katerific

1. I stood at my poster the entire time. No joke! I had originally planned on going to at least two talks (you only need to spend like what, an hour at your poster?), but there were a lot of people passing by. So mine was scheduled for the morning sesh (8 to 11 or whatever) and no one really showed up prior to 8:40, but after that it was a pretty constant stream of people. Of course, quite a few of those people were my friends/labmates, but I was still a lot busier than I thought I'd be. (I missed the talks I wanted to go to.) Yeah, so everyone who dropped by asked really good questions and gave me really good feedback (and only one person laughed at me!). 2. I have no idea. I didn't get it last year, and I don't think any of my friends have ever gotten it, so I guess it's pretty competitive? I honestly have no idea what they're looking for, either. in other news, one month away, yay! I have a final exam at 8am on the 13, but after I finish that, I am going straight to the airport, and maybe I can make it before beer o'clock (that's really unlikely, actually....)

Yo Kitkat! My understanding is that extracurriculars don't matter too much. However, there is a geological honor society called Sigma Gamma Epsilon. It's a national society, but it's still pretty small. (If your school doesn't already have a chapter, you'd need to apply for it.) Our chapter functions as a regular ol' geology club, and regardless of whether or not being in a society/club helps your chances, it's a fun way to socialize and go on hikes and whatnot I'm definitely a fan of conferences, so I can't stress how important I think they are, considering that you're exposed to all sorts of research (a lot of which hasn't been published yet) and you bump in to awesome people. Also, if your school has a weekly seminar, it's always good to go to those (and meet with the speakers if their research really interests you). I met with a seminar speaker for the first time yesterday, and it went super well! and yes, it is definitely a small academic world. I feel like all the people I'm applying to work for (at different universities) are BFFs

So I'm not there, but I hear (er, according to my FB newsfeed, at least) that everyone is having a lot of fun and there's also a lot of cool science. (yeah, I don't actually have anything useful to add, sorry. whoops!)

Alright, this is what I'm thinking, based on other things I've heard about issues with GPA: Definitely mention it. It seems like a lot of people mention these things in their SOPs, but if you're sending the transcript directly to her, perhaps include a cover note with a brief explanation when you do. Don't draw it out too much, but sufficiently cover everything. As for tone, be honest and don't make it seem like you're scrambling for excuses (keep it professional). Also highlight the fact that you've brought up your GPA by tons. Your main goal is to show that you're a capable student and that your junior year is more representative of your abilities. I hope that helps/that's right!

I think I figured it out. 7! Or to make life easier, 6? No, wait, maybe I'll add in one or two.... shoot. Thank goodness I have, uh, SOME time to iron this out. Some. Ahem.

I think waddle addressed everything, but just to add: 1. Yeah, aim for >1300 and >3.5, but know that research experience/fantastic rec letters can help compensate for lower scores and grades (but still learn some vocab for the GRE!). (edit: Most programs have a ~1100-1200 and/or 3.0 minimum requirement.... check the websites.) 2. UT Austin is the place everyone from my school goes to to get a master's, it seems. 3. No. To the industry a degree is a degree (of course, better schools might be more highly regarded). Work on figuring out which schools/professors would be a good fit for you, so apply eslewhere, too. If you end up attending your alma mater, that's fine. If I think of any other advice, I'll add it.

wewt! When I presented last year, I had never been to a conference (not even a campus poster thing!), and I presented that Monday morning. I was really nervous, but it was so much fun. Especially since I got my poster out of the way and enjoyed the rest of the week grilling all my friends at their posters. And San Francisco is such an incredible city, too. waddle, I have not asked anyone to meet.... yet, at least. Last year, a few people came by my poster, so I got to chat with them. Basically semi-random encounters. This year, however, my co-advisor told me to email people maybe a week or two before the conference, asking them if they were going and would like to meet. I think I'll do that for the one or two profs that are all the way across the country.

Sorry to hear that. Hope you can get things sorted out (please don't pull out your hair, Unlikely! we believe in you!). Speaking of GSA, I hear there might be some, um, fun fosstumes* at the social on Sunday. I won't be there, though... curse you, midterms on the first week of November! (*fossil costumes)

When I showed my SOP to one of my professors, he said it'd look good to cite a paper or two in my SOP. I had never heard of this before, but apparently he's seen it and thinks it's a good thing to have. He's an older/more respected prof who's been around for a while, too, so it's not some whippersnapper throwing these ideas at me. Honestly, I'm still a bit cautious about citing in my SOP, but I also think it depends on the word limit. Obviously for the shorter ones I don't want to go too in-depth with something and make it too long, but I might go a little more in-depth for the SOPs that have longer limits. I haven't seen it in any sample SOPs either. Another prof also suggested to me that I could actually break up my SOP into sections and label each part with a heading. Basically, both profs told me this: you want to (1) let them know your potential/knowledge/etc and (2) make anything easier for the committee, when possible. I think citing a little bit would fulfill both (1) and (2). So yeah, I think it'd be okay. PS: I'm in earth sci, if that makes any difference. Maybe this is also field-dependent?

One of my professors told me to do exactly this for each application. Along the lines of sending SOPs and such to potential advisors: my proffie also told me to send a copy of my application (SOP, transcript, the big/basic things) as a single PDF to those professors in that mid-December email, so they have a copy of the application that they can peruse whenever. I generally trust this prof's advice, but I haven't heard of people doing this, but does it maybe sound like a good idea? Perhaps this is also very field-dependent, so that's why I haven't seen it. (or maybe it's been talked about extensively in this thread/forum but I didn't see any of it, for some reason. whoops?)

I took it in mid-August (this year) and there was an identified math section. In terms of format, it was very different from the real one and also very different from all the practice tests/questions I did. So even if it weren't identified, I think I would have been able to guess. I believe a thread from July also touched on the same issue, and maybe I even posted there, so it might be worth it to relook at that. But from what I remember, all my test prep materials AND the gre website (http://ets.org/gre/g.../about/content/) said there would be two exp sections, one identified and one unidentified. For # of questions it says "varies" for both.... rather ambiguous. short answer: So, uh, maybe. or something. edit: yeah, it's the thread right below this one about recent GRE experiences. go me.

Backpacking and roadtripping sound so awesome, but I'm rather broke and don't own a car. Maybe that will change before summer? But man, college is expensive. A part of me tells me that I'm going to have a massive yard sale in May to get rid of a lot of useless college junk (textbooks, pshaw) and fund some sort of short excursion. and this was also my main thought. (I might also be freaking out about feeling prepared, too... ha.) --- note: just kidding about selling off my precious textbooks. Except for you, Freud's case study of Dora.

American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting 2010. Who's going? I'm going, but not presenting. I'm hoping to maybe meet with some potential advisors, though. Maybe. Aiee! ---- Advice to anyone applying to grad school now or in the future: Go to a conference. You need no reason to go, really. AGU and GSA are both spectacular, but local ones are pretty bomb, too. They're great places to meet other scientists and potential advisors (AGU is great for that because if you're across the country, it's like, the ultimate meetup place for geologists). They're also incredible places to have fun and learn a bunch of stuff. If you're presenting, you even have the opportunity to have travel expenses paid for you! ---- * Disclaimer: this thread was really just an excuse for me to share my excitement for conferences.

I guess so, but most applicants haven't published. I think even at competitive programs, a few have, but most haven't. Unless they've already done a master's, but I think they weigh that differently. I could be wrong about this, but this is my impression. Cool beans. I'm also interested in geochemical processes, but with a definite paleo flavor. Doing work now with isotope geochemistry will be super helpful for that stuff in the future. I assume you're going to present on that work? AGU is such a fantastic time to meet people (and have lots of fun, too).

For those who jump straight from undergrad to a graduate program, what do you do during the summer during that gap? I generally hear about people either 1) starting research at the program early or 2) travelling the world. What do other people like to do? Points will be awarded for creativity, cheapness (or money-making-ness), and enjoyability.

It's certainly enough, and I think that's a pretty good track record. At least in my dept, just about every grad student had to do research for their seniors or honors thesis or whatever at their ugrad institution, and a handful did a separate summer research project in addition to that. I think even a few did a summer internship but no senior thesis. A few presented stuff at conferences, but I don't think it's too common for people to have published as an undergrad. My impression has been that presenting as an undergrad really helps your application, and publishing REALLY helps it. (Not publishing won't hurt you!) I think the fact that you did a more biology-based internship will not hurt you at all. Lab experience is lab experience, even if it's in a completely different field; more than anything, I think it reflects upon how dedicated of a researcher you'd make. Also, I can think of quite a few geobiology labs that have a lovely mix of biologists/chemists/engineers/etc, and those PIs would consider such a mixed background a plus. What sort of biogeochemistry interests you? tl;dr, I think your lab experience is good. My impression is that they do consider GPA and GRE, but research and LORs are much more heavily weighted. Of course, that's slightly school-dependent as well.

Cool beans. My default is ~650 words/~1 page. Yet another school asks for one "no longer than 2 pages"... see, now that makes me wonder if I'm being too brief by only giving them one page. On the other hand, one professor told me that one of my mantras should be "make it easier for the admissions committee," and having a shorter/more concise/more succinct SOP fits in with that rule. I don't want to change my default by too much anyway, so hurray!

Most programs require 3. On a few of the online applications, they let me list up to 6(!!) people. I had a tough time deciding on my 3rd writer (between 3 professors) and I was considering asking the other two to write additional ones. So that'd be 5 LORs (oh man!). Q: Is more better, or would it make me look cocky/desperate/[some other negative adjective]? I think they'd all write me really great letters, if that makes a difference. I'm also applying to very competitive programs.

Hey guys! So I'm checking out the instructions (on multiple school websites) on how to submit transcripts. It seems that for a lot of the schools I'm applying to, they don't require sealed, official transcripts, but they do ask for transcripts (printed by the university) to be scanned (not typed up) and uploaded to the application. At my uni, they really prefer people to use this secure online system where they directly email the transcript to someone/a department/an address, and it's super official. I guess I shouldn't do that, then. But regarding the printed transcripts, I'm a little confused as to what I should do. Now, we can order an "academic record summary" (ie unofficial transcript), but it's only supposed to be used within the university, technically. Oh, and it has this big, ugly watermark that says UNOFFICIAL. We can also buy a sealed, official transcript.... But to me, it'd be weird to tamper with an "official document"... granted, I'm only scanning it, but it's not supposed to leave the sealed envelope. Oh, and another school also says they accept an original transcript OR "university generated web printouts." Wha?? I'm like, amazed at how informal all of this seems. I'm not sure what to do because I want to be formal, but the system seems to be set up to make it easier. But I don't want to risk sending in something that looks really sketch. We do have online "degree progress reports," but I feel like those look just as informal as a typed-up list by a student. What do you guys think? Am I overthinking this because I'm freaking out over grad school applications?! Probably. But has anyone else been a little confused by something similar?

Hello! So each school has different length requirements: write a brief statement write a statement no longer than 1 page compose a succinct statement of approximately1000 words etc. What would you define as brief? For that school, I have a happy draft of ~630 words, so a smidge over a page single-spaced. Is that "brief"? I know it'd work for the second school (with a little bit of modification). For the third one, I was planning on using a modified draft, adding a few things to boost up the word count. How short would be too short? Could I stop at say, 750, or should I aim for >900? In general, how much wiggle room do we have? I obviously want to give them what they ask for, so I'll aim for that.... but as you guys might know, that can be tricky. I apologize if this has been discussed already. I checked and I couldn't find anything that really addressed my question. (Maybe I overlooked?) Thoughts? Ideas? Cookies?

Yeah, I just meant here. Oh, totes. Our resident paleontologist/paleobiologist accepts more biologists than anything else, and teaches them the Way.

Earth Science: if it's nature-y, but not entirely biology, it fits here. How's that for a definition? So far it seems like most of the geoposters don't do traditional "hard rock" things. Er, that was just my impression, at least..... but I certainly don't! Forrealz? I'm looking at geochemistry programs and it seems like a lot of the lab groups I'm interested in have a long history of admitting chemists (and turning them into geochemists) as opposed to geologists. I've always feared that they'll turn me down because I'm not enough of a chemist...!

Awesome! I look forward to many discussions 'bout geology in this lovely new subforum. Woot woot!

Cool beans! I do paleoclimate too, but I definitely want to do more of what I'm doing. As far as schools go, 4 out of my top 6 choices are in California. Going to school in California does lead to a west-coast bias, but a lot of the UCs have pretty good programs. Stanford is on the list, and I'm probably interested in the same lab that you mentioned (small world, haha). Are you on the Isogeochem listserv? I've seen a lot of people emailing about phd opportunities/research projects in Europe.

In general, I'd stick with "professor." Recently a friend of mine got really annoyed at one of her students because he emailed her as "Mr. so-and-so" (she was annoyed that he assumed that his TA in a science class was a guy, haha). I think it's better to look goofy and/or flatter than risk offending them, especially if you don't know the gender for sure (and it's hard to tell with a few names; in this case you know, but it's good to consider for future reference).