rockwizard
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Posts posted by rockwizard
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2 minutes ago, jimmay said:
Harvard decisions came out last week if I remember, visit days are in three weeks (3/7-8) and I don't think we usually see a second round, sorry
I wonder why they haven't sent out my rejection yet haha. Nice of them to leave my life on hold longer than necessary!
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15 hours ago, rockcycleralph said:
Anyone know if Oregon State, University of Oregon, or UNC Chapel Hill have sent out anything? I know UTK sent their first round out last week.
Can I ask what POI at OSU? I was thinking of applying there and am just curious.
Also, (to the general forum) any updates on when Harvard EPS decisions go out? I see some people posting on the results page but haven't heard anything yet. -
2 minutes ago, geononymous said:
Meaning, there are professors who will dismiss GRE right away. But, there are others who will NOT budge a tad bit if you could not pass their threshold.
Yeah, honestly if a professor is the latter it's probably a sign I don't want to work for them anyway. I've heard from many professors that they don't even glance at GRE scores so.
3 minutes ago, geononymous said:Usually, I take more time thinking about even the simplest things. I do think it is a strength because it allows me to get a deeper understanding of any concept or topic.
Yeah, I'm like this too. Which is, in part, why I ran out of time on the GRE. The whole "being treated like I was in a high security prison" thing during the test didn't help with my anxiety either.
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17 minutes ago, chasebf said:
if you're sitting down to physically write out much math you're doing it wrong. Based on this it seems like you fell for the trap the GRE is supposed to catch people in.
The fact that its designed to be a "trap" speaks volumes about the value of the test itself.
18 minutes ago, chasebf said:Anyway you've spent what $50000-150,000+ on an education over 4+ years of life? The GRE's 200 dollar cost (100 with the low-income voucher if you qualify) and a month of study. It's a a small sum by comparison, find a way, I know poorer people than you who have.
I got by on mostly scholarships and grants with a bit of loans on the side so no I did not spend that kind of money, but it's pretty bold of you to assume you know how "poor" I am. Yikes! Judging by the fact that you apparently have $50-150k to fork over for college, I'm guessing you don't actually know people who are actually poor lol.
20 minutes ago, chasebf said:https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/5c69/875be977c1de9392dd8392937ebbf606dd18.pdf
This is a very well cited meta-analysis of the GRE and its predictive value for graduate student success and correlates that a good GRE corresponds to success in graduate school.
And here are multiple studies that say otherwise. [1] [2] [3] [4] ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
But I'm not going to argue with you. If you want to worship the GRE as a holy grail tell-all of someones worth as a student instead of an indicator of socioeconomic status, go for it!
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4 minutes ago, Boolakanaka said:
@rockwizard What does “pay-to-win” mean?
Basically the people who can pay hundreds and hundreds (or thousands) of dollars to retake the GRE over and over to get a perfect score are, imo, paying to win.
Because in the end, a high GRE score doesn't mean much when it comes to predicting grad student success.
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3 hours ago, chasebf said:
To Rockwizard (sorry unsure how to tag people here, or if that's a thing). Allow me via the anonymity of the internet to have a frank conversation with you.
You're background in research is stellar. GPA is a bit low, but nothing bad and as long as it wasn't showing a downward trend in your junior-senior year will be washed out by your research easily.
That said CU and Harvard (probably Arizona) will look for a few type of candidates coming form a pure undergrad background, these are generalizations but you'll get the point:
Candidate A: High GPA, High GRE - these are your 'that guy/girl' valedictorian students. What filters these people out is how much they bank on their high scores to get in. If they're just in it thinking this is high school and good grades get you everywhere they're likely to be rejected. They will need a good research focus to be let in, even with top marks. Some risk with these students, top marks doesn't mean good researcher.
Candidate B: High GPA, High GRE (probably less so than Canid A, but still high), and research experience - these are you admits everywhere. Proven proficient students and proven proficient researchers. The total package. Almost no risk in them failing.
Candidate C Okay GRE, Okay GPA, and research experience - these are admitted some places, rejected others. Entirely based on the discretion of the POI and admin council. Usually what gets these people in is research experience or a SOP that's focused towards a particular avenue of research at that school indicating they'd be a good fit. For example: this candidate might like seismic geophysics and have some background in it. In their SOP they indicate the seismic geophysics people at that school and discuss briefly how they'd really like to be involved in their work.
You're a candidate C, or you could be as your GRE is an issue. 151 on quant is ~43rd percentile or so. CU and Harvard will see candidates with stellar GREs and GPAs applying, and almost all will filter out anything below a 50th, and most schools will filter out anything below a 70th (even though they say they wont). Now this isn't to say you need a 95th+ on everything to beat out all of those 70th percentile cutoff people, you don't, research is far more important than GPA and GRE and you've demonstrated you're proficient in that. WHAT YOUR GRE IS HOWEVER is this analogy:
You've built a really solid ship, great potential, this thing could sail the oceans for decades, and it's got all the amenities I'm looking for, nice cabin, a pool, open bar ------ this is your research experiences and background
But prior to launching this ship you decided to torpedo the side of it ------ this is your quantitative GRE.
Now that ship could still float, heck it could make it across the oceans forever. But if I'm left with the options between that torpedo-ship or another ship that doesn't have a torpedo hole, I'm going to go with the non-torpedo ship.
Get the quant up, it's dragging you down. Consider doing research for a year while you stage for 2020 applications.
Let me stress this to you:
YOU HAVE A HARVARD, MIT, COLUMBIA, name a fancy school and it fits, application package in the making. But you've shot yourself with that GRE.
Your PhD is merely delay, not on hold, and it's only delayed a year. Spend the hundreds of dollars again to retake the GRE, it's trivial compared to how much you've invested in your education already.
That said I hope you get into Harvard and this conversation is moot.
Yeah I know I should retake the GRE. But I'd rather get into a mediocre school than pay-to-win and get in at a "top tier" school.
I signed up to take the GRE like a week before test date. Given that I've taken and done well in Calc I-III, differential equations, linear algebra, partial differential equations, and even tensor calculus I figured it wouldn't be a problem for me. I got to the test and it was all questions like "Paul is Sarah's cousin. Sarah is George's sister. George is Sally's great grandfather. How is Sally related to Paul?" which, imo, is not math. The questions weren't hard, they were time consuming, so I ended up running out of time and not being able to finish them all which is I'm sure why I got this quant score.
Also, Its nice that $200 isn't alot of money to you but for us who are "dirt poor", as you put it.. it is. Haha.
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Maybe they are not taking PhD students, maybe they don't have funding, maybe they don't thinking research interests align, maybe one of them is trying to go on sabbatical/retire/etc.
There's a lot of possible reasons why they would reject that you shouldn't take personal.
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What do you mean by staff? Are you currently a masters student and are a research/teaching assistant?
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Not sure. I mean, they could just argue that your personality wasn't the right fit for the department if you bring up laws. I would move on, personally.
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I mean, it would depend on what sort of... "complaint" it was. Committees can technically reject you for pretty much any reason...
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2 minutes ago, magnetite said:
I definitely empathize, and I'm sorry you're going through this. My first cycle, I applied to two of the three schools you did and was rejected from both fairly quickly. For most of the other schools, the rejections came on April 15th. I didn't have as much time to work on my backup plan between then and graduation, so it took me a few months to find a job.
Are you still waiting to hear from Harvard?
Right on. Sorry to hear you had to go through this too! Did you end up working in industry for a bit then?
And yes, still waiting to hear from Harvard. At this point I'm fairly certain I am probably just being filtered out by GPA and GRE so I am expecting a rejection from them as well despite me having been in contact with the POI over email and phone previously.
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15 minutes ago, goosejuice said:
Last year, I applied to two of the three schools you mentioned for planetary science. One thing I learned in my first go at grad apps is that planetary science positions are scarcer, highly competitive, and sometimes unfairly lumped together with astronomy/physics in certain departments. You're competing not only with other earth/planetary science majors, but more often, physics, math, and astronomy majors. Places like Caltech, UA, CU Boulder, ASU, and Harvard get enough super high quality applicants to filter out everyone else instantly.
Going from undergrad to PhD is quite common. Getting a masters in planetary science isn't really a thing because its not really a field in industry to begin with. A masters in earth science could help, but going from undergrad to PhD is still quite common. You most likely have the capability to do so, but you may want to shoot a little lower than the top of the top planetary science schools and instead focus on specific professors at other universities.
Yeah I noticed that lumping with astro/physics people. I felt like, as a geophysics major I was going to be somewhat competitive background-wise but I guess not. I may consider re-applying next year perhaps I will get into mudlogging or something to try to get my foot in the door in industry instead. Not sure what else to do without spending years waiting/putting my life on hold and spending hundreds of more dollars to apply and retake GRE to look more competitive on paper. ? This sucks.
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52 minutes ago, OcelotTracks said:
I know that undergrad to PhD does happen, but I've spoken with several profs who won't accept PhD students directly from undergrad, for various reasons. I've also been told by many current PhD students that it's just not really a thing in a lot of the geosciences, regardless of what you've done in undergrad. I've done two research projects, including conference presentations, and contributed to 4 papers, and applied to M.S. degrees anyway.
Eh, I thought so too. But after looking at a lot of POI's current student's CVs I was convinced otherwise.
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Well, there it is! Heard back from 2/3 schools so far. All rejections. I really thought I had the research background necessary to go from undergrad to PhD. Maybe planetary science isn't for me. Kinda bummed I got this degree cos there aren't many jobs available in industry with it either. *DJ Khaled voice* Congrats, you played yourself.
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16 hours ago, jimmay said:
Harvard accepts should come soon ish: they usually sit around 1 Feb, and visit days this year are 7-8 March. Who's your poi?
Roger Fu. Although I stated I'd be happy to work with Jeremy Bloxham as well since he does similar work.
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Yeah if anyone has heard from/hears from Harvard, CU Boulder, or U of Arizona please PM me the details! I'd love to hear about if you had to go through an interview, etc. and what the name of POI is.
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I'm beginning to get a little discouraged. Are GPA and GRE scores really more important than actual experience and research? Ugh.
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Undergrad Institution: Research Uni in Michigan (Well-known regionally for their rigorous STEM programs but not nationally famous probably)
Major(s): Geophysics
Minor(s): Geo. Engineering
GPA in Major: 3.35
Overall GPA: 3.39
Position in Class: We don't rank so I have no idea
Type of Student: Domestic, first generation white female, low-income.
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 151
V: 159
W: 4.0
Research Experience: Four years in a research lab, co-author on one peer-reviewed publication, REU from NSF, REU from NASA, REU from SURF, two conference presentations, one symposium presentation.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Goldwater scholarship nominee, top student award from math department, departmental scholar award ("given to a senior that best represents scholarship at [school name]"), a handful of dean's list semesters
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Research assistant for those four years in the lab when I wasn't working on REU's, teaching assistant over the summer for Women in Engineering youth programs for middle/highschool students interested in STEM, assistant mentor for NSF career outreach program my lab participates in
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Studied abroad in New Zealand, have pretty extensive experience with field work for my research area.
Special Bonus Points: My letters of rec came from my undergraduate research advisor, the department chair, and a professor from a university in Ecuador that I collaborated with. I expect that they were very strong. My research advisor knows the POI at Harvard and we have exactly the same research interests so I talked with him over email/phone a few times about research methods and groups.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I'm a first generation student from a low-income family (i.e. my mom made like $9k the year I first applied for FAFSA... that low income).
Applying to Where:
University of Arizona - Planetary Science (PhD)
University of Colorado Boulder - Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences (PhD)
Harvard - Earth and Planetary Sciences (PhD)Wanted to apply to more but couldn't get fee waivers in time (R.I.P.)
Saw that 1 or 2 people may have already been accepted to CU Boulder a few days ago so I'm not getting my hopes up on that one. I haven't gotten any interviews or anything yet, though so I am starting to worry a bit. Figured I'd post here.
I would really love to go to any of these schools, but if I don't get into CU Boulder I won't be heartbroken as its SOOOO expensive to live in Boulder I probably wouldn't be able to afford it anyway... haha. Good luck everyone!
Gates-Cambridge 2020-2021
in The Bank
Posted · Edited by rockwizard
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