Graduate school applications are full of extremely intelligent people from around the world, applying for very few spots.  I've been there, I was a strong student in high school and got into a very good university for college.  I went from being a big fish in a small pond to a little fish in a big pond.  Everyone I went to school with was very smart.  Applying for grad school, you might have become a big fish in your big pond but you're trying to get into a lake. The people are just as smart as you and they're fighting for those few spots.  If getting a PhD is something that you really want to do, I would recommend asking Berkeley how you can improve your application for next year.  I'd also apply to a lot more programs because you will inevitable not be a proper fit for some programs.  That might even be the case with Berkeley.  But if you're in it just to use the equipment, you're better off just getting a job in a lab.

I'm not 100% sure what you intend to get out of going to graduate school.  You sound like you have an impressive background in research but you come across as a bit egotistical.  Graduate school applications are full of extremely intelligent people from around the world, applying for very few spots.  I've been there, I was a strong student in high school and got into a very good university for college.  I went from being a big fish in a small pond to a little fish in a big pond.  Everyone I went to school with was very smart.  Applying for grad school, you might have become a big fish in your big pond but you're trying to get into a lake. The people are just as smart as you and they're fighting for those few spots.  If getting a PhD is something that you really want to do, I would recommend asking Berkeley how you can improve your application for next year.  I'd also apply to a lot more programs because you will inevitable not be a proper fit for some programs.  That might even be the case with Berkeley.  But if you're in it just to use the equipment, you're better off just getting a job in a lab.

I'm not 100% sure what you intend to get out of going to graduate school.  You sound like you have an impressive background in research but you come across as a bit egotistical.  Graduate school applications are full of extremely intelligent people from around the world, applying for very few spots.  I've been there, I was a strong student in high school and got into a very good university for college.  I went from being a big fish in a small pond to a little fish in a big pond.  Everyone I went to school with was very smart.  Applying for grad school, you might have become a big fish in your big pond but you're trying to get into a lake. The people are just as smart as you and they're fighting for those few spots.  If getting a PhD is something that you really want to do, I would recommend asking Berkeley how you can improve your application for next year.  I'd also apply to a lot more programs because you will inevitable not be a proper fit for some programs.  That might even be the case with Berkeley.  But if you're in it just to use the equipment, you're better off just getting a job in a lab.

I'm not 100% sure what you intend to get out of going to graduate school.  You sound like you have an impressive background in research but you come across as a bit egotistical.  Graduate school applications are full of extremely intelligent people from around the world, applying for very few spots.  I've been there, I was a strong student in high school and got into a very good university for college.  I went from being a big fish in a small pond to a little fish in a big pond.  Everyone I went to school with was very smart.  Applying for grad school, you might have become a big fish in your big pond but you're trying to get into a lake. The people are just as smart as you and they're fighting for those few spots.  If getting a PhD is something that you really want to do, I would recommend asking Berkeley how you can improve your application for next year.  I'd also apply to a lot more programs because you will inevitable not be a proper fit for some programs.  That might even be the case with Berkeley.  But if you're in it just to use the equipment, you're better off just getting a job in a lab.

I'm not 100% sure what you intend to get out of going to graduate school.  You sound like you have an impressive background in research but you come across as a bit egotistical.  Graduate school applications are full of extremely intelligent people from around the world, applying for very few spots.  I've been there, I was a strong student in high school and got into a very good university for college.  I went from being a big fish in a small pond to a little fish in a big pond.  Everyone I went to school with was very smart.  Applying for grad school, you might have become a big fish in your big pond but you're trying to get into a lake. The people are just as smart as you and they're fighting for those few spots.  If getting a PhD is something that you really want to do, I would recommend asking Berkeley how you can improve your application for next year.  I'd also apply to a lot more programs because you will inevitable not be a proper fit for some programs.  That might even be the case with Berkeley.  But if you're in it just to use the equipment, you're better off just getting a job in a lab.

I'm not 100% sure what you intend to get out of going to graduate school.  You sound like you have an impressive background in research but you come across as a bit egotistical.  Graduate school applications are full of extremely intelligent people from around the world, applying for very few spots.  I've been there, I was a strong student in high school and got into a very good university for college.  I went from being a big fish in a small pond to a little fish in a big pond.  Everyone I went to school with was very smart.  Applying for grad school, you might have become a big fish in your big pond but you're trying to get into a lake. The people are just as smart as you and they're fighting for those few spots.  If getting a PhD is something that you really want to do, I would recommend asking Berkeley how you can improve your application for next year.  I'd also apply to a lot more programs because you will inevitable not be a proper fit for some programs.  That might even be the case with Berkeley.  But if you're in it just to use the equipment, you're better off just getting a job in a lab.

I'm not 100% sure what you intend to get out of going to graduate school.  You sound like you have an impressive background in research but you come across as a bit egotistical.  Graduate school applications are full of extremely intelligent people from around the world, applying for very few spots.  I've been there, I was a strong student in high school and got into a very good university for college.  I went from being a big fish in a small pond to a little fish in a big pond.  Everyone I went to school with was very smart.  Applying for grad school, you might have become a big fish in your big pond but you're trying to get into a lake. The people are just as smart as you and they're fighting for those few spots.  If getting a PhD is something that you really want to do, I would recommend asking Berkeley how you can improve your application for next year.  I'd also apply to a lot more programs because you will inevitable not be a proper fit for some programs.  That might even be the case with Berkeley.  But if you're in it just to use the equipment, you're better off just getting a job in a lab.

I'm not 100% sure what you intend to get out of going to graduate school.  You sound like you have an impressive background in research but you come across as a bit egotistical.  Graduate school applications are full of extremely intelligent people from around the world, applying for very few spots.  I've been there, I was a strong student in high school and got into a very good university for college.  I went from being a big fish in a small pond to a little fish in a big pond.  Everyone I went to school with was very smart.  Applying for grad school, you might have become a big fish in your big pond but you're trying to get into a lake. The people are just as smart as you and they're fighting for those few spots.  If getting a PhD is something that you really want to do, I would recommend asking Berkeley how you can improve your application for next year.  I'd also apply to a lot more programs because you will inevitable not be a proper fit for some programs.  That might even be the case with Berkeley.  But if you're in it just to use the equipment, you're better off just getting a job in a lab.