newms

I'll be happy to give you my thoughts on your SOP. Just send me a PM if you're interested.

fire sale

In my opinion the AW score shouldn't kill your chances but I've seen some schools in my field (Computer Science) that have a cut off for AW, but I'm not sure for your field. In my opinion your writing sample and SOP should count for a lot more, but unfortunately I don't sit on any admissions committee If you don't feel comfortable with those scores, especially applying to top 15 schools, perhaps its worth doing over, if only to settle your nerves. You could also contact the schools you are applying to in order to find out if they have a cutoff. EDIT: Just to clarify, the cutoffs I've seen are lower than your scores, so you would absolutely pass the minimum requirements that I've seen in my field and I suspect in your field. The question you need to ask yourself is if your application overall is strong enough to get into the schools you want to go to.

pillow fight

alfresco software

Mr or Ms may be the most appropriate if they are not a professor nor hold a Phd, but I would use 'Prof.' - since it is better to err on the side of being too gracious and you could always just use 'Prof' as an informal title.

If the person is a professor/assistant professor then saying Dear Prof. Lastname is perfectly acceptable and that's what I use. If they're not a professor, then "Dr." is good and perfectly ok (assuming they have a PhD). Never use Mr or Ms when they have a Phd or are a professor - they don't like that

throw pillow

dining room

Yeah, just email them. Maybe you can ask to meet with them to talk about your interests and their interests as a prospective applicant. I wouldn't ask to sit in a class though, and I'm not surprised that the profs responded no. If you got accepted then maybe you could ask to sit in a class then.

I wouldn't bother with saying anything to ETS - chances are they wouldn't care and secondly if their methods are of any use then they probably will take into consideration that some responders wouldn't be answering those questions at their best with the stress of doing the GRE exam.

pine tree

waiting room

average temperature

The fact that your major GPA is 3.4 from school B will help. They will definitely consider that. Are you applying for a research based degree? If so then any research experience you have will also help to offset the low GPA. All the best.

Christmas Island

Are the 2 bachelors in the same field? Are they from similarly ranked schools? If the first bachelors is in the field you want to pursue in grad school and the other isn't, then they might place more emphasis on it. Either way though, they are going to see the 2.95 since you have to send in transcripts from all schools you attended. I doubt that you average the GPAs and I'm pretty sure you can't round up (wouldn't we all like to, though!), but you're not up a creek without a paddle as it is possible to get into a grad school with a GPA below 3. Here's by belowthree who had a GPA below three and s/he got into several programs as did other people with GPAs below 3.0. It's harder and takes more work, but it can be done. All the best with your applications.

That's awesome advice. I'm going to try it with a couple schools I'm interested in.

You'll be ok. The admissions people will look for your applications to match your scores to it.

cool cat

paradise island

stay calm

That's my plan! The conference is late in the application season so they won't have to remember me for too long before they review my application. The conference is also in in the city that one of the schools I'm planning on applying to is located, so I 'll use the opportunity to visit there as well.

old dogs

Thanks again for the great advice! The conference listed the accepted papers this week and I saw that 6 profs I'm interested in working with (one of whom I've met already) have papers that will be presented, so I will definitely try to contact them before and schedule a meetup.