TheBumChikiBum

Okay. So, now that you have 8 sets of Manhattan books (which I hope are original   ). You will have access to 6 tests. Have you given them ? What's your score there?
See. I did my quant prep from Manhattan only. To be honest I wasn't even able to do quite a few medium and hard questions. Still, it's important to read explanation of each and every question you are not able to solve. Start giving mocks. Repeat them if already done with them. Do the Manhattan 'hard' questions. Do the hard questions in Manhattan 5Lb book. You can easily get it. If you know what I mean. Even if you try to solve those questions, your brain's quant solving abilities will improve. You are able to solve them or not is a totally different matter. Even attempting the questions is fruitful. DO IT. Just keep at it. I was getting 153-156 in my mocks 1 month before the GRE date. I just kept at it. Kept practising and achieved a very very decent quant score.
As they say in Hindu Mythology : 'Karam karte raho, fal ki iccha mat karo'. 
It basically translates to : Keep working hard persistently. Don't worry about the fruits i.e success. 
Best of luck

Just go ahead. No need to take GRE again. You are good to go!!
Focus on your application package.

If you have already booked your dates, practice and practice and practice. Do not lurk around here. Just go to your room and remain there. You have two weeks. Use them judiciously. If your native language is not English, then I would advise you to practice Quant as much as you can. Focus on your weak areas. Try and solve the hard questions in Manhattan book or something. Doesn't matter if you can solve them or not. At-least try. This will help you in tackling questions there. Makes your mind ready for the ultimate battle. 
DO NOT forget to solve as many mocks as you can. Do the free Manhattan test or the free Kaplan test etc and ofcourse the Powerprep. I gave 16 mocks before giving GRE. So, you might want to give at-least 5-6.
Don't report your GRE score. You are giving it again in two weeks. Why would you want to report.  You can apply to schools where min. GPA is 3. A lot of them have this. Write a stellar SOP and do mention the book thing. The whole application package decides your profile. Not just the acads or GRE etc.

Yeah, three years is great! But it's not a huge difference than the current OPT period (right now, it's 12+17 months = 29 months). So the net difference is +7 months. 
We'll definitely find out more soon. This DHS proposed change has been known for a long time now. But as I said above, laws can change with changing governments, so no matter what the outcome of this DHS decision, it should not play a factor in your graduate school choice. Maybe it's more important if you are planning to stop at a Masters (not sure of your plans), but if you are here for a PhD, 5-7 years is a long time and OPT might change again by then. Or maybe not.
I am actually on J-1 status, not F-1 so OPT doesn't even apply to me. Instead, J-1 graduates can choose "Academic Training" (AT) and for postdoc positions, AT can be as long as 36 months. So I am hoping my F-1 friends will soon enjoy the same benefits
I also want to say that I followed the philosophy of "a lot can happen in X years" when making my plans too. The reason I chose J-1 was that my spouse is with me and as a J-2, she will be able to get work authorization and work, while a F-2 dependent cannot do this. The drawback of J-1 status is that after my J-1 status expires, I must return to Canada for 2 years before I can get another US visa (however, not clear if another J-1 is possible). However, a 5 year PhD + 3 year Academic Training means that it would be something like 8 years before I have to deal with the consequences of the J-1 home residency requirement. At this point, it's still 4+ years away. Who knows what will happen by then. I chose to have 8 years of job security for both of us now than to worry about what we will do with the home residency requirement later. I think for you, the same should apply---you'll get much more benefit from picking the best program for you now than to worry about whether or not you can do OPT in the United States after graduation (don't forget, there are other options to work in the US besides OPT).

To clarify, as I now realise we might be talking about different things when we say "OPT issues". For anyone else reading this, this is what I mean (highly summarized because I don't really understand all the finer details as I am not an immigration lawyer, but I hope this serves as a useful introduction to the issue):
OPT is "optional practical training" and it allows for students on F-1 status to stay in the US and work in the field of their study after graduation (OPT is also possible while in school for e.g. undergrads interning during the summer etc.). But for most graduate students, this is post-graduation work, e.g. a postdoc or industry job in the field.
Normally OPT is limited to 12 months after graduation. After this time, you will have to get sponsored on another visa status to remain working in the US.
However, in 2008, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) made a temporary rule amendment to change temporarily extend OPT by 17 months for STEM (science, tech, engineering, math) majors. This means that those in STEM fields can have up to 29 months total of OPT time.
This 2008 amendment is set to expire in February 2016, after which the default action is to revert back to the 12 month time period.
Currently, DHS is undergoing a process that will update the OPT extension. The proposed rule update will change the STEM OPT extension from 17 months to 24 months. If the change is accepted as currently proposed, then the F-1 OPT period will be a total of 36 months for STEM majors. If it completely fails and no other proposed rule change is made, then the OPT period will revert back to 12 months. I think it's still possible, after DHS solicits public comments and undergoes the necessary procedures, that they can amend their update to make it an extension of any number of months. But I do think there is a lot of support for the 24 month extension option.
You can read DHS' published proposed rule change here: https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2015/10/19/2015-26395/improving-and-expanding-training-opportunities-for-f-1-nonimmigrant-students-with-stem-degrees-and (It was published today, Oct 19, 2015).

I think the place you prefer should be the place that you feel like you fit into the most. What kind of research and experiments will help you achieve your career goals the best. I think this is more important than rank and it should not just be tier 1 Canadian schools vs tier 1 US schools. You should also factor in the "fit" when comparing tier 2 US schools vs. tier 1 US schools as well.
There are some differences between a Canadian graduate program and a US one and here are some pros and cons. However, since a "pro" for one person may be a "con" for another, I'll just list differences and let you decide:
1. Canadian graduate program is split into two independent programs. Usually a 2 year masters followed by a 3-4 year PhD program (usually 3 years if you stay at the same school, 4 years if you don't). You need a Masters to get into most PhD programs. You have to go through the entire application process even if you are staying at the same school and you will be considered a new student again.
2. Canadian programs do not front-load the coursework requirements like US programs. People will usually take courses up to the last or second-last year. You take fewer courses at a time compared to US schools.
3. Canadian programs jump into research a lot faster. You start right away. After all, you finish a Masters dissertation at the end of the 2 year Masters program. My Masters coursework consists of only four 12-week courses. To get my US Masters (non-terminal, "along the way" Masters), the equivalent is about twelve 10-week courses. 
4. A Canadian Masters program is fully funded and is really more like the first 2 years of a US graduate program. It is very much unlike US terminal Masters programs where you have to pay your own way.
Overall, I think Canadian and US programs have roughly the same attrition rates (something like 50% of PhD students will not finish). However, due to the natural break between the Masters and PhD program in Canada, you will find a lot of students stopping at a Masters. I would say that only roughly half to two-thirds of Masters students at Canadian schools will enter PhD programs. But I think this is fine---much better to find out/decide at this point and leave with a useful Masters than quit with nothing (or after an additional year or two of time invested) in the US system. 

I don't think either method is appropriate for reporting a GPA to a United States (or Canadian) graduate program.
There are two possible appropriate ways, from my application cycle (my school in Canada also awards grades out of 100 but it's never relative to another student, always an absolute scale, so it's possible for everyone to score 100%).
The most common way when I asked the US grad schools is to not convert your grade into a GPA. Instead, you just provide your transcripts. Your transcripts should include a description of how grades are awarded (mine has it on the back or the last page) and if not, I would recommend providing a copy of this information from your school's official source. The graduate school will choose their own way to interpret your international grades based on their own internal systems as well as past experience with students from your country/school. 
The other way is to look up some resources that explain the conversion and try to apply that. However, I would only do this is you are explicitly required to do so. This means you should only do this if the application says something like "If you are an international student, please convert your grade to a 4.0 GPA scale". Do not do this if the application simply provides a box for you to enter your GPA. If it just asks for a GPA (but does not ask you to convert), what you should do is contact the school and ask them for instructions. In almost every case, they will either tell you to enter your GPA in your own school's system (so I often entered x/100) or to just leave the field blank and they will compute their own GPA for you.

Although it does vary based on field, in the ones I'm used to / part of, yes you are right that in Canada, it's often the case that a graduate student admittance is more like a job hire. Schools/departments may have a committee that screens all the applicants to ensure they meet the department minimum standard. Then, after that, all the applications are forwarded to all professors looking for students and each professor will then decide if they want to interview, email, call, Skype, etc. and eventually they decide whether or not they want to admit the student. However, the professor will still consider the entire application package, including your marks. 
This is a little bit of a simplification because it's not true that the professor has 100% decision power. Students are still partially funded by the department too, especially if they are international students (as international students need a higher tuition reimbursement, which typically comes from a departmental pool). So, each professor would make their preferences known to the department and then the department will make decisions based on balance and funding etc. For example, if the department has funds to pay for 5 international students and 6 professors want international students, they will have to negotiate and come to some compromise.
On the other hand, the standard US admissions model is that a committee reviews your application and then makes an admission decision at the department level---your potential advisor does not really play a part at all (and you may not even have a potential advisor at this stage). However, I think the things that the committee looks for in the United States would be the same as what a Canadian professor would look for. And as I described above, the committee would also look for balance (e.g. you don't want all your admits to be from the same subfield) and funding considerations (international vs. domestic etc.)
So, overall, yes, you are mostly right about Canadian programs having professors "hire" students while US programs have committees that admit students. But I do not think it is accurate to say that US committees value extracurriculars and GPA more and that Canadian professors do not look at the whole package. I think that both systems will value the entire package and that both systems will probably weight research more than GPA. And both systems will very rarely care about extracurriculars---those are not really relevant to graduate admissions in either country.

Sorry for the slow reply--I've been away this weekend! I would second fuzzy's advice to contact the departments and talk to them. It's hard for us to guess what schools will think! 
For field-specific forums, Environmental Engineering might fit into our Engineering subforum, or Earth Sciences. At my school, your program would be administered by my department (an earth science department), but this would really depend on what kind of environmental engineering you mean. (And of course, each school will divide its departments differently too).

Fuzzylogician is right, sounds like you need a yes or no answer at this point (can one with a GPA below the stated minimum still be accepted), and the only way you'll find that answer is by directly asking the programs themselves which you are interested in applying to.

I really don't know what to tell you. I am in a completely different field and don't know which schools you're applying to. Even if I were in your field and had a list of all the schools you're applying to, I still wouldn't know. This is one time where you really need to ask the schools. One way to do that would be to reach out to potential advisors and get their interest, then mention your GPA. If you get someone's support, they can often fight for you to waive stated cutoffs. Another way to go about it is to call the department and ask if the cutoff is really strict or if exceptions are made (and if so, under what circumstances). You can call and not tell them your name, so there is no risk of saying anything wrong or turning them off. 

IMHO : 
You don't really need to retake your GRE. Just focus on your application package as a whole.

You can send your scores even before applying. It's al-right to do so.

As others stated - send the scores to whatever schools that you think you will be applying to. The schools will keep track of the score until your application comes in. If you end up not applying to one of the schools you sent the score to it won't be a problem.
Just make sure that you don't do what my daughter did. She knew what schools she was going to apply to, but did not submit the scores at the test time. ETS ended up charging her for all of the score transmittals when she went back to their website after she finished the applications. The 4 free transmissions are only free if you send the scores at the time that you take the test, any score sent after taking the test will incur their usual fee.
 
 

Dear JMK, 

I feel your pain! 

I just wrote another post comparing Magoosh to the Manhattan prep books for this very reason. Because I honestly don't think Magoosh helps people like us. Sorry to say, although I do use it and find it useful as a refresher to things I learn through Manhattan Prep 8 books (really breaks things down for people like us), Keshwani GRE/GMAT Math fundamentals on Youtube and Khan Foundation. I guess what I am trying to say is it's perhaps not so much you, as much as the resource you've used. Sorry if it doesn't answer your question but I think I agree with BumChiki that just a algebra class is not enough (maybe supplements, definitely all adds up!)


 

Hi fellow aggie! I have found the most gains from Magoosh. I think that if you're that low in quant, which I am struggling with myself, I would focus on just using one study plan along with the book created by the test-makers. A girl in my graduate program got a perfect score on quant and that is the method she used. Rather than get bogged down with discrepancies and hoping you hit that number exactly, instead just focus on taking really detailed notes (both on CONCEPTS that were unclear and typical mistakes YOU tend to make) and looking at the quant section as a place to improve.
Magoosh has a one month study schedule that I am doing and it's keeping me focused and aimed on the prize. Hopefully that can be of help to you~!
 
 
 

It's pretty unlikely that if the school does not get the score report exactly on the deadline, they will throw out your application. I submitted some score reports 2 weeks after the deadline. I would contact the school and ask if they would like you to send unofficial scores until the official score report is ready. Or at least let them know that the score reports are on their way and may be a few days late.