Hanyuye

Thanks. They did give me a student ID which is good. It's just people reporting to get in with GPAs .3 below their average and the sheer number of accepted students who posted in the results survey has me worried. Also the accepted person who wrote "ad = rej" in the notes seemed like something fishy. I guess I'll call in the morning to make sure but your post will help me sleep tonight at least .

are you people kidding me?

OP is interested in stochastic processes.

DAVID POLLARD.

end of story.

go.

Many, if not most, posts on these forums are from people looking for advice -- and people look for advice when they're miserable, not when everything's going right. Everyone has low points from time to time, and that's probably when they're most active (look at the explosion of neuroses during the height of application season, myself included). So I would take the forums with a grain of salt when asking whether they reflect the average grad student.

As I shared in another forum, I come from old New England farm families on both sides. My mom was a first generation college student, and my dad's sis was a first generation college student in his family. I'm a first generation graduate student. Most of my family is really happy for me and proud of me. There are definitely a few who just don't get it.

I don't feel at a disadvantage. I've cultivated my own professional and networking skills. A lot of my professors (undergrad and grad alike) did not come from wealthy families and worked hard to get where they are at, as I am working hard basically to get where they are at.

Like others who have visited this thread, I'm thankful to have come across it. I'm a first generation grad student-to-be. I've been accepted to a MS program starting this fall. My divorced parents completed their undergrad in another country. Mom moved my sisters and I to the US on her own. We actually came on tourist visas and roughed it out. Because mom doesn't have highly sought after skills of an engineer or the like, she took on multiple minimum wage jobs. Money was definitely always an issue but mom always made sure that we had a stable home life, even when she worked 12-14 hour-days.

I started working at age 13 and have always had a job since then. It took my sisters and I a couple of extra years to complete our ug degree while working full-time, but it was worth it. One sister is already in grad school, and another will be applying in a couple of years. Hard work is something our mother instilled in us from a young age, and for that I'm thankful. We all got to where we are today because of it. Not bad for tourists who overstayed their visas.

I love this thread! Growing up on the lower end of working class definitely gives you the ability to identify 'necessities,' a trait I find lacking in most students, which in turn helps you realize that you can live off of that "$1500 stipend." I'm thinking, that's what my dad made at his best job working 8 hours a day, five to six days a week! lol

In my personal statement for the Fulbright ETA application I wrote about my experience teaching in rural Thailand, and my language skills in Vietnamese. I also wrote about my high interest in learning Vietnamese music and the ancient Chinese based writing system.

I feel like a more American dominant panel would want to see results, which, hopefully, my years of volunteer teaching/tutoring will come into play. If it's more Vietnamese, then they might want to see more of a cultural aspect, which my interest in the arts and language will benefit me. Whatever it is they're looking for, I just hope that luck will sway towards me so that I can come back to the place I was born and create an impact as a Vietnamese American!

Mathematicsgre.com is a far better "source" for doctoral programs in Math.

I had a slightly lower score than this. Out of the applied math programs that I applied to, I got into Maryland (AMSC), UCSD (Math), Stony Brook (AMS), CU Boulder (Applied Math) and waitlisted at Washington (Applied Math). I also got into an excellent CS program and an excellent computational science program.

I love this thread as much as I do graduate school. I'm sure I will be harassed for saying this, but I think the life of a full-time graduate student is much easier than working a real job. I will substantiate my life before graduate school and what I love about it currently. I was pretty normal, I went to college right out of high school and graduated in 4 years. Then I went on to get my Master's in International Affairs, full-time student, straight out of undergrad. Next, I joined Teach for America, while completing my 2 year commitment, I was also working on my Master's in Teaching and my state credentials. That' was pretty difficult, considering I worked at an extended day school, with students in school from 7:30-5. I taught for 2 more years, and then I began my PhD program full-time (my first year of PhD I was a part-time student, while teaching full-time). Of all my grown-up experience, post-college, my time in the Master's in International Affairs and my PhD studies have been the easiest. That's not to say I don't work hard, but my lifestyle and the organization of my life is much easier.

I love having control of my time! It's nice that I can make time to run or see a movie. This perk was reaffirmed when I did a fellowship last summer for my state's higher education department. I was in an office (with no window) 40 hours a week! Yuck. Shackled to the desk. Boo.

I love the opportunities for collaboration and exchange of ideas. My advisor and I are teaching a class together, I am the instructor for an undergraduate course in teaching writing and she is the professor for a similar graduate level course. We are teaching them together as a single class, with AMAZING projects. So much fun. I work with friends and share ideas. It's been especially rewarding because my program as quite a few Native American students who are brilliant, but a couple are non-native speakers. Helping a friend with their paper (grammar and mechanics) is so rewarding and creates a great sense of community.

I love reading from 9am to 11pm and truly enjoying what I am reading about.

I love riding my bike to campus, and taking my part to reduce my carbon footprint.

I love teaching my amazing undergrads, who are future teachers and will further impact the schools in our community.

Those are just a few of the things I love about graduate school. I am so thankful that I have a supportive husband who was okay with me halving my income in order to be a full-time student again. Having the time to truly think and process big ideas is not something everyone has the opportunity to do.

I love the freedom of my program--there are only four required courses for my MA; the rest are electives. Plus, the courses that I teach are left more or less to my discretion. I have to follow certain guidelines, but again, there's a fair bit of freedom. There are some definite downers to this program, but I can live with them. And Michigan has seasons, unlike Texas!

... i've got nothing.

well, getting to do archival work has been great. but my pre-grad school job also had me doing highly rewarding research. the only difference is, now i'm getting to choose my project rather than being asked to execute someone else's vision. that's actually a really nice change and a big positive for me.

so yeah, there's that. picking my own project. that's been good. and that's pretty much it. my life was pretty awesome before i came here and it's been pretty not-as-awesome since i've been here. i just hope that once i make it through comps, i can focus on my research and remind myself of why i decided to do this in the first place. only three more semesters...

I love my supervisor. He's a perfect match for my working style, and with him as my supervisor I'm producing better work on a better timeline than I ever have before.
I love my committee members. They are super smart, super supportive, and just interesting human beings.
I love, love, LOVE conferences--flying to interesting cities to listen to other people geek out about my little corner of the humanities? Heaven!
I love my library, and my grad student borrowing privileges.
I love the material that I work on, and am very grateful to have all this time to spend with *my* authors.
I love teaching. I love commanding a room. I love passing on the texts and ideas that changed my life when I was young.
I love first year students. I love their curiosity, and their ability to improve. I love that they still seem to think I'm some kind of authority figure.

I've been through some very dark patches, and considered dropping out. But I kept my head down and worked my ass off, and came through all the funks in better shape than before. There are things that I don't love (grad student drama, battling egos, endless bitching) but the love column wins easily.

There's no way one other grad student would significantly change the dynamic or the amount of time you would spend with your professor. I think you are a bit crazy, and I don't think there's anyway to communicate this to your PI without sounding immature. In fact you should support your PI in growing his lab and research group. Having other students can be really helpful to you too, somebody to bounce ideas off of.

So I'm trying to decide between Yale and Columbia for an MS in Biostats. For Columbia, it is through their school of public health, while Yale's is through the graduate school of arts and sciences. I think that Columbia is supposed to have a higher ranking? Or does it not matter for just a master's?

Please give me some advice! Thanks!!

well ... that is encouraging ... ... let's see how many turn up here and eventually manage to get there

I applied to Caltech EE. We are at least two people . I haven't heard back yet.

There was a topic for accepting, so there should be one for declining as well

Hi All,

I'm thrilled to hear from both good schools (I applied for MA programs) and it's time to decide where to study. I'm really having a hard time choosing the best option for me. I know there are quite numbers of IED/IEP applicants in this forum so hopefully some of you can give me advice...!

The thing is I'm considering pursuing a ph.D and both programs are yearlong which can be fairly short. In addition, my background is not education and I've never taken ED courses during my undergraduate years...Anyways, for Harvard, to be honest, everyone's It-is-HARVARD responses give me a pressure but at the same time it has interesting courses I'd like to learn, professors I'd like to work with, and a great name value, etc.

Upenn is also a very good program and it offers me with a scholarship+RA. Some of my friends told me to go Upenn because not many master's students can have a RA opportunity which is important especially when I'm considering a ph.D.

Both has good programs, good names, and are very friendly. If money is not my top concern, where would be the best place for me to study?

Thank you for your help and time in advance.

Here's the deal with Real Analysis:

Most good programs require you to take at least one semester of real analysis at the advanced undergraduate/lower graduate level. So, programs would like to know that you will not fall on your face in this class. The best way to show this is to have succeeded in a course covering at least some of the material (eg. a typical undergraduate real analysis/advanced calculus class). Not having such a class before applying isn't fatal to your chances, but you will have to demonstrate this capability in other ways (stellar grades in other math classes, good overall GPA, high GRE Q score, strong letters saying that you're a smart person, etc.)

Native Tucsonan checking in - I went to the other side of the country for my undergrad, so I'm speaking as a townie rather than as a college student.

Some answers and highlights:
- Someone asked about the political climate: Tucson in my experience is pretty middle-of-the-road, definitely more liberal than most of AZ. Our county trends blue in national elections and our Republican mayor published a letter during the last election arguing against banning gay marriage. That says a lot, I think.
- The influence from Mexico: We have some of the best Mexican food in the country, for one. I can't eat "Mexican food" in the northeast because I'm so spoiled. Personally I really like that we have more cultural diversity than a lot of places, but I'd say it's still quite American. Just southwest-y. As someone previously mentioned, we have Rodeo weekend, which is very distinctly Tucsonan (the public schools get vacation days for it and everything).
- More about the weather: Has anyone mentioned the monsoon yet? My favorite season, with big thunderstorms rolling in at night to break the summer heat. Happens late July-August. In general, yes it is hot, but for most of the year it's just plain nice and sunny. Carry a water bottle and you'll be fine.
- Transportation: I agree it'd be difficult to really get around without a car. Traffic's also gotten a lot more worse than it was when I was little. That said we do have one of the best bus systems around, especially for a sprawling western city. Main shopping areas (malls, Targets, supermarkets, etc) are all located on high-frequency bus routes, so you could do it if you had to. There's a Walgreens pharmacy on practically every corner. Tucson is also great for biking, especially given the weather. Bike lanes are plentiful and generally people seem a bit more respectful of bike riders than in other cities I've seen, particularly in the UA area where there are hordes of them. The UA campus itself is dominated by bike riders and pedestrians.
- The people and culture: It's so laid back here; it's not that we're lazy, we're just easygoing. After spending 4 years living in the northeast and visiting the various big cities out there, I much prefer the friendlier, calmer west coast style. People are just less pushy, it seems. Generally there's more to do here than people sometimes think; we have a lot of museums, including some unusual ones like the Desert Museum, the DeGrazia Gallery, and the Pima Air and Space Museum. Lots of good restaurants, far more to the music scene than just country/western. There are a few big street fairs a year in the downtown area, where you find the kooky alternative shops and boutiques. If you're outdoorsy there's great hiking and camping year-round, and you can always drive up the mountains (an hour's drive, maybe) and suddenly you're in a deciduous pine forest that gets snow and everything. Big change from all the cacti. If you come here be sure to drive to the top of Mt. Lemmon, there's a hamlet up there called Summerhaven that has the best little pie shop ever.

Wow, I sound like I was hired by the city gov't to do PR. I've just really come to appreciate how nice a place it is, I guess. One more thing: gorgeous sunsets. Ok, I'm done.

I have an MA from a UK institute (Russell group) and have been accepted into all programs applied to.... Englands education system isn't awful...

Thus far I have been accepted into UNC's MS program in Biostatistics.

I have a BS in Mathematics and Computer Science from Duke, and my undergrad GPA was 3.66. My relevant grades were as follows:

Calc I: A
Calc II: A
Calc III: A
Linear Algebra: A
Probability: A
Statistics: A-
Intro Real Analysis: A

Since I worked for many years after graduation, I took one undergraduate and two graduate level statistics courses at NCSU for review and to boost my application. I received two A+'s and an A.

GRE: 168/164/4.0

Also, the biostatistics program at UNC is part of their school of public health, so I believe it may have helped my application that I have been an active volunteer and supporter of local community health initiatives.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

I think this is a pretty oversimplified idea of how rankings work...

First off, rankings are an extremely imprecise science. There is no real way to quantify and compare the quality of an academic department. Yes, you can make rough approximations based on a few variables, but no variables are universally agreed upon as markers of quality, and there's definitely no way to decide which variables are the most important, and on and on and on. On top of that, official rankings tend to lag behind widespread perceptions of a program by a few years. And on top of that, the overall ranking of a program may not be the same as a specialty within the department. In other words, a department may be strong overall, but weak in a particular subfield, or weak overall, but exceptionally strong in a particular subfield. In the vast majority of fields, you're really not going to see a huge difference between schools in the top five, and probably ten, when it comes to perceived or actual quality.

It's also a pretty inaccurate portrayal of how admissions decisions get made. Being ranked more highly does not necessarily mean that school is more likely to reject you for many, many reasons. First off, as has been mentioned several times on this thread already, fit for a program is extremely important. You are more likely to get into a highly ranked program if your background, goals, and interests fit the program perfectly than you are to get into a lower ranked program where you're ill-matched. And there are just so many other factors at work: the size of the program and the cohort they admit; networks between your LORs and the profs at your prospective schools; random fluctuations of fate.

Basically, it just doesn't work like that.

Harvard is ranked #2 in my program, and Columbia is #5. Penn is #9 I think.. Columbia wrote back to me regarding my rejection, but they just sent me the same email they most likely send to anyone else who asks about their rejection...

Oh well. The Columbia rejection was mainly a disappointment because I currently live in NYC and I have been here for five years and don't want to leave... But the last two programs I am waiting to hear back from are NYU and Forhdam, and I don't think I can justify turning Harvard down for either of the latter schools, even though they are in NYC..