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I'm not in the humanities, and even in my field, there is no way to do all the assigned reading. You just have to survive somehow and pass everything (hopefully, with high enough grades to avoid probation, but even that is not the end of the world). Hang in there.

I strongly doubt that visiting again would harm your chances. Of course, they might still not take you, and you should apply to other schools as well. Grad school admissions are really competitive right now, so you should not take rejections too personally (though they DO feel personal when you get them :- ( -- I know ) It sounds as though you are trying to improve all the parts of your application which are under your control. That is great -- it is all you can do, and it is exactly what you should be doing. By visiting and even with your multiple applications, you are showing determination and persistence and demonstrating the strength of your interest in this program. I don't see how any of that could be bad.

I sent in transcripts from 7 schools... but I did do undergrad in 4 consecutive years in 1 school. Still, I was not a nicely package-able applicant, and I had 10+ years of stay-at-home-mom on my record. You just have to find the one program that will take a chance on you (but it can be tough to find that one). Good luck!

I am also in a bio field after doing something very non-bio related for more than 10 years (and I'm quite a bit older than you are). I am the oldest in my class by about a decade, and no one in my cohort socializes much, but I don't feel old (well, any older than I would feel anyway with my graying hair and increasingly achy body). If anything, I feel younger because of the mental stimulation. However, I have a good network of friends outside my university, which is a great help. You need to find some sort of support/social outlet, even if you can't get it from others in your program. And although people in my cohort may not socialize much, we are friendly, and the program as a whole is very supportive.

I don't think accepted British spellings would be considered incorrect. People all over the world (you're proof!) take the GRE, so it is nothing new to them.

Can you switch to a different area of science? Is there something else you have some background in that might be more do-able than physics? I wouldn't want to have to get a graduate degree (even a master's) in physics...Good luck!

It isn't really that different from applying to a number of schools. I don't understand the issue, I guess. In my case, I was limited to one city, so I applied to all the programs I thought I'd be happy in and I would have been willing to go to any of them. Some schools DO restrict you to applying to only one department/cycle, but I think that is a kind of silly policy.

Was the elective relevant to your area of study? Can the professor comment on more than just your performance in the class?

If your score is actually better than it appears, asking your professors to put your class rank in their letters could help: i.e., this student earned a score of 72% giving him a class rank of 4/279 or whatever.

I have not experienced exclusion in my program, but my cohort is not especially social and the students in my program are spread out in many different labs in different locations, so socializing is not easy. However, people are friendly enough when we do see each other. I am a local student, so I rely on my old friends for moral support most of the time, but when I have had program-based issues, other (more advanced) students have been very willing to meet and chat or to communicate over email. I think some programs/cohorts just have their own "personality" and if you are not getting what you need from within the program, you may need to look outside. I do realize that as a grad student, your free time is somewhat limited, but that is part of the problem. No one really has enough time, and I think it hampers forming close relationships.

I have heard that some places will not look at applications where GRE scores are below 80th percentile. Any program may have its own cutoffs. There is no way to tell....

I think the OP is correct and the percentiles do change. It is silly, in my opinion, to compare students at different times and on different tests, but it seems to be what ETS is doing.

As mentioned above, you DO need to contact the individual schools, as policies vary. I have heard that deferrals are commonly NOT accepted, and students not ready to start on schedule need to reapply and risk not getting an offer in the next cycle.

Even for a master's?

I would recommend at least one letter from an employer, given that they are most familiar with what you've been doing recently.

Your plans seem reasonable to me -- good luck!

It is an average score -- for many of the more competitive programs, the Q score is probably below average. I have heard of some programs not seriously considering applicants below the 80th percentile.

As others have said, I also think you need to look beyond the department chair and see if there is anyone in the graduate school you can consult with. This sounds like a no-win situation for you.Tell your "advisor" that you have no money left to self fund beyond whatever term, and you either need to graduate by then or drop out. Maybe then he will stop taking advantage of you. However, you may actually need to drop out to extricate yourself. So sorry you are in this situation.

It is not necessary to have started the application at the time you send the GRE scores. I took the GRE in June and sent the scores then. The applications did not open online until September. I started them as soon as they opened and the programs were able to match my scores to my application with no problems. The scores are sent electronically, and just saved until they are needed. I am pretty sure I filled in the date I took the exam on my online application, and that seemed to be enough for the programs to locate my scores.

You should also keep in mind that many schools have a school-wide GPA minimum for grad admissions, and it can be a hassle for a department to get a student that does not satisfy this minimum admitted, even if the department wants the student based on other parts of the application. As the poster above mentioned, it is very competitive right now, with many programs getting many more applications than they can easily review, so they may be looking for easy ways to reduce the number of applications they want to seriously consider.

At the school I go to (highly nationally ranked public U), the GRE (old scores) for anthropology are ~600 on each section. How do your scores compare if you convert them? If they are close, you should be OK applying this year. If you have a strong record otherwise, it could also be worth applying. I think you can always update application info provided the committee has not yet met. Good luck!

You might want to take some official college-level CS classes to show you have the background. Since your case is somewhat unusual, I'd recommend calling/visiting various CS master's programs and asking how they'd react to an application from someone like you and what they'd recommend to someone interested in applying to their program without the traditional background. I have found most people will be helpful and provide useful advice and will discuss how realistic plans are. I contacted a number of programs before applying to grad school. Some told me my chances were low, but I applied anyway. Some had specific suggestions on courses I could take. Some were more interested in me than I ended up being in them. Only one experience was "negative" and that was when I tried to see someone unannounced (unexpectedly in the area). She was out of town, and I ended up chatting with an international student advisor in a nearby office who was very condescending. Fortunately, I was amused and irritated in about equal parts and decided she was a twit and did not take her too seriously. Still, it was interesting to see how someone COULD react to my record, if he/she was ignorant or arrogant (after all, there WERE a number of significant achievements mixed in with my "deficiencies"). I guess what I am trying to say is that for some programs, your non-traditional background may be an issue. You can apply anyway, and try to convince them you're "good enough," but it might not work. Other programs are more open to unique applicants. You can sometimes tell which programs are likely to be more receptive, but it's not always possible. All you can do is to take in as much advice as you can, see what would work for you, and put together the best application package you can (it took me 2 years to reach this stage). Then apply and see how it goes. Good luck! I've posted in the past about how one of my interviewers told me what I was trying to do (i.e. applying to PhD programs) made "no sense" ... I am now in a different program at that school and VERY tempted to take a class from this professor

Don't quit based on one bad experience. This PI sounds like a jerk. Perhaps you can ask students ahead of you in the program who they would rotate with if they had to do rotations now. It could be that your entire department is like this, as sometimes a whole program seems to have a certain mindset (but I hope not). However, if you are unable to find a happy home where you are, you do still have options, It IS possible to transfer, and coming from a top program would certainly help you transfer somewhere less intense/competitive and more relaxed. Don't give up on your dreams because of one inept "mentor" who sounds as though he should not be allowed anywhere near first year grad students.

I think it's too early in the application season to be really behind. Applications should just be becoming available online. Still, it's NEVER too early to start working on the SOP. Mine took forever, due to personal issues I was working out from my past (that I couldn't keep ignoring, since it was part of my history in my grad school application). If you have had a smooth undergrad-->work/applications, you may not take as long. However, if writing is not something that is comfortable for you for whatever reason, be prepared to spend a lot of time on this part of the application. When I talked with grad program reps before applying, a couple of them commented on the poor quality of many of the SOPs they receive. Don't underestimate how beneficial a well-written SOP can be.

You can start working on any application once it opens. For the programs I applied to, that meant some time in September.