Elephas

I'm not 100% sure and I do believe GEM is the best person to contact and get the facts, but for me I was told March 15th for school decision on the GEM portal. If you reach out to the university representative they are the people who in the system say whether or not the university is willing to admit you as one of their GEM Fellows. So they are likely to be the same person you could ask if the university would be willing to sponsor you as an associate / fellow. If the acceptance timeline is after this deadline again you could contact the GEM rep at the university and they may know the appropriate procedure.

I ended my statements with an impact/conclusion sentence. Since the letter isn't like an email or traditional letter in the "Dear John, Best Bob" sense you probably shouldn't be writing it from that perspective. Example: "As a part of the Geography program, I can envision myself____ and learning more about ____." or say something cool about your research that sets you apart etc. In one statement I said the impact I hope my research will have and reiterated the importance of the program in that.

You can call or email their admissions department and confirm whether you need to resend your scores or if the data is still there.

The likelihood is unknown however it's a second chance to get into the school. I'd say yes and at least they'll reconsider admitting you to the school if that's where you'd like to go.

I do think that it is rude for them to ignore the message but considering the time of year I know many school's are in the middle of midterm exams so he may be overwhelmed by emails about those. Whether or not it is normal I am not sure but I did have one POI who emailed me first, not respond to an email I responded with.

You can try the Results section of this website and search those programs i.e. " Drexel Accounting" http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/

You can check this forum out.

How I'm evaluating stipend Rent State Taxes (Do they tax groceries? Clothes? Making a sample budget - i.e. I get 1500 a month I can pay 700 for rent, 100 for utiliies, 80 for bils etc etc down to the penny and then see if that's realistic. Transportation (Car, parking, public transportation fees (is it free)) Fees at the university (if not covered by stipend etc) Student loans (if you are planning on paying them during grad school or have them) Insurance Discretionary cost (going out to eat, shopping, etc)

If you already know that you will be deciding on attending there are some values(asking questions from current graduate students, getting info on the best way to move there, etc) However these could also be achieved via video chat. So far my campus visit was very valuable because I got an idea of the culture of the program and the people there as well as what living there would be like. Skype chats do tell a lot but I don't feel that I got the full picture until I visited.

Yep it is good for the program to know if you are no longer considering attending there. That way they can offer your funding to someone else and possibly take people off of the waiting list. I haven't made a final decision either but when I decided I was no longer interested in my email I basically said " Thank you so much for the opportunity to attend ____. I would like to withdraw my offer as I will be accepting another institutions offer." I didn't specify where (as I don't know) and they also didn't ask.

I'm not in your field so I don't know what the standards are, but for a masters program I think that's a good package as many masters programs aren't funded at all. In addition a brief search of cost of living seems like that would be enough to live off of (albeit not luxuriously and perhaps with a roommate). It doesn't appear that you'd have to go into debt for this program but I would also look at any additional things you may have to pay (fees, medical insurance, books, etc) and see what you'd have remaining for the entire year.

@Admissionplz School's sometimes like to know who their competition is so that they can better persuade students to choose school B over school A such as highlighting things B has that A does not. It helps them with future applicants so they can be prepared to make better offers etc. Also sometimes faculty B has peers at faculty A and I heard that they speak and may joke around like "you stole my student" etc etc. I wouldn't take it in a negative way.

I don't have any experience but here's some forums I searched and found. I am also interested in info on this. It seems that the general response is " Don't negotiate with a school unless you're sure you would accept given they gave you all those extra things..." Plume's post specifically

I'm not familiar with that paperwork but I would consider emailing a professor or two you'd be interested in working with to discus their research and if they're looking for any assistants to their lab. I went on the Texas Tech website and based on the wording it seems like TAs are prioritized to current students however some exceptions are made to incoming students and that professors could be looking for RAs depending on their own funding.

Personally I think school 2 sounds attractive because you're under no obligation to teach and you can balance it around your workload. For example if you know you are going to have a heavy semester either courseload wise or research wise you'd be able to choose whether you TA one or no courses as opposed to not only doing all your work and still having two classes to help manage. Being able to have the exposure to both research and teaching will give you the option to be exposed to both and decide which you like the most and have experience in both that will be helpful when you apply for career positions.

I think we'll never know how many are awarded until the decisions are out. My guess with the government shutdowns is that decisions will be closer to the end of March or early April as the reviewers aren't able to work during those periods. In addition with the natural disasters there was a second later deadline for applicants that will need to be reviewed also which could cause them to come out later.

It has taken over a month after acceptances for me to get my full funding package however usually there is someone helpful in the department to contact about that. I would consider seeing if the department has an office manager you could talk to or if you know who you want to work with try contacting them to see if they are looking for a research assistant. It is normal for funding to be department based in CS. If they say the funding is limited they're likely speaking the truth but you should be able to get a finalized answer with 2-3 weeks if you will be offered funding prior or if it still cannot be guaranteed if you attend.

@laveritecestla it wouldn't hurt to reach out to GEM as in the past they notified me of an employer indicating that they'd call me and they also would know if that organization has already filled their spots.

I don't think it would harm you to have 1/3 of your letters be from your current lab but I think 2 from your undergraduate institution would be more valuable. However it also depends on where you see your career going: if you would like to graduate and become a professor, two from undergrad may be more valuable. If you are planning to return to industry and do research there the two from your current lab may make sense. In addition for several of my applications none of my LOR writers were from my intended field but they were best able to speak to my character. In terms of LoR from researchers without PhD's one of my LoR writers is a professor but has a masters; I do not think that harmed my application. In addition having two letters about research and one lor speaking more to your character but touching on your ability to research would aid in a lab seeing who you are outside of application materials. One thing I included when a person said they would write me a letter of recommendation is my CV/resume, personal statement, and a basic facts sheet on how they know me etc so I wouldn't have to question if they knew of my skills and could write of them well. In addition with many students even one year removed you may remember a conversation had with them about your excellence with working with xyz tool and that's something you could include on your sheet which they're free to include. The "facts sheet" template I was given is below Our relationship (how long and in what capacity have you known me?) My ability to perform research (My background and preparedness to do scholarly work in my chosen area of research) (My imagination and probable creativity as it realtes to performing creative research) (The strength of my proposed research) (Strength of my previous research) (Strength of my academic record) My Character (Leadership abilities and potential) (My ability to work independently) (My motivation to succeed) My Communication Skills My ability to communicate complex ideas clearly both in written and spoken English My personality, social conscious, and relationship skills My Potential to Have Broader Impacts My ability and interest to advance science and technology in a broader sense My ability to foster the integration of research and education My promotion of the advancement of diversity is science My Efforts to Generally Benefit Society My contributions to the community (social and scholarly) If you have any other questions or if this doesn't make sense feel free to message me.

I only see red diamonds which show stats like GPA, GRE, etc... maybe its a browser comparability issue.

I would speak with your academic adviser for the best advice on taking courses outside of your major and possibilities of minoring in computer science as regulations vary by school.

I did take a look at @spamhaus 's article and it sums it up quite well. I also think you'd find it worth your time to review this forum as it shines perspective on the importance of GPA and how others are achieving their dreams despite not having the 3.9 or 4.0. For reference I had a 3.52 at the time of application(currently a 3.54 which no longer matters) and have been accepted into the majority of programs I applied to.

The excel matrix idea is really cool I just have comparable columns I may go ahead and try that out!

What are some of the factors you used or are using to make your decisions?! I'm currently in the process as I've received notification from all of my programs.

I'm curious as to how as a freshman you've decided that you want to attend graduate school? I didn't realize it until much later so I'm curious. What do you want to do with a graduate degree? Are you going for the assumed prestige or do you have a vision for the end results? As for your chances? That's really up to the programs you apply to, strength of letters of recommendation, and how your overall productivity is during your undergraduate career. Personally, I'd worry about chances later and focus on being the best student and classmate you can be. Anyway - (Take all advice with a grain of salt) Establish good relationships with at least 3 professors or lab supervisors during your undergraduate career. This way you can ask for a letter of recommendation down the line and not be nervous about who to go to by the time you're a senior. I'd say start preparing for the GRE during your Junior year so that you can take it early in the summer after Junior year, and if you feel that you need to retake the exam you will still have time to study before retaking it. The difference between a 3.9 and 4.0 student is program dependent however with GPAs that high I don't personally see a difference between the two. A different comparison is between a student with a 3.5 and a student with a 3.9. When comparing a 3.9 student who hasn't been very involved on campus and did research in comparison to a 3.5 student who was very active and also did research (in your case activities like IEEE would be a good place to start and any professional society such as NSBE, SASE, SWE, SHPE) it would be more departmental fit from there. Would you be a good person to interact with the POI? How do you collaborate with others? Do you ever practice public speaking? Things like this are all great and can be gained from activities. Attending professional society conferences allows you to practice interviews, gain help with resumes As a student at a large school like Purdue you should definitely reach out to your school's career center as they should have a large repertoire of resources about questions such as these. When you work in a lab also feel free to discuss your questions with those current or past Graduate Students as they probably have a lot of advice and feedback that you'd find helpful. Lastly since I'm not sure of the competitiveness of labs at Purdue I'd consider reaching out to the professor you're interested in working with this semester, establishing a relationship and mentioning your future summer experience and how you'd love to talk again in the fall about your experience at the lab (and then maybe segue this talk into how it can connect with that professors research) If you have any other questions or want me to clarify or expand (on my opinions) feel free to PM me.