ahlatsiawa

Please post in the correct forum: http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/17-the-bank/

Guys give it a rest. Please.

Steak. Nutella. QWERTY keyboards on phones. HIMYM (used to love it at some point). Cheetos. Modded cars.

^ I would also buy one with what's written on the collar.

As far as eating goes: A large 15" Hawaiian pizza with a 1L bottle of coke. I can down it all in one sitting.

Thank you very much for such a detailed reply. It certainly cleared some doubts and I now feel more confident preparing for the interview.

Not exactly venting but I have been binge-watching Parks & Rec lately and cried like a baby yesterday when Ann and Chris left the show. Why why whyyyy did they make them leave?

Thank you for your replies. I do believe I have solid reasons to justify the low GPA. Financial funds are also sufficient. VioletAyame: You mentioned acceptance letter from a respectable university in your reply. In your opinion does Syracuse make that cut?

I am planning to go for my F1 interview in less than a month. Although my TOEFL and GRE scores are decent, my GPA is a paltry 2.7/4. Will it impede my chances of getting a visa?

I just got rejected from South Carolina for Aero. It was the safest of my safety schools and I was sure I would get in. The Aero program there is only one year old and hasn't even been accredited yet. On the other hand I got into Syracuse, #4/12.

Wow what a relevant thread. I, with my paltry GPA, had never in my wildest dreams expected to get into Syracuse. In fact I was so sure that the admission email had been sent in error that I was seriously considering calling them and asking them again. However I received an indirect confirmation when my request for financial aid was denied since "all awards are merit-based" and I did not make the cut. Well at least I got in.

Thank you very much for the thorough reply. I found it difficult to find a standalone 1BR/studio on orangehousing so had to look elsewhere. You're right, Maplewood IS rather far but it's on the University bus route. Moreover it's fully furnished and includes l all amenities so I won't have to bring a lot of stuff from my country. Nevertheless, I'll keep looking for a cheaper option to pop up in Westcott.

Hi quincepessa and congratulations on making it to Syracuse! I am looking for apartments myself and it's very hard since I'm an international student. Currently I'm looking at Maplewood apartments in the DeWitt area. Can you make any recommendations about places to look around and neighborhoods to avoid?

THIS. I can relate to almost everything you describe in your post. Coming back home after having lived alone for undergrad can really drive you up the wall sometimes. I am the sort of person who doesn't need constant company all the time. In fact, I despise it. That is why for me living with parents is proving to be very restrictive. For the most part I can't wait till school starts so I can be on my own again.

Most admission committees conduct a holistic evaluation of your application and do not focus merely on the GPA. In addition to GRE scores, a killer SoP and strong LoRs go a long way. I know people who were accepted at NCSU with acads below 60%. Keep your hopes up! I got into Syracuse with a 2.7 GPA and mediocre GRE scores. Granted it's not in the same league as the four universities you have mentioned but you still have a fair shot.

When I got accepted for my undergrad I was at my friend's house in Pakistan. The admission process in my country is very different than the United States. Excluding all government-funded universities, every private university has its own Entrance Test and acing the test almost always guarantees admission if your high school scores aren't terribly low (less than 60%). So I was at my friend's house and we had heard unofficial news that NUST (my university) would be announcing results the next day. In Pakistan we have what is called a "Merit List" and students are assigned ranks in that list according to their performance on the entrance test. For engineering having a merit position in the top 200 means you are eligible to get into Electrical Engineering (the most sought-after program), then 200-500ish for Mechanical Engineering and so on. A complete and utter lack of career counseling means students choose their fields based on their merit positions. It's a very sad state of affairs. Anyway, getting back to the story, we were lounging about after having just watched the movie "Accepted" (not kidding) and my friend got a call from his classmate that the results had already been posted on the university website. Electricity was out at that time due to load-shedding so he had to check the result on his phone. Turned out he didn't get in. I was so sure I would have been rejected too that I didn't even bother checking mine at that time. We went out and discussed what to do next and shortlisted some other lesser-known schools to apply to. Finally when we got back that evening I logged in just to give myself a sense of closure and move forward. It was then that I got to know I had placed 108th in a pool of upwards of 15,500 test-takers, which meant I could get into any program of my choice. That was, I guess, the happiest moment of my life.

Well I applied for MS Aero but the funny thing is I got into engineering only because I couldn't make it into flight school because of my extremely high myopia and other medical complications. So I used the hook and started like this: "While I was growing up I firmly believed that my future lied at thirty-five thousand feet....". I think it's good to use the hook but then immediately cleverly transition to where you are now. Using a whole paragraph to describe your childhood passions is a big no-no.

Never donated blood and O negative myself too.

Hi zmyrenee. MS Aerospace here.