Vacuum

I agree that it sounds like an employee background check. My guess is that they will have all the candidates submit their names to make sure that whomever they offer the TA spot to has a clean record (before they offer it). It seems like a lot of work to have every single candidate submit this info, so I would think you are on a narrowed down list of people. That narrowed down list might be anything, but at least you on (possibly) on a narrowed down list. I wouldn't read tooo much into it, but to me it sounds pormising.

Write whatever makes you feel that your SOP will be it's best. I don't think anyone can say 'dont write that' (even though they do on the boards). I would just say to keep it short and sweet. Don't ramble on an on with every detail about you getting the textbook blah blah blah. In my SOP I wrote about a family situation that changed my outlook (and major) and I kept it to about 3 sentences. It was enough to state 'this is the event that happened and this is what happened in my life because of it'. Remember, this isn't really a highschool english essay but more like a university level paper. If you think about it that way, you might be able to have a better idea of what you should or should not include. They want to know more about your specific interests in your area of study, what you plan to do in the specialty, what research you want to get into, etc.. If you keep the history part of your story to a brief intro type para and really get into the good stuff quickly after, I think that would be fine. Some schools want the majority of the paper to be about your future plans, while others want a more journey type of SOP of how you got to where you are now with your current interests and a bit about where you see yourself in the future. If your school doesn't really specify what should be stated, like I said earlier, just go with whatever makes you happy. Nobody can pinpoint what part of an SOP might turn people off. I don't think having a super brief paragraph would harm your letter in any way. Key words: super brief Hope that helps you out a bit!

UFGator, you really need to go outside

I think it is almost like your GPA. You can study study study for the GRE and do well and you can study study study in school and get a high GPA. Doesn't mean you will do well in graduate school. I think the schools just use it as another cutoff score to weed out more applicants. If a school wouldnt accept me due to my lower score on the GRE because I didn't know the definition of 'gerrymandering', I'd turn into the hulk.

I've never pulled an all nighter. Ever. I've come close, but always managed to get about 3 hours sleep in there. I find that if I don't sleep enough I start feeling sick (flu-ish). I just don't think our bodies are made to stay up that long, let alone when you exerting mass amounts of brainpower hahah I guess it is like recovering from late nights out if you go drinking or dancing. The older you get, the more you think 'how the hell did I do that before?'

I called one of my programs to ask about this. They said that there are completely different committees for the two subjects within the same department. But, like the previous posters mentioned, this may vary from school to school.

I think it depends on your area and if you want to continue to a PhD. I get the sense from people on these boards that if you are wanting to continue on in a PhD, ranking is more important. If you are studying in a subject that you will immediately go into the workforce straight from school, rankings don't matter as much. This is just my opinion of course related to my field in health. For my program, you need to get certified after grad school anyways, so this will determine your knowledge/skill and make sure everyone is on the same page, no matter what school you went to and where it falls in the rankings. I'd just look into the individual programs to determine what will best suit you for the future. I think rankings are skewed. My undergrad school is pretty highly ranked, but honestly, when I was going there I didn't think it was all that great. Most of the items that schools are ranked on don't necessarily affect students directly that it would make a huge difference to your everyday school life. Of course if you are doing a PhD, funding to the university would be a big issue, which is a ranking subject. I personally think that fit is a stronger point to go on when choosing where to attend and maybe back that up with a bit of knowledge of the rankings. I don't think the rankings should be the single factor in determining where you go. Just because a school is ranked highly, doesn't mean you will like it. People in the workforce usually don't care if you went to school #3 or school #33m-- they just want a competent worker that knows their stuff.

Literature can be a very powerful thing that influences the public and it can 100% result in the killing of people. Nazi propaganda anyone? It would be foolish to say that literature is not as dangerous as a physical weapon. Words can be more powerful than any weapon built by 'engineers and scientists'.

I believe the first 10-15 or so questions hold the most point value then all the questions following those tweak your score to a smaller degree. As just a rough example it would be something like, the first 10-15 questions determine what 'hundred' you are at and the following questions will determine what 'ten' you are (this is obviously not accurate since you can't get 1500 on one section, but just an example of the different level of points). I'm not 100% sure how wrong answers work, other than it drops you down in the 'hardness' of questions. The easier the question, the less points it is worth. So essentially, if you get a lot wrong in a row, you will be getting a lower score since the question you do get right would be worth way less points. I've heard people say that you should spend extra time on the first questions which are worth the higher point value and then less time on the later questions (if you run into trouble solving). I ran out of time on the quantitative all together, but I'd say I spent equal time on everything for the questions I actually did complete. I only took the GRE once, but I think if I were to take it again my pacing would improve. If you are taking the practice exams, make sure you work on pacing. I remember asking the guy at the testing center about the dates you can retake, since I took my exam at the very end of the month and he said it was once every calendar month and then said I could basically take it the next week. So to me that is you could take it July 25 and take it again Aug 1st. I'd double check on that though because the guy at ETS that I asked didn't seem too confident in his answer!

this looks like amsterdam on the canal (Netherlands).

ETS had to investigate my earplugs I wanted to bring into the room with me. Flaming orange construction earplugs. I wish you all the luck in the world because they are weirdly strict.

boop.

I totally do this as well!!! I'd love to go into real estate, but only to sell the really awesome, new, beautiful mansions of course

So far, hotpads has been the best place that I've found to see places for rent. It is kind of funny if you go to apartment reviews and every apartment that looks nice gets the worst reviews. I don't know who to trust

I know that the need is there for funding, but I think it just takes away from the glory of being accepted. I took two years off of school to specifically work full time and save for a possible future in grad school. Yeah, no funding sucks, but I don't think you should rely on being funded to begin with or else you are just setting yourself up for disapointment!

Yeah I agree with not thinking it is an acceptance. I received an ID when I submitted my application to them originally.

Let's look on the bright side of things -- at least you got in!!! Think of how many applicants probably applied to the program and were rejected. At least you have been given the opportunity to futher your studies! I know you need money to survive and all that, but seriously, take a moment to pat yourself on the back for getting in!!!

bone rack

Yep -- unless of course you get placed on the waitlist and they contact you after the deadline. Other than that, April 15th is the absolute latest date you can say yes or no.

it follows the general speed of public healthcare

I think this more applies to Profs writing the letters than employers and those types of references. My employer didn't show me the reference but I trust the quality, so I don't feel the need to have to read it. Also, some profs may be concerned of you copying that letter and sending it around to other schools like it came from them. Who knows why some choose to not write it if you can see it, but I'd rather just not take the risk and have to find someone else to be a reference.

You could always just write a quick email to say how much you enjoyed talking with him and having the opportunity to do so (because you did, right? ). And then you could just re-iterate your interest quickly while thanking him. 'I really appreciate the opportunity I had to talk with you about x, y, z. I am very interested in the program being offered in X-University and talking with you further blah blah blah" you get the idea! but keep it short!

I've been checking out the weather for each city I applied in and the lowest temps during the day have been around 2 C degrees (36F). I've seen it as minus 2ish C (28F) before. According to google, today they are at 18 degrees. So needless to say, they are not cold for an extended period of time. The summer can be brutal. I was there during a hot streak last year and it was 46 degrees (114 F) with humidity. I don't think I ever sweat so much in my life. I was outside checking out the sites so I couldn't hide in the airconditiong!! I loved it there though. Greener than I expected for the immense heat. By the end of my stay I had gotten used to it to the point where I hiked up to a look out point and wasn't even sweating!! hahaha I come from basically zero humidity, so that was also a big change. People are super nice there though!

I think there is only a certain amount of things you can explain yourself out of. There are circumstances that will affect your grades that aren't under your control, but I don't think writing about your poor time management skills or that you enrolled in too many classes and you couldn't handle it would help your application, considering the workload that comes with gradschool. If it was something like a death in the family or that you hated your major and swapped -- I think that is acceptable. If your grades clearly reflect a change in major and better grades following that change, then it completely makes sense. As long as there is some sort of information to back up what you are claiming that they can visibly see within the application, I think it will fly.

I think this a hard to determine since many schools base their decisions on a wide set of criteria. Some programs state you need at least a certain GPA in order to be considered; however, there are many posters on these boards who had just below that cut-off and still made it in, while others have 3.9 GPA and don't get in. Some people have horrible GREs and get in, no work experience and get in, etc. I think it just depends on what the school is looking for and the other applicants you are essentially 'competing' against. Also, if you are writing a personal statement as part of your application, you could explain your low grades (if there is a reason) and show why they improved in your final year (perhaps you became more interested in the subjects?, something like that). You could also mention working in labs and of course you could include what you hope on doing in the future (having papers published). If you think you are close to what they are looking for, I would say go for it and apply. You don't have to apply to a ton of schools, but at least you might get a sense of where you stand in the discipline. Also, don't just apply to really well known schools that everyone will apply to, but instead spread out your applications. Sometimes if you are rejected, you can give the school a call and they will tell you what parts of your application were weak. This would help you out to determine 1) how to improve your application next time or 2) if you still want to try to get in next year. Hope that helps you out a bit!