Faraday

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought sometimes percentiles can be misleading. Foriegners score very highly which can scew things for more "mediocore" test takers.

slide rule

solo cup

I recall hearing it over in the College Confidential thread from last year's applicants, so obviously it should be taken with a grain of salt the size of a sugar cube... The general consensus was that UW's program has a much more strict filter than most programs and their first week of December mass rejections is unparalelled in the world of biology graduate applications.

flashlight tag

brand name

The flood of rejections from Washington this time of year is nothing out of the ordinary. They have a very harsh filter they put all their applicants through. If you don't come out on the other side of a certain formula of GPA/GRE scores you are automaticaly rejected no matter what the rest of your application looks like.

green eyes

I had the phone interview today. The professor I spoke with from the admissions comittee said he didn't see any reason why I wouldn't be accepted. I guess that's an unofficial acceptance. Exciting news heading into the holiday season! Seeing as how my transcripts haven't arrived yet I am hoping this means I had excellent LORs.

This has probably already been posted, but over Thanksgiving the common theme was: "Oh, you're going to get your doctorate? It will be so good to have a medical doctor in the family!" *facepalm*

Well for anyone else applying to University of Maryland, they are apparently looking at applications. I was emaied this morning to set up a phone interview with a professor so he could answer my questions about their program. If you haven't applied yet it would probably be wise to get your application in as soon as possible.

cut scene

crime scene

Don't worry. People who tend to post their stats often have pretty good numbers and are not necessarily a representative sample of everyone applying... Even then, numbers are not the most important factor the adcoms look at.

left guard

I consider myself mostly done with applications but I am considering adding UCLA or BU. Maybe I shouldn't now. If it is "required" I imagine it you will not be accepted before they got your scores, but you never know... If it was "recommended" and your application is otherwise strong enough then it is possible, but it's all around rather unlikely you will be accepted anywhere before Dec 10th which I think was when you said they would get your scores.

So, any nominations for least favorite application? University of Colorado gets my vote. The system is cumbersome and buggy from my experience and they make you fill in every exact detail where using a simple CV would probably be easier for both the admissions commitee and the applicant.

The best way to predict when you might hear back from prospective schools is probably to look through the results from previous years found here. Chances are schools will send out acceptances around the same time each year. Even that is still speculation though.

I think the important thing to do is just get something down on paper. I had a hard time writing my first draft because I really didn't know what to address although a friend who graduated two years earlier was king enough to send me hers SOP a model for the main talking points. I took this very rough draft to my advisor and she politely told me it was horrible (this is what I wanted). She pointed out the areas where I didn't sound like a scientist and showed areas where I needed to think more deeply on the subject and asked me the right questions to stimulate my brain into thinking more deeply about why I want to go to grad school. Seven drafts later and I more or less had a final copy. As was already said talk with your advisor or someone who has done this before. If you give them something to start with I am sure they will be more than happy to ask you those questions that get you moving in the right direction as any good mentor would.

wild west

Congrats!

green eggs

I was referring to Organic/Physical/Inorganic/Analytical/Theoretical/Biological/etc. It seems like the general consensus is that a score like that would be fine for any school you apply to. For reference the average chemistry GRE for admitted Harvard applicants last year was 834. It's not likely to send up any red flags and assuming you do pretty well (as you did) it is a relatively unimportant aspect of your application in comparison to your LORs/SOP.

What are you applying for?

Dark Knight