kar9291

Any other graduate Baylor Bears out there? For all the first years, how is the transition going? and for more experienced students... any advice? I'm a first year Biology PhD student and planning to move to Waco late July, and I'm already beginning to tell grad school is worlds different than undergrad...

So does anyone have any advice about finding a roommate? (preferably one that's a graduate student, fairly normal.) I know certain universities have roommate matching programs, but I was wondering if anyone knew about any other resources. Any advice about roommate searching would be greatly appreciated!!

Just got a call today from my POI! Finally this process is over!

Thanks for the great advice. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed because of the lack of schedule. I'll be there for two days, one a week day and one a weekend, and I don't want to plan anything because I don't want to be rude if he already is, but then again, I have no idea! I'm not sure what to expect at all.

So I have an interview weekend coming up really soon but it seems really informal. Not at all like what I've been reading about a recruitment weekend. My POI is even picking me up from the airport and taking me to dinner. He said that the weekend will be full of chatting, etc, but didn't provide too many details. Luckily my POI and a professor I've worked with extensively know each other very well, so I think that may be working in my favor, but I'm just really unsure about how to approach this whole thing since it is so informal... but at the same time the school is paying for everything. I've talked with some of his grad students and after hearing all their positive reviews and doing some investigating myself, this is definitely my top choice. Any general and/or specific interview advice would be SO helpful!

@Starmaker.... idk if I completely agree with the leadership comment, because if you learned something out of it that proves relevant to a research situation, then it could prove worthy on an application. A personal example, I was a RA in my dorm for 3 years and it taught me immensely about communication, working on a team, and conflict management: all extremely valuable qualities in an applicant for a job or grad school. I've worked on a staff of 13 people for the past three years, so I would have to say I would know a little more about working toward a common goal/delegation/communication than an applicant who answers "Well I worked on this group project once..." to their experience about working on a team. Just saying, if you could use that leadership experience and show what you learned from it to prove to be relevant to the situation, it could prove beneficial.

So I recently took the new GRE Test and here are my scores. I'm ok with my verbal and analytical, but my quant seems to be sagging a bit. I'm a marine bio major and am applying to 15 masters/PhD programs. Here's my stats: GPA: 3.651 GRE: A: 4.5 (72%) V: 155 (69%) Q: 148 (44%) I've got a good amount of research experience, I did an independent study with a professor last semester, and I'm doing an departmental Honors project study with the same professor over the next semester (which means I'll graduate with Departmental Honors). And I also was awarded a Research Experience for Undergraduates internship through the National Science Foundation over the summer and worked very closely with a professor who's done a lot in my field, and knows many of the professors personally that I'm applying to work with. I'm looking into studying marine mammal diving physiology, and I'm extremely familiar with mammalian anatomy since the study I did over the summer required me to have a very large N (hence me dissecting A TON). I've done presentations before, and I'll be presenting at a conference in January, and we're currently trying to get the my research published. I've been very active academically and in extracurriculars and am considered part of the top 1% student leaders on my campus. I've been an RA for 3 years, so I have extensive knowledge on working as a team, conflict and time management, etc. I also have my advanced scuba certification, which might help (?). Is this enough? Realistically, is this good enough to get in? I'm thinking about retaking my GRE to get better scores... any thoughts, suggestions, or comments are definitely appreciated =)