Jump to content

swannsway

Members
  • Posts

    10
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Location
    Philadelpha
  • Application Season
    2016 Fall

Recent Profile Visitors

997 profile views

swannsway's Achievements

Decaf

Decaf (2/10)

2

Reputation

  1. I applied to 4 schools and had only 1 PhD acceptance to the school that I considered a "safety" purely based on my statistics + those of previously accepted students. When I visited the school, my cohort just didn't seem to compare to my peers at my undergrad - People mostly talked about drinking, cartoons, how much they evaded doing work in college as if it were a badge of honor and asked borderline ridiculous questions, ones that defeat the purpose of research. I did not sense passion, just lukewarm interest disguised as "science is so trippy." Professors have told me quality of students worsen with school selectivity, and this is reasonably obvious. I feel depressed at the thought of my upcoming graduate life. I am embarrassed that I am going from such a phenomenal undergrad with brilliant scholars to a program that no one here would even consider. All of my grad school bound friends are going off to incredibly strong programs and this talk of "department rankings matter for faculty hiring" is exacerbating the situation. I am starting to doubt that I ever belonged to such a great place, and this doubt is transiting to severe resentment. I feel so heartbroken over how lackluster I turned out to be. I disgust myself for thinking like this, but this is how I feel and I can't shake it off.
  2. STILL waiting for PhD decision at University of Washington. I really thought their program was a great match for me but I'm assuming rejection since it's been this long. Does anyone know when visit day for University of Washington was?
  3. Likewise, if anyone has the scoop on Penn ESE for PhD applicants, I'd love to know. This forum is scarily quiet this year...
  4. So, something somewhat similar happened to me. I'm going to take advantage and vent as well. Sorry if I sound like too disparaging, but I honestly shudder when I think about this. I too had discussed a project with my advisor, and ended up working on it for over two years, even quit my full time job to get this project done as it was my 'baby'. My professor was incredibly busy during this time period and put in minimal effort, constantly made mistakes due to his utter disorganized and hasty manners of doing anything. Ultimately, to his surprise, I got results and towards the beginning of paper writing, he decided to add one of his MS students who was seeking a publication opportunity. This MS students was going to be a second author for helping me make plots. So, I hated everything and everyone for a period of time, which in retrospect, may have been an overreaction. However, I poured sweat and blood into this project. I developed the theory, ran every experiment (freaking destroyed my OWN computer's hardware due to the extreme heat from the simulations), and had to keep "presenting" everything from the beginning to this absent minded professor. The MS was getting paid for his RA position, and I was not and here he was, reaping the benefits of my hard work. Ultimately, the MS student did not have time to make plots either, and my advisor had the nerve to include the student for "at least making an effort to attend meetings." For this and many other reasons (sexism, neglect, absolutely no consideration of the sacrifices I made, etc) compounded, I became disillusioned with academia. I'm kind of an angry gal, so I just went for it because advisors need to be better people if they want to attract genuinely hard working students into academia. I told my professor exactly how I felt about this. I told him that in previous research experiences, I was never put on any papers despite having done SOMETHING. If it didn't work, I wasn't an author, so yeah, I was a little bitter. There were many things about this professor that were red flags, so I knew I didn't want to continue having a relationship with him. In telling him how I felt, I took a risk and I guess everything turned out fine, but I never spoke to this professor again after this paper was out. In my opinion, there is nothing wrong about telling a colleague what makes you uncomfortable. You're an undergraduate - it's not really your job to be generous and promote other people, besides yourself right now. I don't know a lot about book publications, and I don't know whether it's proper etiquette in graduate school to confront advisors about things like this. I just think it's messed up. I'm sorry that's happening.
  5. Of course last minute applications are sending me on a tail-spin of insecurity and confusion. I don't have an engineering background, but my research has primarily been in info theory/machine learning. I don't have any publications, just one paper in review and another in the works. However, it seems like A LOT of schools seem to emphasize "an established publication record", and professors I've contacted have also asked me for "a few representative papers" or "no more than 3 papers" as if I've got plenty under my belt. So, what the heck? For people who are EE pure bloods - is it a norm to have many conference papers, and have I just been resting on my laurels this whole time?
  6. Anyone totally stressed out/angry? Please use my SOP as a punching bag! I gave it to my advisor to read and he said it was "pretty good", which is a relief but it's not that helpful. So, I'm looking for feedback that is slightly more meticulous. If you would like me to revise your essay also, I would be more than happy to. Let me know. thanks!
  7. Jumping off of this discussion, I have a slightly different scenario. I've gotten plenty of replies and some of the professors asked me for my application materials (transcripts, CV, GRE scores, SOP in particular) and I have not heard from them since. It has been a month. Now, my transcript has a sprinkling of C's and a bunch of Bs, so I am really paranoid that perhaps they glanced at my documents and promptly decided they were not interested, and didn't care to respond? This is making me super anxious because I don't know if I should apply to those schools anywhere (and they were my top choices too, darn it!) Anyone been in this situation before?
  8. Hi all, I hope this thread helps others as well, if there is anyone out there under the same circumstances as me. I have recently begun to consider engineering programs (EE) particularly given the direction of my research. My background is in pure math with a minor in physics, at a top 5 school notorious for grade deflation. My GPA is absolutely horrendous, hovering at just above a 3.0. I'm not concerned about my GRE scores (163/165/5.0) or research experience. I am a bit demoralized by the some of the GPA cut offs for PhD programs. Obviously, some schools - Princeton, Harvard, etc, claim there isn't one, but it is pretty ludicrous to think I can get into those schools, competing against applicants who are easily above and beyond in all aspects. I am thrown off by NYU and its 3.5 cut off, Michigan State and its 3.2 cut off. Examples are aplenty. So, I am looking for programs which offer provisional acceptances for the PhD. I can't seem to find any, specifically for EE. Anyone know anything about programs like this? Has anyone gotten into engineering PhD programs with a non-engineering background and ALSO a low GPA? Any advice/info will be greatly appreciated.
  9. You should probably call your desired department and ask but it seems like Northwestern requires a minimum of 2 letters. http://www.tgs.northwestern.edu/admission/application-requirements/letters-of-recommendation.html I'm sure there must be other schools where MS programs require less than 3.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use