isilya

It's a big life decision! I personally made my official decision and notified all schools relatively early on, but I don't blame people who put off deciding for a while. Where you decide to go to grad school likely decides your entire career trajectory, that decision shouldn't be taken lightly. I'm sorry you're waiting on decisions from schools, but it's not productive to demand that strangers on the internet make huge life decisions hastily for your benefit. (in fact, it might not even benefit you; many departments end up not accepting people off the waitlist.)

I'm starting a BCS PhD there in the fall. I was considering doing the joint degree, but I've already taken a few linguistics grad classes so I don't know how much it would benefit me. I'll probably have someone from linguistics on my committee anyway. But I think it's a really good idea if you see yourself doing more linguistics oriented work.

Yeah, BCS has to be your home department since the Linguistics department doesn't offer a PhD on its own.

You're already admitted, you don't need to be dressed up at all. Unless you like dressing up I guess! I had a couple visits to schools I was already admitted to and everyone worse jeans and tshirts. I even wore jeans and tshirts to one of my interviews...trust me, you will be very out of place if you wear a suit.

I haven't really heard of this. It makes sense in humanities disciplines, but not so much in the sciences where you usually have co-authors. Most of the solo-authored papers I've seen tend to be theoretical papers, which are rare for grad students to have in an experimental discipline. Going through my department's new hires over the last couple years I don't see anyone with solo-authored papers in fact...

Just thought I would bring it up I'll be in upstate NY myself so weather wasn't too much of a consideration for me either, haha.

Well if they're totally equal in terms of academics, Syracuse has terrible weather so you could avoid that at North Carolina

Admissions committees don't have time to read books. Seriously, writing samples should be relatively short. If the book is relevant to your research interests, you could use one of the chapters as your writing sample and mention of your CV that you have a book in progress. If the book isn't relevant to your research, don't include it.

Of course they will reimburse you! They already promised they would reimburse you. I hadn't gotten any of my reimbursement checks when I turned places down. They decided that it was worth it to pay you to come visit, they can't go back on it now. Please let them know you won't be attending so that people on the waitlist have a chance!

Good point, I forgot about that. It probably also plays a role in whether the department nominates you for university-wide fellowships.

Yeah, but as long as you get past those initial cutoffs no one will ever look at your GPA/GRE again. I mean, I'd say go and look at the average GPA/GRE scores of admitted students at the programs you're applying to (some will post these on their websites, if not then just use the results search here), and if you really feel like you need to apply to some lower-ranked programs, then do so. But don't not apply to a department because you're worried about cutoffs! At worst you don't get into that particular program, but that's not the end of the world.

There's no such thing as "reach" and "safety" at this level. It's all about where you fit best! Just apply where you want to go and don't be intimidated if they happen to be very highly ranked programs. FWIW, I was rejected from the 2 lowest ranked programs I applied to.

UNFUNDED PHD?! Do not go there!!!!!!

In response to reviewers care more about the person than the research, this is what I've always heard as well. There's a reason the NSF doesn't require you to follow through on your proposed project if you're funded: they care about your ability to conduct research and impact society more broadly, rather than the specifics of your research.

Hillcrest is AWESOME! Much cheaper than the area around campus: a one-bedroom in Hillcrest will be between $1100-1300 as opposed to $1400-1600 in La Jolla. Also, there is a free shuttle from the Hillcrest Medical Center to the UCSD campus that comes every half hour (only drawback is that service stops at 8:50pm, and there's no service on weekends). I know tons of grad students and even some faculty that live in Hillcrest. Plus, it's a fun area! La Jolla is one of the most boring places ever and you have to have a car to do anything (including grocery shop). Not so in Hillcrest! Side note, I wouldn't recommend University Heights/Normal Heights/North Park unless you have a car. But if you do have a car, North Park is amazing. Cute little coffee shops, cool bars, great arts scene, etc. North Park is close to Hillcrest, but if you don't have a car it's a pain to get to the Hillcrest shuttle from North Park unless you're willing to bike quite a ways (plus, the bus that runs through the area comes sporadically at best and takes a long time since it goes down a major road with a bunch of signals and generally picks people up at every stop).

The problem might be your GRE quant score. I'm not in materials science, but I've noticed in the results search that most people in the "hard" Sciences have quant scores between 165-170. Your application may have just been thrown out in the first round before anyone had a chance to read it in depth. So get your GRE up, and you could also email POIs in the beginning of fall just so that you're on their radar. If they like you, they might make sure that the adcomm reads your application fully.

Hi all! I'm planning to apply to the NSF GRFP and the DoD NDSEG next year (I'll be a first-year grad student). Are there any other fellowships out there that are similar to these? I want to have as big a chance as possible next year! Since this is in a general forum let's stick to more general fellowships that people in almost any discipline can apply to.

Honorable mention, E/VG, VG/G, G/F. Surprised I got an HM with an F! Reviewers gave good criticism, can't wait to apply next year

Ooh that's awesome!! I can't wait to get feedback

Yep! I'm happy I decided to apply starting this year because after I get the reviews I can start planning for how to be better next year and be ahead maybe. Speaking of which, does anyone know what the format of the reviews is like? Do we get specific feedback from reviewers on the strong/weak points of our application?

I don't know about the master's program, but there is some new information regarding PhD programs. Currently you can do a Brain & Cognitive Sciences and Linguistics joint PhD, where it's approx. 2/3 BCS and 1/3 Linguistics in terms of coursework, exams, TAing, etc. BUT, they are soon going to be adding an option to do 2/3 Linguistics and 1/3 BCS so that might be a good option for you if you want to be more involved in the linguistics department. I don't know when this is going to be implemented though. I would contact Jeff Runner about this, I think he is the one to ask about the joint PhD and the MA program.

Yeah, I feel like there are a lot of females in psychology for some reason. It's just my subjective impression though, I'm not sure if this is actually true...

Undergrad Institution: Large public research university Major(s): Linguistics, Cognitive Science Minor(s): GPA in Major: 4.0 (Linguistics), 3.85 (Cognitive Science) Overall GPA: 3.75 Position in Class: Somewhere in the top 14% since I am getting "cum laude" Type of Student: Domestic female minority GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 162 V: 161 W: 4.5 Research Experience: Worked in 6 labs throughout high school & undergrad. Doing two honors theses so I have my own projects. Also had my own project for a summer research program. All 3 letters of rec were from research advisors Awards/Honors/Recognitions: nothing besides being on the dean's list for grades Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for a Cognitive Science class; president of an academic club Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Special Bonus Points: Edit: have taken 3 grad classes Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Applying to Where: 3 Linguistics programs: accepted to 2, rejected from the other after interviewing 3 Cognitive Science programs: accepted to 2, waitlisted at the other after interviewing 2 Psychology programs: interviewed and rejected at one, no interview at the other Sorry for not being specific about which schools they were, I want to keep some semblance of anonymity I will say that for overall rankings, two were top 10, two were top 20, three were top 35, and one was ~60. All of the department-specific rankings were around top 10.

Anything by Vlaada Chvatil!! Galaxy Trucker, Mage Knight, etc.

1. Research Experience. I'm 21 but have been doing research for 5 years (was lucky enough to get full-time summer research positions in high school). So it's clear I know what research is and how to do it. Plus, it's obvious that I am in love with doing research which hopefully gave adcomms confidence that I would be able to stick it out through a PhD program. Also, because of all my research experience, I'm well read in my field and that came across in my SOPs. 2. Letters of Recommendation. My letters were all from professors I had done a substantial amount of research with, and I would be shocked if this didn't help my application. It also helps that two of my letter writers are very well-known in my field. 3. Statements of Purpose. I did open with an annoying little story about how I've loved doing research ever since I got this internship in high school, but I spent two sentences on that and then I was all business after that. Do not make the statement super personal!! My SOPs were all about research; I started by describing past projects and how they have shaped my current interests. Then I discussed how my current interests fit in with faculty at that particular institution. Then I talked about my career goals. SOPs should also be different for different schools, and I don't mean just editing the "fit" paragraph. I highlighted different experiences at different schools, and framed them differently also. For example, my POI at one department studies prediction, so I framed all of my past projects in terms of prediction and also talked about a project I did in a completely different field but that relates to prediction. My POI at another department is more theoretical, so I played up the theory side of my projects in that SOP.