Vene

I haven't heard back from two programs yet. I gave up on them and accepted an offer I received in January.

I think that as a general rule honesty is preferable to lying.

This is the impression I'm getting as well and I don't think it's that big of a deal. As long as your supervisor/PI/whatever is happy with your work and will write a good recommendation I don't see anything wrong.

Now that you mention it, I think Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) also has a free application and they're a very good school.

Here is something you can look at http://www.petersons.com/graduate-schools.aspx I don't know exactly where they get their information, but it does provide some info on the number of people who apply to various schools and the percentage they accept. So, you may be able to use this to get some idea of how competitive different programs are, but I can't tell you if you'll be able to get into a program where they accept 10% of applicants or if you should look at programs which accept 30 of applicants. Also, if you want to continue with plant biochemistry, by all means take a look at agricultural schools and plant science programs.

I think I mentioned the unversity's name in my SOP, but I also transferred during undergrad so when I was talking about it I did it to specify where it was I did whatever I was talking about. I didn't bother with GPA because they have my transcripts.

I interviewed at one program where they said that absolutely every single one of their graduate students was guaranteed funding by the department as a part of being admitted so you really do have to look at more than just what a single professor has for funding.

Are you applying to the school where did your REU or is that your current undergrad? Also, I'd talk to your current mentor to get an idea of programs that will fit your background and interests.

Do not tell them about grad school, just answer with what you would want to do without a PhD. You gotta remember, a good many companies will lay you off in a second if they think it will save them money, you don't owe them any loyalty.

I grew up in Michigan and moved to Minnesota, so I've taken to calling it UMN because the U of M is in Ann Arbor.

Was that Maryland? I've heard that they are very slow with getting back to prospective students.

I had a supervisor who did it in three, but that was a few decades ago. He also did aboslutely nothing else but work on his research, so that factors into it.

I think the medical school conversion chart will be accurate. But, I think that grad schools will want your entire undergrad history, regardless of the degree.

Not in grad school yet, but I can't imagine constantly calling my advisor/PI Dr X, I only intermittently did it in undergrad. Part of it is because my supervisor when I was working in industry had a PhD, but I never called him doctor. If fact, I worked with several men and women with doctorates and nobody referred to others as Dr. X.

This thread makes me glad I already had my BA completed before applying.

Wait, this is a problem? I did that sort of thing in high school (credits from a community college) and all the schools I applied to were happy with the college's transcript.

Even if they share it, if it's a common name like "Smith" or "Jones" nobody would really think much of it.

I'm going to say you really should have two academic LORs, one at absolute minimum. Your professional career does mean that a non-academic reference is worthwhile, but at least in my experience, graduate schools want academic references. I took some time to work before applying for graduate school so I had a mix, for 2 programs I sent in 2 professional LORs and 1 academic LOR and for 3 programs I sent in 2 academic LORs and 1 professional LOR. With the former programs, I've gotten no word and have written them off as rejections. With the latter I got two interviews. I know this is a very small sample size, but does make me think that it's not wise to have any more than a single non-academic LOR.

Well, I'm not from Houghton, but I grew up in the lower peninsula so I might be able to help a little bit. I doubt public transportation is very good there (take this with a grain of salt), but I really don't see why you would need a snowmobile. Although one may be fun to have. Snow will mostly likely melt away in March-April and May is generally pleasant. It stays warm until sometime in September and you can expect a snowfall in November. A dusting in October isn't unheard of. Depends on what you call an aquatic sport. You can certainly go out there on a boat. If you're really adventurous you could try to swim in the lake, but it's going to be cold. Well, it's an engineering school, so I'd expect it to be very male dominated. But I imagine there's opportunities everywhere for people to socialize and date, otherwise there wouldn't really be people living there.

Thug can be a bit of a coded word. I used to rent an apartment in Fridley (northern suburb of Minneapolis) and I enjoyed it well enough. But, look at online reviews of the place and you would think it was crawling with gang activity.

If I was in your shoes I'd go with UW. My understanding is that it's considered to be a good school and the emotional support from your wife (and you to her) will be extremely valuable for success.

I think if you are going to go by cost of living then OP should go with the University of Michigan. I've also only heard good things about Ann Arbor.

Okay, thanks. Never heard of that one, but I'm west of the Mississippi River. I'm wanting to get an idea of how much more expensive Vermont will be, the cost of a rental out there is definitely more than I'm used to.

Bumping this thread because nobody has posted here for a couple of years and I am very likely to head out to UVM. Is there anything special I should know about the area? Such as where to go for finding an apartment, where to go for inexpensive food (google maps doesn't mention an Aldi's or Save-A-Lot, but I assume there has to be something similar), or just miscellaneous things a non-Vermonter should know about the place and people.