magnetite

Well, that's just the topic I'm most keen on. I added other examples in my statements of purpose, such as sinters in Chile as analogues for a few spots on Mars. I got interested in hydrothermal vents by doing an independent study project on Enceladus. At this point, I only know more or less what I want to study, but nothing about how to actually go about doing it. I've read some papers, but I have a feeling my general lack of knowledge will be pretty clear when an ad-com reads my statement of purpose.

Yeah, er, I'm really kicking myself for not contacting the POI at my top choice school after I submitted my application. We spoke on the phone a few months before the application deadline in mid-December. Sarah, I'm curious: What interests you in astrobiology? I'm looking to study hydrothermal vents on Earth to get an idea for what might be happening on Europa/Enceladus.

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep that in mind next cycle, if necessary.

Hello, Before applying, I emailed two professors at my top choice school my CV and research interests. One responded and said his group was full, but encouraged me to apply anyway to see how the stars align. Another had me call his office and talk for a bit about the program. That conversation was back in September. The application deadline was the middle of December. It looks like the results page shows that they send out acceptances the first week of February, so I'm wondering: Should I contact either of them again? Or has that ship sailed, and I should just wait it out to see what happens?

Ah, good to know. Congrats on your acceptance!

I applied to Caltech just before the deadline on a whim. My application status still shows that they're awaiting my GRE scores, though I sent them just before Christmas. I called them earlier today and I got the impression that they are needing to manually update the statuses for applicants who sent in the scores before they created an application. I wonder how much this is going to affect my application. If they're reviewing fully completed and updated applications now, I suppose it's possible they could accept how ever many they are able to before they even look at my application.

"Something is definitely wrong in this country. Trump 2016." Posted on a rejection from Princeton. The poster has a 4.0 GPA and 165/170/5.0 GRE scores. Not sure if serious.

Thanks for the advice. As far as getting paid to do research in my field, do you mean trying to stay on with my current advisor? Or trying to find a job elsewhere? I'm in a lab right now that has nothing to do with what I'm applying for, but involves some programming and other things that would be useful in any field (I think). I'm not getting paid now and I'm not optimistic on the prospects of getting paid for the work after I graduate. TakeruK, thanks for mentioning the April 15th deadline. I didn't even consider it. I don't have an actual rejection from anywhere I've applied. Only an implicit rejection from Caltech's GPS, since I saw someone post an update a few days ago that they were accepted. If and when the rejections do start coming in, I'll keep in mind not to contact the programs until after April 15th. I think I'm just panicking after seeing a lot of acceptances start to come in. I guess it's better to consider the possibility of not getting accepted anywhere now, rather than later. Especially if I do need to try to find a job until the next application cycle.

Would it be considered rude to contact a program that rejected your application in order to find out why? I recall reading about this somewhere, but I couldn't find exactly where. I'm applying to several geological science and oceanography programs with the goal of studying the geochemistry of hydrothermal vents. I'm majoring in physics in undergrad and haven't had a chance to take many geology or chemistry courses, with the exception of general chemistry I and II and organic chemistry I. I also took an upper-level geophysics class, but it was not very strenuous at all and was mainly a survey course. I'm talking four homework assignments which counted 70% of the course grade and a group project that took up the rest. In the event I get rejected from the places I applied, I'm sure I could have more more competitive applications the following year if I take some more courses in the interim. I imagine if my lack of relevant coursework is a big issue, the programs would tell me, right? In any case, it would be nice to know which classes would be best to take to catch up to other applicants.

Your POI either knows or knows of the people who wrote your recommendations, though, right? I'm not sure if I'd want to send a LinkedIn invite to this particular POI, since I have no other connection to him. I'm also curious how long it's been since you've had any contact with your POI.

I'm curious about this as well. I had a phone 'interview' with a POI back in September. It went well, I think. He basically tried to sell me on applying to his university and didn't ask much about me. In my initial email I included a broad overview of my research interests, as well as my CV. I haven't contacted him after the interview and the application deadline was mid December. Should I email him again, to try to keep my name familiar to him?

Regarding the GRE, check out these threads. You might find something useful in them.

Thanks for the responses. I'll try emailing the programs I've already applied to.

Hi all, I was recently hired as an undergraduate TA, so I need to update my CV. Previously, I have had a section titled 'Experience' with subsections titled 'Research' and 'Occupational.' I will add a 'Teaching' subsection, but I need to know if another position I've held will qualify for this subsection. I've been a peer leader in a program called Peer-Led Team Learning for a few semesters. The program hires students who've done well in a course, calculus in my case, to lead sessions where students currently taking the course work problems chosen by the professor. One of the state goals of the program is for the leaders to avoid teaching if possible. Therefore there's a lot of focus on having the students work the problems by themselves, without relying on the peer leader to walk them through the problems. In some cases, though, when none of the students pick up on a concept in lecture, some degree of teaching is required. Anyway, my question is: Should I include this PLTL position under teaching experience? Currently on my CV, it's listed under a section titled 'Organizations.' Is PLTL close enough to teaching to belong in a teaching section? Thanks.

Is it acceptable to send updates to your CV and research experience after completing a graduate school application? I wouldn't think it was, but my advisor mentioned something about it. I thought I'd ask here real quickly. I've already completed a few that had early deadlines, but there have been a few unexpected developments that may improve my chances. I was just hired to be a TA for my last semester as an undergraduate and I'll know within a week if I get funding to go to an international conference in March. I also should have a paper ready to submit to a journal by the end of January.

Undergrad Institution: Mid-sized school in Texas.Major(s): PhysicsMinor(s):GPA in Major: 3.85Overall GPA: 3.64Position in Class: Slightly above average?Type of Student: Domestic, male.GRE Scores (revised/old version):Q: 161 / 80%V: 163 / 92%W: 4.5 / 80%Research Experience: Three semesters doing an independent study project, essentially a literature review. Three semesters in a space sciences remote sensing lab doing miscellaneous scripting/programming relating to ionospheric scintillations. Summer REU studying the ionosphere at a premier radio observatory. Poster presentation at this year's LPSC for the independent study project and a poster at the upcoming AGU meeting for the REU. I should be able to submit a paper based on the REU research, but not until after application deadlines. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List one semester Phi Theta Kappa community college honors society Undergraduate travel award from Lunar and Planetary Institute Travel award from school to help with travel to LPSC Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Founded a campus space club Peer-Led Team Learning Leader for three semesters Extensive work experience, including several years in IT Special Bonus Points: Recommendations from my two advisors on campus and my REU advisor. Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I first started college in 2002 before dropping out after an undistinguished four semesters where I changed majors three times, took no upper level courses, and had a 2.5 overall GPA. I eventually returned to my first university in 2012, after earning an associates degree in 2006. None of my recommenders currently do research in planetary science or earth science. Two are atmospheric/space scientists and the other is in the university's science education department. Applying to Where:Arizona State - SESE Arizona - Planetary Sciences CU Boulder - Geological Sciences/Astrobiology cert. MIT/WHOI Joint Program - Chemical Oceanography University of Washington - Oceanography/Astrobiology cert. Stony Brook - Marine and Atmospheric Sciences University of Minnesota - Earth Sciences Hawaii - Oceanography At all, I've found professors doing research relating to hydrothermal vents, geochemistry and/or serpentinization, though I haven't received responses from all that I've contacted.

How much of this research proposal in your personal statement was drawn from your work as an undergraduate? I ask because I'm looking to go into planetary science/earth science/oceanography, but my school doesn't have active research in these areas. So, I'm not exactly sure of the unanswered questions in these fields. I just know that I want to study extreme environments on Earth and what implications they could have for life on other bodies in the solar system. Apart from that, I don't have much in the way of elaboration. Also, sorry if I tend to hijack threads with questions of my own that are only tangentially related to the original post.

When will you actually submit the paper to a journal? I'm applying this round as well and I have a paper in the works as well. It won't be submitted before I finish the applications. My advisor has told me to send an updated CV to the grad programs once I submit the paper. I'm not sure the usual process for this, or if at that point graduate programs would even care. I suppose I could mention this in my statements of purpose, or research history sections, but I haven't done so yet for the two I'm completely finished with.

Did you have much success getting responses from POIs outside of conferences? I've only gotten a few myself, so for most programs I'm applying to, as of right now it'll be without having any dialogue with any professors. How did you go about finding people to talk with at AGU? Was the encounter with the POI you mentioned just a chance encounter, or were you actively looking for people doing research in the field you're interested in? I ask because I've been to LPSC but didn't do much networking. I'll be going to AGU and I'm wondering how hard it will be finding potential POIs suitable to my interests at such a large event.

Would anyone be able to review my statement of purpose via PM? I too would rather not post the entire letter for public viewing. Thanks!

Thanks for the tip. Looking back, he responded to my initial email about two weeks after I sent it. I'll wait a few more days.

Hello, Last Sunday, I got a response from a POI saying we should talk, as my interests align pretty well with the program. He said he was fully booked with travel last week, but asked for suggestions on times either this week or next week. I responded a few hours after I got the email, but I still haven't gotten a response. Would it be a good idea to send a follow-up email? I don't want to seem pushy, but this is probably my first choice in grad schools. What would be the best way to send a follow-up email? Thanks.

The first page of my unofficial transcript has an academic program history section with a breakdown of my majors by date. The official transcript lists the major I was going for in a particular semester just before the classes and grades for that semester.

Thanks for the advice. Unfortunately, the school I attended in 2002 is the same one I started back at in 2012. As a result, the transcript will show the courses from 2002 first, with all the changes of majors at the very top. So, even if I put that one transcript first in the PDF, they won't see my recent results first. Anyway, I have an idea where to go from here. Thanks again.

Hi all, I'll be applying to graduate schools for oceanography and planetary sciences. I've got quite a few issues that might appear on my transcripts and I'd just like to get some suggestions on how to address them in my SOP. To begin with, I started college in 2002 and performed spectacularly poorly: three Ds my first semester and a GPA of about 2.5 after four semesters. During those four semesters I changed majors four times and eventually dropped out. A few years later I landed at a community college and got an associates degree. I worked for several years and took a single class at another college to help with my job at the time, but ended up being laid off in 2011. I then took two semesters of courses at a different community college, before returning to the very first college I attended in fall of 2012. I changed majors again that semester, this time to physics, which I've been studying ever since. So, I've got courses from four different colleges, as well as about five changes of major in total. The first few pages of my transcript are quite depressing. Just going over this history here makes me wonder if I should even try applying to graduate school. Since I changed majors for the last time, I've been somewhat active with research, and my GPA at my school (excluding community college credits, which are all 4.0 GPA) is about 3.65. For a year now I've been working on an independent study project, where I presented what was essentially a book report at a major planetary science conference. I also have been earning some credit hours working in a professor's lab for the last two semesters, primarily automating processes to collect and graph data at two locations. Now that we've got data, I can maybe do some actual science. That resulted in a summer REU at a well-known observatory, which I just finished. So, even though I had a rocky start to my collegiate career, I've at least made some progress. Up until I actually changed my major to physics, I hadn't taken any upper level courses at all. Any advice would be appreciated on how to mention all of this in an SOP. Thanks!