gazelle

Luckily I received an email from UCSD saying they did indeed receive them electronically...crisis averted!

I emailed UCSD's IR/PS to confirm receipt of my transcript and GRE scores sent on October 8th. They emailed back and said they received the transcript, but not the GRE scores, but that they had received an influx of mail in the past few days. I guess I was under the impression ETS sent the scores electronically when you requested the score report be sent. Are paper scores via snail mail the default sending method? With the deadline Friday, I'm a bit worried as I thought I had taken care of this long ago.

I agree, which is what makes my thread about having a 3.1 and a 1250 more interesting.

I appreciate the link but I've already read through it; most everyone on these sites is a 3.7+ GPA, 1400+ GRE, etc. etc. but I don't have those stats so it's not of much help.

Currently in the process of applying to MA IR programs. My stats: Undergrad degrees: Chemical engineering, chemistry (double major) School: University of Minnesota Twin Cities Campus (top 3 ChemE program, well known in industry) GPA: 3.12 (ouch) GRE: 520V/730Q/5.0AW Work experience: two years living in a tiny rural coastal fishing village in Japan teaching English for the Japanese government (JET Program) as the only foreign national within a 50 km radius Foreign Languages: Proficient in German and Japanese Volunteer work: 2 summers at a Japanese garden Additional work experience: Three years in a demographic office working with quantitative historical census data, and two semesters of being a lab T/A for general chemistry at college Additional coursework: 5-6 courses in Japanese culture/society/language--grades of A in all (except I received a grade of A- for each of the two semesters of Japanese language) Extra: I grew up around alcoholism and was a child of divorce. At fifteen I began working full time to support my mother and myself as the sole income earner. Working full-time continued into college, and my mom was diagnosed with brain cancer in the summer prior to entering my upper division coursework. She died three weeks into that semester, but I persevered through that while still working 40 hours a week between my demographic job and being a T/A, and while volunteering. Also I had to spend the year following my mother's death going through her things and dealing with the legal aspects of her death. My GPA is pretty low but my degrees were no walk in the park, especially with the full plate I had. Verbal GRE is another ouch, but I took it eight days before moving to Japan (should've retook it anyway though). I suppose for an engineer my quantitative GRE is a tad low, but I was fairly happy with it (was shooting for 750). What I want to do: I want to study corporate social responsibility and environmental practices in Japan as a function of economics (e.g. relatively quantitative studies). Schools I am applying to: UCSD IR/PS Columbia SIPA NYU GSAS Syracuse Maxwell I sent off UCSD last week and felt pretty good about my essays, and am finishing Columbia now. However I am a bit worried about Columbia--they seem to only be interested in my academic record, if the application is anything to go by. No essays outside the statement of purpose, and nowhere within the application to really elaborate on experiences or anything like that. What are my chances?