Char123

I've heard that it is best to have a sentence at the end of each research experience describing the broader impacts of that research. The current research project I am working on is funded by a company and in my opinion, is really only beneficial to that company. I don't quite see how I can speak about the impacts of this project on a broader level. Has anyone had that experience? What did you end up doing?

On ETS's Website, they stated that scores are sent 10-15 days after your testing date to the respective universities. I plan on taking the test november 30th, while most and the earliest of my applications are due on the 15th of December. According to the range they gave, November 30th should still be a safe date to take the test. Have you guys had or heard of people having delays in having their scores sent? The reason why I want to take it on the 30th is so that I can have thanksgiving break to relax and clear my mind before going in and taking the test. And I excel under pressure. Since I won't have another opportunity to take the test again, I will have put myself under a lot of pressure and know that I must do well as there won't be another chance.

Thanks for all the replies. I participated in an NSF REU program this summer and there was a week long outreach event that I participated in that reached out to top high school students around the country. I am also getting a letter from my mentor in that program. I am considering reminding him about this outreach event I did so he can mention it in the letter, but I don't know a good way to do this. I feel like I may be a bit condescending if I told a writer "you need to include this and this, blah blah blah." He tends to be a bit forgetful at times so I'm not sure if he'll remember to put that in. As for Habitat for Humanity, it was a very good experience, from a philanthropy point of view. My personal statement, relevant background, and future goals essay is divided into sections(subject to change): 1) Research Experience 2) Graduate School and Future Goals 3) Outreach Events (Maybe?) 4) Summary of intellectual merit and broader impacts (although I will have talked about this with each research experience and outreach event I mention). I'm thinking I can maybe fit in habitat for humanity under outreach events, but it is hard to fit this in from an engineering perspective. From what I've seen, applicant's outreach events seem to be related to their major.

I used to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and accumulated a few hundred hours of volunteering (building houses primarily). This was done during my freshman year of college. I'm not sure if this would be pertinent to my application as this really has nothing to do with engineering and I can't think of a way to incorporate it. Oh and btw, when you mention an experience (research or nonresearch), does it have to be mentioned in one of your letters of recommendation? If not, then how does the trust issue work for this? Are they just supposed to take your word for it? Is it on the honor system? This comes back to my above volunteering experience, which I haven't mentioned to my letter writers.

What I meant was I may not be able to talk much, or at all, about my past broader impacts from a outreach point of view or any other, but I can talk about the broader impacts my past research experience has had. Regarding your example, I do not have any experience I consider to be on that level of impact.

What if I explained the broader impacts of my past 'research' experience or is that not enough?

Hey guys. I'm an aerospace engineering major and will be applying for the GRFP. I am in my senior year of undergraduate studies. I've been reading some past successful essays and many of them seemed to have some kind of tutoring/outreach experience. Unfortunately, I do not have extensive experience in any of this, only minor experiences such as speaking to high school students for a few hours, helping other students occasionally on hw, none of which (IMO) would be beneficial to add in my statement. Will this really hurt me? Also, I am not part of an underrepresented group. My proposed research area has a lot of potential for global outreach however so that would be a boost to the broader impacts area, but I personally have not had much experience with broader impacts outside of the research projects I have done.

Thanks for all the help. I will try to devote as much time as possible. Does the GMAT and GRE have similar RC questions? And my attention span "when I'm not under any pressure such as when studying," is horrible...but I never experience attention span problems when taking tests. I tend to excel under pressure. Studying is hard because I always get distracted as I am not under pressure.

I tried searching for pervasive GRE, but nothing seemed to be relevant to what was suggested? https://www.google.com/search?sugexp=chrome,mod=11&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=pervasive+GRE

I saw the post. The reason why I am considering just reading GRE passages is that I am a bit pressed on time, so I may not have time to read separate articles as well as do RC passages&questions. Wouldn't you be improving your read comprehension just from reading GRE passages? What is the distinct advantage of reading outside material?

Hmm, instead of reading articles from the news or journals, wouldn't it better if I did a ton of reading comprehension questions? That way, I'd be reading a lot of GRE-level material. Or is there too limited of a collection of those RC passages?

Thanks! Do you have any tips on how I should go about reading these materials to best improve my reading comprehension? I am a little time pressed given that school starts tomorrow and I have a bunch of stuff to do. Realistically, I will probably not be able to devote 45 minutes/day 7days/week, although some days I will have more time, other days I won't. I have about 2 months until the test.

Do you have any suggestions on how often I should read an article from a GRE-level publisher? I'm assuming an article/day would be sufficient? Also, do the articles have to be new? I don't have a subscription. I think I can get older ones for free.

So I've read that it is a good idea to invest some time (that is if you have time) reading GRE-level like material such as the NY Times or the Wall Street Journal. Has anyone here had success with this? Are all articles found on http://www.nytimes.com/, particularly the ones on the home page, GRE-level like material? Since I don't have that much time left before I take the test (~2 months ish), I would prefer to read only GRE-level material. In other words, I'm not sure how to classify something as GRE-level from nytimes.com and want to avoid reading lower level material.

lately, I've been seeing a lot of people suggesting using Aristotle's Verbal Grail to prepare for the GRE verbal as it contains a lot of reading comprehension questions and advice. I saw these comments from urch.com, but I am a little skeptical to buy the book (a lot of the people on that site seems to be advertising books to help the makers sell copies or it could just be me thinking too much). Has anyone here used it with success?

a 3.45 for me is like failing because I know I could've gotten a 4.0, which could have potentially relieved some stress for later semesters and allowed some B's in harder topics. I was just too lazy and procrastinated on everything. They were classes where I could've easily, well not easily, but definitely could've gotten A's.

I'm only an incoming sophomore at a 60-70th ranked Mechanical engineering university. I didn't do too well my freshman year with only a 3.45 gpa. My goal is to have a 3.8 by the time I graduate. I didn't do any research my freshman year and only volunteered for habitat for humanity. I will start doing research this year and in the summer. Do prestigious engineering universities only except prestigious students for their summer research opportunities? The summer after my junior year I think I'll try to get an internship instead of research because I have to take some summer courses. Do internships hire full time/ part time? What's more beneficial on an application: research or internships? I'm confident with my quantitative gre score. I'll join a few clubs and continue to volunteer. By the time I graduate I think i'll have 3 years of research experience w/ 1 summer research experience and a summer internship. Are my chances good?

would purdue, umich, georgia tech, university of illiinois be easier to get in than the private schools? I left berkeley out even tho its a public school

For example umich's grad school for ME of acceptanced students only has an avg gpa from 3.2-3.5, the school is ranked in the top 5. Purdue's acceptance of grad students into the ME program's gpa is 3.5. which is lower than schools such as cornell, princeton, carnegie. Is umich and purdue easier to get in than the other schools in the top 10? The test scores are lower too. If so, why?

Title says it all. The reason I'm asking is because I'm majoring in mechanical engineering and the department only has 3 people ranked as professors. I am only an incoming sophomore and I most likely will only research with associate and assistant professors. Is it a setback to not be able to research with a professor? Would it be less competitive for me to get LORs from associate/assistant professors? Perhaps, by the time I graduate they'll obtain a higher rank.

I am only an incoming sophomore, but I would like to find out if these goals are worth of a top 10 mechanical engineering graduate school. I go to colorado state university which is in the 67th percentile rank for ME majors. I was very lazy my freshman year and only managed to get a 3.46 gpa, but I knew all the material and think I could've gotten a 4.0 if i put my time in it. I got a B in differential equations but I plan on retaking that to get an A. My goal is to have a 3.7-3.8gpa, but I will definitely try to get all A's. Very confident with my math skills, so probably a top 90% percentile gre quantitative score. I'm starting to read alot of hard novels from a top 100 book list to increase my comprehension and vocabulary. I would say at least a 550 on the verbal. I plan on getting research experience starting my sophomore year throughout my senior year. Do clubs matter? Is volunteering for something like habitat for humanity beneficial on an application? I'm not sure about internships, but I think if i had to choose between internships and research, I'd choose research. Will those goals provide me a good chance of getting into a top 10 graduate institution? I just want some opinions. Some schools I'm interested in are: UC berkeley, purdue, UT austin, university of illinois, georgia tech, umich. Not really interested in stanford, caltech, MIT, some of those averages are really intimidating.