Jae B.

keeping score

As another fiercely anti-debt person, I would add that there are a lot of great state schools that are way cheaper than private ones, and would probably still be cheaper than many private schools even with high (~$10,000 per year) out-of-state fees tacked on. A good public university paired with a relatively inexpensive living-area could save you a lot of money. I'm willing to bet the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, an esteemed school, is cheaper than some private alternatives, although it's in an area with a high cost of living. So look for a school like that with a less-costly living situation. However, my big caveat to this is that private schools -- from my observation -- tend to offer much more financial aid and scholarship opportunities to assist international students. I guess you could say they're more interested in catering to a diverse international audience than state schools -- intended to serve their states first-and-foremost and sap big money in fees off everybody from anywhere else -- are. But you've got to research this at each school / department. Bottom line: find the best schools for your interests, and then sort out the least expensive ones (tuition + living expenses) as well as the ones with the most financial aid and scholarship opportunities for international students. Apply to as many as you can afford the application fees for, do a thorough job on the financial aid sections of your applications, and see what schools offer you. Hopefully you'll wind up with a good range of options. Especially if you're an international student, you want to make studying here worth your while, right? It's a lot of trouble to go to, so at least go to a school that will work in your best interest in the long run, and help you pay off any debt you incur attending. Think of it this way: there are a lot of ways to incur debt in life, other than your schooling, but you're only going to get one MBA to help you pay all of your debts off. Make it a good one! In the end, you could be able to attend a highly-ranked expensive private school on a large scholarship that makes it affordable for you. Maybe you'll end up at a good inexpensive school instead. But I don't advise ruling out schools based on cost alone. If you find an expensive school that's a great fit for you, apply because -- since it's a great fit -- your application there will be better because of that, and make you more likely to receive admission with financial aid. Professional master's degree programs are stingier about scholarship aid, and emphasize merit aid over need-based aid (they often expect you to win money awards after you're their student instead of granting you aid before you enroll), but they still compete to keep their best-fitting applicants. Also, try posting in IHOG and The Bank about financial aid options. And definitely in the Professional Programs --> Business sub-forum! People might be able to give you more suggestions there.

assembly line

keeping time

production cast

lunch time

Most people I know secure places about the end of July / early August -- but usually after looking for a good part of the month. So you'll be getting there right when pickings start to narrow down, but I think you'll be fine. Many new grad students I know are already snapping up places because they're too nervous to wait, but I don't think it's necessary. I'm waiting, probably until late July / early August myself. It depends on how much you mind quirky places. They are plenty of not bad, but quirky places in August. People are getting the nice, normal places now through June and July. But there will be a few left.... And still close to campus, too, if that's what you're after. Anyone know where summer school people tend to stay? As they leave in August (?), there should be some better options.

Thank you! You're right. I switched everything to direct e-mail notification. I'm a little confused as to why I was getting essentially three notifications for most things instead of just one, since everything was set to only one notification style (either e-mail or in-line notification), but hopefully this fixes it! I appreciate your investigation. Maybe you should help Facebook with their privacy preferences.

I am receiving a B.S. degree in computer science at the end of this summer. I know for certain that I am not the type of student that any top-tier graduate school wants to accept: my GPA is 3.0, I have completed very little research (a project that merely consisted of using genetic algorithms to populate a blackjack strategy card- definitely nothing groundbreaking), and am getting my degree from a fourth-tier dump in Florida that goes by the name of Florida Atlantic University. I am seriously considering getting a second undergraduate degree in physics. For some strange reason, the University of Maryland accepted me into their undergraduate program for the fall 2010 semester. An adviser there said I could have a B.S. in physics in two years. If, hypothetically, I were to earn a high GPA during the completion of my second degree and do research and get high GPA scores, is admission to a top university for physics or computer science, such as MIT, CalTech, Cornell, or Stanford still an impossible dream? My worries are that even if I were to get a 3.8 GPA, my total average GPA would still be below 3.5, and there is only one and a half years to go to the application deadline for these places. I'm afraid that my low GPA will discourage those undergraduate summer research programs from accepting me next year, so I won't have that on my transcript. Some points: 3.0 GPA: You can work with this! Others have before you. Take their advice and run with it.Fourth-tier school: Don't insult your school. You chose to go there for some reason, and it must have had some redeeming qualities. Remember why you chose to go there, and emphasize the school's best qualities, especially on any applications you fill out.Two years + 3.8 GPA = still below 3.5 GPA: While this would show an extraordinary amount of effort for admissions committees to (hopefully) appreciate, I think it seems like a desperate measure and potentially a huge waste of money still without giving you a super-competitive GPA -- which is your primary dismay in the first place -- so wouldn't it be better to focus on other things that would make you competitive? You'll need to, second undergrad degree or not.If you got a 3.0 the first time around, at a school you don't consider highly, and without doing much research (which is kind of like a second job), why do you think starting over right away (without any breather or much reflection on your previous degree-effort) with a new major at the University of Maryland (I take it a higher-ranked / probably more difficult school you'd need to adjust to) will go that much better? Even that seems risky and a bit presumptuous to me. And you might wear yourself out before even getting to grad school, your ultimate goal. I don't know anyone who had obtained a second undergrad degree, but I do know people who got off to a rough start, took a break, worked, assessed their lives and came back and seriously aced their second-attempt at finishing their first degree. I'm talking 4.0's at Berkeley, highest honors and tip-top grad admissions. These people amaze me -- I want to be them when I grow up! -- but I think if you asked them, the break they took, often two or more years of selling cars or some other job, helped them to succeed in school the most. They had a lot of time to figure things out; themselves, how they work best as students, what their options are. Most of all, they really re-dedicated themselves to a path in education, without hesitation. But if they had just kept going in the first place, not much would have changed. So, to clarify, I don't think plowing straight into a second undergrad career without any sort of breather may make you any more successful than you have been. If I were you, I'd be doing more of a personal assessment right now than considering a re-do at my undergraduate career. It is what it is, for better or for worse; you'll always have that record following you regardless of what you do now. I think you'd be best-served by emphasizing the positives of what you've already achieved (really, a "B" average is not so bad, and in CS -- a liberal arts person like myself would high-five you) and spending a lot of time assessing why you -- personally -- did not do as well as you hoped. The school may be part of it, but also think about what you would like to do differently. Then, as others suggested, I would go for a terminal master's if I were you. If you can highlight what you did right, what you have learned, and suggest ways you'll excel in a master's program (how it's more suited to you and your skills and interests, plus your newfound motivation, compared to your previous situation), I think that kind of energy would suit you much better than wasting your energy on another minimum two-year undergrad attempt! Try to respect what you've already done, and actually try moving on before you jump into trying to modify your past. If you're really hung-up on this U of Maryland thing, maybe you can try deferring your admissions there for a semester at least, preferably a year if possible, send out some master's applications this fall / winter and see how you feel about it.

Two things about the new forum software: Whenever I get a new something (friend add, profile comment, private message), I get an e-mail saying it's a "new personal conversation." So I think someone's talking to me privately, which is usually not the case.I have to go through three steps to totally dismiss a new notification -- 1) look at e-mail, 2) look at forum private message, 3) look at "notification" -- before I even read the actual note or comment I received! Otherwise, there's still a "1" or indicator that I have something new, even though it isn't new and I've already acknowledged it. Hope that makes sense. I wasn't sure how to best describe it. Anyhow, is there a way I can deal with this in my settings (and still get e-mail notifications), or is this a forum-wide software glitch?

Ditto North Face. I've given up backpacks, but if I hadn't, I'd probably have something of theirs if I didn't cave and try an Incase one....

down cast

strike out

I didn't have nightmares until I got accepted, but before I finished undergrad. Crisis of confidence, I guess. I got very anxious in that in-between time -- I always do before graduations, but this time I had overloaded on units and a thesis due.... I dreamed: 1) that I forgot to turn in a major project and missed a graduation requirement and therefore did poorly and failed to finish undergrad, and had to tell my grad school -- which does not defer enrollment. 2) that I dreamed all this and I'm really still in high school, and therefore have to "redo" everything! ...Scary stuff. But it's all worked out alright -- whew!

bottom heavy

^… Ditto this! I just checked out all those websites. Wish I had them before! Thanks for sharing.

I love this story and the way you wrote it. Too awesome.

getting heavy

Congratulations! Very cool that it's all working out.

lunch break

getting fit

^… Ditto this! My best friend used a "pocket" GRE book, and, er, I don't think it helped them. You'd be better off lugging a huge, quality one -- I took one back and forth with me on my 2+ hour bus commute (each way) for a couple months, carrying it around in my shoulder bag all day...before I decided not to take the test. If you get one too small, then it'd be hard to write in, and many of the good ones have useful exercises and spaces for notes. Just get a paperback one with thin newsprint-style pages (so it's light), so you can bend it into your bag and abuse it. Mine looks like crap, but it's still good -- was planning on handing it off to a friend. A lot of GRE books also come with a tear-out vocab list, so that's another reason a larger book could be a good investment, even if you don't want to take the whole book traveling.

I would rescind as well and express disappointment with their department's inconsiderate handling of the application. Even the busiest of departments manage to communicate and respond to communications in a timely manner. There is no excuse for this school not conveying your status. If they can't handle updating people personally, maybe they should invest in an easier-to-update website applicants can check, since it sounds like they don't have one.

^… I tend to agree with this statement, though I understand your funding concerns. I, too, am continuing at my undergraduate institution, Berkeley, partially because of funding. But I was really conflicted about just signing on to get my B.A. and Master's from the same school! Everything seemed perfect, except for that. I ultimately decided it wasn't a big deal because: the school is considered one of the best in the fieldI was a transfer undergrad student, so I previously only spent two years at Berkeley -- I'll only reach four years including my Master'sit's generally thought to be very difficult to get into grad school at Berkeley if you attended here for undergrad (because, as you got a whiff of, Berkeley strongly disproves of academic incest in most cases), andI intend to have my career in the school's locality, where it holds the most prestige. So, I think there needs to be reasoning beyond your financials, to really make it worth it. Academic incest still makes some people go, "Hmm..." about you, as if you weren't very bold, couldn't move on, got stuck on your undergraduate work, couldn't reach out to new people, etc. So you will need to work against those stereotypes. Part of my decision was the value of the networks I currently have. Sounds like that will work out well for you, too, regarding funding opportunities. However, if I ever decided to get a PhD (which I am not planning to do), I don't think I would continue at the same school -- unless it was the best of the best for that degree. I wouldn't want to appear so intensely affiliated with a particular school, or to be tied to its reputation, good or bad. And diverse experience is valuable -- but maybe you can make up for that in other ways? If you are really set upon this path, look for other experiences that can make your background look braver. In case, as watergirl said, you decide someday to do something other than work in government. Good luck to you, and congrats on all your acceptances!

^… Agreed! On my master's applications, they asked us to name other schools we were applying to. At first I was hesitant, but then I decided, why not? The schools were in the same league, although one is more prestigious than the other. In the end, I think the less prestigious school used that information to speak to their acceptees directly about why they are as good as the other school (apparently a lot of us applied there -- an indicator of "fit" for sure), and what they offer that the other school doesn't. Maybe the professor you were speaking with was prepared to talk you out of some of the usual competitors. Either way, knowing their competition is important for schools. I can see how the only two schools I applied to have a lot in common, and how that indicates where I think I belong and what I'm looking for in resources. However, the third school I considered applying to -- if I had, I'm not sure I would have listed it on my applications -- even though I really admired it and a particular professor there, it is not highly ranked (that I know of) and I wouldn't be sure how other schools would regard it.