InquilineKea

Hmm - I inputted my existing username+password from the Princeton app in the Stanford app, and then it said "username already taken". =/ And it's my username. And then I tried logging on under my account and this is what showed up: Better view here: https://picasaweb.google.com/113718804063927505694/September302011#slideshow/5660460554135318338

Can I use the same account on ApplyWeb to apply to more than one school? I already set up a Princeton application with it, but when I tried to register for a Stanford application under the same username, it didn't allow me to do it

When the form doesn't allow me to list the GPAs for all three majors. I'm an astronomy+physics+math major. My astronomy GPA is the highest by far, and math GPA is the lowest (I actually regret doing it, but I only switched once I was close to finishing the requirements, so I did it anyways). But the astronomy major is really just a physics major + a handful of astronomy courses.

Okay I see. Thanks very much for all the advice (and for going over things)! What would you think of a post like http://www.quora.com...gree-axial-tilt ? I've already used that post to highlight my research when I emailed professors, and it mostly resulted in very positive replies. And what about... http://www.quora.com...he-consequences http://www.quora.com...e-of-the-galaxy http://www.quora.com...used-the-change http://www.quora.com...-expand-forever http://www.quora.com...e-current-trend http://www.quora.com/Why-does-Pluto-have-so-many-satellites But yes - I'll have to agree - the ones I originally highlighted weren't the best examples of my work (I actually was really tired when i wrote the OP so I ended up grabbing whatever was easiest for me). The ones I've just highlighted above, though, are the best examples of my work there. if necessary, I could just upload them up to a personal webpage or a Wordpress I agree - that is definitely a concern. What is unique about Quora, though, is that I can make any of my posts anonymous at any time. So I can mass-anonymize my more controversial posts once admissions time comes.

It depends on your connections, especially your Silicon Valley ones. I know some people who are doing VERY respectable bioscience startup work (Laura Deming and Parijata Mackey), and they don't have PhDs. Connections aren't always super-difficult to find - the anti-aging community, in particular, is extremely receptive to Facebook friend requests (in fact, we all send friend requests to each other when we don't know each other). The best thing to do right now might be to follow people like Parijata, James Clement, and Derya Unutmaz on Google+. For some ideas, try looking up Peter Thiel's companies over at http://www.foundersfund.com/ - and maybe look for people to email there. Peter Thiel invests a lot in bioscience research, and is very skeptical about the value of higher education. In any case - the "newer" the field, the less any "education" really matters. Synthetic Biology is probably one of the fields that is nicest to those without a PhD. And many people in aging research are unhappy with the current status quo in biology schools.

Without any penalties? I'm using http://securereg3.prometric.com/siteselection.aspx#0016 right now, and it's giving me 3 days. But on the other hand, it sounds almost too good to be true.

http://www.diigo.com Is it worth the cost? You can highlight webpages, add bookmarks, *and* even save the old versions of webpages.

Actually I was talking about the Biology subject GRE

My impression is this: compared to many other programs, it does seem to matter more if you have contacted the professors beforehand, and have relevant research. In fact, this is often one of the only things that helps to distinguish applicants, simply because it's hard to compare applicants with each other due to the factor I've mentioned below. GPA is probably less important than it is in most programs since there are people from all sorts of majors who apply to the geosciences (so it's simply hard to make comparisons between people - unlike physics, where almost everyone has gone through the same core curriculum). Physics majors with lower GPAs often end up doing better than people in other majors with higher GPAs. In fact, geosciences is one of the few areas where you can get into a top school with a GPA lower than 3.50 (I've seen some cases of this on physicsgre.com). Also, the core isn't nearly as important as it is for other fields as well. It's not like physics where a good portion of the students do risk failing out.

Isn't that a bit excessive though? A lot of people send their transcripts/resumes to their PI - but transcripts/resumes rarely show fit with the particular professor (unless you've taken a huge number of grad-lvl courses that you've 4.0'ed). More importantly though, everyone is now advised to send their transcripts/resumes to potential advisers, so what happens is that advisers get a *huge* number of short emails with transcripts/CVs attached. It's not the job of the professor to evaluate them - it's the job of the adcoms to do so. I don't even send them anything other than what I've done (research-wise), and simply ask them research-related questions. Everyone responded and responded positively. If I attached my CV, I don't even think that they'd even look at it.

So... It's obviously something that should be secondary to my research interests, but it actually *really* shows my passion for science (and my willingness to go very deeply into the peer-reviewed research) better than anything else. My Quora profile is over at http://www.quora.com/Alex-K-Chen (I've actually emailed individual posts describing my research to potential advisers), but I'm also strongly considering letting the other profs read it if they want to learn more about me. For example, here are some posts I made on the site: http://www.quora.com...wer/Alex-K-Chen http://www.quora.com...hange-over-time http://www.quora.com...ademic-journals http://www.quora.com/Colleges-Universities/Does-grade-inflation-matter? http://www.quora.com...wer/Alex-K-Chen http://www.quora.com...or-the-sciences http://www.quora.com...to-live-forever http://www.quora.com...-or-Ritalin-use http://www.quora.com...my-astrophysics (this is really just a small selection of all I have - I also have lots of posts over at Reddit AskScience and Stack Exchange too) And all my astronomy answers are over at http://www.quora.com...tronomy/answers (I also have lots of neuroscience answers where I digged deeply into the neuroscience literature too). The one thing is that at worst, they may interpret it as a lack of focus. But on the other hand, they might value the fact that I already read the original literature in many different fields for fun, and I already have a lot of experience analyzing it online. I am an intensely interdisciplinary person, and the departments I'm applying to are interdisciplinary ones.

Wow - that's such an amazing email. How rare are these sorts of emails? One Stanford physics professor I know said that they're very rare.

How much did you customize your SoP? Like, what percent is custom-tailored to each and every school? I'm actually strongly considering writing completely unique SoPs for each of the schools I'm applying to (December is totally free for that).

from ( ) certainly implies that each SOP should actually be super-unique. Since each SOP should be more about the future than about the past, does this sort of mean that 60% of the content on my SOP should be uniquely tailored to each and every school? I do generally do a massive amount of research into everything I do, so this is not a problem to me - but I'm wondering if it's necessary for a strong SOP. Also, there's over at as well. I'm willing to take in the pain, as I do feel that the SoP is the area where I could really shine. == Also, can they tell if you're just name-listing articles that you haven't read? This is certainly not a problem for me (since I've already read+annotated numerous research papers from each of the advisers I'm interested in), but providing more detail about their papers will almost certainly take up space that I could use for something else. And if I don't provide more detail - then it could be practically equivalent to just naming the articles that one may not have even read

Can you also mention what courses you might plan on taking once you're in the program? Obviously, it should be subsidiary to your research interests, but it still shows that you've researched the program really well and know what you're getting yourself into.

But here's the thing: why should personal experiences make you stand out any more than research experiences? (or research proposals that show that you *really* know the field well?) Almost everyone has somewhat unique personal experiences - they're usually not memorable unless someone has gone through some really extenuating circumstances (or some truly exceptional ones).

Wow Wow - that was such an amazing quote. How often do applicants manage to write SOPs like that? It seems pretty rare in the physics world (even Sean Carroll at Cosmic Variance said that he said that almost all the SOPs end up looking the same in the end).

Should I still list more than 1 professor if I've already contacted one and if I already know that he's taking new grad students? (also, not only did I contact them, but I also personally talked with them, and my research interests are very similar to theirs). But it's also possible that they could change their mind *or* that I might be competing with another applicant for the same professor. Does that often happen?

http://www.quora.com...uate-admissions gives a pretty realistic view of what happens in physics. On the other hand, though, what if your email isn't a generic email? I was very careful to identify the professors with similar research interests as me, and my questions were mostly research-based questions rather than application-based questions (the only application-based question I asked was "are you taking new students next year?"). I also showed them some of the research I already did (and what I was planning to do) in each of the separate emails A couple of the professors I contacted even offered to let me call them. I'm just wondering - how rare is this in general? And can it really help with admissions? The one thing is that my research is pretty specialized (so there's usually only one faculty member working on it at each and every school who's into what I'm into - although I could definitely spread out). So now I feel unsure about naming more than one professor on my app (or emailing more than one of them). I already know who my first choice is, so I do feel that it might be futile to email another one at the same university (for things other than research questions). But you do work with a committee, right? In that case, is it still wise to contact multiple professors? My research is specialized, but I have extremely interdisciplinary interests (so I can find something interesting out of anything that's science-y)

Hey - I have a question: how common is it for people to actually *disagree* over what the correct answer in a GRE reading passage is? And do you get this impression more on the review prep books than on the official exams? I've seen some badly written science answers on the Barron's science reading comprehension passage. == I do agree, though, that the reality is such that it actually *is* a valuable skill to be able to comprehend poor writing (and poor thinking along with that).

I can't find anything about it at http://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/analytical_writing

Princeton Review, Kaplan, or Barron's?

I'm noticing this *a lot* in all the science passages in the prep books I'm using. I could practically answer a lot of the science questions without reading the passage at all (in fact, this once saved my life on my ACT reading comprehension test, as it contained an astronomy passage - without which I would have almost surely ran out of time). But is this common?

How important are GRE scores for Ecology/Evolutionary Biology programs? I'm just wondering.

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