newms

I'm not in your field, so it may be different in your field, but I don't think it's rude at all to wait til you've visited all the schools you're going to visit before making a decision. This decision affects the next 4-6 years (for a PhD) of your life and you want to make sure that you make the right decision and find the school that's the best fit for you. Just because a school may look like your best option on paper, doesn't mean that it will be a better fit. There are many cases where people have turned down an offer from a higher ranked school in order to go to a school that isn't ranked as high because the lower ranked school was a better fit. Visiting a school and speaking with profs and current students is a really good way of gauging how well you'd fit at a school, so I don't think it's rude at all to consider all offers. It's good to decline offers as soon as you know that you will be going elsewhere and it's good if you've made your decision sometime before April 15 so that waitlisted applicants can get an offer, but you shouldn't rush that decision. That's just my $0.02.

Zodiac killer

Hey sashakoe, I think you're going to have to use Google Analytics. See a description on how to setup Analytics with Google Sites here: http://www.google.com/support/sites/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=97459

It is not, since once you post it, after 15 mins, you can't edit it or remove it. The best thing to do if you're looking for feedback is to solicit reviews in the SoP forum and then PM your SoP to people that agree to review it for you.

If you applied to only the schools you mentioned here: then I suggest you look at some of the other schools in the top 20 or top 30 that are good fits for your interests. Your GRE scores are ok - it might be worth something if you could bump your quant score up to a 800, but your scores are good enough as they are. I think your profile is strong enough for a top 20 school - what you should focus on if you're re-applying is to make sure you've got a very good SoP. Find schools that match well with your research interests and write a strong SoP that emphasizes your strengths and how well you'd fit at that particular school. As I've said before, your profile is definitely strong enough, so I'm not entirely sure why you weren't successful this year - perhaps you weren't a good enough fit at the schools you applied to? If you want, I could look over your SoP and give you some suggestions on how you could make it better. PM me if you'd like.

You should think long and hard before you use valuable space in your SoP to dwell on a negative part of your application. You definitely don't want to start of the SoP with it. Ideally you want your SoP to focus on your strengths, i.e. why they should pick you. For a research based degree, you want your SoP to detail your research interests, how your background prepares you to pursue them in grad school and why you'd be a great fit at Awesome University. It's usually recommended that you avoid trying to excuse a weakness on your application in your SoP, such as a lowish GPA. There might be a situation where it helps to try to explain a weakness or discrepancy, but that's the exception rather than the rule and you risk coming off as just making excuses.

I think you should still go on these outings - it's good to build social rapport. At some point in your life you're just going to have to say to people, 'You know what? I don't like to drink' and just have some water or pop or something else. They will likely not laugh at you about it and will be ok with it, and besides, the worst they can do is laugh - and if they do, just roll with it. Alternatively, you could just get a beer and nurse it for the evening - just take sips of it so that the one beer lasts a long time.

Go with your head. Michigan and Washington are still highly ranked in Biostatistics right? Is Harvard a better fit for you than Michigan or Washington? I would say that you should only go with Harvard if it's that much better a fit for you and they're doing stuff there that isn't available at the other schools, because essentially you are choosing between a free, quality degree from Michigan/Washington versus incurring debt for a Harvard degree.

After you've been accepted you should mention the 'two-body problem' if it's ultimately going to determine where you end up. You were correct in not letting them know before admission, but now that you've been admitted your SO could let his school in that area know that you have an offer already and that you have a deadline to make a decision by - this could help speed up his decision. Katherine Sledge Moore is a post doc at Yale who went through this same issue when she was applying to grad school. She has some excellent advice on it at her site here: http://sites.google.com/site/gradappadvice/the-two-body-problem Good luck!

I guess they have their reputation to maintain - it wouldn't look good if they get a reputation for rescinding offers, so they wouldn't do so without a legitimate reason. I guess if you get an offer conditional on you successfully completing your bachelor's, and you don't then I could see an offer being rescinded. Other than that I'd imagine that it would be extremely rare. Just keep in touch with them while you're still deciding, so you don't somehow fall through a crack (although this is extremely rare).

I think it's perfectly ok to put a poster at a conference on your C.V. especially if the conference fairly well known in your field. Just have it under a heading for posters.

I completely agree with you. Of course, it's a lot easier to say when we already have an admit. It can be really nerve racking waiting and waiting and then eventually not getting in.

I agree with Dr.Faustus666. You definitely have to make yourself a pest (I know, I hate doing this too) to get the help you need from the prof. Failing that, if you don't think you'll be able to pass, it would be worthwhile to withdraw if you still can. Do you have any funding that could be affected by a fail or bad grade? Even if you don't, you definitely don't want a fail or a D on your transcript.

Prof Corner said earlier in this thread that they were going to wait list a few applicants, so perhaps that's what has happened to you. I don't want to give you false hope but it is possible you've ended up on a wait list.

I applied to McGill and got an email two Fridays ago saying that they had received all my application materials and would be reviewing my application soon. That was the first thing I've heard from them since I submitted my app at the end of December and I haven't heard anything since that email.

Hi sidarth, I am an international student from a tropical country that will possibly be moving to Ann Arbor in the Fall, so I've been checking it out as well. I agree with TransnationalHistory about getting your cold weather clothes when you come in August/September since it seems like the weather wouldn't be bad at that time. From what I've read, the weather can get pretty bad in the winter, with lots of snow and temperatures below 0, but I think it's something I can get used to. As for vegetarian restaurants, here's a listing of vegetarian restaurants in Ann Arbor: http://www.annarbor....sine/vegetarian I haven't visited Ann Arbor yet, so I can't speak to the quality of those restaurants. As for housing, if I do go to Michigan, the on-campus housing might be where I end up, since I believe to sign a lease in Ann Arbor, you or a representative have to physically inspect the property first and that may not be possible for me. From what I've seen, the University's on-campus housing for grad students (in Northwood apartments) tends to be more expensive than off-campus housing (I guess because of its proximity to campus), but I understand that the bus system is pretty reliable and the buses are frequent so it is doable to live not so close to campus and have to depend on the buses (as long as you live near the bus route). One concern I've seen is that the buses are not as frequent on weekends and at night, so if you need the bus during the winter, you might have to wait for a little out in the cold.

It really depends on the departments. Some departments do send out admits early and then rejections sometime after that, while others send out all decisions at the same time. Some departments in some fields haven't even decided yet so it really depends on the department and school. Plus there's always the possibility that you've been unofficially waitlisted and they're just waiting to see how many accept from the first round of admits before they notify you. Waiting is terrible, but hang in there. All the best.

face plant

Hey Kathiza, the new Kindle has page numbering, so citations shouldn't be a problem any more.

Are you an international student outside the US? I ask because you have to be careful with some of these later deadlines -some of them may be for US students, since it might be too late to get a student visa processed after they accept you. That said, Syracuse also has a June 1 deadline.

Here it is. Some really good advice too! PS To post the video, use the media button (the one that looks like 3 pictures on the right of the options) and put the youtube URL.

Just to follow up on this - here's a listing from Microsoft Academic Search of top AI authors: http://academic.research.microsoft.com/RankList?entitytype=2&domainID=5&last=0&start=1&end=100 Of course this is only one way of listing and I don't think you should look at it as the best listing or a ranking per se.

I guess you have to wait for the letter to see what exactly the offer is, but you can possibly ask the department grad coordinator, or even a current grad student at the department or your POI, if you've been in contact with them. I think a TA/RA offer usually comes with some tuition waiver (full or part), but I guess it varies between departments.

I haven't visited yet, but I've been in contact a current grad student at a school I've been accepted at. He's been good at answering my questions, but he also asked which other schools I've been accepted at. I thought it was a bit weird, but I told him the truth. It might be a little like asking how much money you make if they ask you about your funding, but I really can't complain since I asked this grad student about the funding at the department (since I hadn't received my funding information yet) which I guess was akin to asking him how much he made. In the end, I guess honesty is the best policy, even if it's going to be a bit awkward, since you're trying to find out if you'd be a good fit in the department and they're trying to (i) find out how good of a fit you'd be and (ii) convince you to come (at least if they're happy at the school). If you've already been accepted, I would think no. I'm sure there are quite a few accepted students that get drunk or come off as aloof or jerks. But as this could be the first impression you're making on people who could be working with you for the next 5 years (or for your career, who knows) don't be one of them. As for finding you incompetent? How would they do so? They're not going to be grilling you - an accepted students' visit is an opportunity for them to convince you to come. They've already determined that you're competent enough. Besides they know that you're beginning your grad studies, so they know that you're not going to be up to speed on everything right off the bat.