Vene

Now that's just bullshit, there's always more to cover in every field. Your freshman intro to the humanities class was not representative.

I honestly don't think that the AW score means anything in biology. It really should be your lowest priority as the type of writing the AW section tests is not at all the type of writing done in science.

They shouldn't hold it against you. I'd just call (or email, probably easier than international calling) them and say that your financial situation has changed and you are no longer able to attend. If you paid a deposit of any sort that will be lost, however I see no reason why they would charge you anything.

This lists the percentiles, they're not just based on your test day: http://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_guide_table1a.pdf In general, aim for at least the 75th percentile. Depending upon your field the standards will vary, of course.

The job sounds awesome, congratulations on it. Not having publications shouldn't be a big deal, the important thing is that you have experience doing research and can get good recommendations. I'd actually suggest working there for a year so that you can get a solid recommendation from your supervisor. Your GPA is certainly competitive, although getting into the absolute top universities could be difficult. Same with your GRE scores. They are certainly high enough that you should get make it past any cutoffs. As an international student, private universities are your best bet. I would think you should be able to at least get into a mid-tier program, but the most important thing is to show that you're a good fit through recommendations and your statement of purpose. Also, be confident in your abilities. If you don't believe in yourself why should the admissions committee?

I was thinking the entire package. And I do think you should try and get as much information as possible before applying (including doing some legwork on cost of living). I think it's okay not to talk too much about the money prior to getting an acceptance, but once you have it absolutely ask for details. I don't know how everyone else does it, but I had the contact information of a couple of graduate students given to me for if I had questions. And although I can say that I'd be happy to talk about the financial details during the interview stage with any prospectives, I can understand being hesitant at the time. All I can offer here is my program is that way. I don't pay fees or for my health insurance premiums (which is really damn nice). The downside is that our stipend is a little on the low side for this region of the country.

Talking to current graduate students is a good way to finding out what additional perks a program will offer. Or, for that matter, the negative things you're not told about (such as if there are heavy fees you're responsible for paying when you register).

Well, I can say that the grades for my grad level biochemistry class last fall was from low 80s and up. The exams are designed so that a typical graduate student should get over 80% of what is asked correct. We had 4 exams which was worth the majority of the points for the class, with homework assignments for maybe 10% of the total grade. There will be differences between different universities for the details, but I believe this is not outside the realm of what is normal.

This is going to make it extremely hard to stay in academia. I sympathize, I really do. It's just that with the academic market the way it currently is you have to be willing to sacrifice a lot in order to get a job as a professor. If you absolutely must remain in the Northeast, then you may have to broaden your horizons away from marine mammals. I'm also assuming that you're looking at more than just environmental science programs and also researched programs in ecology, zoology, biology, and the like.

Is a masters even required for that field? Is there a reason to do a masters instead of going directly into a PhD program?

Will the job pay more than your assistantship+tuition waiver? If it doesn't, you plan costs you money. Let's assume 20 hours per week, as that seems to be a standard expectation for TAing. Let's also assume a month is 4 weeks for simplicity. So, 1250/(4*20)=15.625. Without the tuition waiver, the GTA is worth $15.625/hr. This is the tuition rate for GMU. I'm going to assume environment science is College of Science, Other Graduation Programs, and I'm going to assume you're getting in-state tuition. That's $546/credit. At 24 credits/year (because that is how much my program covers per year), tuition will cost you 24*546 or $13104. So, the real value of your GTA is not $15,000/year, but $28,000/year. This is $2333/mo. So, let's recalculate the value of an hour of work. 2333/(4*20)=$29.1625. Assuming my assumptions are valid, you'll need to find a job that pays $30/hr working half time to break even. Or, you can work full time at $15/hr to break even. Otherwise, it's better to take the GTA and if you absolutely must, supplement that with student loans. If they're not valid, recalculate with more realistic numbers as I don't know your exact situation.

I could see that for one student, but two is the start of a pattern. An 8+ year PhD is also the fault of the advisor for not pushing their student to graduate or not recognizing that said student is not cut out for a PhD. If the advisor has had many students graduate in 5 years, that might change the situation, but I do think it's a red flag.

I would imagine because that corresponds to the amount of education a typical college graduate in the US has.

I think that choosing just based on research is bogus, you need to go where you can do well. The best school that funds you can make some sense for getting an academic job (prestige matters a lot-too much if you ask me). Ultimately, I like where I am because of the research environment, not the research project. I know I'm really flexible on what sort of topics I'm willing to pursue (and fully expect to work on a variety of projects during my career). There are also reasons why I don't really want an academic job after I finish this degree, so I'm less concerned about rankings. Instead, I want to be at a place where I am respected and can learn. It also doesn't hurt that the location of the university is nice and someplace where I like living. I can only really tell you what I would do, because I know my priorities. What are your priorities? That is what determines where you should go. It's a bit trite, but I think it's the truth.

When I applied to graduate school (US citizen, US graduate schools) the vast majority of my research experience was industrial. I was working in chemical formulation and that background was seen in a favorable light. I'd be surprised if engineering, which has even greater industrial focus, would have a problem with an industry placement. Assuming that you would work on research and development of some sort I'd think it would count as research experience. And from what you describe, it sounds like research.

I sincerely wish every university did this, it would make picking universities that match your credentials so much easier.

I can offer that I grew up in rural America, my high school definitely did not have AP or IB courses. I was lucky in that I could do dual-enrollment as a local community college, but even still I didn't consider applying for top tier colleges because of my peer group. Sure, I'm in a doctoral program now, but I think that's as much dumb luck as it is from ability.

That sounds like it's a 3.5 average, not a 3.5 cutoff, so I'm inclined to say apply and hope for good news. And fyi, there's a page for UMN that lets you look at programs statistics, which should help you see how you compare to previous classes. https://apps.grad.umn.edu/programs/select_program.aspx?l=t Unfortunately, when I tried it just now, it says the service is unavailable. Hopefully that just means the IT department needs to fix it, not that they're no longer providing the information.

If it's a slight difference, go with Netherlands. Do multiple international rankings put the Irish university above the Dutch university? Rankings are certainly far from objective, but I can see them being useful if one is consistently higher ranked than the other.

On the list of things that I'm going to spend the energy to get upset about, this is pretty close to the bottom. If you hit April and you haven't heard anything assume you've been rejected. There may be some sort of unofficial waitlist, but I wouldn't count on it. If you really, absolutely must know, call the program.

To add to this, I think it's good to have a pitch for specialists (people who you're likely to cite in your papers), non-specialists with the same degree (people who would work in the same department as you or have the same job title, but don't work on your exact topic), and non-specialists who have minimal familiarity with the field (neighbors, HR, administration). So, for my work, I think I'd want to be able to explain what I do quickly to somebody else working on thyroids, where I can ignore a lot of background information. I'd want to be able to explain it to another biologist, where I could assume that they know cell biology and biochemistry. And I'd want to be able to explain it to the HR rep that is sitting in for an interview, who likely has only the roughest idea of what a thyroid does.

Absolutely this, I can only speak to my program where we're guaranteed a TAship as long as we are in good standing with the program.

Where I attend the only way to get into a microbiology lab is to either apply for a biomedical science umbrella PhD or apply for a biology PhD if your POI is in that department instead of the college of medicine.

Well, I'm finishing up rotations, but know which lab I'm going to join, so I'll base it on what I plan to be doing/what I did during my rotation there. I'm interested in understanding the development of thyroid cancer, specifically what effect thyroid hormone has on it. I hope to identify how thyroid hormones control a specific gene which acts as a tumor promoter. Figuring out how this system works could help explain some unknowns about the deadliest type of thyroid cancer and, with a bit of luck, point us to more effective therapies.

Absolutely this. I know of too many cases where companies will knowingly screw over employees (including moving people across the country with full intent of laying them off) to be concerned for their wellbeing. Companies look out for their interests, not yours. You have to look out for your own and not theirs. That is how the game is played.