newms

blind date

It may be possible to put GRFP into your email signature without actually being pretentious but I don't think it's possible without seeming so. Why not just have your website address in your signature and have your resume/CV on your site?

It seems most UMich people here were on this thread earlier. I was thinking maybe we could organize a meetup for UMich admitted students from Gradcafe, but it seems there aren't many people here on this thread anymore.

Glad to hear and thanks for the offer I'll keep it in mind when I'm moving.

That would be ideal. When you say group, keep in mind that a 'group' can refer to a professor, his/her post doc(s) if any, and graduate students and sometimes one or two undergraduates. So as long as there is one prof that you are interested in working with, it is very likely that he or she would have their own group or lab. Ideally you also want to make sure that there is more than one professor doing research in your area that you could work with, since you never know what could happen in the future.

That's something to think about - I definitely don't want to get an uncomfortable mattress. Hmmm... I'll look around and see what's out there online and keep this in mind.

city limits

Congrats on your admits! To answer your questions: 1) I don't think the fact that you'd have a MS from an Ivy League school would make a big difference if you were for a Phd. Adcomms consider your research potential and experience the most when they consider your application, so as long as you're able to do good research at Vtech, you'd be in a good position if you wanted to apply for Phd afterwards. 2) Possibly. The brand 'Brown' might be an added boost for you if you were to try to get a job in industry. 3) I don't think it's worth taking on all of that debt at Brown. If you can do good research at Vtech and the research being done at Vtech is a good fit for your interests then that would be your better option in my opinion. By the way, have you secured an assistantship at Vtech? Or is there only the possibility of you getting one? Good luck!

Hey awvish, It might work out that it's better to have the bed delivered the day after - ideally I'm thinking I'd want it to sleep on for the first night, but you're right, it'll probably be hectic moving in the first day and assembling the frame might take a bit of work. Perhaps I'll leave the assembling to the next day and just sleep on the mattress the first night. I'll see how it works out. Have you had any luck finding a place to live?

Thanks for those options. I'll definitely check them out.

So I've got my apartment secured for the fall, but I'm going to need to get it furnished. I'm thinking that buying a bed online and having it delivered on the day that I arrive would be a good idea. Does anyone have any experience buying a bed online? Are there any sites you could recommend and anything I should look out for? Thanks. EDIT: Wish I could correct the typo in the title.

Perhaps you can ask current students or your department how easy it is to get GAs once you get there. If I were you, I would consider the worse case scenario ( as you're doing) and decide if I can make it work or not. I don't think they'll look at you unfavorably if you asked about other funding opportunities. Good luck!

I'll look at it for you. You can PM me.

blue lagoon

Hey, your thread from last year was active until recently - it was a great idea! Remember to go to http://www.dropbox.com/edu to get double credit for referrals. My referral is http://db.tt/tjyv3X4

Nice choice! Congrats again and good luck.

Getting a MS may be a disadvantage if it's a terminal degree without research experience, because some PhD adcomms might look at it as you not being sure about what you want to do. A research based MS wouldn't be a disadvantage and may give you an advantage if you're able to get good publications, but at the same time, if your app is strong enough to apply for a PhD then getting a research based MS first represents an opportunity cost, since when you go for a PhD it might cost you an extra year or two, than if you applied straight for PhD after finishing your BS. So if you want to go for a PhD eventually, then apply directly to the PhD or MS/PhD programs unless you feel like you need to get some publications for a stronger application, in which case a research based may improve your chances. Keep in mind also, that most top 20 programs don't expect applicants to have publications (although for top 5 programs you probably will need a publication). As for your other questions: 1) From what I've seen most research based MS students do tend to get a publication of two out before they get their MS. Some don't though. 2) I'm not sure how long it takes journals to get published in CS. As you say, conferences are where most of the top CS papers get published and the top conferences have submission deadlines around 6 months or less before the conference. Why would you want to publish in a journal over a conference? You can write up a technical report if you want to write longer articles and refer to the report in your paper. 3) I don't know how common it is for MS semester projects to lead to publications, but it does happen and your goal, if you're doing a research based semester project, should really be to produce a publishable article based on your research. Keep in mind that funding is scarce for MS students at most schools so unless you have a really good reason for going for a MS first, you should apply to PhD or MS/Phd programs if you want to eventually get a PhD (I'm speaking specifically of US schools here).

Hey, I have high school classmates that have PhDs/MBAs from schools like Harvard, MIT etc. Many of my former classmates are MDs and lawyers. I know at least 1 is currently a post doc and 2 have been Rhodes Scholars. And here I am beginning my scientific career by starting my PhD. I've felt like you before in thinking that I haven't accomplished much in life, but you know what? I have a lot of life experiences that they don't have because of the choices I've made, such as teaching high school for a few years. Also, I've found that comparing myself to them just doesn't help me at all, so I've decided to just focus on me and what I'm doing with my life and how I can contribute to making the world a better place. The schools I went to growing up were very competitive, so it took me a while to realize that life isn't a competition - we're all going to the same place. Just do the best you can with what you've got.

As I understand it, yes our stipends will be taxed. Here's a couple recent threads on this discussion: and a very good one here:

drug store

metric conversion

lighting stand

Hey geekman, I was in your shoes last year with limited research experience as well. Now, I'm preparing to go to a top 20 school with full funding in the fall - it can happen, so I would definitely encourage you to not rule out top 50 programs. The key is research fit. What helped my application the most, I think, is that I was able to focus my research interests and find programs that were good matches for my interests. How solid are your research interests? Are they solid enough that you could write broadly about a potential research area or project in your SoP? If not, then perhaps you could read current papers in your field to get a firm grasp of your interests. As for contacting professors of interest, I think it's a good idea, but it's not absolutely necessary. It would be good to find out if the POI is interested in taking on new students to see if it's worthwhile to apply, but be aware that profs often receive a lot of emails like this and a lot of times, they aren't able to respond to emails from prospective applicants. Perhaps you could introduce yourself briefly and in addition to asking if they would be looking for new students, ask a specific question about their research. Good luck.

public speaking

Would it be possible for you to work with a prof's research group over the summer at a local university? If you were able to work on research project over the summer that is similar to your interests then that would be a good boost for your application. Additionally you can try rewriting your SoP and make it more focused on your interests and how your background prepares you to be successful at pursuing your interests. You should probably also look at your school selection and choose schools that (i) are very good fits for your interests (ii) will likely have space available for the group/lab you want to work with (iii) are not ridiculously competitive to get into (or at least apply to a mix of schools so that not all your schools are extremely competitive). Would you be applying to machine learning programs next year? If so, look for schools that have machine learning programs that are not exclusively housed in the computer science department, since you've said before that you don't have a CS background. Quite a few schools have overlaps with the CS and Statistics departments when it comes to Machine Learning, for example see Purdue, Michigan, Alberta and I'm sure that there are many more. Additionally, if you want to get yourself some exposure and have the opportunity to meet profs and researchers in the field, I would have suggested that you go to the Machine Learning Summer School in June, but I just noticed at the site (http://learning.stat...mlss/mlss/start) that it says that the registrations are now full - however, they have a waiting list in case someone who has previously registered drops out, so you can consider getting on the wait list.