Jae B.

Yeah, cutting coffee is a tough one. I'm not a huge coffee drinker in general, but that was my study/read beverage. I would leave the house and go to a coffee shop (actually, there's one on the mezzanine of the grocery store near my house, and the background noise is the perfect level). Being the routine person that I am, I started associating productive reading with both that setting and the coffee I was drinking. Cue the worst bout of acid reflux I've had in years, and I haven't had real coffee in a month. A MONTH.

Needless to say, my reading/study habits have gone out the window.

Sidenote, if the coffee-problem is a stomach-problem: I'm trying this acid-reduced Kava-brand coffee, but I'm struggling with the flavor. It's an instant coffee, which is already a mark against it, but there's something really strange and almost muddy about the flavor even. The caffeine helps, but I've had to do some creative doctoring to make it drinkable. Currently, adding pure cocoa, brown sugar and soy milk turns it into a decent mocha, but I really don't recommend it.

You have to know your own study habits. It takes some time, but once you've understood what works best for you, you can tailor your studying to fit that pattern.

Here is what works for me:
- I never work at home, there are just too many temptations there. So, either I go to the office, or to a coffee shop, or I sit in a park or at the riverbank.
- If possible, I disconnect from the internet.
- If I'm in a noisy place and can't concentrate I put on headphones with some work-music: monotonic, wordless, not too loud (jazz, instrumental, classical).
- I work in the afternoons/evenings/nights, when I can concentrate the best.
- I arrange to have snacks, water and coffee at my desk so there's no excuse to get up and go to the kitchen.
- I try to decide on scheduled breaks. It works best for me to have short work-sessions and short breaks. e.g. 15 mins work, 5 mins break.
- If I'm concentrated and on a roll, I don't stop for my scheduled break. If, however, I'm really not being productive, I quit for a longer while and return to work later.
- I break up the work to small bits and set realistic goals, so I'm never faced with a huge ominous task.
- I make up deadlines for each bit for some time before the actual deadline. I keep those deadlines.
- I take the time to make a large to-do list on a whiteboard at my desk every week. I cross off every task I've performed; it's very fulfilling to see crossed-off lines.
- I sometimes work in small groups with like-minded grad students who also need someone to watch that they're not wasting time surfing the internet.
- ...and I embrace my procrastination. It's unavoidable. I'm happy if I can just manage it.
- When the deadline is over: I celebrate my success, and if possible - take some time off.

For larger projects, for me it's all about getting started. That is much easier to do if I break the project down to small parts and start with something easy, just so I have something already written. I always start by writing an intro that details what I plan to do (which always gets completely rewritten by the time I finish the work), and an outline of the sections+subsections I plan to have in my paper. I write down a rough summary of the results I want to report in the paper and move on to the lit review. That way I have a few pages written down before I get to the hard parts. If I'm having a bad day, a realistic goal can even be "write one page today!!," it depends on the work load and deadlines. But if that's my goal for the day then I (try to) do it, no matter how much time I spend on forums and blogs in between.

I make to-do lists. If something is big and vague a la "Write paper," I break it up into as many small parts as possible. It's all about inertia-- a student at rest tends to stay at rest. A student in motion tends to stay in motion. If I can get started on the smallest and easiest parts of my list, the tiny victory of seeing a few tasks crossed off makes me feel more like finishing the whole thing. It can also help me plan things more effectively, and remember things that might have been forgotten until the very last minute.

Also, I try to limit myself to breaks of 25 minutes or less. That allows for a snack or a cup of coffee, and maybe one short episode of something on Netflix or Hulu. Keep an eye on the clock, and set limits for yourself. "I will start work again at 4" or "I will only watch this one clip." The more you honor your own limits, the easier it will be to believe yourself as a self-disciplining authority figure. (I, for one, can't force myself to get up at a certain time unless I have a concrete reason to get up. I just can't do the "I'm going to be an early bird and wake up at 8 today because it's good for me!")

in a history course, you will have 14-15 weeks of class. you will read one book per class per week. if the books are new, they're anywhere from $30-60 each. if they're used, you'll get 'em closer to $20 each. that's at your campus bookstore. but don't buy your books there. go on amazon and find used copies for $3 or $11 each. sometimes amazon itself has great deals, and then your shipping will be free. other times, the good prices are from third party bookstores and you'll have to pay $4 in shipping per store. even then, the added cost still saves you a lot compared to getting it all from the bookstore.

in my first semester, for two book-heavy seminars (my third class was all journal articles and book chapters), i spent $425 on books. that's with using amazon to get a $25 book for $5. so i'd say, even with the most resourceful shopping, you'll spend $200 on books per history course.

other fields read a lot less. history's known for being particularly reading-intensive. if you're taking poli sci or public policy courses, expect the reading load (and therefore the cost spent on books) to be a lot less.

but you don't want to buy your books anyway. don't do it. wait for the first week of class. the second you have that syllabus in your hot little hand, order all of the books through interlibrary loans. if you can only get the ILL for two weeks, then obviously just order each book two weeks before the discussion date. not only will you save yourself hundreds of dollars, because these books won't be collecting dust on your shelves, you'll force yourself to take really good notes. you can't just go pick up the book again in 3 weeks when you want to reference something, so you'll have to take detailed, useful notes on each reading. which will be perfect for your comps exams. start off doing it this way (ILLs, detailed notes) and you'll be cruising when you study for comps.


also, i don't know of anyone that takes out loans to buy books. usually just winds up on the credit card until you can afford to pay it down with your stipend.

and amazon can be as evil as it wants. if i get free shipping in 2 days, then i'll take it.

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.

This may not be helpful to you since I'm in the physical sciences, but my textbook LIST prices have usually run $60 to $120 per book--$80 seems to be the median price. However, I never buy things at list price, so I think I've spent about $150/semester total.

The best way to save money on books is not to buy them!! In several of my grad classes, the book is used only rarely--and the prof puts a copy on reserve on the library for the times when it's needed.

For me, the best way to go about buying books is to (1) contact the prof a month or so before class starts; (2) ask what book is being used and how much it will be used; (3) if I need to buy, I buy online. The reason I start a month before class is that, if you wait until the beginning of the semester, book prices will be really high. The best times to buy are usually right after a semester ends or during the middle of summer.

I haven't needed to buy books outside my courses. On the rare occasions that I need a reference text, I borrow it--usually from the library, or sometimes from a helpful prof.

Hope this info is useful.

Oh boy.

When it comes to grad school, that is really the wrong question to ask.

Would you really want to spend any money on an "inexpensive" school that doesn't at all help you find a job come graduation? Or would you want to find a school that is well respected and will ultimately lead you to job offers? I'm not saying that you shouldn't go to an inexpensive school, so long as you make sure that any program/school you choose is well established and has a good reputation in terms of getting students hired.

It sounds like you are an international student, so chances are that you will not benefit from in-state tuition at any public university. Thus, you are probably looking at around $25,000-$30,000/year in tuition at your average state school and $40,000/year in tuition at your average private institution.

Don't forget your statement of purpose! You can explain away a lot of things in those pages as well as describe your amazing experience level.

Your situation is pretty identical to mine and I got into OSU for grad school with a 3.7 GPA in chemistry. I know it's not Top 10 but it's Top 30. Combined with my previous degree's GPA it was well under a 3.0 but they didn't care. Some friends who graduated with their 2nd degree in chemistry ended up at UW-Madison. So yeah, if you really buckle down and focus I don't believe that top competitive programs will be out of your reach.

Hey,

Thanks a lot for all of your feedback/advice. The different experiences and perspectives really helped clear things up, and I appreciate the time you took to write them.
I certainly learned a good lesson, and I'll be keeping all these suggestions in mind for next time.

I have been invited by the research fellowship program I completed last year to speak to current students. They are all from groups underrepresented in academia and planning for a PhD and/or career in academia.

The topic is "Paving Scholastic Excellence".

As my expertise right now is limited to just applying and getting accepting I'm focusing on that. I have had all kinds of thoughts over the past couple weeks as I try to decide what I'm qualified to say. The information isn't exactly a narrative so I decided to do some bullet points as a hand-out. The talk will elaborate, of course, but I thought that when controlled for audience the stuff I learned as written here might be useful. Or, not. Your call.

Five or Six Things I Like To Think I Learned at Awesome Program (AP):

1. You are worthy.

a. No matter how senior or acclaimed the scholar, always remember that you bring something valuable to the table. What’s a sensei with no pupil?

2. Contextualize all advice.

a. One of the most popular and well-reviewed books on graduate school is “Getting What You Came For” by Robert Peters. First published in 1997 it features many gems … and then there are passages like this:


“The standby method of backup [for your computer files] is to copy your data onto floppy disks as soon as you finish using your word processor or other application. (363)”


Floppy disks? That advice is only 13 years old. Many professors were last in graduate school 20, 30, 40+ years ago.

Many will offer you a lot of well-meaning advice. Learn to filter that by considering the source (ever sat on an adcomm? are in your discipline? Teaching college vs. research university?).

Contextualize all advice as much as possible…including mine.

3. Trust Yourself

a. You are the authority on you.

4. Invest in yourself…starting now.

a. Consider how you spend your summer stipend

b. Plan ahead for any financial aid refunds and/or anticipated earnings the summer BEFORE your first semester of senior year:
i. School visits and interviews
ii. Association dues
iii. Technology

5. Realize the cultural divide in which you now reside

a. Few of the people you love will understand what you are doing, and you’ll love very few of the people who do. Piece together the ultimate mentor – the cheerleader, pragmatist, the expert, the walking resource, etc. – from various people in your life. One person cannot be everything you need.

6. A special cultural note on contextualizing advice, information, sources, gossip, etc.

a. “poor”, “hard”, “tough” are all relative terms. (As in the market for PhDs is so "hard" and the job is so "hard" and you'll always be "poor" -- all relative. When you hear these things ask or determine what the speaker/writer means by the words -- do they mean "poor" to be $65k a year? -- and decide for yourself if it means the same thing to you.)

b. Having no expectation of what I deserve or any assumptions about what academic life should be is, what I consider, the great benefit of being a “minority” in the academia. For example, I'm not nearly as upset as some by the idea of the decline of "jobs for life" -- or coveted tenure track positions -- as I never entertained the idea of such a thing. Where I come from -- and where many of you are from -- the idea of a guaranteed job is totally foreign. Losing something you never expected to have? Not such a big deal.*



Websites I found useful (keeping in mind numbers 2-6):

• www.h-net.org – an online database of listservs by discipline and/or research interest

• www.orgtheory.wordpress.com – most posts are for organizational theory folks but they have a group of posts called “Grad Skool Rulz” that are universal. A post specifically for grad students of color is particularly enlightening

• GRAPES is hosted by UCLA. It is a searchable database of funding opportunities similar to the one you’ll have access this summer but it doesn’t expire once the program is over. (http://www.gdnet.ucla.edu/grpinst.htm)

• www.academic360.com – A list of academic-related websites

• www.academia.edu – Facebook for academics (also helps to “clean up” your online presence by becoming the primary hits when your name is googled.)

• www.thegradcafe.com – a moderated but democratic discussion board for grad applicants, students and recent grads. It’s not for everyone. If you like commiserating and swapping info though it’s a great online community.




Habits I developed by trial and error:

• Apparently I’m a study-in-the-library person and not a study-on-the-couch person. Who knew? I should have. You should, too.

• I filter all the emails from academic listservs and organizations (using gmail: settings --> filters -->skip the inbox-->apply the label). I set aside time to scan that folder semi-regularly, respond, etc.

• I set up “google alerts” for people and schools I want to keep up-to-date on. It emails me when Dr. Superstar at My Dream Program is mentioned on the web. I can then send a note of congratulations on a new book or sound knowledgeable next time we talk. Or, at the very least I’ll know more about what I’m getting into!

• Link to my academia.edu page and digital CV (set up using free google sites tool) in my email signature.

• When I meet people I try to add their info to my address book as soon as I’m next at the computer.

When you have money you almost never have free time and when you have plenty of free time you almost never have money. At AP you’ll have both.

Spend both well, don’t waste too much time sleeping, and enjoy it!


ETA: *it was brought to my attention that this is unclear or, rather, it does not accurately communicate my meaning. In the interest of internet fairness I won't edit the original but let me clarify.

I don't mean not to have expectations of treatment or your career trajectory. I mean having no rigid guidelines about what a career in academia should look like makes one more flexible and open to what a career in academia may be becoming or will one day be. No preconceived notions is a good thing in a time of such massive transformation and change -- less angst, more aware of opportunity, more willing to take risks and less disappointment and bitterness.

By the time you get to the PhD level, grades are not the most important thing anymore, not by a long shot. Actually, it can be frowned upon, for reasons such as your "panic attack" after getting an A-. The programs generally don't give a crap about your grades as long as you don't get put on academic probation. They want you to be focused on research, and if you are the type of student who is freaking out about an A-, then you may wind up taking time away from your research to strive for A's, and honestly, programs do NOT want that. Probably the type of lesson your prof who wouldn't budge on the half a point from a A was trying to give you.

I think the grade-obsession is a very immature approach to grade school.You say your grades dropped this year because you took too much on, but do you expect less from grad school? If you are looking for a funded PhD, not only will you have the full load of classes, but you will probably be TA-ing and doing research too. The average work week in grad school is 6 days a week, and anywhere from 50-70 hours depending on the advisor.

And as you can tell from the reputation value this post has given you (in case you don't know what it is, the red number at the bottom right hand corner of your post), I think you REALLY need an adjustment in your priorities. This post came off as a narcissist who is being insecure and seeking validation from everyone that you are still wonderful. I am sure you are a great student and you didn't mean it that way, but still, that is how you are coming off to your peers, and could in the future to professors and other grad students. You need to build networking and relationships in your field, and honestly no one is going to want to listen to stuff like this.

So pretty much the overall message of my post is chill out! Get over the grade-obsession, because it's not going to get you anywhere in life. Re-taking the GRE's is not going to help you any more if you are already in 90th percentiles, A-'s are not going to kill you. The best thing you can do for yourself is chill out, and focus more on research in your MA, get more publications, and really make sure your recommendations and SOP are awesome. I am sure you will get in, just think you need to see the big picture more instead of obsessing on a 4.0.

To put it in perspective, in my undergrad I had a 3.65 GPA, 75-80th percentile GRE's, and I got into and am attending the #9 ranked program in my field, and an Ivy. What got me in was my 3+ years of academic and industrial experience, and stellar recommendations. So RELAX!

Hi all,

First, let me apologize for my previous set of posts -- I'm new to the forum, so I didn't quite know the proper etiquette and decorum. Judging from the negative comments I'm guessing what I last wrote came off as pompous. My apologies for that.

In any case, I'm vying mostly for programs in political theory, focusing on Islamic political thought. Chicago, Yale, and Princeton are immediately coming to mind. Also considering NELC/religious studies programs at Duke and Harvard. I've got a strong undergrad background, but this year in my MA program I got dinged with two A minuses. I keep getting told that your GPA as an MA student is a lot more important than your undergrad, so I'm worrying that this can stand to compromise my candidacy. So I'm wondering, is this really something to lose sleep over? I suppose I have some other stuff to compensate for it (decent GRE, some conference presentations, etc.), but if programs expect a flawless MA record, then I'm in trouble. Any ideas or feedback would be really appreciated. Thanks so much.

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 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.

Hey MSWDreamer -- sorry if you felt I was condescending to you! (And actually, FWIW, I wasn't a "wreck" upon getting rejected; like you, I was disappointed.) The point of all that, which I tried to make clear but perhaps didn't, was that like you, when I didn't get in, I thought, "Well, I did A, B, C, and D: why didn't that yield good results? What else do I have to do?" And when I read your first post, I identified (particularly with the sentence " I have worked so hard, I just don't understand" and the sentences "I am just trying to see the positive in this. I'm not trying to be dramatic..I know this isn't the worst thing ever and may be a blessing in disguise..I was just wondering if anyone could shed some light on this for me.."). So I thought I'd say that for me, it was a blessing in disguise in that it was an indicator that I needed to adjust my attitude toward the application process, and I offered my experience on the off-chance that it might relate to yours (so I wasn't trying to say "hey, change your attitude!" but rather was going for "hey, I identify with what you're saying, and all this taught me that I had to change my attitude"). As per always, your mileage may vary: my experiences might be totally irrelevant to you, but all I was trying to do was contribute what I found to be the "positive" in all of this. Hope I didn't cause much offense! Best of luck to you, too.

P.S.: I just skimmed my last post, and I saw that my last sentences were "So, since you asked about seeing the positives in this situation, I thought I'd suggest that perhaps one positive (which can garner more concrete positives) would be the impetus to adjust your attitude. It sure has been for me." I can see how that sounds like a finger-wagging, and that's my mistake; it wasn't meant as one. That "your attitude" wasn't an accusatory "your attitude!!!" It was a "hey, this may or may not be relevant to you -- it was a huge deal for me." Again, best wishes!

Hi all,

I'm currently a first-year MA student in Islamic Studies, and will be applying next year to Ph.D. work to several top programs -- Chicago and Yale in Political Science, Duke, Princeton and Harvard in Near Eastern Studies/Religion, and Michigan in History/Anthropology. I've got a strong undergraduate record (4.0 GPA and multiple majors), decent GRE scores (660V, 730Q, 6 writing), and a pretty strong publishing record this early in the game -- several articles, several conference papers, and I'm working on my first book as we speak. The thing is, in my first year as an MA student this past year, I took a bit of a ding, getting two A minuses (in language courses, not content courses). It was entirely on account of taking on waaay too much this year -- I took 1.5x the standard number of graduate credits, and juggled it around this book project, which was just a recipe for disaster. Still, the A minuses are there, and they aren't going to go away...

I know graduate GPA is expected to be higher than undergrad, so I'm wondering, is an A minus here and there as an MA student a deal-breaker for top Ph.D. programs? I imagine it varies across the spectrum of programs, so if anyone can comment intelligently about any of these programs all the better -- especially Michigan, as I don't specifically have an anthro background (I have sociology as an undergrad major, and I'm doing history in my MA), so that one is going to be a little trickier. Will a less-than-perfect (but still strong) MA record stand in the way of admission to these top programs?

If this does stand to pose a problem, might it be worth retaking the GRE? My scores were above 90th percentile across all registers, but I know the verbal can stand to be improved. Might that be necessary in this case?

I practically had a panic attack after getting my *second* A-minus (I was borderline by half of a point, and my prof refused to budge). I just took on waaay too much this year, otherwise I don't think this would have happened. I'd really appreciate any feedback anyone can provide, as it'd go a long way to alleviate my angst. Thanks!

Hi all,

I'm currently a first-year MA student in Islamic Studies, and will be applying next year to Ph.D. work to several top programs -- Chicago, Yale and Princeton in Political Science, Duke and Harvard in Near Eastern Studies/Religion, and Michigan in the joint History/Anthropology program. I've got a strong undergraduate record (4.0 GPA and multiple majors), decent GRE scores (660V, 730Q, 6 writing), and a pretty strong publishing record this early in the game -- several articles, several conference papers, and I'm working on my first book as we speak. The thing is, in my first year as an MA student this past year, I took a bit of a ding, getting two A minuses (in language courses, not content courses). It was entirely on account of taking on waaay too much this year -- I took 1.5x the standard number of graduate credits, and juggled it around this book project, which was just a recipe for disaster. Still, the A minuses are there, and they aren't going to go away...

I know graduate GPA is expected to be higher than undergrad, so I'm wondering, is an A minus here and there as an MA student a deal-breaker for top Ph.D. programs? I imagine it varies across the spectrum of programs, so if anyone can comment intelligently about any of these programs all the better -- especially Michigan, as I don't specifically have an anthro background (I have sociology as an undergrad major, and I'm doing history in my MA, but no anthro specifically), so that one is going to be a little trickier. Will a less-than-perfect (but still strong) MA record stand in the way of admission to these top programs?

If this does stand to pose a problem, might it be worth retaking the GRE? My scores were above 90th percentile across all registers, but I know the verbal can stand to be improved. Might that be necessary in this case?

I practically had a panic attack after getting my *second* A-minus (I was borderline by half of a point, and my prof refused to budge). I just took on waaay too much this year, otherwise I don't think this would have happened. I'd really appreciate any feedback anyone can provide, as it'd go a long way to alleviate my angst. Thanks!

I think you should go to the best program. The problem isn't that you've been at the same school for all 3 degrees, but that you have better options at other schools. I would take up those more prestigious options as they would open new doors down the line.

This one is too crazy not to mention.

While in the town of my back-up choice school. ( I was preparing to visit and sign the papers the next day). I get an email from the DGS at my first choice school offering me full tuition, fellowship and fees off the waitlist. Immediately after the sun rose and the seas parted.

Hi all,

I'm currently a first-year MA student in Islamic Studies, and will be applying next year to Ph.D. work to several top programs -- Chicago and Yale in Political Science, Duke, Princeton and Harvard in Near Eastern Studies/Religion, and Michigan in History/Anthropology. I've got a strong undergraduate record (4.0 GPA and multiple majors), decent GRE scores (660V, 730Q, 6 writing), and a pretty strong publishing record this early in the game -- several articles, several conference papers, and I'm working on my first book as we speak. The thing is, in my first year as an MA student this past year, I took a bit of a ding, getting two A minuses (on account of taking on waaay too much this year).

I know graduate GPA is expected to be higher than undergrad, so I'm wondering, is an A minus here as an MA student a deal-breaker for top Ph.D. programs? I imagine it varies across the spectrum of programs, so if anyone can comment intelligently about any of these programs all the better -- especially Michigan, as I don't specifically have an anthro background, so that one is going to be a little trickier. Will a less-than-perfect (but still strong) MA record stand in the way of admission to these top programs?

If this does stand to pose a problem, might it be worth retaking the GRE? My scores were above 90th percentile across all registers, but I know the verbal can stand to be improved. Might that be necessary in this case?

I practically had a panic attack after getting my *second* A-minus (I was borderline by half of a point, and my prof refused to budge). I just took on waaay too much this year, otherwise I don't think this would have happened. I'd really appreciate any feedback anyone can provide, as it'd go a long way to alleviate my angst. Thanks!

I'm just repeating what professors say about this place, but maybe they say that about their resident state no matter where they are, and maybe they wouldn't say that if they were at UF. Oh, and UF won't accept me to transfer. It's really strange that University of Maryland did.

Oh, a lot of debt. But the good news is I don't have any debt now because I had a scholarship throughout the time I wasted here at FAU. My understanding is that MIT, ect. turn away students with GPAs above 3.8 all the time. I know of people with high school honors GPAs above 5.0 who got rejected to their undergraduate programs. I actually got through to MIT's computer science graduate office over the phone once, and they told me that, even if I enrolled in another graduate program and later applied to theirs, my undergraduate performance would still be heavily weighted. My original plan was to start somewhere else and try to transfer there. Another flaw in that plan is that I do not have the educational foundations or research experience to excel in graduate school at this time, especially if I enroll as a non degree seeking student in a decent one.

Oh, and I need to leave Florida. The culture here isn't exactly one that encourages discipline in academia. Or any form of intelligence.

No, it's not impossible. But it is going to be harder than usual.

There is nothing much you can do if some institution or other refuses to even look at your application because of your GPA, and as you say, that may happen on occasion. All that means, though, is that you'll have to apply to more diverse programs and to a larger number of them than a conventional applicant in order to get your foot in the door. If you're serious, you'll eventually get your break. The best way to get into a summer research program is to make connections with your professors during the school year and impressing them into hiring you, lower grades in your previous degree or no lower grades. You'll want to make those connections anyway in order to get the strong recommendations you'll need to get into tier1 universities.

You can't change your past, but you can change your future--and that's what you should be worrying about. If you have a clear game plan - get good grades, do some research, get to know the professors - you should be able to overcome your low GPA. Your application will show your dedication to your topic, and you'll have the higher grades and the research experience to back it up. As for applying after only 1.5 years at your new institution, my suggestion would be to see what happens when the time comes. If all goes according to plan you would have already made a good impression on faculty and have had some research experience. Apply and see what happens.. worst case scenario, you'll have to apply again after you graduate. For now, I think you should concentrate on getting your credentials in order, and not worry about things that are out of your control.

Thank you for all of the wonderful input, especially you fuzzylogician! Also Nibor6000 congratulations on your acceptances, how exciting!! I agree too, I do need more paid experience, which was always something I was aware, but maybe a little naive about.
However pinkbadger, I think you must have misread or gotten the wrong idea from my original post. i don't think I need an attitude adjustment at all. It seemed like from what you said you were a wreck when you did not get in - that is not the case for me. A little disappointment, which is only human, is what I felt. I'm sure you did not mean to come off really condecending, but you did a little bit for future reference. I wish you the best of luck! Thanks again everyone