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I did have one interview where I was told it made no sense for me to get a PhD -- because, even if I got in, what would I do when/if I finished?!

I found your explanation of your low score very entertaining -- might be worth including just for that reason :-) Who knows, your application might be read by someone who also hates cricles and squares and really, really hates triangles.

Hmm . . . haven't gotten much free food lately. Don't feel able to take any days off. Still have life responsibility (parent). But I also love being a student :-) (yes, even with the stress of exams, etc.)

I don't think meeting with him in person would be inappropriate, but I would generally set up such a meeting via email. Still, professors are notorious for ignoring emails, so maybe going to office hours is the best approach. You can definitely pop in and ask to set up a meeting at a more convenient time for him, if necessary.

I think you should apply anyway -- that cannot be a firm requirement. It would just be absurd.

I doubt it. 3 C's is not a terrible college record by any stretch of the imagination, and your major GPA seems very good.

You're close to where you seem to need to be --- the new system might work to your advantage. An 84th percentile in verbal doesn't seem so bad, and does your program even care about quantitative? I would say it's worth going forward with your plans, especially as you have everything else set to go. If your scores were way below where they needed to be, I might suggest waiting, but I don't think your scores are too terrible.

Well, that's good. Did you apply to any schools with rolling admissions? If not, then you're going to have to wait. See when people posted in the results section last year. If you're lucky, you'll find people who posted about the same schools/programs you applied to. Then you'll have a sense of when you might start to hear back from schools. Good luck.

Glad to hear you were just fantasizing about taking the rest of the term off. Sadly, it is not too hard to imagine that some people would drop everything once they've gotten what they wanted. If you are really feeling as though you are burnt out and need a break, perhaps a year off between graduation and going back to grad school might have been a good idea. I took several years off between college and more school, and I'm glad I did. I certainly wasn't ready at the time to continue straight on. And now I'm back in school again after a much longer time away, very appreciative that I still have the opportunity to keep learning.

It's a well-respected school. I think it's gotten more competitive since I took classes there. I was in a professional master's program, which I don't think was very hard to get in to, but the classes were fine (the few that I took before I left the company that was paying my tuition).

Agree with Sigaba ... not cool at all.

Hmm ... that is a very different system. In my field, we generally do a year of rotations before deciding on a lab to join. It's just tough in general to get profs to respond to emails. Is it common to try to stay in contact before getting an admissions decision? I would think you'd only want to send email updates if something of significance had occurred that would help your application.

When was/is the deadline for applpications to the program? I know that when I was applying, the applications were all looked at after the deadline, so sending them in early wouldn't have resulted in hearing from them any earlier than sending at the deadline.

Mine were submitted near/at the deadline too.

What can I say -- I like learning. Most of my school experiences were positive ones, so I really didn't mind collecting all the transcripts THAT much.

I had also been out of school for a while, so sometimes, you have to go with what is available to you. I decided someone who really knew me was my best option.

A 4.0 is fine for the writing score -- you are essentially at the average score, which is quite good for a non-native speaker of the language. Combined with your strong verbal score, I don't think you have anything to worry about.

I suggest emailing to set up an appointment, and asking for the letter of reference in person. This way you can ask for a strong letter and see the person's reaction. Also, you might get some useful advice on where to apply or how to apply.

I got a letter from an adjunct, NON-PhD, at a COMMUNITY college, and I still got admitted :-)

I guess the 5-paragraph essay format can work, but I did not stick to it, and I also got a 6. I thought one of my essays was fine, but the other one seemed to have gone off topic, so I had to try to pull things back together in my conclusion (since there wasn't time to do anything over). It was certainly not the essay I would have submitted if there'd been more time, but I guess I managed to salvage it. I did not make up any facts, but I have also heard that that is fine.

Well, you're probably not in a math/science field, so you fit right in with the average forumite here for your field.

That's a tough one. Taking it 3 times seems (from comments on this board) to be borderline excessive, but you had to retake it after your first weak showing. It's too bad you did not manage to score higher this time, as it reinforces the sense that math is not your forte -- not a good thing for an applicant in engineering. How likely is it that you'd do significantly better this time? Presumably, you studied between your two attempts at the test, but you won't have much time to study now. I don't think your score is going to help you any, but hopefully it won't keep you out either. I don't think you're going to be able to get a clear-cut answer on this question. If you think you can definitely improve, maybe you should go for it. If not, I think getting a third mediocre score would be worse that just staying with what you have now.

I ended up sending 7 transcripts to each place I applied to. Quite a nuisance.

Agreed -- give them the information they asked for.

If the scores were good, send them :-) Otherwise, don't.