trulytriaxial

Hello everyone, I am joining Penn State's Geosciences PhD program this fall. I've been trying the Craigslist and Reddit options as well with no luck so far. Ideally, I'd be living with newbies to State College who are also looking to establish a network of friends. This thread looks pretty dead but shoot me a message if anyone happens to be looking for a roommate at State College.

Thank you. I wouldn't call my connection with the WHOI PI solid. He essentially said he applied for a bunch of grants but has not much funding at the moment, and that NSF or external fellowship awardees would be his priority (which isn't an option for me as an int'l student). It's okay though. I pretty much intended it as a shot in the dark.

Oh well, then there goes that.

As have MIT/WHOI and MIT EAPS. *Shudder*

So I got notified by the grad administrator on the 8th, asking me to RSVP on that day itself. I declined since I have a better offer elsewhere. My POI was a new assistant professor in geomechanics and geophysics. If you'd like to know his name or any other information, send me a message.

@GeoInsane It appears to be for all potential students currently in the US.

@GeoDUDE! Thank you It's a huge burden off my back. There also appears to be fewer applicants this year (if GradCafe forums are a reliable proxy).

@columbia09 I was invited to the visit weekend yesterday (Feb 20-22) in a mass email from the graduate coordinator, and I turned it down since I already got my top choice program. It looks like they are inviting accepted students to show them around and to interview some other students. Hope this helps.

@columbia09 I read some studies that show that taking your GREs in quick succession is more than likely only going to cause slight fluctuations. I've personally seen peers get boosts of over 10-15 points (V + Q) when they retake after a gap of 6-12 months, after preparing with multiple practice tests. Places like UT Austin (this is petroleum engineering I'm speaking of, although Jackson shouldn't be much different especially for Geology), as @GeoDUDE! mentioned, merely use the GRE as a cutoff. My friend at UT Petroleum says that the cutoff is only about 315 and your recommendations and SOP matter much more (whether the POI knows your referees, funding availability etc). Apparently they literally just put students in an Excel sheet and get rid of the cells below the cutoff GRE (unless the student has exceptional circumstances as reported elsewhere). As much as I want to believe that he is exaggerating, I think it may be true.

Penn State Geosciences has started dishing out decisions and visit dates.

Called up the Graduate School directly and their enrollment services office and they said it's normal for it to read as such until reviews are completed and to contact the program directly if we have any queries. So, back to square one but I at least know that this is normal. That's a relief. Thank you both and good luck on your applications.

Hello all, I applied for a Geoscience PhD at Penn State for the Fall 2016 session. I see no change in the graduate applicant portal status since I submitted my application. As far as I can tell, my application is complete and the status reads " The Graduate School has received your application" and prompts me to contact the relevant department for more information. It is likely alright and my worries are unfounded but the department, or more broadly the school of earth and mineral science at Penn State managed to lose two of my friends' applications a few years ago and they offered no apology or recourse. I have also managed to get exactly zero response from the department's grad coordinator in the past 3-4 months when I contacted him/her for various questions regarding the application process and my application status (This is after emails, phone calls, voicemails and messages left with the dept. front desk). I understand that they are swamped with emails and questions but, somehow, I find it hard to believe that they forgot to respond every time. I've been having a great rapport with my POI here and am freaking out since I'm scared they might (have) manage(d) to lose my application, especially since there has been no change in status or acknowledgment of any form from the department. So, I was wondering if any other Penn State Geoscience applicant here could tell me if their application status reads any different or if they managed to get any response whatsoever from the graduate admissions coordinator there.

Undergrad Institution: Top 10 in IndiaMajor(s): Mining/Geological EngineeringGPA in Major: 9.9/10Overall GPA: 9.5/10Position in Class: Top/Near topType of Student: International male in US Grad Institution: University of ArizonaMajor(s): Geophysical/Geological Engineering - GeomechanicsGPA in Major: 4.0Overall GPA: 4.0 GRE Scores (revised/old version):Q: 168V: 158W: 4.5Research Experience: Undergrad RA for 2 years (1 Journal, 1 Conference - both with low-medium impact, in geomechanics/drilling) 2 undergrad internships in geomechanics Graduate RA in Geological/Gephysical Engg. at Univ. of Arizona (1 high impact paper from my MS thesis, 2 more in review, all in geomechanics - lab and computational) Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2 travel awards, 2 small scholarships from local chapters of AGS/SME in Arizona, best outgoing student - undergradPertinent Activities or Jobs: TA'd a MOOC in my undergradSpecial Bonus Points: One of my recommendations is from a professor who's a big deal at Penn State, MIT and Lamont-Doherty.Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Attempting to make a switch from engineering (geomechanics) to science (geomechanics and geophsyics) - I've tried to twist it in a way, in my SOP, that might make me seem attractive, built my graduate profile in a way that should make me an attractive prospect for geophysicists interested in fault/rock mechanics.Applying to Where:Penn State - Geosciences - Fault mechanics Stanford - Geophysics - Fault mechanics MIT - EAPS - Geomechanics, fracture mechanics MIT/WHOI - Marine Geology and Geophysics - Fault mechanics Columbia - Lamont-Doherty - Fault mechanics UT Austin - JSG - Sediment mechanics/Marine geology UW Madison - Geological Engg - Fault mechanics, rock creep CSM - Geology - Rock mechanics, engineering geology Had informal interviews/conversations with POIs at PSU (went well), Stanford (went horribly, horribly wrong), CSM (very neutral). Had encouraging (or neutral at the very least) responses from POIs at all places except POI from Columbia, who never responded. Didn't apply to Brown for the same reason. My primary focus is experimental geomechanics, with some computational modeling as an auxiliary during my PhD.

I would recommend looking into Roy Johnson and George Zandt at Univ of Arizona for seismology.

I agree with GeoDUDE. If the job requires a PhD (which is a little surprising for mining), get the PhD as quickly as possible. Learning a software is different from getting a PhD. Anyone can be trained to do that. If you want to learn a new technology, you are better off working in the industry because you'll be exposed to new technologies. Working inside a research group is probably going to only expose you to the technology being used by that group, which may not be representative of the industry. Good luck!

I'm doing my masters in mining geomechanics from a mining school right now. Here's my take on this issue. I'm EXTREMELY disillusioned by the quality of PhDs being churned out by even the top mining schools in geology/geomechanics. The 'best' quality of research comes from Aus/US/Canada and even that isn't anywhere close to the research being carried out by geologists in the petroleum/geosciences sectors. Most research in mining geology is qualitative and empirical (extremely site specific). Currently, there's a bad case of replacing apples with oranges for PhD dissertations to show 'new' work ("Oh look, XYZ software/model worked for sandstone. Why don't we hire a PhD student and do the exact same thing using ABC software instead and have a student graduate? They will have enough work to do because they'll have to run 300 simulations beofre they can graduate."). If your end objective is a job, you are better off with a masters and maybe an EIT/PE. You can easily land one in a consulting company or a mining company. Quite a few PhDs (recent graduates) that I know of are struggling to find jobs since they are being kicked out of interviews for being overqualified in technical areas and not sufficiently in 'leadership'. Mining companies/consultants want someone they can mould to suit their needs and a candidate with a BS/MS is best suited for that. That said, if geostatistics is what you're interested in (which isn't what the conventional qualitative/observational geology is all about), most high quality research in geostatistics is being carried out in the petroleum and geoscience groups rather than mining research groups. A PhD should take anywhere from 4-6 years and you are more likely to land a $130k+ job with an oil or consulting company. As far as the research itself is concerned, quantitative = good, qualitative = bad from the POV of landing a job.

Thank you. I haven't been informed of any individual meet just yet but he said he'll give me the exact time, location etc a few days before the date. Should I offer to pay for myself or is it assumed that he would? As an international student, I'm not sure what would be appropriate in the US. Sorry if my question is too silly but I want to cover as much base as possible and I genuinely don't know what to do.

So, one of the POIs I've contacted for a PhD asked me if I would be able to meet him in person. Since I would be in town for a conference, I agreed to meet him. Looks like I'll be having lunch with his research group. Is this an interview? What can I do to provide a good 'first impression' considering I'm an introvert and have massive social anxiety? What kind of questions should I be prepared for and what should I be asking? Should I be carrying any documents-CV etc.?

Thank you, people. I think I'm gonna go for Exploration seismology then. I've heard Inverse methods is the tougher class.

As a Masters student in Geomechanics who intends to pursue PhD studies in Geophysics, I have the option of taking either Exploration Seismology or Inverse methods this fall. I have no idea about the course load or quality of instructors for either course. Which of the two courses will prepare me better for a PhD in Geophysics?