Vene

Public ivies are a good idea, I'd even say look a bit more at the midwestern ones. You clearly have an interest in the area as I see two universities in Chicago on the list. There are a lot of great public universities in the area, and based on what I saw during interviewing the vast majority of people who apply are from the midwest. Coming from a coast may make you look a little more interesting to them. I don't know your exact interests, but in general Minnesota, Michigan, Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Purdue are all great universities with varied research.

Subject tests are probably a different story, but taking one isn't a universal experience. At the least I can say I didn't do one.

I don't know that I accept the weak undergrad rationale as the what the GRE tests is pretty basic. Even the quantitative section only covers high school mathematics.

I'm not an engineer, but I'm relatively certain that it doesn't matter as both sets of scores are pretty damn good.

If the program says it's fine, then it's fine. As for applying early, who knows why the website says to do it. Personally, I think it's a good idea in part because it means that you have the damn thing done and don't have to worry about running into technical issues at the last minute. It also means you can verify with the program in question that everything is in order prior to any official deadlines. But, as long as you get them what they need by the deadline given, you're not going to be at a disadvantage.

Your credentials seem to be pretty good, as a whole. For your GRE it's actually better if you disaggregate it as your quantitative score is more important, you can get away with a lower verbal as you appear to be an international student and the GRE is culturally biased. Just make sure your TOEFL meets or exceeds the minimum for any universities you are applying to. Also, focus more on private universities over state universities as international students cost state universities more than domestic students but there's no difference at a private university. I can't suggest specific universities as there are a lot of them and where you should apply will be heavily based on what kind of research you want to do.

I think these are both really good points. To share an anecdote of my own I used to work in industrial chemistry and my boss got his PhD by doing inorganic chemistry research. One day he was telling me why he picked that specialization and one part of it was that he hated organic synthesis. Well, the project we were working on at the time was an organic synthesis. You never know where you're going to go and what skills you are going to need. By all means, specialize, but don't be surprised if you need to draw on knowledge from outside of your narrow area. Maybe Chinese cooks have some things they can teach to French cooks.

That GPA is great, I don't think it needs to be counteracted, instead I think it's a selling point.

Taking some time away from school is far from a bad idea. There's a whole world out there aside from academia and you can return at any time. Finding a job in an academic lab is great, but I do suggest you take a look at the industrial world as well as I doubt you have much experience beyond academia. I honestly think my background as an industrial chemist helped my application.

I kind of wonder if this is something to bring up in your SOP, to show that a standardized test doesn't accurately describe your abilities. Naturally, you're going to want to phrase such a lot more diplomatically, but I understand that this is from a rant.

Okay, I'm not saying not to apply, but keep in mind that for a PhD program to accept you they're going to have to fight with the graduate college as the vast majority require a minimum GPA of 3.0. People can and do get accepted with lower GPAs, but it's a challenge.

That it's done and you don't have to worry about the damn thing anymore? I can say that after I submitted having a little bit of a buffer zone helped make sure that everything got in. I spoke with some of the secretaries and a few glitches popped up along the way, but everything was able to be smoothed out prior to the official due date.

From what I can see your GRE is fine. Your analytical writing score means nothing as you're an engineer. Your quantitative is good and your verbal is fine. The 80th percentile reads not as a hard requirement, but more that if you want to be competitive that's where you should aim. What I find more concerning is your scores for English fluency. Odds are better than not that what they have listed really is a strict requirement mandated by the graduate college. This is where you need to focus your energy and improve.

Call the registrar's office tomorrow and talk to somebody there. They know their policies and procedures far better than any of us do.

You're going to be a hard sell at this point. At a glance it's going to appear that you weren't able to handle graduate level coursework and you are going to have to find a way to convince adcoms that you can. You have quite an uphill battle, especially since you're applying again so soon.

Why are you interested in their university is probably the question I got asked the most. We also talked about my career goals and what I had been doing post undergrad. Remember that you need to ask questions too. Don't worry so much about what they'll ask you, think about what you want to know. Also, be excited and pleasant. And relax, getting to the interview is the hard part.

Okay, that makes a lot more sense. And I'm not sure if I'd comment upon it. On one hand that's great and you should be very accomplished to finish so quickly. On the other hand, it may call into question maturity due to age. It's going to depend on who reads it for if it's positive or negative.

Huh? You'll need to have at least a bachelors by fall of 2015 to even be able to attend. If you're not getting your BS until 2017 there's absolutely no point in applying this year.

If possible, meet with them in person. I stopped by the office of a former professor of mine to chat (I was working in the same city as said university so I stopped by after work). We chatted for a bit, I told her a bit about my experiences post-graduation and about doing industrial research (something not a lot of professors have experience with, actually). I did direct the conversation to needing the letters of recommendation and it was clear that was the reason I was there. But, I think it was far more effective than sending an email. She sent out the letters almost immediately afterwards.

The lab I'm currently rotating in has a couple of neuroscience students and my interactions when them matches what you're describing here. The neuro students even take some of their classes with the MD students. The work we do is also very cell biology and biochemistry heavy.

Well, I can say that I worked in chemical formulation and PhDs are actually pretty common there. You tend to find a PhD scientist and a BS technician or two. Sometimes somebody with a MS can fill in for a technician and less commonly for a scientist.

Columbia is an Ivy. I also think an Ivy is a stretch considering the lack of advanced coursework in biology and lackluster GRE. I honestly think that this is a case where taking a subject GRE can be a good idea as the minimal background you have in biology is worrying. Neuroscientists work with cells, DNA, and proteins; the biology is vital

I can say that a MS in food science is pretty damn good. From what I've seen the food industry is less concerned than others about having a PhD.

I mostly know that Boston has a lot of universities, but I can't speak to their quality in psychology. You can start with the list on wikipedia and go from there.

You'll probably have to look for cities with a lot of schools. Boston and NYC come to mind.