Vene

You are highly competitive.

With stats like that even a safe school can still be a pretty kickass university.

I'd recommend doing biochemistry after organic chemistry. Not being familiar with functional groups can put you in a world of hurt as can poor familiarity with reaction mechanisms. As for the labs do whatever you are more interested in at this point in time. Don't worry if it matches what you want to do in graduate school. The important thing is to get experience with the research process. And don't worry overly much about rushing to get the right class (biochemistry or molecular biology) as you'll learn a lot more by doing in the lab than you will from the class. If the class fits your schedule and you don't have to burden yourself to take it, sure. But, if it means loading up on too many credits ease back as it's more important to keep your GPA high than it is to get in the class you perceive as being important for undergrad research. The PI, postdocs, and/or grad students will train you.

We have someone in our cohort who spent a year making pizza before doing graduate school.

I think that's a reasonable amount. Some factors will change it. If you move one state over it's a lot cheaper than moving to the opposite coast, for example. Cost of living in the city where you're moving also changes things; it's a lot cheaper to pay for first month's rent/deposit in Des Moines, Iowa than New York, New York. If you accumulate any furniture it can both cost and save you as on one hand you need to move it and this may mean a higher cost for travel, but it does mean that you don't have to scramble to buy furnishings at the new city so you can be on the lookout for the right sale.

I disclosed the other schools. I don't think it really matters as every program should damn well know that you're looking at other universities.

But haven't you actually worked with your potential PI at U of T already? You've effectively already done a rotation with him. Oh, and I see no good reason not to have him write a letter for you. If the program is accepting of 3 letters and you know the other 2 are strong may as well send it in. I don't think I'd say no to having a member of the faculty at the school you're interested in writing you a letter.

I'd be very, very hesitant to pursue a program where only one member of the faculty matches your interests. Even if you get everything set up you may find out that you two don't mesh well when working and then you're kind of stuck in that lab. Also check out if any of the programs of interest do rotations, it can give you more opportunities to find the ideal lab instead of walking in on day one and spending the next 5 or so years working under an advisor you barely met.

If it was me, I would go with lab 2. The first one sounds like you're not so interested in it and I personally think that the independent nature of lab 2 would be awesome. But, you're not me, so you have to decide what sort of risk you are willing to take and how narrowly focused your research goals and interests are.

Looking at their website "GRE scores are not required for admission. However, some internal fellowships require these scores. You may include unofficial reports in your packet or have official scores sent directly to us." I'd say that there's no need for a GRE for admission. I don't know the GPA scale in Canada, so I don't know what a 4.0 is, but over here it's a perfect score. But, assuming it means you got mostly As and Bs (preferably more As than Bs), you're fine. But, you may want to take the GRE anyway depending on what you're looking at for funding.

Yes, well, some of us are limited by geography and can't just fly over to those countries for free/cheap education. So you can't really compare the cost of BU compared to what it would take for a German citizen to get a degree in Germany (to pull a country out of my ass). You have to compare the cost of BU and the benefits of the resources it provides to something like the cost of UMass-Boston and the resources it provides.

I contacted my letter writers in September, about the same time that I had the schools in mind and when I started filling out the online form. For most of the schools there was a page within the online application where I filled in the information for my recommendations and it sent then an email with the information to submit their letter. I think for one program it didn't send out LOR info until after I had submitted my application. I don't really know quite when they need the LORs by, but its best for it to be in by the deadline. I had programs contacting me in December, only a couple weeks after the application deadline. So, right now, this is the time to consider who you want to write letters for you and in the next month or so approach people to see if they're willing to do it.

Dumb luck during the test will alter your score slightly, so going from 169 to 165 means absolutely nothing. You have a high quant score and a high verbal score. You're set, especially for a masters degree.

My impression was that graduate programs don't mind if you don't have extensive research experience, but they want you to have enough to know what you're getting yourself into. Write in your SOP about how much you enjoyed doing the work and that you genuinely want to continue doing research and I don't think you'll have a problem. I'd also add some upper tier programs to your list as long as the research they do interests you. Umbrella programs are good because I don't think they expect you to be as set on your exact research interests are non-umbrella programs. And I agree to not do a post-bac, you're not deficient. If you were to try and get more experience get work experience instead.

In that case talk to the admin assistant for the program or the director (probably the assistant, they tend to know more about the minutia of a program). You may have to follow up with another person afterwards, but you'll get going in the right direction. Besides, even if it is unusual, EE and materials are at least pretty closely related to physics, so I'd imagine there is plenty of overlap as far as areas of study.

I went through a couple days on Monday and Tuesday. It started with an overview of the program as well as what was expected from us as far as courses and such were concerned. We filled out tax forms and such so we could start getting paid our stipend. We had time to talk to current graduate students about how the program was run and what we should expect. We went on a quick tour of campus (quick because most of campus was irrelevant to us). Finally, we ended day one with online safety training. Day two was entirely safety training. This has the graduate school a bit spooked, so I think they really want to be certain we're trained in what we do.

My writing score was that low and I got interviewed at the University of Vermont as well as Minnesota. I don't know what kind of schools you're looking at and I know its a different field. But, we're both in the sciences and I'd be shocked if physics departments cared more about writing than life science departments. So, I'm thinking that depending on where you looking at applying as well as the rest of your application it may not be worth the time and money to retake the GRE.

That's kind of what I was thinking. Besides, adding in a new degree level just adds more complexity to already complex system. And good luck explaining on your resume what a CDC is.

Congratulations. I don't have anything to add about the academic side of things, but I wish you and your fiance a long, happy marriage.

That does change things a bit, I think. When I wrote my SOP I included more broad interests, but not a specific research project as the program I'm entering does rotations so I don't even know for sure who I will be working with yet and my thesis project will depend upon the aims of my advisor's lab.

That's not going to happen right away, especially if you're just now putting on some significant muscle due to how much heavier muscle is than fat. The fact that you're increasing how much you can bench does show that your body is changing. Also keep in mind that as you build up muscle that your new muscles will need more calories, so they will slowly start to use up your stored fat, which is a process that takes time.

How do you figure? One of my LOR writers gave me a copy of her recommendation so that I could hang onto it and use it for jobs or similar things.

This sounds more or less like how much effort I put into mine. One weekend I wrote the thing. The next weekend I did some revising. I was never the person in college who had to do three or four drafts of a paper; I'd just write the thing, give it a once over, and turn it in. I think it worked out well enough. Now, as for submitting the final application, I had to work up the guts to actually click the button and tell myself that it was really, truly finished.

If nothing else, you gotta keep in mind that it is in the best interests of your advisor for you to succeed.

Not trying to imply any of that, but a graduate department in a public university will have to provide less in tuition for a domestic student who either is or can establish residency compared to an international student. So, it can become fiscally harder to justify bringing in an international student over a domestic one all else being equal.