Vene

I think that, strictly speaking, you don't need it. But, you are going to want something in your application to make you appear stronger. The increase in GPA is good and your last two years are fine. I know that at least a couple programs I applied to even wanted me to report the GPA of my last two years. You having the experience you do helps a lot, as does your recommendations. From what you wrote you are a few years removed from graduating undergrad, so GPA generally means less at that point. I think you can probably get away without taking the subject test, but it's a close call. If you're willing to do a masters degree I highly doubt you'll have problems.

When you say you don't have the best GPA, what exactly do you mean? A 3.5 isn't the best, but it's still very competitive for grad school. On the other hand a 2.8 means you're going to have some difficulties.

CageFree, your ex sounds like a truly terrible human being.

My wife doesn't have a college degree. She went to one, but never completed it. However, she is still extremely intelligent (she went to DLI to be trained in linguistics), but military service did not do good things for her mental health. On the positive side, this makes relocating for a degree a bit easier as we don't have much of a two body problem.

My alma mater has no sports programs at all.

If you need it for a certification definitely take the class. For situations like you're talking about I definitely agree to just read the book. Self-directed study is hard, but that's one of the goals of a PhD.

When I interviewed I heard it wasn't uncommon for professors ro request the students they advise to take an additional course in x or y. But, those were professors who had dual appointments in a different department where they could advise students on degrees in, say, neuroscience as well as molecular biology.

Even though I don't have more than a BA I actually attended 3 different colleges. College A was dual enrollment while in high school. College B was an AS. College C was the BA. I just answer it with where I completed my highest degree.

Don't forget that it also gives advantages to those who haven't tried to start a family yet. It's a lot harder to decide you're going to pick up and move a few states away when you're married or have children. These factors have absolutely nothing to do with your ability to be a good scholar, but can definitely make applying for the "best" program much more difficult.

I'm actually somewhat inclined to say bioengineering. Mostly because my experience working in industry is that having engineering on your degree means you are worth an extra 10 or 20 grand to an employer. Sometimes it's all about appearances.

I really don't think a 3.67 will mean anything. It's a high GPA. Factors like LOR, your personal statement, and research/work history will mean more. Edit: I remember you now, you made a post a little while back about your lack of success getting into a program. Here's what comes to my mind. So far, I've gotten the impression that you are very much capable. There is no good academic reason to deny you an admission. But, I do get the impression from your posts that you don't believe you are actually good enough. Granted, this is just from text posts on a message board, but that's what I'm feeling over here. If you're not confident in your abilities, I imagine that the professors who interviewed you left thinking you were a weaker candidate than you really are. You have a good GPA from a respected university and you have strong research credentials, try again next year and hopefully your luck turns around.

Woo! Heard back from my last program. I was rejected, exactly what I thought was going to happen. But, I really don't care at this point because I've got an offer to a program which I think fits my interests quite nicely.

For my alma mater they organized people by college and major. So, they announced major first and then everybody with that major was announced. GPA was never mentioned, but those who graduated with honors were mentioned.

This is basically my thought process.

You might find some success by asking in the subforum appropriate to your program of interest. I can say that in my field there are definitely progressional science masters degrees designed for working professionals to enhance their skills/career, but I have no idea if there are equivalent programs in other areas of academia.

We had no mace, we did have a ceremonial staff gifted to the university by a local native American community.

I only ended up walking because my parents wanted to see the ceremony.

I think some of the experiences depend on the field of study as well as personal opportunity cost. Personally, I've spent the last two years working in temporary jobs so even though I'm taking a pay cut, the opportunity cost of a PhD for me is relatively low. If I was in a career where I was moving up to a $50k salary position, a PhD would be a lot less attractive of an option.

I'm not buying books, but I am reading published papers so I can actually make the most of my first rotation. Besides, I'm a working adult, getting paid to study what I enjoy is freedom. School is not servitude, it is an opportunity to grow and I dislike the idea that you can't be "free" while in school.

From what you've described, I'd take the funded program. For you, I guess it depends on how dangerous the area really is and how comfortable you are with such compared to $60,000 in tuition payments. Does the funded program also offer a stipend?

That explains why I don't live in Uptown and instead am in a western suburb.

At this point you're going to have to rescind one of your acceptances anyway, so you might as well go with the dream school.

I kind of preferred the quantitative, personally. But, that's what I spent my time preparing for.

As long as it doesn't interfere with your acceptence into the MA, I don't see a good reason to worry about it. But, double check to ensure that the graduate school isn't requiring you to obtain the double major.

If it was so close, then even if you did make the "wrong" choice, the end result can't really be that much different, can it?