Teelee

If you can, try to establish contact again if not you will need to pick and choose and you would need a more recent LoR. The letters from 2009 and using it in 3 to 4 years is gonna be old.

If you already possess a bachelors degree they might have sent it to you automatically instead of another undergrad program brochure. Are there any additional prereq courses you need to complete to get into a MFA program?

1 class from freshman class is not gonna be a huge problem, especially if you have really good grades after. Unless you can spin the reason behind F in a really positive way, I don't think you need to address it.

It takes a lot of time to get the admission committee members together in one room to review all the applicants. The committee will get together few times (maybe once a month, 3-4 times total pending on number of applicants and dependent on application deadlines Dec, Jan, or June). Usually on the first round of application review they will choose x number of students. They will review those students again and rank them accordingly (based on merit) and determine fellowship, assistantships, scholarships or no funding. Then they will offer and wait to see who will accept. So even if it takes 10-15 min to review an application, the entire process takes much longer. In large state schools, they have a general application dept who receives all the applications from potential graduate students. They then pass the applications to appropriate departments where the individual department graduate committee reviews your application. This is a lengthy process and can sometimes cause delay. It's frustrating but that's how large schools tend to operate. I am sorry you are in such a stressful situation. Hope you get an answer soon.

Writing several grant proposals, conducting literature reviews and writing a very extensive review paper helped me.

I agree with rising_star, your old transcript will matter when you apply to external fellowships and any other situation where your transcript info is mandatory.

What kind of work are you doing in plant bio? Is it breeding or transgenic? If you have a lot of plant molecular/genome sequencing etc type of experiences, you can get jobs outside of plant/agriculture related jobs (example - working in biotech or human health research labs). Get your masters first then apply to PhD of your choice.

I personally believe MS work is more relevant than undergrad work when applying to a PhD program.

Really doesn't matter, the people who knows you best should write your letters. I do think current prof will write you a stronger LoR because they know you the best as a graduate student.

What's your return on investment after completion of phd

Congrats on your decision and good luck!

If your partner will help you financially while attending grad school, you should go UCLA. Living on stipend alone can be difficult so having a partner to help you out is really great and reduces some of the financial burden in future.

If you think going to columbia will help you land a job in the future then you should seriously consider.

I am guessing because too many people are "studying/prepping" for them and it is no longer an accurate assessment of your "ability" after 4 years of undergrad OR someone's been complaining non stop that standardize tests are just unfair.

If you are one of the only one in your dept. entering as a first year grad student with NSF fellowship, you should not defer. Way more impressive to start off your first year as a fellow. You can always teach after the fellowship is over.

You need to raise your verbal so retake it.

1) Apply to external graduate fellowships while you are applying to grad school and you should have a better idea of your funding situation by the time you need to make your decision for grad school. 2) You can also try to get a full time position in the university where you would like to attend grad school if they allow tuition remission for university employees.

Rutgers dorms are not pretty but its cheap. Ford is located right in the middle of the main campus so at night you might hear bunch of drunken undergrads screaming. There are occasional muggings but the person who gets mugged usually does something stupid like hang around in front of the ATM at 3am or walking alone at 3 am. Highland park isn't that much better than New Brunswick. Last week my friend got mugged right outside of her apt in Highland park. It really depends on the area of the town. If you are not sure where to live, you should opt for on campus housing.

Having very high GRE scores can help you get into competitive schools but only if rest of your application package (GPA, research experiences/relevant experiences, recommendation letters, personal statement, etc) is also competitive. If you think you can honestly improve your GRE score, you should retake it because when it comes down to getting funding (from the grad school and external fellowships that still require GRE scores), your scores will matter. It doesn't hurt to improve your GRE but the key is to stay proactive and continue to improve yourself and prepare.

It really depends on your interest. What you can do is focus on your major but do take few science courses outside of your major in preparation for first year medical studies such as histology class or animal pathology type class which are offered in major universities.

From what I hear, if you juggle awards like that, it's not viewed too favorably by a lot of people. Although being completely funded for 5 years sounds tempting.

My friend went to college first time and got a BA in social science but did not do well (GPA 2.4). She went back to the same college and got a BS in microbiology (GPA 3.9), however, they combined both GPA together (final GPA was 3.1). You need to be aware of the school policy on second degree. Even though the record from the first and second degree were almost 5 years apart, they still combined the GPA. She is now attending graduate school from the same university with full funding (I think NSF fellowship).

It really depends on what you studied as an undergrad. Certain fields don't really look at your undergrad transcript if you have a solid resume and experience. For grad school related issue, one way to increase your GPA is to complete a postbaccalaureateprogram offered by many universities. If you do really well with your postbacc you can improve your chances. Also, if your undergrad major is completely different from your grad school studies and you complete a postbacc type of program, they will weigh your postbacc GPA more.

I declared tenure after saving a copy of my reviews but now the file is corrupted. How can I request another copy of the review?

I got one but didn't get an email notice. Anyone else not get notified by email?