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I think what anyone can take away from this statement is that it is better to get a good recommendation by a person less known than a lackluster one from a person well known. Of course at times some admission committees will put more weight on a recommendation from more experienced recommenders, but if it's not-so-good then what's the point of getting one from that person because it could hurt your application. Typically, I would advise a person to ask if you can get the grad student's monitoring professor to sign the recommendation, because it does often add more weight. From what I have encounter in this process is that most graduate students won't take any offense because they have been in a similar position before as well. At large universities this is quite common for a grad student/TA to write the recommendation and have the full professor sign it.

Typically, this depends on the field, and I think this why many of us have a hard time answering this question. With that said, internships do serve as tools as giving you experience in a given field, and also provide knowledge of a particular subject that may serve you well when applying to graduate school. They also can help because after a given experience you can be more focused on a given subject which helps you identify your research goals. I think when speaking of area studies programs, you will probably always have someone who has more experience in the region whether it be with language, academics, or work, but since area studies programs typically are interdisciplinary you also have a lot of people that may be making a shift in academic focus, so I think overall any experience in a particular region you happen to want to focus on does help.

I will reply, but I will note I am not in the engineering field so really this advice is just coming from another grad school applicant. I first want to recommend you to post something in the engineering forum, because you will probably find some people who can better advise you on your particular issues: http://forum.thegrad...32-engineering/ Secondly, since you have a M.Sc most places will look at both your undergrad and graduate gpa. Typically, most schools will pay more attention to your graduate level gpa because it shows you can do graduate level work, so really what I am saying is to have you recommendations and writing samples outshine any negative you may see. Thirdly, you have both work experience and research experience which will be good. I imagine you are using one of your published articles as your writing sample so really not a big worry there. The one thing I wanted to point out was your 450 V because while the quant. section is more important in the sciences, when you are applying to top programs many people will have good verbal scores as well. I imagine your publications will help you as a applicant. Also, what discipline are you applying for bio-engineering or mechanical, because this may help people with giving you advice?

This actually is a puzzling question. From what I have read and been told in the process is that schools just want to see scores that are recent and that are valid. With that said, I think the reason behind the confusion is that ETS does try to follow some type of academic calendar, after all the people that are taking the test are students.

For some schools you can get a free app by doing exactly what you said. For other programs you may qualify for a free app or reduced fee by applying at a specific time (Chicago's app is waived if you apply by Nov. 15). Some programs just have free apps (Vanderbilt, Houston, etc.). Also, if any of the schools you are looking into are in the Committee of Institutional Cooperation (CIC) you may want to see if you qualify for a free app here: http://www.cic.net/Home/Students/FreeApp/Introduction.aspx

Typically, since you did receive credit for the courses taken from university A you have to provide a official transcript even if it shows these courses on university B's transcript. My advisor actually noted the following to me when I told her i was thinking of grad school: The only reason why those courses appear on your transcript is because they had a relative similar course and could give you credit meaning the courses transfered. Also, most schools do want to see transcripts from schools you were given any credit while I have seen just a few that will ask for official transcripts if you took more than a given amount of credits. Hope this helps some.

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Most admission committees don't particularly care about the AW section. Most admission committees will probably look more at your TOEFL, writing sample, etc. to get a better idea how well you can understand the various subject in English.

The testing center I had went to just requested any of the electronics I had stored in the locker were turned off, so you should be okay.

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At most places they supply lockers for stuff you bring with you to the testing facility (cell phone, keys, etc.). You can simply store your food or if a locker isn't provided the testing administrator will be able to keep an eye on your stuff. Most places do have a small waiting room but they may have you go outside and then come back in.

So true, this why when I can find a deal on them I almost always buy them. Trying making pesto with them instead of pine nuts or walnuts and you will be amazed, or you can simply use them as an ice cream topping. Yum.

Actually you can set up Google Voice to receive calls as well for free, for the time being. If you have gmail just go to more tab and then go to even more and you will find it on that page. I actually used Google voice for my primary phone for a over a year until I finally got a cell. The problem with Google voice is that when you pick a number from their list sometimes a given area code only has so many cities to select from. I actually used Google voice for people to call me when I was living in Europe. The only thing about Google voice that does kind of suck is you must have your Gmail open and you have to have audio and microphones hooked up all the time.

Kroger's actually has a few that I like. Just the other day I tried chocolate hazelnut mascarpone an fell in love. My only complaint is when Kroger's relaunched their premium ice cream line is that they got rid of a few really good flavors.

Also, I will just add Google has noted that they may soon start charging for their voice (phone) feature. I used to use it when I was living in Europe to call people in the US if they weren't available via skype. Also, there is the option of other VOIP phones such as Magicjack if you have internet access.

Really before I had my cell phone I either just used skype or google voice, so really there are free or really low costs options. As far as the phone I have, it is an android, one of my friends has a iPhone and we both have prepay. Their plan is slightly more and their phone cost twice as much upfront but I will always advise if you are smart you can easily cut your phone bill in at least half if you go with a prepaid plan.

I actually just recently got a cell phone, a smart phone so I don't feel like I am out of the loop, but I definitely can tell you it is possible to live without a cell phone. I actually am on a prepaid plan, no contract, don't have to worry about reconnection fees if I don't use it for a long time, etc. and I can tell you I like having it on stand by just in case. Truthfully, with prepaid plans being more affordable nowadays I would say ditch the landline and strictly get a cellphone you probably will save some, I know I have.

That should give you a good amount of study material, and you will definitely be able to get a feel for the type of questions being asked during the test. Is it too much? I think this depends. Are you a good test taker, what type of programs are you aiming for, what do you need to score for given programs, etc.? Really, I think you should score pretty well if you are reviewing that much material for the test. Also, as far as study material I think some of us would probably note certain books do a better job reviewing one section than the other.

The first question I think you would get a better answer from a person who has taken both the old and revised gre. Really I don't think you really notice a huge change in the questions where they simply get easier or harder though. I typically tried to do the verbal questions in a particular order, for instance I did the reading comprehension first followed by the other type of questions. typically this helped me complete these sections with time to check answers even if they were wrong and I thought they were right, LOL. As far as the math, I just simply did question by question because math is more my forte. I definitely had enough time to check all the questions. I think of all the questions on the test, the hardest ones are the select a variety of answer questions. Some of the questions will list 3 answers you may think the answer would be but you can only select two or simply get the question wrong. I think the problem ETS is having with various people questioning the legitimacy and accuracy of the test is often based on these questions, even if there are not that many on the test. Also, just be aware you may get a research section on the test and don't simply figure since it's the last section it is not scored, because you could easily be wrong. The only recommendation I think a lot of us can give you about taking the test is to budget your time. If you are stuck on a question, skip it and come back to it. If you end up skipping half the questions then obviously it's going to be more difficult if you go into the test thinking you will do well you may be surprised that you are hardly skipping questions and then coming back to them.

Well first off you want to consider, the subject you put for the email. For some things they may end up just deleting it. Truthfully though, given fall semester just started and some schools that are on the quarter system may have not even begun you have to expect it will take at least a few days. I actually wrote to a few departments just asking questions on the department as a whole and for some places it was over a week until I heard back, but when I did the message was very thorough.

I would suggest you to look at schools with EU Study centers or schools relatively strong in Western European/Scandinavian languages and you will probably be able to find some strong Europeanists at these schools with your interests. Here's a link to the website of EU centers of excellence: http://euce.org I will note there are a good amount of EU enters throughout the US that probably have scholars you may be interested in as well. Given you are going to be in the field of comparative politics, I think typically you want to aim at POI more on thematic guidelines because area expertise often limits your career prospects more. You will probably have to settle on some things but you should never simply just give up a topic you have a lot of passion for. Hopefully one of the more senior members on the forum can comment on your post.

It has begun. Cheers to all of us who will be dealing with a few long and stressful upcoming months.

You would be surprised to learn that the academic world is quite small and some professors at one school may know a former classmate who teaches at one of these schools listed, where you aren't really applying. Most the time people will just consider okay they decided not to apply or they didn't finish the app but my question is this even considered ethical in your eyes. To me that strategy is dishonest and I would just advise you not to list the schools that you don't want to.

For all the people that like Americone dream, Breyers has a similar type flavor Waffle cone with Hersheys chips. Truthfully, I think its has a little more chocolate that's about it. On the plus side, you can get it in the 1.5 quart size and I see it on sale all the time.