Eigen

The schools I visited, they made and paid for my hotel reservations for the length of time I'd be there. For one school, they were quite helpful about getting me a good rate to stay a couple of extra days to explore the area- the school paid for 3 nights, I paid for the rest out of pocket. For flights, the schools reimbursed me up to a certain amount (it was $500 for two of the schools I visited, iirc). Meals were primarily done as interviews/visits, either with faculty or graduate students. This took care of all three meals most of the days I was there. The exact costs are going to depend on the program, as others have mentioned.

Just as a note, you mention STEM fields as a general thing, but in this case they really don't fit together. Not all of the STEM fields are male-dominated, with many microbiology/molecular biology/neuroscience/psychology programs being more heavily weighted towards female faculty and grad students. Also, since you're talking STEM fields, you probably won't be going thousands of dollars into anything, since the pervasive wisdom (outside of a narrow selection of MS programs) is to not go if you aren't funded. I think it's a good idea to keep an eye out for it, but it seems a negative assumption to assume it's there in the absence of evidence to the contrary (what you seem to be suggesting).

Well, first I'd familiarize yourself with his/her work. Then go ask questions about that. Work in the fact that you're really interested in what they do, and you'd love the opportunity to do independent study/RA work for them. Don't be afraid to approach professors, you need to leave that fear behind in undergrad. You're on track to being a "junior colleague" and need to be able to go talk to them. Most are pretty friendly! Also, don't let a fear of a bad first impression taint things too much- think about it before you go in, and do your best, but don't let it psych you out. Some of my best talks with professors have been with those from whom I haven't taken a class, and aren't even in my subfield- but I've needed a piece or two of information in areas which they are experts, and so I've gone to talk to them.

Grad school can be very mentally exhausting- just because it never seems to stop. Unlike undergrad, there really aren't any breaks. What I've found to be the most helpful is to make sure that I'm taking time *off* from work. Not just time where I'm not working, but time where I'm really trying hard to not think about school, and let myself really relax. Whether it's watching a good movie, going out with friends, reading something light and enjoyable, or cooking, or whatever you find really relaxing and enjoyable.

I'm not sure about the others, but starting with X3 or X4 (I forget which) Endnote has had the ability to import PDFs through metadata- give it a folder of PDFs, and it can pick most of them up.

Tax depends on the rest of your situation- donations, deductions, dependants, etc. $2200 a month is roughly $26400 per year. Assuming no dependents, you'd probably pay around 4-5k in taxes per year. You could check out one of the online tax calculators to get a more exact estimate.

Heh, someone doesn't like me saying that verbal actually matters in the sciences...

It's a good idea. I was mostly just responding to ringo's assertion that verbal didn't matter at all outside of the humanities.

Verbal matters. Written communication is still quite important in the sciences. It doesn't matter as much as quant, but it certainly carries some weight.

Hmm... This is a few years old, but I got my first acceptance at about 9pm one night.... And then another at 11 am on a Saturday. And then another I finished the app at 7 one morning before I left home... When I checked my e-mail between classes at around 10 I had an acceptance. I really wasn't thinking I'd get one the same day. So it varies. I think for a lot of programs it's whenever they have time to give you a call/e-mail.None of mine arrived when I was expecting them to.

I have a moleskin notebook that I use as an external brain. Usually, ideas are written on whatevers handy to remember... And then when I get back home/to my desk, I get out my moleskin and transcribe the idea and add in any necessary additional details, references, etc. I do usually keep a small pocket sized moleskin on me most of the time for quick idea notations, but it can also be a napkin, the back of a receipt, a voice notation on my ipod, etc. It's not so much about writing it down initially as getting it into a relatively permanent form. Usually, as the idea progresses, I take the time to sit down and write up a semi-formal proposal in word, complete with citations and figures. Then I can either present it to my boss, or keep it in hold for the future when I have time to work on it.

In response to the prep courses: Sciencegirl is absolutely right. Don't think you're going in unprepared without them, from my personal experience it isn't that common for people to take them. I don't know anyone from either my undergrad or my grad schools that used them. Quite honestly, it's a pretty bad way to spend $1500- all it really gives is some structure to the review process. All the information you can get from GRE review books- I got mine from our Public Library. Even if you don't get the review guides, the PowerPrep CD that you get from ETS should hold you in pretty good stead to get a feel for the test, especially coupled with the information on the ETS website. From what I've seen from our Adcom, and talking to others, the experience and maturity you get from being a non-traditional student is a huge advantage. You're not just doing this because it was "the next thing along the path", but because you're really passionate about it. So rather than seeing it as a disadvantage, frame it as a benefit.

Go knock on her door and ask if she has a moment, imo. Just be polite, and if she doesn't have time see if you can pencil something in then. Just mention that you had sent her an e-mail and hadn't heard back, and since you were around you thought you'd swing by. Also, this thread is in the wrong forum- you might ask one of the mods to move it to the Letters of Rec subforum.

My grad school may be a bit of special case, just because such a large percentage of the student body (like 40% between grad and professional students). I'm on the executive board of our graduate council, and we do a lot to promote socialization between programs- at least one or two large events each semester, and a slew of smaller ones. My department is also quite social- we do beginning and end of semester events (BBQ and then Christmas party, Beers of the World and then another BBQ), and we do a lot outside of that as well. It takes putting the time in and making the other stuff a commitment, but I'd say it's definitely possible. It took a bit of cajoling, but I got a pretty good departmental happy hour going every two weeks during the summer, and outside of that we probably do things every couple of weeks at least. I know a lot of the single grad students do a lot more regular excursions, but I'm married so we tend to spend a lot of our evenings doing stuff together and not out on the town. Both my wife and I have a couple of really close friends in our cohorts, as well as other friends in other years and in other programs.

Just read over your class notes and textbooks in the few weeks before the exams start. The ACS diagnostic exams really aren't that big of a deal.

I want to say it was around April 10th last year- I'd have to look back and figure out exactly when. If you comb through last years NSF thread, you can find when people were bringing down the forums posting about NSF announcements.

In addition to the above two replies, I'll add that not hearing back from a recommender for over 2 months isn't keeping it under control. As has been suggested, I'd give it at most two weeks before I tried to track them down and/or asked a backup recommender to get ready. As for this, I'll say most of the people that have responded know something about it- you might get a few weeks grace period, especially over Christmas break, but I wouldn't expect anything major. You've mentioned you're working to find a third recommender, I'd say it all comes down to how fast you can find someone to get a third one in. As to the original question- from what I've seen of our adcom, they probably wouldn't review an "incomplete" application (missing a letter), but might give a bit of slack to someone with a subpar or less ideal third letter and an explanation of the situation.

It can't hurt, but I doubt it's going to be a huge boost. The only exception to this, I imagine, would be if you really get to spend a lot of time with a prof that you TA for. Alternately, for funding, having already shown that you're a competent and capable TA might hold you in good stead when it comes time to hand out the funding assignments,,

A nice thank you card and something baked is the route I usually take.

I tried for two semesters to get one going in my department (journal club), and it never really got off the ground. Lots of people said they would do it, but then just wouldn't show up. Depending on how you want to go about it, make sure you have enough people within the same subfield that the readings selected are pertinent to multiple people. Also, I highly recommend food as a motivator. Good luck!

I stuck around an extra year to do my honors thesis too, and think it made me way more competitive. No one cared that I took 5 years, but they all liked that I had that extra research intensive year, as well as graduate electives in my field and a couple of closely related ones.

I'll probably take off the Monday and Tuesday after Christmas... And maybe the Friday before. I'm not really sure past that. My group is all International students, but they still take the week around Christmas to New Years at least partially off.

At this point, I'd wait to feel out the group and PI when you get acceptances and are having to decide between schools.

I'd say it's very class dependent... I've had everything from 30+ to 90+ as A ranges in my classes. But if your professors syllabus says its 95-100 for an A, that's probably the range he'll be sticking with unless he's announced a change at some point.

No, a 4.0 should be fine (imo).