kobie

I have just checked my email and got the rejection letter from Cornell. Oh well, that is predictable but I still feel kind of bitter no matter how I think I am prepared for it. I guess it stings because this is the first official response I got from all the schools I have applied (actually besides University of Minnesota which unofficially accepts me for MS instead of PhD program and the final decision is contingent on if there is anyone in the faculty accepting to fund me). Anyway, let's keep our fingers crossed for the other results to come soon.

Hi Dolomiti, Nice to hear from you. The link you gave is really interesting. I wonder how the data on grants have changed for the past 2 years considering the economic crisis. Not every school publishes these data, but I remember University of Minnesota did. But as the grant condition is kindda unpredictable and varies from one faculty member to the other and considering the ongoing crisis, I doubt if we should based on these data to make our school list. My professor used to tell me to try contacting faculty members at some different times because the funding and grant issues can change along the course of the year you are applying. I doubt if it is applied to all but that seems to make sense. However, I am intimidated by the idea of contacting the professors of interest more than once especially after they say they have no funding. Would you mind if I ask how many schools you applied last season? Is it normal that I still haven't heard anything from any schools I have applied by this time? Approximately when did you hear back last year?

Hi racapieri, Welcome to the Food Scien thread. Nice to know others applying to the same program as I am. I am also waiting for UC Davis. That is one of my top choices but I am not hoping much considering UC budget problems. Are you enjoying your MS at UC davis? What other schools have you applied?

I have just checked the result search page and there is a new post by a food science applicant. I guess we just have a new companion on here. One more thing I notice from the page is that most food science folks are international students. That's interesting to know.

I have one, but actually two to vent. I applied to the University of Florida last year but before, along and after the process I could hardly reach them. The worst part is that they don't post the department phone number or the number of anyone in the faculty on their website, therefore the only mean of communication I had is their emails and guess what they never replied. I sent emails of inquiry to the department, the coordinator and the administrative assistant but everything was in vain. But I decided to apply after all and I guess that was just wrong. They never informed me about the status of my application at all along the process. No rejection letter or emails after all. The only media through which I know my existence to them is through the application status page, but they did not update anything related to their relation whatsoever. And finally I decided not to even email them to ask about my fate because I knew that would just fall into silence. Really hate that department of UF. U of Texas-Austin was also the same. Though there is one thing that is better than UF and that is the coordinator did send me an email about the complete status of my app, but that was about it. No answer and no rejection email or letters after all. Seems like I've vented all my frustration kept since last year.

Hi Pjv, It is exciting to finally get to know other food science applicants. So I guess I am not the lost sould on gradcafe afterall. I got a BS in food science in 2008 and have some work experience. As to my school stats, I applied for PhD program to Cornell, UC Davis, U of Minnesota, North Carolina, Clemson, Wisconsin-Madison Texas A&M. So far I have only got response from U of Minnesota which considering me to their MS instead of PhD program and I am in the same situation as you as the admission comittee accepted me but I need a faculty member to fund me as well. I also don't like the way the admission to FS programs works as well. It seems to me that with this admission system, we can only stick to the specific lab accepting us and have no opportunity to rotate. Actually this is my second round of application and as the time goes by, my hope has really plummeted along the waiting process. I have the biggest disadvantage in the game considering that I am an international student (even though I got my BS in the US). It is such a relief to know that I am not the only one who still haven't heard anything from the FS programs. According to the result search page, FS program seems to have their decisions made towards March and April. So for now, I guess we just have to wait. I hope that you will be happy with your career change decision as Food Science is a really really cool discipline ( a little biased but it is true though ). Kidda curious as to how you came up with such a decision though.

It is kidda dissapointing to be the only one in the forum to apply to food science. I guess this must have been the case for the past few years considering how little feedback related to the field is found in the result search page.

As this month is marching through, I find myself stuck with an ambivalent feeling. On one hand, I am excited to hear back from the schools I have applied, but somehow I feel intimidated at the thought of rejections after nearly 3 long months I have been waiting. However, I defintely don't wanna wait until the end of June to hear something just like last year application season. That was just cruel. I guess for now, I should take no news as good news. I only want one acceptance. Please!

Hi folks, I know that food science is not a common discipline people are applying to, but never think that I am among such a rare group in this application cycle. I only found a few results related to the field in the result search page for the past years. As I am also dying to hear back from those schools I have applied, I wonder if there is anyone in this forum applying to food science program this year. Has anyone received any news yet?

Hi bgk, What do you think about the shoutbox? Is it easier to incorporate one into the forum? I think it is more convenient than the chat room.

When I made a suggestion about chat function, what I meant is a shoutbox on the homepage of the forum which all the members have the access to the moments they are logged in. I guess everyone is already familiar with shoutbox and I think it will be more convenient because at anytime a member can make others aware that he/she is ready to chat by "shouting out" to the forum so that anyone can join in.

I am with you on this, glasses. I started writing my SOP thinking I would add a touch of pretense to my tone. But I guess I am never good at sounding pretentious, so the more I forced it, the more convincing my SOP turned out to be. I have read many SOPs like that and the pretense tone just jumps right out of the essay to the audience, therefore I can imagine how easily an adcom can spot that.As to the CVs, I agree with fuzzylogican that it’s detrimental to polish it, but I guess not everyone understands this. I raised this issue because I think it is relevant to any in the process of drafting their SOPs or refining the CVs. In one way or another, this “polishing” issue touches another bigger question of “coming across as honest” or “simply be honest”. I took this into consideration when writing the paragraph on my professional goals in the SOP in which I stated that I do not like working in academia after getting the degree, but rather join the industry. When I asked some of my friends to proofread, this hit them as a taboo to be mentioned in an SOP and this might affect the adcom’s consideration. But one of my professor told me to just stay true to myself, which I did in the end. I don’t know if this might jeopardize my chance of admission, but anyway I already submitted everything so… For those of you who have ever written the SOP, which approach do you take towards your SOP, “come across as honest” or “be honest” or a healthy balance of the two depending on the issues you address in the SOP?

I am not talking about fabrication or making stuffs to make you stand out. What I meant is that everyone of us, along the process of drafting SOPs or CVs, try to tweak our experience and ability in a way to make us the best fit to the applied programs, and sometimes you maybe go a little too far. You may end up like you are boasting a little too much about yourselves. In another thread, I heard some people in humanities said that their SOPs made them seem to be able to speak a foreign language than they actually can. I wonder if you have ever realized you are this kind of situation along the application process.

That 100-word limit is really a pain. I know what you feel, because one of the program I am applying to does require the submission a 100-word summary on study goals, experience and the like. However, it is only a supplementary requirement besides the SOP I submitted, so I was not too stressed over stuffing all of the ideas I wrote in my SOP into that 100-word piece of writing, because they will read my SOP anyway. I hope that you have found some ways to tackle that 100-word limit. Good luck!

I saw your post in CollegeConfidential a few days ago and the people there already gave you some helpful feedback. I wonder why you bother posting here again.

I really want to send a gift to my LOR. They wrote me the recommendation for both last year and this year and gave me helpful advice and encouragement. However, I am away from the country and we mostly have communicated through emails. The ony thing I can think of is sending them a thank you ecard, but I don't know if it is kidda informal to do. Are there any other things I can do to thank them?

I used the following basic ideas to vary the sentence construction: 1/ Combine short sentences into a compound one, using and, but, or, so. 2/ Use prepositional phrases. You can change the preposition positions Ex: With my science background, I belive... Or I belive I will... with my science background. Or in some cases, you can even try to use the inversion structure with the preposition. Ex: Not until ... did I find out... 3/ Use as many conjunctions as possible like when, although, however, ... and vary the sentence structure by changing their position. Like you can place "when" either at the beginning or in the middle of the sentence. Instead of using "although" at the beginning of one sentnece, you can use "though" either in the middle or at the end. 4/ Use V-ing when the subject is the same. This my favorite. I also often use past participles to reduce the passive clause that follows. I guess that's all how I vary the sentence patterns in an essay. Hope that helps.

I am having trouble with the financial certification stuff. Some schools request the completion of the form accompanied by a bank statement showing the availability of an amount equivalent to at least one year of expenditure (tuition+fee+living expense) before the application is considered complete. The others are more lenient and don't require these until they give the applicants the official admission. The matter is I can't by any means provide such document and my parents can't support me either. My enrollment is completely dependent upon their funding decision, therefore I find it kidda ironical to request those. I am gonna contact those schools to ask if I can waive this until after I receive their official admission decision or not. And if they insist of sending those, I guess I will just fill in zero $ in the form whithout any bank documents accompanying. Have you guys faced this problem? How did you do about this?

I find this topic quite relevant to my concern. So I post my question here. I am applying to food science program. For future goals, I am not into the thought of obtaining an academic position after getting the PhD, but that may change as I find out how I will fit in the academia along my PhD. Certainly I like doing research but I tend to enjoy the idea of doing research in the industry context rather than academia. It seems like I have a hard time convincing me to work in academia in long-term, at least for now. And I communicated my thoughts about this very sincerely in my SOP. I just wonder if this sincerity hurts my chance of admission. Does it make the applicants less desirable to the admission committee if they say that they don't like working in academia?

As I am trying to finish up my SOP right now, I find this post quite relevant. Many people advise to mention the faculty member whose research filed is of interest to the applicant. However, I have one concern: - Does it sound kidda superficial to mention their names and their research fields only? Because those stuffs everyone can easily get off the department website. I feel that doing it this way does not really show that we have an indepth understanding into the field of those faculty members, and therefore my interest in their field is open to question. - Or should I demonstrate my understaning about specific project, paper,etc. of only one or two faculty member who I want to work with the most? It is better than just merely mentioning? Actually I am more into the second tactic because in some schools, I have more than 4 professors whose research interests me. Therefore, if I merely mention their name and their research fields one by one, that will sound really superficial. Moreoever, even only mentioning, I will waste a lot of space in my SOP. However, if the admission committe base on this fit paragraph to choose which faculty members the application should be sent to for consideration, this tactic (only 1 or 2 faculty members mentioned) may seem like an unwise one. So what do you guys think about this?