braindump

Well judging from the previous results of UCB/UCSF, it seems they tend to send out interview invites on the same day and rejections about a week later, also all on the same day. So, when I didn't get an invite I took that as a rejection, just waiting for the official notice. But I don't think you should give up before you know for sure! They could be doing things differently this year, or maybe they did it in waves last year and only people from the first big wave posted. You never know.

I was just curious if anyone had any advice on visiting multiple schools or deciding which to visit. I ended up unexpectedly receiving a few admits and one interview and they've all invited me to (paid-for) visits. I'm having so much trouble deciding that I want to visit them all, but I feel like that isn't really feasible. Or is it? I was worried about scheduling too many visits and then hearing back from another school I'd rather go to and conflicting. Or maybe these will be my only admits, in which case I should see them all, right? One school I want to visit (not an interview) next month would have me returning home on a Sunday before an already-scheduled interview for which I leave that following Wednesday. Is 2 days home enough time to recuperate and prepare for my next interview or will this be stressful? Anyone have any advice/experience with this? (Sorry if there's already a topic on this, I wasn't able to find one)

When you butt-dial a professor (not just the uni office!!) at one of your top schools and don't even realize until over a minute has passed. And then your phone decides THAT is the best time to freeze up. So the only way you can hangup is by shutting down your phone. So you just sit there awkwardly staring at your phone, willing it to shut down faster, not even knowing if the professor is waiting on the other line for a response.. Considering he was at least 5 people down from my most recently dialed list, I don't even know how it's possible that I butt-dialed him. But it just HAD to be him, not aaanyone else on that list..

I didn't know this was an option! Tried to find it in the settings a while ago and gave up

This is very helpful - thank you!!

Actually.. being able to do check results so quickly and so easily (and therefore, so often!!) is making me feel even crazier!

While I agree with you, in a sense (as someone who loooves Doctor Who, because I genuinely enjoy it and didn't even realize it had such a cult following until much later), the older episodes are just of a completely different caliber than the new ones. In my book, Doctor Who is already cheesy sci-fi (part of why I love it), and I can see why people may find it difficult to watch if you add that to 1960s style television.. it isn't for everyone. I haven't seen much of the older ones although I plan to, because I'm curious about the storyline. Though I will agree that many people simply seem to have no interest in its beginning and that's odd. And to contribute, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person I know who finds Tosh.O horribly unfunny. And I think Bo Burnham is clever but he just doesn't make me laugh.

My goal today is to not talk about graduate school.. is anyone else having that problem? Lol, just saying it makes me feel crazy. My boyfriend has been incredibly supportive and has yet to show any sign of "god when will she shut up about graduate school," but there's no way he isn't sick of it by now so I'm trying to give him a break. We live together and I don't really have much to distract myself with (it's so easy to procrastinate on this forum when you only have two classes), plus almost none of my friends are going through the process (or just plain don't care). It's just so hard not to talk about it when it's all I'm thinking about! I'm sure sitting on thegradcafe and googling cities I don't even live in yet isn't helping.. but not having anyone else to talk (read: obsess) with kind of sucks. Maybe I should take up knitting.

In this same regard.. does "interview via phone" also mean that the applicant received a phone call notifying them of a future interview? No one gets a surprise interview.. right??

100% this. Just put yourself in the position of another application. In order to accept you, just so you can know you got accepted there, they have to turn away an applicant. It may be that applicant's dream school. If you're completely set on this one program, and funding offers/everything else are good to go, then you should withdraw other applications. Unless you think that one of the programs may be able to sway you from your top choice, then keep that option open. But if you're sure, then keeping your app in is hurting someone else's chances.

Well first off, are you interested in going with him? And is it definite that you'll be accepted into the program if he wants to take you with him? If you're interested in his offer but still have some programs you'd rather attend if accepted, then you should explain to him your situation. You spent a lot of time, money, and effort applying to graduate programs, and I'm sure he'll understand if you'd like to at least know all of your options before making such a big decision.

I actually think this is not necessarily true. Sometimes you might get lucky and get less complex words but I I actually felt I got stuck with a pretty wide variety of complex words. I think it's a toss-up. Also, another tip: do the practice GRE exams provided by ETS! They're free and exactly like the real test. I treated it as if I was taking the real exam: no breaks, no distractions, essays, the works. It helps a ton to get the hang of timing.

I may not be the most qualified to answer, but I don't think you should be afraid to take risks and see where they take you. Different people have different priorities: some put career above all, some would rather follow the chance of a family and would be completely fine making that sacrifice. Personally, I'd rather have tried to see where it goes than to cut it short for fear of the worst. To me, if following that path to a happy relationship means I sacrifice my dream job/location (which, by the way, is not permanent.. there's still time later on to move and get that dream job) then I'm okay with that. And if it doesn't work out, then you'll know you gave it a shot and there's so much more out there for you to move on and keep going. You can't always know that things will work out, but even if you end up apart, there's always long distance options. The best option is just to be completely honest with him now, so you both know what to expect.

Also this is very important! I'd actually say way more than 30%. I definitely recommend going through some books or guides and seeing what they say about the test format. My GRE course drilled that the test really doesn't test your knowledge (it's too arbitrary) but more so, your ability to take the test. So become familiar with how to take the test and what ETS is looking for.

It's much too early to give up! We've barely halfway through January, there's still several months of decision time to go I applied to very different programs than you, but I applied to a lot (16, most of which were due early/mid Dec, and maybe half/less than half of which hold interviews). I have only heard from 2 so far, and many of the programs that show a lot of results by this time last year have shown nothing so far. So don't worry yet! I think it's just a late year for a lot of schools. I also wouldn't pay attention to a school sending out results for a program other than the one to which you applied, as the department looking at your application is really the only one that matters. If you want to know which schools interview I recommend calling or emailing the departments of all the schools you applied to. I did this and even got a good list of dates I can expect an interview to take place, which helps for planning ahead. i.e., don't be concerned! Just try to distract yourself while you wait rather than worrying about something that's no longer in your control. Good luck!

If it's an official acceptance then I'm guessing that's their final decision. I was recently admitted w/o interview to a program that typically interviews, so I guess it just depends on the candidate or the specific program's process. I don't know how Master's programs work with interviews, but if what you got was an actual acceptance I'd say you're set. I also recommend inquiring about scholarships and work opportunities before you accept. Many are probably reserved for US citizens but it may vary by program. It might be unwise to accept an offer before you're sure of your financial situation.

I just downloaded GRE vocab apps for my phone and turned those into a habitual method of study. My favorite was the Magoosh app, which separates words into different decks and has them appear with a specific frequency based on how well you seem to know them. I would just run through vocab for ~10 minutes at a time several times a day (waiting in line/on the bus, eating a snack, bored in class.. etc). A few weeks after having finished a particular deck I'd go through it again and refresh. My GRE course over the summer taught that the best way to learn vocab is either contextually (reading The Economist is a great idea.. wish I'd thought of it last semester) or in short, frequent bursts, rather than, say, hour long sessions.

Sure! I just downloaded "Page Monitor" for Chrome (there might be a better one, but it's the first extension I tried and it works fine). I'm sure there's similar apps for other browsers. Then I go to the Results Search page and search for the keywords I'd normally search for when checking updates (for instance, "BME," or "biomedical engineering," or "bioengineering") and then I click the app icon in the top right of the browser and hit "Monitor This Page." I go through and do this for each of the schools I check up on (so, "Texas biomedical engineering," etc.) and keywords I normally monitor. Then, a couple times a day (let's be honest.. a million times a day) I just click the icon and hit "Check All Now" and it tells me which, if any, results pages update (you can click to see the highlighted changes). Now I can worry obsessively AND time efficiently!

Lol.. this is me, too. Except I realized how time consuming it was so I just installed a Chrome extension that notifies me every time a results page gets updated for one of my programs. Now I just refresh that obsessively.

The best thing you can do is call or email the programs directly and plan accordingly.

I'm going through the same thing right now with my SO, but he has an extra fall semester before he graduates so he won't be moving out to join me until spring, which gives him a little extra time to plan/prepare. When I was applying, I mostly stuck to larger cities where jobs are more abundant, and particularly high-tech areas (he's comp sci engineering, I'm BME). This meant I passed up on applying to some good schools because they were in the middle of nowhere, but I'm okay with that. Now that decisions are starting to come in I'm having him do some research on the areas I get accepted to, to see what the job prospects are for him there. Yeah, I might end up passing on a slightly better program in favor of a better location, but you have to try to find a balance to satisfy both of you. And chances are, since I plan on going into industry after I graduate, many of the places that have better career options for him will likely have better career options for me, as well. All in all, the process is a bit of a gamble, and the only thing you can do is try to prepare as best you can for all the possibilities.

I applied to a lot of schools and only heard back from 1 BME program so far (and 1 chem & bio eng program). I definitely think it's a late year, judging from how slowly the results are getting updated. I know we're only halfway through January but I feel like I've been waiting for a decade! D:

I would probably prefer rotations.. seeing that you're a good fit with PI in terms of management and personality is important, and I don't think you'd really know until after you've worked with them a while. But I'm curious. Do those programs with rotations tend to take longer than those where you just jump right in? I feel like that'd set you back a full year in your research/dissertation.