Usmivka

I'm taking your "any info would be appreciated" at face value here, and don't mean any of the following as a put down. Yes, this would be a big red flag. Grad school is more of a time commitment than undergrad for most students. You have not shown that you can commit the necessary time to graduate in a timely manner, regardless of mitigating circumstances (each year you spend costs the school money, no matter how much you or a fellowship pays). In fact, it sounds like family issues are ongoing and would continue to affect you in grad school. This is one of the " in grad applications, and there is no way to avoid talking about this in your application given the large impact it has had on your academics. Personally, I am a family first, always, sort of person, so I don't think you made a bad choice by any means, but this is a problem for grad school admissions straight out of undergrad. Great letters of recommendation and stellar research experiences and publications would go a long way towards ameliorating this, as would a couple years of work experience. This would evidence that you can do great, publishable work (or in the latter case, put in the hours) even when distracted by circumstances. But I think you are going to have to look hard for an adviser that will tolerate such divided attention and still help you do great things, and this should be your focus in the school search, not whether it is a "top" program or not. Update: Actually, would you mind posting what field you are applying to? I assumed math, but the story could be very different if you were applying to, say, economics.

This will come down to the individual schools maintaining their own records. I doubt the schools will look much at the older scores, if at all, if they are truly nearly 5 years old. And the scores are one of the least important parts of your app (the way I look at it anyway), they are just a threshold to be passed--after that your letters of recc and publications will matter much more. Assuming you are in a field similar to mine, but that is hard to tell since you don't specify field.

I know there has been lots written on this but I'm not finding it, I think all of this has been tangential to the topic in the threads I'm thinking of (mostly in the NSF GRFP threads, it is well worth your time to look there briefly). So I'll summarize here: Tell them exactly what to do--what the school wants to hear and is specifically looking for, what they should specifically write about or focus on in the letter (choose a focus for each letter to make for a more compelling ensemble), and if they are truly out of their depth, give them an outline of what they should write about where. Sadly I know of no posted letters from reccomenders that were successful. I'm not sure such a thing is readily available since most applicants waive their right to see these letters as part of the admissions process and they are submitted in confidence. Anyone else out there have such a thing? Best of luck!

Time off sounds necessary, but I understand the time pressure the other way. Can you get accepted and defer for a year? This may be less common in the humanities, but in the sciences advisers sometimes will even want you to defer based on their funding schedule. I don't think a reference in a database is a good idea--the reccs can't be tailored to the places you eventually apply and may not hit points that you think are particularly important for a given application or prorgam.

Science neither sleeps nor takes weekends, at least not when temperamental instruments and time-sensitive samples are involved. I kid you not, it is my birthday too. :/ Perhaps procrastination is justified.

I wanted to thank you all so much. I have killed so much time on here, learning all sorts of interesting things and feeling useful myself, occasionally. Even this very moment, I'm sitting in lab reading this instead of running samples, and it is time well spent, because of the thoughtful and/or entertaining posts by folks here on the forum (if your posts are neither thoughtful nor entertaining, I thank you for trying anyway). So in this spirit, I'd like to hear from others what your favorite way to procrastinate is, how you temporarily ignore your status as a grad student or make it fun for yourself. Or your awesome procrastination avoidance strategies--those would be a big help too...

I too feel underachieving almost every day. The key thing, I think, is to realize that even if folks are coming up with questions on the spot that didn't catch you first, there will be times you do this and others look at you with a little envy. Just hold onto those moments and remember them! I agree that too much structure can actually stifle you, keep you from grabbing a good idea and rolling with it when the mood strikes. I'm in a natural science program and basically live in my lab, so I'll refrain from offering study advice, I'm sure it would be totally wrong for you!

I just wanted to say there are so many great posts here, and I am all out of upvotes for the day. Special thanks to imonedaful (indeed you are) for doing some research and providing us all with the link to an academic paper that directly answered the OP.

Knowledge isn't static. I am constantly having to re-reason my way to a conclusion. And many times I find a flaw in my earlier "facts" or assumptions. Just because someone said it in a class doesn't mean it is accurate. I say lots of foolish things, but every once in a while one of those foolish things turns out to be more correct than the "101 level" stuff. Edit: In fact I'm pretty sure my post here is pretty stupid...I can't even follow what I'm trying to say. So let that be an object lesson! Or something.

You may hear early (by a few weeks, not more) if you are a very desirable candidate. You will probably not hear until well after all the admits if you are rejected. Regardless, unless specifically told that there is rolling admission, you won't know anything before the application deadline.

The percentages, rather than the scores would help us give you better feedback. A 163/780 Q could mean 90% or 70% depending on the specific test. My impression is that 3.6 (I assume out of 4, not 5) is OK for masters work--not extraordinary, but definitely not bad. Every program is different in what they expect, but in my head a 3.5-3.8 is an A- average, and at least in my program you are doing fine unless you drop to Bs. So I don't think the GPA is really that big a deal. What will be more important by far is your publication output and letters of recc speaking to your ability to do research, since you are already doing graduate work. If you don't have these down, it probably isn't worth the applications, since that is what you would have been doing at an equivalent point in these other programs. I think submitted manuscripts are fine at this stage if nothing has been accepted or published yet, though clearly that would be ideal. And just like your MS work, things will ultimately come down to what potential advisers have money and want to take you on as a student. Applications are expensive, so I wouldn't apply anywhere that I hadn't confirmed with a prospective PI that they would be interested in working with me if I made the program's cut. Things to keep in mind: 1. Not all programs will accept MS students to a PhD with any class standing--in some of these you would be treated like any other incoming student and still expected to take their required classes. 2. Outside funding makes you a much more desirable admit. If you are still eligible, apply for the NSF GRFP or DoD NDSEG. 3. You say top 10, and while all the schools you listed have strong departments, they are strong in some ways and weak in others. For example, you list would probably be very different if you were doing solid earth geochemistry vs biogeochemistry vs aqueous chemistry vs atmospheric chemistry, all of which may fall under the geochemistry heading depending on how the department decides to divvy things up. And a strong geology school may have made its name (and its ranking in one of the many, and multiply flawed, ranking lists) based on unrelated topics that won't help your quality of education. Decide what is important to you in a program, whether quality of research, paper output, adviser interactions, or program "rank"--I think this latter is trivial compared to the other aspects, but you brought it up so it may be something important to you for family or employment reasons. Good luck!

Agreed. Educational outcomes and opportunities do have a lot to do with socioeconomic status, but it looks to me like you are running off some faulty assumptions. It costs very little to travel if you are cost conscious and a little lucky (couchsurfing, flight vouchers from friends who are stewards, hitchhiking, pitching tents in RV camps in the middle of cities, however you make it work). I realize anecdote is terrible evidence, but I spent a few months in Europe with my partner midway through university and employed many of these strategies. In fact, we made a little money by being away, since we were in less expensive regions like Eastern Europe (and I think Kiev should be similarly inexpensive...) and sublet our apartment while we were away--we spent about $25 dollars a day and earned about $28 from the sublet. And opportunities like Japan or Broadway shows? Maybe the first lived near NYC--student rush tickets are cheaper than a movie and snacks if you are flexible. And the latter, maybe their parents were in the military and stationed in Japan (at least two of the folks in my program fall under this category). Universities offer need based financial aid, so I don't really find a tuition argument compelling either. Apparently the graduate tuition in my program is ~$50k a year, but since the school pays all of that it doesn't reflect on my wealth. Regardless, even if you classmates come from wealth, it sounds like they are taking advantage of it to do enriching, educational things. Those don't seem like bad peers to have.

This will vary by department, not just school. Contact each department you are interested in, they should tell you either firm cutoffs and/or have information related to the average scores and GPAs of admitted and accepted students.

Yes, of course. For your resume and pocketbook. Now that you are old hand, it won't even feel like as much work. You can just take the year of funding and waive the rest, it is still useful for a masters.

Another shameless plug: I'm moving from my apartment in Jamaica Plain in mid-October (5 min to E line, 10 to Orange). I really love the area, and am in fact moving to a condo 2 blocks away (couldn't pass up the offer price wise, otherwise I'd be in this apartment until I finished grad school). It is a 2 bedroom on a dead end street surrounded by parks and community gardens, currently going for $1300. If anyone is interested in that area and time-frame (up to + a month or two, I'm flexible), let me know. I have one person I know interested who needs a co-renter if you are excited but want a housemate. PM me if you want specifics, a rave review, and the dish on how this area works or doesn't work for area Universities and medical centers. Feel free to share with friends who want to move out of grad dorms or don't like their current sublets. I can partially furnish if needed.

I know this isn't really what you want to hear, but everything I wrote above assumed you were working in the same field you were taking the degree in. imonedaful's comment is particularly apropos as UVic is known, even in the US, for having particularly flexible programs that allow you to spend much or all of your time away from campus and take only very targeted classes.

I totally understand, I actually started grad school because my partner was moving and this was easier than finding a "real" job. I'm still crabby about leaving my prior, perfect job, but relationships take precedence. In this case it might make sense to hold on and see where you end up if you two are moving again soon--you might be happier with the local options then, which will definitely be less expensive than the online route. If it is mostly for your personal satisfaction, and you don't think you'll be moving soon, and you have a good idea what ti will cost and think that's OK, then it seems like you have nothing to lose by doing this. You could also look at online certificate programs if you are concerned that getting a masters now will preclude you from doing so later. Harvard, Berkeley, and MIT are now offering free online courses (edX program), and I suspect it is only a matter of months or a couple years before they decide to offer certificates of completion.

I'd check out the IHOG thread. Many, many folks have asked similar questions there, and there and lots of replies that might give you some insight.

I'll start by saying good on you for trying to make both education and family work given your limited ability to move. I'm trying to give a very honest assessment below, and not trying to suggest that you can't make distance education work well for you. That said, I perceive some hurdles here that I think you are already aware of, or you wouldn't have asked these questions. But before I get to that, my first thought is that most of these are 1-2 year Master's programs (or at least their classroom based equivalents are). If you are relocating every 6-8 years, and if your husband gets any say in where (it sounded like you both thought he would be increasing in seniority, and thus, one might expect say over base assignments), why not use university programs in the area you move to as part of your criteria? Or is there a continuing education option available to service members that your husband can take advantage of so that you two move to a University city for a couple years? And if you are on Vancouver Island, is it impossible for you to go somewhere like UBC or SFU and just return every couple weeks (little kids)? Commuter passes on the Nanaimo ferry are not unreasonable. As a military spouse do you get free flights like US servicemembers families? If you have no other option but to go for distance education, my impression is that most US and Canadian employers view these programs as more like certificates than real degrees (but I don't know as much about the non-profit world--ask some of your peers and coworkers about this!). Certainly the "name brand" schools offering them do so with a profit motive, which is why they cost significantly more than on campus instruction where you might interact more with your peer group and instructors (networking seems like it might be important in your field). Even if you find a particular school this is not true for, that is the perception many others have (ie that you are buying a degree without the accompanying learning experiences found on a campus or with direct adviser interaction). The online programs you listed, while from more respectable schools than some of the for profit types like Phoenix, are probably too new to have built much of a reputation or overcome the stigma previously associated with online degrees. Of the programs you listed, I'd say Northwestern has the best reputation for management/admin/business type fields, but that is going to vary based on the specific department. If any of them are outgrowths of long extant night school/working professional programs, I'd think that would lend the degree more weight. As for goals, it sounds like the itinerant military life and doing non-profit work in general is more of a challenge for a stable job than what degrees you have, and I'm not sure having a masters will change that. Given this, is the debt going to be worth it? Or is the piece of paper the primary goal here--will you be happy regardless as long as you get the degree?

See this a few days ago. The timing considerations are the same, 4-6 weeks. I'd take it significantly earlier than this however, in case you decide you want to take it twice--now that ETS allows you to send only the scores you want to instead of all of them, you can be sure that you competition will be doing so.

Ah, another thought! You can get Fulbrights to teach English in another country. That way you have your own visa and funding for at least a year.

I'd contact the opening poster in this She is the only person I've recently seen on the forum who moved from the US to Turkey. The situation is different since her husband is Turkish, but I suspect she knows more than most others here.

I don't know your field, and that can make a big difference in what is and isn't the norm. So with that big caveat--unless you are the second (or maybe third if there are only three) author/presenter I would view this as filler. Presentations in a number of fields (perhaps with the exception of CS, where presentation of your work is predominantly in conferences) are not held to the same authorship standards as publications, so lots of names tend to get thrown onto the title page. The only presentation/paper work I expect most academics to care about are ones in which you had a direct and major influence in the data analysis and discussion, not just collecting and running samples (I'm assuming you are in something lab oriented). In a presentation, that would mean you are one of the first couple authors most likely. But admissions comittees will certainly care about all those other things you may have done that don't always warrant a spot high on the authorship list, but are important to your qualifications as a potential grad student. Any lab skills individual/teamwork you can evidence are important, so you might highlight what you did under a "research projects" section or something similar where you highlight your role and what you learned in it. If you have a publication in the works, say what stage it is in: manuscript in preparation, submitted, accepted, in press...whatever stage you are at. It is important to show that you are working towards this if you have no other papers to your name.

As of 2011, you can no longer use US federal fellowships at international universities. Prior to the 2011 application year, you could apply NSF GRFP funding to international universities with prior approval. So, given how NSF works, you could have applied and gotten a GRFP in 2010 and then applied the funding internationally anytime between 2010-2015 if you wanted. But if you are a 2011 or later admit, it's a no-go. Private fellowships are still a possibility: Hertz and the Ford Foundation are the only two I'm aware of that specifically allowed this post-2011. Fulbright's are still a possibilty, as they do not require you to be affiliated with a US institution. But you must be nominated by a US school, so that may be an irrelevant distinction, unless you can get your undergrad school to nominate you.

I apologize if someone else mentioned this and I missed it, but an important point: You have to pay quarterly estimated taxes on April 15, June 15, and Sept 15 for Federal taxes, and very likely for CA state taxes as well. If you wait until the end of the year to pay everything, you will be subject to an additional fine. It isn't much (no more than 10s of dollars) but it is a pain in the ass to calculate and if you are audited and haven't calculated it on your own it can turn into a much larger expense. And at least in MA, the state LOVES to audit grad students--go figure since we don't make enough to be worthwhile targets.