Usmivka

This is not unusual in the physical and natural sciences--either your two-body problem or deferring. The risk with deferring is that a funding source goes away, but this should be less of a problem given the rotation setup. That said, many entering classes in biology related fields are very small, just a few people. The programs are geared around this size, so make sure to let them know what you are considering--if they defer you, they will likely want to admit an additional person this year and one fewer next year to keep the money flow as even as possible.

That poor horse...

More profs is preferred in pretty much every application except possibly to business schools. Look at older threads in this forum about what your reference letters should speak to as well. I think this has come up several times in the last couple weeks.

loathe as I am to suggest double posting, you may want to put this in the CS thread. I've seen a lot of CS folks online since this was posted, but I'm thinking they aren't looking in this subforum. Good luck!

USA! USA! USA! OK now that I have that out of my system (and I do love you Europe, I've just gone through the American public school system and it leaves certain indelible traces...): I think given the international standing of ETH Zurich it will certainly not be looked down upon for you to go there (I know some joint appointments between there and MIT, and a number of graduates from my program have ended up there at one time or another). I'm afraid I know little about the other two in terms of engineering. My feeling is that Canadian universities will not look down on European schools relative to the US, and the system there will be more similar to what you will return to in Canada. That said, the US has more well regarded universities in the same country (numerically, not necessarily per capita)--this is to your advantage, since you would only have to familiarize yourself with the particulars of international applications and student visas to one country instead of several to cover your bases. It is also convenient in terms of travel to professional conferences and networking. The big downside is that many US programs assume you are starting without an MS, and acceptance to a PhD when you already have one can be difficult (I'm assuming you have an ME from a Canadian school). But I think this is much less of a problem for Engineering. And, of course and always, it really comes down to your adviser and the work you are doing, not the reputation of the institution. Now that I've written that, I need the Canadians to post and correct me. I'm looking at you TakeruK...

Isn't this thread dead yet? This is almost abusive...margarets is clearly not interested in hearing any constructive feedback. Anything posted here is like trying to clean my rabbit--it may be with the best of intentions, but she thinks she is under attack and just sits in the corner grunting and thumping. And no margarets, that is not an ad hominem attack, unlike your response to these posters, it is just a simile using a cute anecdote about my rabbit.

State schools are required to post admissions statistics on their websites. These may or may not give you a cutoff and/or the average score for admitted and accepted students. eg from the University of Washington Political Science department: "Minimum Scores and GPA: Most applicants who are admitted to the program have combined verbal and quantitative scores on the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) substantially higher than 1150 and a cumulative college grade point average greater than 3.4 (B+). As noted above, the Admissions Committee examines the complete set of materials for each applicant in order to identify promising individuals whose scores or grades might not fully represent their potential." So there are real cutoffs, as above, and then there are de facto cutoffs, eg "we tend not to take anyone with less than 700s)." When talking to the schools a better thing to ask for is the average score and GPA of admitted applicants for the most recent year available.

I wouldn't mention it unless someone asks in conversation about your age. It sounds like this isn't what you want to hear, but here is my reasoning: You may be a perfectly normal person, but many of those who interact with "running start" or "high school in college" types in an academic setting are leery of these students. It is not unusual that they missed out on a more familiar social progression and can be awkward to interact with and difficult to incorporate into normal academic and recreational activities. This perception is very important to the faculty that may be teaching you, the adviser that will be mentoring you, and the other students that you would be working with and are eying you as a member of their peer group. So I view your age as more of an obstacle to be overcome than an asset, and I'd wait until you are in interviews to disclose your age if necessary (when you can't hide it, and/or can show that despite your age and academic trajectory you are a socially well adjusted person). I have a peer who followed the trajectory you just described (college at 15, then straight to grad school), so clearly he was admitted, but he plays his age very close to the chest and seems happier and more included for it. Actually, I'll send him an e-mail right now and ask him to get on here and give his thoughts, you'd probably find them more useful.

Hopefully some others will chime in here, I'm afraid this may be beyond me. So you've been in regular communication with your adviser and you are both clear about your goals and expectations as well as his? I'd still like to find out who else it is possible for you to get help from (a dean, an ombudsman, etc?). If you haven't graduated and are here on a student visa, you can't take a job. This is US law, not the school official's fault. So the central issue here is that the prof will not approve of you defending this spring. If he does, everything else can be solved. You and the prof seem to have agreed to a series of steps that you will take before he will consent to signing your thesis--you appear to have accepted these in the eyes of any impartial arbitrator by having the conditions notarized, which is a highly unusual step in an academic setting (so stop trying to get out from doing them at this point). This really limits your options, and because you are refusing to help him (however justified), it seems unlikely he will ever willingly allow you to graduate. And I don't see other faculty helping you because you appear to have tried to circumvent him by that route already without being fully prepared to make your case. I don't see a way out of this, other than again appealing to the chair (with well laid out arguments), the dean, or the university ombudsman. You will also need to present a well documented timeline of correspondence reinforcing your assertions that he is unfairly preventing your defense for reasons that are not related to the school's expectations for a thesis. But you will have to show that you have done all the work that you consented to already.

The latter.

I think he's referring to the old score system of 800 points per section. It is now 170 per section, and he is saying you want a perfect score, probably in math, but it would be equally valid to say you should aim for a perfect score in the CS subject test, which may indeed still use the 800 point scale. It also looks like you are aiming at just 'name brand' schools, rather than programs that may be a better fit for you or easier acceptances based on your background. I'm pretty sure those aren't the only three to offer funding, but regardless of school it will be much harder to get funding as only an MS student rather than a PhD applicant.

The scores will be kept on file by the department through the current application season. It is best to start your application (just fill in your name and address on the online form so they have something to cross reference) before taking the test to avoid things getting incorrectly filed. You don't need a complete application, just at least one saved page. Check before you send the scores as to which college or school within the university the scores should be sent to--it isn't always to the one your department is in. For example, I remember one school had a specific place to send score for graduate admissions, but that was only for most of their colleges...the college I was applying to within the University wanted scores sent straight to them. I also saw the opposite case.

I know the oil companies don't really care about the difference between an MS and PhD, and at this point, with pertinent research and grad coursework it seems like you have the academic experience of a masters already. This all looks more than adequate for big oil to hire you as soon as you get your BS. Why do grad school? Will an MS markedly improve your pay? This may be a discussion to have with your adviser. Also, a number of your extras (pretty much anything besides the scholarships and software) are unlikely to matter to a graduate admissions committee--undergrad ad comms love that sort of stuff, but faculty looking at grad apps will view much of it as fluff. Add it to your CV, sure, but I don't think it will make a difference. I say this based on talking with the faculty in my program, which could be totally un-reflective of the places you apply, so feel free to ignore me on this! But regardless, what I just said above is not true from a hirer's perspective--all that stuff can speak to who you would be as an employee, and is important to keep in a professional CV.

First, this sounds awful. So lets start by taking a deep breath. Now let it out. OK, to the task at hand. I have some questions for you that will hopefully let us narrow in on the best course of action: 1. Were you meeting regularly with your adviser prior to this April? 2. Do you have other avenues of faculty support such as an academic adviser/faculty student liason (not your research adviser) or a dean? 3. Is there any pressing need to be done beyond being feeling tired with the topic? ie will they pull funding, do you have a significant other that is moving, do you want to apply to jobs? 4. Can you clarify where the prof is coming from? You state that he hardly graduates students as a fully tenured professor, which seems abnormal--generally it is young faculty that want to keep their trainees on. Does your prof have a lab tech/manager, or is he using you as one? 5. Can you please clarify how exactly he is preventing you from graduating? His act of paying your tuition for this Spring shouldn't force you to stay. I think the first course of action (which it sounds like you may have already done) is to have a sit down and explain that you don't want or need a perfect thesis, at this point you want to be done. Explain why your work is acceptable/accurate and should be signed off on. He can't ethically sign off on something that he believes is deeply flawed, so try to clarify whether he objects to your work or simply wants to tie up more loose ends (a more complete thesis). I'd also point out that you have hit the breaking point on this and are not interested in pursuing the topic further--it is no longer motivating. If this isn't getting you anywhere, the next step is to find an authority figure other than the department chair who will listen to both your vies and your profs, perhaps at together in a group meeting. You should be able to provide compelling evidence that a) your work is of thesis quality relative to the department standards, and b ) you are being prevented from graduating for reasons unrelated to the department's expectations (not your adviser's). I want to point out that trying to jump advisers when you already have thesis work and writing essentially complete seems like a far worse option than pushing things another 6 months. No program I know of will let you simply switch advisers and publish the work you did with someone else and that the new adviser had nothing to do with.

I found the Barrons book to be particularly useful (it came with some adaptive tests that were harder but of very similar format and pacing to the real test). I didn't shop around though, I just used the text available at the used bookstore. In terms of material review, the free Quant section topic review on the ETS website was great.

8 | Clearly I am in the wrong field. That is a great link, thanks for sharing statistics! Edit: No I take it back, my field is looking pretty snazzy in terms of employment! Even if pay sucks...

So if double time is not helpful, what do you need? Someone to enter your answers for you? Something else? Or have you not taken any math and don't want to be tested on it (I am unclear on what a course substitution indicates in your particular circumstances, each university has its own terminology)? If you tell ETS exactly what you need and provide doctors notes and records of medical history that corroborate this claim, they should give you whatever help you need to take the exam on an even field with other test takers. They will not exempt you from a portion of the exam, and any university you apply to would view this as an incomplete application if you left off the scores for a section. This would probably take more explaining than if you simply choose not to take a section and explain that in your SOP. My feeling is history programs put very little stock in Q scores anyway, they will care much more about AW.

I would read this about what to/not to put in your SOP. It has a peer reviewed article, and super useful advice that directly pertains to what you are describing. Pretty much anything about mental illness in your SOP is considered a "kiss of death" for your application to graduate programs.

As much as reposting is discouraged, I think that this might be better answered in the professional school thread. My impression is that programs like that, where many students pay their own tuition, are more flexible with admits and may even value stories of adversity.

Depends on the school. You'll have to ask your financial aid officer. My school covers us regardless of fellowship status, I'm aware of a few that cover only fellows.

The codger, hands down. Make time and sit down with him to help him through the computer bits if needed. Doesn't matter how far away (6 hours isn't so bad, do an overnight with friends), especially since you already know he writes "very impressive letter." He can always hand write the letter and scan it, he'll just need technical help. My partner had the same issue when applying, but helped the old guy out and his letter were absolutely essential in getting into programs. Also, at least some programs will be flexible and accept hand written letters if you explain it to them.

ASAP. Why wait, especially on the check the box stuff like sending scores and transcript?

I wouldn't do this in the SOP but I would do it in your CV. "15.63/20, 4th in class" This is highly pertinent. You went somewhere that doesn't have grade inflation (at least to the degree that it exists in the US), and there is no way for admissions committees to know this unless you tell them!

I'd think a meeting might be in order first...chat, remind him who you are, give a CV and talk about your goals and where you are applying, and most importantly what you thing he can speak to in your letter of rec.

The scores are based on the relative scores and spread of the original testing group for those tests. The number wrong has little or no relation to the score on the real GRE, so I don't see why it should matter on emulated tests. I took this awhile ago (old rubric, out of 800), but I got a 770 or 780 with only one or two wrong answers, and later in the test at that (the "rough" scores are bracketed early in the test--do the first one wrong, you will do poorly even if you do everything else right, since it shifts you to easier questions)--clearly the test group as a whole did quite well with these questions.