InquilineKea

So I'm planning on applying to both astronomy and planetary science graduate schools, and I really would like to know how competitive the two are compared to each other. What are some typical acceptance rates for top geoscience programs? (MIT EAPS is the one that I really want to go to, but I'd also be happy with Harvard, Brown, or Penn State). And also, does a relatively high Physics GRE score help? Anyways, I'm an astronomy+physics+math major, with a minor in applied math (my knowledge goes much further than that, though, since I'm an interdisciplinary person so I self-study huge amounts of atmospheric science, earth science, evolutionary biology, neurophysiology, and other fields as well => my primary interest is actually computational astrobiology, which practically merges each and every one of them). Unless something goes seriously wrong, I expect my GREs to be well above average. I have several years of research (although none of it is very intense research => but my name is in two astronomy papers that have more than 40 coauthors [one of them has over 100 citations], although I honestly didn't do that much for the project), and I've taken graduate level courses in a variety of fields from applied math to atmospheric science (where the bulk of my grad-lvl courses are). My UG is University of Washington (which is top in atmospheric science). The professors in the atmospheric science department actually know me better than those in the astronomy department, so I expect 2 LORs to come from profs in that department. My only problem, though, would be my GPA. I entered university 2 years early and really screwed over my first two years. It's still above a 3.0 but below a 3.5. But for my last two years, my GPA should be in the 3.6-3.7 range (the same is true for my upper-division physics courses past freshman year). Also, I have attention deficit disorder and only managed to get the meds I really needed 1.5 years ago.

It's not difficult, but it does take time. And many current department webpages are not designed very well either. astro.columbia.edu has 91 errors according to the W3C markup validation service. astro.washington.edu has 25 errors. astro.caltech.edu has 88 errors. astro.princeton.edu has 36 errors. And yes, design does matter, since many people do form first impressions based on how good the website is. Especially when they're comparing between departments. The fact is, that if it's not difficult *and* takes time, then grad student labor can be used for it. Just like TAing. Plus, it doesn't take much time to make a crappy webpage, but it does take more time to make a website that's actually good. Plus, many professors may want better webpages. Lots of professors have pretty crappy webpages, but they could use labor to make better ones that would also help advertise themselves better.

So, the consequences of screwing up on the GRE test (which can happen for a variety of reasons) can be dangerous (we'd have to wait for at least yet another year). And since we get a 50% off discount if we test in between August and September, might we just as well register for it twice?

Ah okay, thanks very much for all the replies! Yeah, my past 2 years show that I've developed a realistic sense of what I'm capable of, so I don't expect that I'd take more than I could handle. Maturity is one of those things where past mistakes don't necessarily imply future mistakes

Ah, interesting. Do professors sometimes email other professors about their students? (say, if a professor wants to introduce you to one of their colleagues at a department you're applying to)

Oh, wow, I see. Thanks so much for all your replies! I really appreciated them! Should I also disclose my ADD to my referees? I already did so to one of them. The thing is that my grades weren't that great until I got diagnosed and finally got medication for my ADD, after which my grades really shot up. Oh okay. How did you know that they addressed your extenuating circumstances? == Do referees sometimes mention how good their program is? (like, do they mention if it's ranked in the top 5 in their field?) I might apply to astro grad programs, but get some of my recs from atmospheric science professors (the atmospheric science department here is top 3, and I've taken a number of grad lvl courses from that department)

Oh, so maybe ask a professor to address that in the LOR? It seems that the guys at some other place (http://physicsforums...ad.php?t=485872) told me that I shouldn't do that... Do professors also address the average grade distributions of courses on your transcript? (if you let them look at your transcript)? Is that sometimes the role of professors who write LORs? Maybe you got a really high grade in a class where the average GPA was a 2.5, or maybe you got a low grade in a critical class where the average GPA was low.

I went through an early entrance program. And it was a grad lvl applied math course. The thing I'm really wondering is how to address these risks in a personal statement. Because I took those sorts of risks, my GPA is lower than that of most others (but I will have other things to compensate). Despite compensatory factors, however, it's obvious that I am a risk-taker, and that the adcoms may prefer a "safer" type of student. I did learn valuable and useful things in the course (actually, there were two such courses). But ultimately there were certain issues that took me out halfway through the quarter. In later years, I did well in other applied math grad level courses. I had low grades in other classes too. But hm, if you made your horrible mistakes when you were 16-18, should they be counted as much against you as compared to if you made them when you were at an older age? When I was finally college-aged, my GPA was much higher, but it will always be low due to the stupid mistakes I made at 16-18. (I'm also staying for longer than 4 years to compensate for that).

Let's say, the student has some really strong parts, but has taken certain other risks that may have consequences such as 0's in grad school courses at age 18.

HAHAHA OH MY GOD, THIS IS JUST SO HILARIOUS: http://www.atmos.washington.edu/twiki/bin/view/Main/ClassBios

I think I'm going to end up emailing 25-35 professors.

OMG, Hi Hyacinth Macaw!!!! *SQUWAKS*

I actually know a grad student who lived with his girlfriend - in his professor's house. He got in late so he wasn't able to apply for housing.

If your GPA sucks? They might originally think that you were the top 2% of the class, but then change their mind later. The thing with me is that my GPA is so low only because I got a couple of 0's in graduate-level Applied Math courses that I took at age 18. I later managed to get decent grades in other graduate-level Applied Math courses. So then it might help if I showed them my transcript. The problem with that, though is that I have other horrors on my transcript (courses that I repeated, and that I didn't even do that well on the repeat - granted - it was during a period of time when I was an emotional wreck and skipped all my classes). My transcript is remarkably clean for my last 2 years though. But still, some people do make judgments based on the first 2 years.

Or do they suggest the same top schools to everyone? A lot of my professors suggest schools like Berkeley and Caltech to me. I'm not sure if they do that to everyone, or if they do it to me since they truly think I'm that exceptional compared to the rest of my class. My program is one of the top-ranked programs in the nation although most undergrads in it aren't very bright.

So if it takes around 10 minutes to fill out each form and then to submit it... And i'm applying to 20 schools... (and I *have* to do this unless I pull a miracle out of my PGREs) that's 200 minutes. That's a significant chunk out of the day of a very busy professor.

What if you get rejected everywhere? >.< (not that this has happened to me, but I am concerned)

Oh yeah, that's so definitely true. Is there ever a way to tell whether or not a professor writes good LORs or not? Haven't schools tried to correct for this by trying to send out forms that ask the recommender to rank where the applicant is relative to everyone else in the school? (for example, they could fill in "top 1%" that I've ever known on the form?)

What if you had lots of chit-chat with the professor? Or what if you managed to kill the curves for a class? (not just 4.0 it, but get a score of 98%, when the next highest score was a mere 85%?) Also, what if the form had a "rank the applicant compared to all the other students you've ever taught" option? (where you could be in the top 1% that he's ever taught). Could that be a place where you could get a good recommendation letter despite it not being very detailed? As someone said in another thread: "The best LORs have two main features: 1) Comparison superlatives (e.g. level of _____ far surpasses all students in my 20-40 year career as a professor) 2) Talking very specifically about your work and accomplishment " And comparison superlatives are much easier for classes than for research (since most undergrad research isn't really that exceptional).

Okay, so I pretty much have cases of Asperger's and ADD that are both more severe than 95% of college students with them. I'm often inadvertently impolite to people, I blurt things out, I get VERY excitable far too easily, my posture is horrible, and I interrupt people and say things very loudly. I'm so SCARED of seeing professors in the hallway because I fear that I'll react horribly, which has happened many times before (so I always stare at the floor or at the walls). And I'm practically incapable of making friends. I try to be grateful and I try to apologize a lot, but the end result is that I overuse "thanks" and I overuse apologies - to the point that they don't even have meaning anymore. I know that I can improve on those things, but it's hard when I have to focus all my effort on studying and research. My professors do seem to tolerate it, but who knows if they're becoming silently resentful at it. I've lost many friendships sharply and suddenly, after all. So how do I approach my professor, asking if these issues might be a concern for him that show up on the LORs? Especially since bringing up these issues is quite uncomfortable for me. I still want to go to grad school - professors (especially physical science ones) do seem to be more tolerant of this type of behavior than others, and politeness is often more about showing that you truly want to learn than about following any social convention. And nothing defines me more than my desire to learn.

Do you pay a lot more money for moving services and such? Especially since it's so hard to take them all on a plane with you? Honestly, I'm thinking that I'll just screw the process, download all the textbooks i currently have, and get a Kindle DX for them, when time comes.

uggh I see. What would be the cheapest option for pdfs/djvus of physics textbooks?

How about Facebook Marketplace?

I know that this is usually an exaggerated concern, but it could happen to, say, 1 out of 1000 students. What if your advisor gets dementia, or actually dies on you? That might be problematic. Especially since when people get dementia, they usually don't like to advertise it.

Especially when they're just offering the course for the first time? It seems that they're more willing to be flexible with assignment deadlines, and they're also grateful to students just for caring enough to register (and to do the work, even if not necessarily always on time). Not that I'm trying to use excuses for turning in assignments late. But rather, I like having such a class when I'm taking 5 classes and doing research at the same time.