Owlie

Indiana is pretty nondescript! I grew up in Cincinnati, so while it's not exactly the same, I can help a bit. (Or I can find people who can help!) If you look away from campus, you should be able to find affordable housing. It's a relatively inexpensive part of the country. As far as culture, it's a college town, so a little more open-minded, I think, than the surrounding region. If you want specifics, I can ask around.

Go early, and if the lab is a good fit and has money, talk to them toward the end of your rotation. Many professors, at least in my department, assume that you're not interested if you don't commit at the end of the rotation. If you hadn't picked a spot by the end of the 2nd rotation, you were screwed.

I probably could have applied to a couple more schools, even though I think my bank account disagrees with that statement. It's nice to have options. I made some of my where-to-apply decisions based on where I wanted to live. That meant cutting out a lot of programs in the Southeast. I probably should have applied to the University of Colorado--Denver and perhaps in the PNW.

Congratulations! Something I'd consider when deciding between the two is the city/town surrounding the university.

My boyfriend is an undergrad in engineering. He should be done in December. We've done the long-distance thing on-and-off for 3 years (he's in AZ, I'm in OH). He has been very supportive of me, and told me that he would be willing to move wherever I got in and chose to attend, but he did give me a few preferences within the list of where I applied. I applied to graduate schools in areas where there are potentially jobs for him. When he moves to wherever I am, it'll be interesting to see how we handle the odd hours that lab work requires...

Rejections from 2/5, interview 2 weeks ago from 1, and yet to hear from the remaining 2 (but they had late deadlines). Part of me wants to be optimistic about the interview, because I haven't seen anything on Grad Cafe yet. However, it's not a huge field, so I'm not surprised if there are relatively few applicants. However, a larger part of me is going to assume a rejection, because as far as I know many places notify quickly after interviews. I still have to finish my MS, and a lab tech job is a possibility, though I don't think it's reasonable because I'd want to reapply next year.

No smoking

3.5/5. My advisor is pretty awesome, and the 3 other American students in the program are too. I've made some good friends. Downside is that the politics in this department mean that I have to tread carefully if I want to get involved in things outside the lab.

You aren't the only one. I went from a top-tier university for undergrad to a middle-tier state university for my master's. I found it hard to talk to professors (apart from a couple) without getting nervous in undergrad. It took me a few months to be able to comfortably talk to my advisor, even though he's very laid back and approachable. (And now I have a beer with him on Fridays...) There's still one professor in this department that I can't talk to because I find her intimidating. I have to keep telling myself that they're not judging me. They're there to teach and mentor, and they know I don't know everything. Otherwise I wouldn't be there. I still use e-mail for important stuff, though.

One program I'm applying to requires a statement of purpose and a personal history statement. I have a relatively low undergrad GPA (3.03--I was an idiot with no real focus in undergrad and bit off way more than I could chew with 2 degrees in 4 years). I took a year off,then enrolled in an MS program in my field. I have a 4.0. (I got my head screwed on properly and focused.) I know most of that belongs in the personal history statement, along with why I want a PhD in this particular field. Should I mention the discrepancy in my personal statement? I'm not planning on dedicating that much space to it; perhaps I'll include a line or two along the lines of "Yes, I realize my undergrad transcripts are checkered, but I think my ability to do graduate-level work is much better illustrated by what I've done in this MS program than in undergrad." It does fit with the overall structure I'm trying to create in my SOP, but I wonder if it will hurt me to bring it up.

Well, obviously I'm not going to e-mail them to ask "So, what are your admissions requirements?" or something. Drives me crazy when people don't read posted information. I guess it's more along the lines of "how do you treat someone who would coming into the program with a master's?", which of course varies by program. I agree that it's probably a little early, but based on their responses I can start narrowing down my list. Otherwise I have a feeling I'm going to have to take out a loan to apply!

Do you want a beater, or something for both commute and fun? Giant is pretty good bang-for-buck, and I got my fun bike (entry-level road bike, Sora/2200 components) for $750. See if you can pick up a used OCR/Defy/Avail off Craigslist. (They're all the same bike, basically. Giant re-branded the OCR to have a nice flashy name a few years ago. It's now the Defy (men's/unisex) and Avail (women's).) Then there's Trek's...whatever. I'm not familiar with Trek. Jamis also makes some nice steel bikes. Check out Bikesdirect--I've heard good things about it in other places, so your money may go further. There's also Specialized and Cannondale, but I'd advise you to pick up something used, because they're expensive. Lovely bikes, but expensive. (Can you tell I've been bike-shopping latey.) Buy a couple locks if you go this route, though.

The biggest thing you can do is swap the tires for slicks, possibly even swapping the wheels. Beyond that, you get into expensive territory with replacing the bars, shifters, cables, brakes...

I'll be starting an MS this fall in my field, but my real goal is a PhD. Is it too soon to start e-mailing programs with general questions? (I'm thinking of starting this once I've gotten set in a lab and can say what I'm doing.)

I ignore them. I live in Ohio, and while we're borderline in-range for brown recluses, I've never come across them. And that article says that most of the time, the bites are harmless. Personally, I find spiders interesting, and since my little wolf spider colony (and the colony of house centipedes) eat roaches--one of the few invertebrates that I hate--I like having them around. Now, if I found a black widow in my house, I'm not sure I'd be so good about ignoring it...

True, but it's easier to be happy if the bills are paid and you have a little something to fall back on in an emergency!

I'm wondering this myself for the next go-round. My undergrad research experience was totally irrelevant (or nearly so) to my interests. In fact, it made me realize that I didn't want to go to grad school for chemistry. I think this hurt me going into a field that's more biologically oriented. I've been accepted into an MS program, and while the program (only one in the state) is in my field, no one's doing anything that is directly relevant to my PhD-related interests. I don't know if it'll help ("Yes, I've done work in this field. I did X, and I'd like to do Y now") or hurt ("You clearly have no clue what you want to do, or you are really bad at picking your program" or "Uh, we don't do that, and that thesis means nothing in the context of what you want to do"). The other thing that really concerns me this time around is publication/presentation opportunities--it's not a Research I school by any stretch of the imagination, but it has ties to DoD-funded research...which then adds another layer of, uh, fun to all this. I've gotten different senses of how firmly places want your research interests lined up--some seem okay with a fairly general approach, and others seem to want you to have this locked into place from the get-go. And these were all places (between me and my friend who applied in a related field) where you had to do lab rotations first.

Yes. I'm going through a rough patch right now, to be sure, though. May I vent? I feel a little like JustMe--all my life I've been told that I'm not smart/experienced/whatever enough to be able to do the things I want to do. My parents were surprised I got into colleges beyond the state universities that take anyone with a pulse. I came out of college with two degrees and some completely irrelevant-to-my-interests research experience that I worked my a$$ off for and have nothing to show for it. I tried to find a job to fill a gap year only to be told that I don't have sufficient relevant work experience or am overqualified. I'm apparently not good enough to even attempt a PhD. I'll be spending the next two years getting a master's degree in Podunk, Ohio, 2000 miles from my boyfriend, which costs me my entire savings and another two years before starting that PhD, if I even get in. Of my friends, many of them are already in grad school or gainfully employed and engaged. It's not so much the particulars of their grad school/relationship status that bothers me. What bothers me is that they're getting where they want to (or seem to be), and I'm...not. Nowhere near.

I got an e-mail from one school, then a paper letter. From the other one, two e-mails a week apart. I wish I'd gotten one from the remaining school. They never officially rejected me.

I felt that this one was a good fit--there were three or four profs doing things that I could get excited about, and one of them was doing something similar to what the lab I worked in as an undergrad did. I didn't get their view of my fit, one way or another. They told us at the recruitment event that there were six spots this year (down from seven or eight in previous years), and I got the impression from the e-mail that they'd cut it down further even than that, and went with mostly in-state applicants. (This university, according to a friend who goes there (but for an unfunded master's), makes it very difficult to qualify for in-state tuition, even if you take the steps to establish residency.) I can't blame them for that, considering the economy. This time, I really only applied places in areas where I have ties with research that I was interested in, but I think next time (for fall 2012 or -13) I'll be more comfortable moving elsewhere. As you can see, I've started looking, and yes, I'll apply to this university again, and hopefully the economy will have picked up.

Eigen, that was actually something that scared me off from applying to a couple of chemistry programs. I'd have had to pass a sort of proficiency exam in the major areas, including physical chemistry, or take the class. Undergrad p-chem was bad enough--I'm not sure I could do either of those things!

On a related note, I know the "old" GRE scores were valid for five years. Does anyone know if that will continue to apply now that there's the new version?

It depends. Everywhere I looked, you needed a B to pass required courses. Check your department's handbook.

Most have a 3.0/4 or equivalent, and this particular university tends to weigh more heavily the last 60 units. I had just above a 3.0, but a)the courses that killed my GPA were either my first year or b)not really applicable to my program of interest (p-chem 2, anyone?). I got solid A's and B's my last two years (except p-chem 2). I also had research experience (not in my field, but related), and I guess some good letters of recommendation. If the other parts of your application are solid, they'll go a long way toward offsetting a low GPA. Strangefox, I'm not entirely sure which I'd have preferred to get. It's a big self-esteem boost, to be sure, to be told that "we think you're good enough, we just don't have the money." On the other hand, I was rejected because of factors entirely outside my control, as opposed to something that I had/hadn't done and could take steps to change before I apply next time.

I e-mailed the head of the adcomm at my top choice--a standard "Thank you for considering my application. Although I didn't get in, I'm still interested. Do you have any advice on how I could improve my application?"-kind of email. I didn't expect to get anything back. This, paraphrased, was his response: "I'm sorry we weren't able to accept you this year. You were actually viewed rather favorably by the committee, and were placed in the "accept" pile along with some other students. Then we looked at the finances. Any other year, we would have taken you, but the funding situation is such this year that we had to decrease the size of our cohort. In fact, this will be the smallest group of students we have ever taken. "As for improving your application, I can't offer any useful advice. If I remember correctly, some of your grades were a bit low, but there's not much you can do about that now. One thing you could do is to continue to work in a research area. I'm sorry I can't offer anything helpful, but I wish you the best of luck in your career goals." On the one hand, I'm glad he sent it--I guess I do have what it takes to get in, but for funding. At the same time, I wish it was a "Well, compared to other students, you suck" response. That I could understand, and I could find a way to take steps to fix it, whether it be taking some classes to boost my GPA or finding a research job for some more relevant experiences. So close, and yet so far.