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starmaker

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Everything posted by starmaker

  1. Those scores don't seem like they would break your application. I think your initial instincts were right.
  2. starmaker

    Dilemma

    Whatever you do to make enough money to get by right now, it's not something that you're locked into forever. Maybe you can find something that has employability in your area, for which the certification or training process is very quick. I'm thinking of something in the medical fields, like EMT or certified nursing assistant, but I live in a healthcare-heavy area, and I don't know if those are also employable fields in your area. Get your certification, get a job that will hold you over until you're in a grad program, and then go with that. You might also consider freelance tutoring (or something like freelance editing). You can charge fairly heavy fees for that.
  3. Eh, some geology is or uses physics, and physics doesn't get total ownership of the difficulty mantle (nor, for that matter, do STEM fields). Anyway, I got accepted to Tufts and Northeastern (those were the only two places I applied - I wanted a program where part-time students could do a thesis and where it was within commuting distance of my workplace). I'm going for PhD apps this fall; we'll see how I do and how much anyone still cares about my undergrad GPA.
  4. Less than 800 isn't a big deal - anybody can screw up one question - but you probably want at least a 750.
  5. Last I checked, geology was a science. I got into MS programs with a 2.5 in my bachelor's degree program. But there was a two-year gap between my obtaining my bachelor's and my starting a master's program. I worked full-time as a junior researcher in my field and took half a dozen non-degree classes. Minimum GPA requirements aren't always. I know a couple of people who were below the alleged minimum GPA for every program they got into. Part of the issue is whether the graduate school (as opposed to the department) has veto power. Graduate schools seem to be more picky about that kind of thing than departments. Definitely get a rec from the prof who complimented your paper.
  6. I have to say that the 800score.com quant sections were NOTHING like the actual quant section. The types of questions being asked were really different. The 800score.com tests were heavily oriented toward word problems and solving systems of equations. There was almost no geometry, no data analysis. The actual quant section had a lot more of those and a lot less of the word problems and systems of equations. Other than the first 800score quant section, which I screwed up, I got 800s on the 800score quant sections, and I got an 800 on the actual test, but I don't think they had much to do with each other. It's particularly odd because I found the 800score verbal to be very true to the actual verbal.
  7. Yeah, nobody's holding your hand in your cohort, but you're in an entirely different situation. Even though it's stressful at times, you're doing something that you wanted to do, making progress in your career, accomplishing things. He's stuck. It's a different kind of stress (I've experienced both, and my husband has experienced both). That's not to say that he gets a free pass. He should pull his weight when it comes to the housework. But, people sometimes have days where they are just demoralized and unmotivated. Does he consistently fail to do household obligations, or is this just an occasional thing? In neither case will it help to fuss at him, but if it's the former, it might be time for a long, firm-but-gentle, two-way, talk (if it's the latter, you can probably just ask him to do the dishes once you are home, and otherwise let it go). If he's not getting any bites, I can see why he's not applying to more listings. He probably figures that it's crazy to keep doing the same thing that doesn't work, over and over, and expect a different result. It might help him - both in terms of getting a job and improving his morale - if he reorganized his search. He could apply for unpaid internships or other volunteer work, which might be less competitive, in the hope of turning it into a paid job in a couple of months. He could go do a vocational training course in a field that has at least some demand in your area (e.g. EMT, lifeguard, HVAC technician, certified nursing assistant). Some of them don't take long, and it would put him in a position to be able to earn money in a few months. He could try freelancing as a tutor (unfortunately this wouldn't get him health insurance but it would at least get him money).
  8. My grad classes are not harder than my undergrad classes were (I am doing an MS before a PhD in part because I had a poor undergrad GPA). I attribute this to the schools in question. Also, it's not uncommon for grad grades to be a little inflated. On the other hand, UGPA is not a great predictor of grad school success. It might be a predictor of grad coursework success, but the qualities needed to get good grades in classes and the qualities needed to be a good researcher are not the same (more power to you if you have both sets). Though, like I said before, my field is one where getting an MS before a PhD is relatively common. I rather wish adcoms would give extra scrutiny to my app, as the non-undergrad-grades parts are pretty strong.
  9. I feel like if you're spending 8 hours a day studying for the GRE, you're taking way too much time away from actually accomplishing things in the world, including things that grad school adcoms like, like research or other relevant work experience. I prepped for the GRE while working full-time. Admittedly, I also didn't do that much prep. But I did do four practice quant sections and four practice verbal sections, and study vocab, over about three weeks.
  10. According to their website, Zipcar exists in Nashville. And it looks like they have a special deal for Vandy students - membership only costs $35/year. You get a bunch of miles free with your membership (gas and insurance included), and once you burn through the free miles you pay either an hourly or a daily rate, depending on how long you want the car (it looks like in Nashville it's $8-$9/hour or $66-$72/day, including gas and insurance). When you need to drive, you reserve a Zipcar on their website, and then you pick it up at the Zipcar pick-up spot (there appear to be four pick-up spots on the Vandy campus alone). This seems like it would suit your needs well. I don't drive, "big errands and long distances" is the model that pretty much everyone I know who has a Zipcar membership is operating under.
  11. In engineering and computer science, I think it is more common to have done a master's first (and possibly to be coming back to academia from industry) than it is in the other sciences and the humanities. Some programs even have separate post-bachelor's and post-master's tracks (the post-master's track requires less coursework). I will have done a master's first, but that's because I had low undergrad grades, switched fields after undergrad, and have been working in industry while pursuing my master's part-time. The MS gave me a chance to do better in classes and build up more background in my post-undergrad field, plus doing it part-time while working let me save money.
  12. Aaron: It's a field-specific thing. Interviews are common in life science and psychology programs, for instance.
  13. I don't think you should count yourself out of the top 10 - I certainly wouldn't rely on getting into one of them, but your profile seems solid, and you might as well apply to at least one of them. Boston University and Northeastern University are both mid-rank programs that do a lot of security stuff.
  14. You don't have to spent months and months studying. I spent three weeks studying and did well (I had set a "retake" threshold, a "minor victory" threshold, and a "major victory" threshold, and I exceeded the "major victory" threshold). The verbal section is mostly about 1) vocabulary, and 2) not overthinking the reading comprehension questions. I had a terrible problem with #2 in my practice tests, so other than vocab drilling that was the primary thing I was working on. The math probably doesn't matter as much for you, a history student, as it did for me, a CS student. I suggest taking a computer-adaptive practice test to find out where you are now - not only how you're doing overall, but also where you are weak. Is it geometry? Algebra? Word problems? Once you know that, you know where to focus your studying.
  15. I took the GRE last night (6/27/11). My experimental section was a half-hour writing section. It was identified, and was the last part of the test. I didn't really want to bother, but was tired enough that I failed at figuring out how to skip it.
  16. I've taken it twice, but the first time was five years ago and for an entirely different set of applications, so the second time wasn't really a retake. I did do a lot better the second time (100-point difference), although I didn't do badly either time. The first time, I had done plenty of practice on paper and in non-adaptive computer format, but I'd never taken an adaptive test before. I psyched myself out during the actual test - panicking about taking too much time on individual questions, convinced that the test had decided that I was stupid every time I got a question that seemed easy. This time, my practice tests were computer-adaptive. So I learned not to freak out about performance in the middle of the test, and that what I think is easy or hard is not always what the GRE thinks is easy or hard, and that my natural pacing skills were pretty good and I should trust them. So I was a lot less anxious.
  17. I took the GRE last night. I was worried about the verbal. I got a 710 and was very pleased. Other than taking practice tests, the way that I studied for the verbal was with a free Kaplan GRE vocab flashcards app on my phone (a Droid). It had 501 words, rather than 200. Probably half a dozen of those words, none of which I knew before using this app, showed up on my actual test. I was happy to see them. My approach to using the flashcard app was very simple. I went through all 501 words, and starred all the ones that I didn't know or was shaky on (starring a word, with this app, means that it gets put onto a separate list). That was about 120 words. Then I drilled my starred word list until I could get all of them - this was easy to do because when you finish a list, the app gives you the option to redo everything that you missed plus a few randomly-chosen others. Once I could get all the starred words right, I went back and did all 501 again. I only missed 5 words on that go-round, and I redid those until I got them. I was thrilled with the result - I thought I was bombing the verbal while I was actually taking it, so when that sweet little 710 showed up on my screen I did a bunch of silent fist-pumping and bouncing up and down in my chair. A Princeton Review book only costs $20 or so, and if I remember correctly (I didn't use one this time, but I did the first time I took the GRE, five years ago) they explain good strategies for reasoning out the answer even if you don't know the words. This might also be useful for you.
  18. As long as it's positive, almost anything is more useful than a DWIC letter. You might be able to supplement the teaching letter by providing a summary of your research activities, career goals, and so on, for your Senior Lecturer. That way, while he can speak best to your teaching activities, he can at least touch on the other stuff in some positive way.
  19. To me, the big advantage of a smartphone is that I don't have to write down directions or information contained in emails before I go someplace, since I have the Internet and a GPS in my pocket. It is also useful for taking pictures of the research notes and ideas and suggestions from lab meetings that you scrawl all over your whiteboard. That way you can actually erase the whiteboard more than once every few months, and still have the notes. Or maybe I'm the only one for whom this is a significant benefit.
  20. Your verbal score is good enough for engineering. Plenty of schools don't even look at the verbal score. The main reason to retake would be for funding purposes - a high GRE helps in fellowship competitions and may have a positive effect on your funding package. If you're going to retake, you'll have to retake quickly. The new GRE, which is a very different test with an entirely different scoring system, replaces the old one on 8/1 (i.e. any Kaplan or other GRE class that you take will need to be short). Unless you think you can significantly improve your verbal score in a month, don't bother.
  21. If you're interested in healthcare, have you considered becoming an EMT? It's not that hard to find an EMT certification program with open spots, and if you like it and decide to make a career of it, you can go on to become a paramedic. On the other hand, you say that you're not a people person, so maybe clinical healthcare isn't the best field for you. Have you thought about something like epidemiology or biostatistics?
  22. Heh. And my dad, a Republican-leaning independent, thinks that private ownership of guns should be prohibited (it is perhaps significant that he grew up in an affluent Northeastern suburban environment where guns are pretty taboo). It might be a little more loosely coupled to general political outlook than some other issues (though believe me, there are plenty of people whose views on the issue are more what would be expected for their political worldview, and there are probably a lot of comparably liberal people out there who would think I'm a nut for the stuff that I said in my previous posts). I do think it's just not one of the more prominent social issues in the national discourse right now, though it possibly is in some local discourses. Most politicians aren't really pushing for more gun control on the national level, and they're also not pushing for less. Though obviously you have exceptions on both sides. I think Eigen's onto something with his/her comments about environment. I was raised in what you might call a mixed environment - both of my parents are somewhat fearful about guns and favor more restrictions than I do, but we were in a geographic area where people tend to be more pro-gun and guns tend to be more commonplace in the way that Eigen describes (and both of my stepparents reflect that mindset as well). I agree entirely with Eigen about that last category of people, the ones who like guns but don't have a healthy respect for them. I can also buy into the car analogy. I was terrified of driving for many years past when I could have first gotten a license, partly because it seemed like most of the people my age who were getting licenses were very cavalier about it and seemed not to understand that they were controlling lethal weapons. Riding in a car as a passenger with an experienced driver was fine, because I figured they knew how to deal when they encountered crazy incompetent drivers, but I, a novice, did not, and so I was scared to get behind the wheel. For what it's worth, with some of the volunteer work that I do, I am probably at a slightly elevated risk of being shot relative to people of comparable socioeconomic status (I am not going to spell this out further here: If you really want to know, send me a PM). Oddly, I don't think this affects my opinion on gun control much one way or the other, though it does increase my appreciation for the concept of self-defense in general.
  23. So, I get everything you're saying. I agree with some of it. I used to agree with more of it. My attitudes changed somewhat, oddly enough, in the wake of September 11. Yeah, I hear you groaning - hear me out, because I'm not going where you probably think I'm going with this. I am, in general, a bleeding-heart liberal. I have a bunch of lefty activism to my credit. In the wake of September 11, I was in high school, and living in a part of the country that is very right-wing. I got involved with the state ACLU, with its education committee, that was basically doing outreach stuff around the state to counter the anti-civil-liberties wave that was going on. We met quietly in the basements of group members who were willing to take the risk of hosting. Some people in the group wouldn't host meetings or do anything else that might let their neighbors or others link them to the ACLU, because they were afraid of repercussions, possibly violent ones. A lot of what we were fighting, of course, was infringements on people's personal freedoms, in the name of public safety. And our opponents were saying that by pushing back against the public safety apparatus for the sake of personal freedoms, we were making it harder to achieve public safety. And you know what? They were probably, to some extent, right. Maybe not to the extent that they thought, but it's true that street crime and terrorism tend to be limited in police states. The thing is, I don't want to live in a police state. Hyperbolic rhetoric notwithstanding, I don't think that we were in a police state in 2002-2003, but we went a few steps closer, and I was and am against those steps. Even if they make the job of the public safety apparatus a bit easier, I'm against giving up personal freedoms for them. Eventually, that got me thinking about gun control. I don't have strong opinions about guns and the Constitution - I find the 2nd amendment very ambiguous. I'm not really into the "We might have to defend ourselves against the government" thing - if the US government wants to attack me, it's not like I can stop a fighter jet or a take with a couple of .22 semiautomatic pistols. But I do consider owning and carrying guns to be a type of personal freedom. And I realized that if I was going to apply the same logic to this particular personal freedom that I did to others, then my opinions on what sort of gun control we should have were too restrictive, even if that restrictiveness was helpful to public safety. So I modified them. That doesn't meant that I turned against gun control (as stated in my previous post, I think we should have a fair bit - I don't think the NRA would care for my positions much), just that I revised how much I thought was optimal. I don't expect everyone to agree with me. I just wanted to give a sense of where I was coming from. As far as who should get a gun license - I'd say it should require a gun safety certification, a background check, and a waiting period, and you should have to register your guns (like you would, say, your cars). You should have to get it renewed periodically, which would involve updated checking and such. Also, you should lose it if you're caught doing stuff like letting your unlicensed kid play with the gun or leaving the gun around unsecured. But once you get the license, you should be able, within reason, to carry the gun, and I don't see anything so special about a college campus that it needs different rules from a random town street or a shopping mall or whatever. And yes, there is the potential that a previously law-abiding citizen will suddenly become something else, but personal liberty vs public security is a delicate tradeoff. Oh, and to StrangeLight, I support single-payer.
  24. I've never seen a company that actually cared about certifications in particular programming languages. If you're going for a coding job, they'll ask you coding questions at the interview anyway. You might consider doing a master's program with thesis, part-time, while you work. It would give you a chance to earn some more strong grades and get some research experience. If you don't do that, you might ask a professor if he or she will let you do some unpaid research with him or her. You aren't out of the running for a PhD, it will just be a bit harder. You should be aware that the GRE is entirely changing starting in August. If you buy a study book or something for the current GRE, it will be irrelevant for any GRE test that you take in November. Do well on the GRE subject test.
  25. Eh, your GPA is fine. PhD programs don't care whether you have the best GPA, they care that you show evidence of being able to pass your grad-level classwork and quals while excelling at the stuff that actually matters (research). Along those lines, I think the best things that you can do are 1) gain research experience (it sounds like you have some good research experience already, which will help, but more high-quality experience is even better), 2) get your research supervisor to like you a lot so that they'll give you a good rec for all your apps and possibly help you get in at Cornell, and 3) don't completely screw up your MEng coursework.
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