surprisecake

I assumed it was important that I submit my scores with my application before the deadline. If all they relied on were the scores from ETS, why would they even ask me to state them in my application? Does it really not make a difference?

I made the very stupid decision of taking the TOEFL on the 13th of November when my first deadline is on the 1st of december. Thanks to thanksgiving, according to the toefl website, my score posting date is "approximately Nov 30". Does that mean my scores will also appear online on Nov 30? or does it take longer to come online? I have been kicking myself about this because one particular school won't send out the emails to my recommenders until I submit my entire application, and i've been stalling until I get my toefl score! One of my recommenders is using the online system and he has very kindly agreed to wait until later tonight to send in his recommendation. Should I hope my scores appear tonight and try to get my recommendation and scores in before the deadline or just give up on the scores, send in the recommendation and try to call the university to include my scores when i get them after the deadline? I will be very surprised if anyone can help me with this 0_o P.S: i keep mentioning "tonight" because that will be the morning of the 30th in the U.S.

Bump?

After days of tearing my hair out followed by sleepless nights... the first draft of my SOP is finally done. Opinions/criticism would really help. I'm applying to environmental studies programs. Post here if you want to swap!

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/03/awkward-situation-survival-guide.html

Its not too flashy, I don't think the term "global phenomenon" is appropriate here, and the "hence" is avoidable.

I'm not from your field but most of my friends are so I can give you a very brief opinion: Most importantly: Apply more in the 10-20 field than 10-1. Your GRE and percentage doesn't matter as much as your project work... which is good, but not too competitive for the top 10s. A friend of mine who built and competed autonomous robots all over India (including winning IIT techfest) only managed to crack one top 10 school. (#10 infact!) You need to make a REALLY coherent and genuine SOP. This is especially impt because your pool of competitors (indian/asian engineers) is totally saturated with similar profiles. I've noticed that its a convincing and well written SOP that puts an application over the top. Boasting about your projects will not be as helpful as talking about them detachedly and showing how graduate school is the logical next step. Good luck!! and dont worry about your percentage, i don't think it will hold you back.

There aren't any animal resource management courses... or anything close. The equivalent to the DVM in India is the tongue-tying B.V.Sc. and A.H. - Bachelor of Veterinary Science and Animal Husbandry. There's no pre-med requirements here, so even though the BVSc gives you the same qualifications, we do it right out of high school. and then there's the whole "A.H." part... which basically includes every animal related thing on the planet! Wildlife management, commerical fishing, Goat rearing, how to make pork products, Public health, agricultural practices and I cannot even remember what else. I'm basically already qualified in animal resource management but I want to learn how to integrate it with environmental management using a broader perspective. There's too huge a gap between biologists, sub-sections of biologists and policy makers! I scored an 1100 on a practise test last week... 3 weeks to go for my GRE date when are you taking it?!

I hope we haven't left this for too late! I have to identify advisors at 4 schools and I haven't mailed anyone yet. That first email is a b*tch to compose. I'm a veterinarian (yeah, WTF, I know!) Final year vet school. I have some undergrad research experience in environmental health and I want to work in animal resource management. I don't know if my background is going to work for me or against me, but one thing's for sure, it's very hard to find any advisors!! What GRE score are you aiming/hoping for? Interesting thought. You, like me, know you want to study, but don't know what in particular! These schools have traditionally looked for students with some pre-existing career direction. So we've always been told that our SOPs are supposed to draw a logical path between our pasts and our futures via that school. Hopefully thats changed recently and they are accepting of people who want to find our exact path *in* school.

Can you believe its OCTOBER ALREADY??! *panic* I did the very same thing. My GRE date is the 1st of november, a month before the first deadline. Have you identified or contacted an advisor at Cornell? They require you to finger someone but nobody is close to my field! I'm quite happy Yale is skewing younger because I'm applying right out of undergrad at Yale is my dream school.

thanks so much! i had no idea whether it would be appropriate.

First of all, i'm a final year undergraduate science student and I'm applying to graduate school for fall 2011. I have two research guides who have agreed to write letters on my behalf. For the third letter, I asked the Dean of my school and he agreed. Even though he is officially in a teaching position too, he has never taken any classes in the last 4 years. He's basically been in an administrational position and so I've never been able to work on anything with him or under him. However he has closely interacted with me for the last 4 and a half years because I was 1) a student body leader 2) He has attended all the presentations i've done during my course 3) He's given me advice on all my research projects, although in an informal/unofficial manner 4) All my conference presentations and manuscripts submitted for review have gone through him for approval. Basically we've never been associated in any official capacity but he's overseen everything i've done personally and professionally for all 9 semester's i've been in school. and he's the Dean!... who is willing to write a very supportive and positive letter. Would a letter from him mean anything at all? I do have the other 2 letters who have been very involved with my work, i've taken their classes and they have assured me that they'd write aWEsome letters. I do have an option of the third professor who has taught me over 2 years and is very impressed by me and fond of me but we haven't done any special work with each other. So it would be very positive but a generic "great student, I highly recommend". Who do i pick? (please say Dean)

3 dream, 2 reach, 4 fits (Perhaps!), 2 safety MS programs. But i get the feeling that if i dont get into my dream or reach schools, i will probably just wait another year to apply :/

hehhheh that's awesome

Yale FES, Nicholas (Duke), and UPenn. My undergraduate degree is in science so will also try for environmental MS programs at Cornell, Berkeley, Indiana and Michigan. I've only managed to identify my reach schools so far Everytime I try to seriously research matches, my heart is just not in it. What background are you from? are you applying directly out of undergrad studies?

Where are you planning to apply?

I"m not particularly qualified to give you advice because i'm a medical student but I do have a whole lot of engineer friends who have gone to the U.S. for their postgrad degree. As indians we have it drilled into our brains that our school and college percentages are the most important thing in the world but it hardly matters when you're applying abroad. There are so many Indian engineering applicants that a 55 or a 65% barely makes a difference even though it may seem like a world of a difference over here. 95% of my friends are typical students who studied hard, avoided ATKTs, went to classes for GRE, got great scores and got admitted to Rank 30-50 colleges because that's the path most students here blindly take. One friend of mine passed Maths-II after 4 attempts, took SIX years to graduate and ultimately got 53%. He did however have great passion and genuine skill for engineering and won at Robocon and other IIT competitions and did some valuable internships in the industry and wrote a convincing SOP. He was eventually admitted by a top 10 engineering school. I really think you should aim higher because you have strengths that the typical engineering undergrad does not have; the ones that foreign universities value a lot more than a +5 or even a +10 on your undergrad score. Plus, awesome GRE.

You would do a lot better looking on orkut! There's literally a community for each batch of admits for every american university for every semester

To everyone who posted on this thread: How about posting a summary of your applications for nervous prospective students like me? Plee-Eee-AAase. I really want to know what I should be focusing on the most this year. GPA? GRE? Research? Work experience? I have a bunch of balls up in the air right now and i don't know what to keep juggling! Applying for MEM 2011.