katerific

Oh cool! Congrats! Although I thought that my panic stage (ie: where other people start hearing back while I don't) wouldn't start until at least two weeks from now

I haven't heard back from anywhere yet, but here are some tidbits that people might find interesting: - My friend has already been invited out to the interview weekend at Purdue! I think she applied to EAS for a master's. I also think it's more of a "visit and check us out!" sort of thing rather than an interview. - I also heard (on Monday) that some professors in my dept are already thinking about inviting students to visit. Wowza, so early!

I've found that I've become a bit jumpy with the email alerts on my phone. I know it's still a bit too early for me to be hearing anything, but who knows! (Well, they COULD email me about something missing.... )

For the past three weeks, I've been at my parent's house, where it was easy to stay distracted because of my mom's puppy. She's an 80 lb monster full of love, energy, and dog slobber! But now I'm back at school (across the country) and I have to find other ways to keep myself distracted. I miss her! Well, I GUESS I could focus on classes and research.....

Here's my current equation: Professor Score = 100h * (other things, like actual credentials and whatnot) Where hotness, h, is defined { chili pepper on RMP: h = 1 { no chili pepper on RMP: h = 0 Notice: non-hotness will not hurt their score, but hotness will significantly amplify the score. I'm still working on the (other things) part, but I clearly got the most important part figured out already. P.S. I jest.

Amazing. These will never get old for me. Ever. Uhhhhh, let me try. Prepare the sad trombone, because these are pretty bad. 1. Chuck Norris was admitted to every geology program because he discovered something with a hardness of 11* on the Mohs scale--his fist. 2. They gave him full funding and even offered him future post-doc positions because he later found something rated at 12--his resolve. ....Nevermind, I'm going to stop now for everyone else's sake. You guys, I'm so so sorry. *note: diamonds are the hardest at 10.

I live in a city that is VERY focused on car-culture; public trans is an option, but it's rather slow and unreliable. I don't have a car, but I use zipcar a lot. Nice to be able to rent a (nice!) vehicle for just a little bit... never have to worry about maintenance and gas is free! (Well, you pay the membership fee + rental costs.) I really like it but my biggest frustration is that cars aren't always available when you need them. Usually I have to book a day in advance for a chance to use it the next day... can't necessarily rely on it for emergencies or spontaneous outings. But it's a great way to drive a Prius (or even a BMW!) without paying big bucks to own one. Zipcar is also nice when travelling. They have it in a bunch of cities, so when you're out of town, you can rent a car there, too. As far as graduate students and cars go: I know at least one graduate students who has lived here (in car capital) for 4 years and has NEVER owned a car.... admirable, but I imagine it's been difficult for him. Most of the graduate students I know own cars but take public transportation to school (they tend to live a few miles from campus). I even know quite a few professors who do this. The commute stinks either way, and parking around campus is too much of a hassle. So I could imagine a car-less person in grad school, in my type of city, using some combination of zipcar, public trans, and/or biking very successfully. Also, as far as alternatives go: biking is a fantastic option, but be careful, wear a good helmet, and have a light if you're going to bike when it's dark out. I hate to sound mom-ish, but I have plenty of friends who bike to campus and they've been in quite a few accidents... 99% of the time it hasn't been their fault. (My city is also not bike friendly, but people try.) But if you're in a bike-friendly city, definitely go for it! It's good for the environment, it can be lots of fun, and it will give you killer legs But as people have said, explore your options and get a feel for the environment.

Okay, I might be pointing out some super duper obvious ones, but just in case.... Feist/Rilo Kiley-esque: She & Him - singer is Zooey Deschanel, the girl from 500 Days of Summer, I think? Regina Spektor Sia Florence + the Machine Lykke Li obligatory "if you like Death Cab..." band: The Postal Service Sorry for the female singer bias!

Haha, actual data to support the claims that I spend way too much time on the internet. The waiting only makes it worse!

From Fake Science, which is 110% truth. (The non-geology ones are even better.)

Oh man, I kept thinking you actually borrowed the name from the Lion King! I confused it with the bird's name (Zazu!). Also, kind of random: one time I went to a talk about the nutrient dynamics in the Black Sea. They kept saying Bosphorus and phosphorus, and I was so confused for the first half of the talk.

Oh man, I love that song. And what a clever connection! I love it

I find that I oscillate between feeling pretty confident about my chances to feeling ridiculously insecure. A lot.

I think it's really irritating that depts and profs never seem to update webpages, especially with something important like that. There was one professor who I was really interested in, but I heard from other people that she was leaving the university that I was planning on applying to (and going to the UK!). The site mentioned NOTHING about that! I decided against mentioning her in my SOP. I would have contacted her, but it was already pretty late in the application process, she wasn't my primary interest, I trust what I heard from my colleagues, etc. I don't know for certain, but I assume it just says that you weren't in touch with that specific professor. That isn't necessarily bad. The only way you could have known is if you had either emailed them or heard word on the street about their departure. Did you contact the other professors? If they know who you are, and you conversed with them, it probably won't matter. Again, this is just what I'm thinking, so I could be wrong. I think that mentioning specific professors shows you did your homework and you're not applying randomly. It'd also show that you have direction. I haven't heard adcom opinions on mentioning specific professors, so perhaps other people on the forum will share, if they have any insight.

I've noticed that when I tell people I'm interested in earth science, they don't really ask questions or make any comments. Perhaps "earth science" is a pretty good description, or they assume geology is too boring to ask any questions This is slightly unrelated, but I know I've left a lot of my peers from HS confused. I saw quite a few over the break, and I hadn't seen most since graduation (4 years ago!). Their response to me explaining what I'm doing with my life: "You're doing that?? I thought you would do art or writing or something!"

Certainly. Mentioning professors is good because it meant that you did your research on the program, and you're not just blindly applying. It could go something like, "since I'm really interested in (this topic), it'd be super cool to work with Professor X or Professor Y..." You don't have to mention specific books or articles, but do make sure you're aware of their current research. They're not looking for specific plans, but proof that you have interests, ideas, and direction. As long as you can explain your research interests and tie in how the faculty/program would benefit you, that should be good.

Lately I've been really into electronic/post-rock/indie/I don't know how to describe it. Quintessential chill-out music. Ratatat - Cherry Also, some more post-rock which is more introspective/emotional than it is "chill-out music." Sigur Ros - Hoppipolla warning: may induce thoughts of everything that is beautiful and possibly subsequent tears.

I just 1-upped your crazy: reading the undergraduate admissions office's student blogs for each school. (In my defense, it's actually quite interesting to read about the different types of undergraduate cultures out there.... especially since their cultures all seem so drastically different from my school's!) Well. I'm glad I've found a place where this kinda stuff doesn't sound completely whacko.

You are amongst friends, friend! And I think everyone appreciates a different perspective on things. I mean, not everyone may agree on the way to write an SOP, but it's certainly good to keep all these things in mind, at least. And I have to agree with most of what you said; I'd probably add that when highlighting certain projects, it's good to be specific yet succinct to demonstrate your ability to communicate your knowledge of the project/subject. (Quite a few profs stressed this point to me.) This thread is taking an interesting direction (and now I feel silly for posting such a lame/silly thing! Haha.).

MoJingly, I wish I could give a gold star sticker to each and every one of your posts.

$927 total for seven schools Breakdown: $252: GRE (160 registration + 92 to be sent to other schools) $80: Official transcripts (10/transcript, and I needed 8) $595: Application fees Yikes.

waddle: ....although my application probably isn't that oh-so-awesome and we only have like, what, maybe two overlapping schools?

I'm pretty sure my initial drafts started with a stream-of-consciousness sort of style. I even doodled things, like thought clouds and such. Even though I thought I'd be able to clean it up and forge it into a coherent piece, my work could never make me happy, plunging me into deep despair and an existential crisis. After drinking heavily and doing some abstract expressionist painting (with many cigarette butts incorporated into the canvas), I returned to my work. After a while, I found the spark that allowed me to create a beautiful(????) piece that ended up being submitted to multiple institutions. (Well, I did a set ("Variations on a theme") and made individual pieces for each institution, of course.) Direct, cogent, smooth (yet raw), this baby makes a STATEMENT. Okay, it wasn't quite that dramatic, but it was something like that. Note: I don't recommend that people do this. I mean, unless that's how you roll, then I guess it's okay. But in all seriousness, the best thing I did was give myself enough time to ruminate. Like, put it down, let the dust settle, and pick it back up.

I've been thinking a lot about how if I end up in New England, I'll have to have a complete wardrobe overhaul. Cute scarves and boots galore! I mean, I also fret about how I'll actually survive weather below 50 F, but whatever.

really, the heart of the issue is that it could go two ways: 1. "Oh, that dude/chick!" (a good reminder, hooray!) 2. "Oh.... that dude/chick." (basically what musicforfun suggested) I mean, some professors really could have forgotten, and might not make the connection that this person who wrote the SOP is the same person that he talked to a few months ago (especially if he got a lot of emails from people). I mean, that's what I imagine could happen, but I don't know (thus, the thread!). But at the same time, I don't want to come off as desperate. But bhikhaari has a point that this part probably doesn't matter as long as contact was made prior to the submission. Hmm, I'll think about this a bit more, but I might just refrain from emailing them (and hope they remember). oh, also,