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Grades need not be inflated for everyone to get As -- especially in grad school. If everyone works hard and learns the material, they should all be rewarded with the As their hard work earned. In grad school, especially, where students are already supposed to be among the best, what is wrong with everyone doing well? If they could not succeed in grad school, they should have never been admitted. Don't hand out As like Halloween candy, but don't be afraid to give them either.

It seems that it might be harder to form the relationships needed for great LORs if you are not at any one school for very long. Also, it might affect your ability to take part in a long-term research experience. It might also indicate that you are never satisfied where you are and prefer moving on rather than dealing with whatever difficulties that arise where you are. None of these might apply to you, but they are perhaps issues you might need to address, so that they are not assumed to apply to you.

You're 25! Still a baby :-) Don't worry about waiting a year, if that's what you think would be best. There is no difference between being 26 versus 27. Age really doesn't become an issue for applications until you are in your 30s or 40s. Good luck!

I think you should list both scores.

Where I am, you don't need to be a student to volunteer in a lab, but it is often EASIER to get a position as a student. Emails from outsiders are often ignored (as most of mine were when I was trying to volunteer before I got admitted to the school I am now at).

He said he wanted to teach at the CC level - for which a master's would be fine - and it could probably be a master's in CS or even Information Science. JHU has some online programs in things like bioinformatics and computer science. http://ep.jhu.edu/online-degrees

UW has an online applied math program -- you could look into whether they let non-matriculated students take classes: http://www.amathonline.uw.edu/curriculum/courses.asp

I had the hardest time getting myself to sit down and take a practice test under "as-close-to-real-test" conditions as possible. Instead, I tried doing sections in the (parked) car, waiting for kids, etc. My scores weren't great, but I knew the conditions were abysmal for test taking. Eventually, I just signed up for the GRE early to get a "baseline" to determine how much work I had to do to score well enough -- I decided not to retake :-)

I can't help you with your questions about physics, but just wanted to send you some encouragement. While there still may be some age discrimination here in the US, it is much more common (and easier) to go back to school at any age than you might think -- and to get support and encouragement during the process. I just started a PhD program at a large state U with full funding at age 40+. Good luck!

So Spore -- what are you studying now? And you really love exams, don't you?

Why are you so quick to rule out CCs -- many are feeder institutions for their respective state schools and have to keep high standards. In some cases the quality of the educational experience can be better than at a 4-year school (smaller classes, personal interactions with prof rather than TA, to name a couple). However, if you are set on the 4-year school option, here are a couple of examples: http://uc-courses.umb.edu/courses/summer/cr/ug/math/ http://www.extension.harvard.edu/courses

Also -- it won't be seen as a "gap" as you will have to disclose that you were in school during that time -- you cannot hide that fact. So you will have to explain not finishing the program and potentially explain your poor grades, but you will not have a blank chunk of mystery time to explain.

You already have a master's degree? Was the GPA for that better? I don't know anything about law school admissions, but aren't they really GPA/LSAT focused? Depending on how each is weighted, perhaps your exceptional LSAT will make up for your somewhat low GPA?

Most people were really happy for me and I also got some of the "I told you so" responses (I wasn't sure I'd get in ...). But one old friend was really negative when I told her I was planning on applying to graduate programs and did not say anything when I got in. I think our friendship has gone downhill due to her lack of support and even downright disapproval of the path my life has taken. Oh well ...

I agree with Xanthan -- I doubt anyone will know how the two classes differ. Think about what kind of work you might like to do in the future and work on getting the skills you'll need for that. If you don't think pchem will be that important later on, why spend a ton of effort on it now?

For least expensive, you should be able to take all but probability and real analysis at a local community college. However, some grad programs may look down on courses taken at a CC, even though the quality may be excellent. More expensive, these classes can can often be taken at local universities, either during the summer, or as part of extension programs, or as part of special non-matriculated student programs. In my area, courses at the U can be 3-5 times more expensive than CC classes.

Legacy admissions are mainly for undergraduates -- and it can be a significant advantage at some schools.

That's a pretty impressive list. It makes it seem as though you both need to come from a well-known school and you need to have done exceptionally well there That's why I think it's better not to dwell on this too much. You can't change what school you went to. If you know you have weak areas in your application, do what you can now to remedy those. And don't push yourself out of the running by assuming every other applicant will be better than you. You don't know that for a fact, and you are probably not a great judge of your own accomplishments.

On one of my interviews, I was told that they liked to get letters from people they knew (and they didn't know any of my letter writers). I didn't get in to that program Coming from a "big name" school can help. Of course, you need to have done well enough at that school. I think my school name did help me get in to the program that took me -- even though it was a long time ago that I went there and none of my letters were from my old profs there.

So much depends on factors we don't know -- namely what you are able to convey in your SOP and what your letters of reference say about you, that we really can't say what your chances are. I would not recommend not applying to your top choice schools just because some posters here think your chances are slim. Most of us are in programs with relatively low admission rates. If we'd let that scare us away from even applying, we'd all be nowhere. You might want to talk to various program reps to see if bringing your own funding will help, or you might want to contact some profs directly (they might be interested if your skills/interests align with theirs). Good luck!

If a school cannot provide funding for all graduate students (or chooses not to) this should be clear upfront. Leading someone on this way sounds unethical. People need accurate information in order to plan their futures. Whether or not a program will fund you fully is critical information. You may decide to go even without full funding, but that is different from being told you will get funding and having it fall through. It almost sounds as though they are hoping that without other options you will choose to take loans in order to attend their program. I agree with those recommending you try another round of applications. Even if the funding thing isn't a case of them intentionally misleading you, I would not recommend entering a full-pay program in your field. From what I have heard, jobs are not so easy to come by.

I know that my program admits people in waves so that no one that they cannot fund is given an offer. They will let people know they are on a waitlist, but they will not pressure people to stay available or hold out false hope.

All you can do is try -- these programs are so competitve that no one can give you chances.

You had a pretty typical experience -- just need to be able to block it all out. I didn't really notice the other people taking tests around me. It wasn't especially noisy.

Sounds like the recommender was being lazy and then felt somewhat guilty and asked you if just doing the online form was "OK." Seriously, any prof should know better (not overseas--right?).