Pitangus

I was told casual for my visit to MSU, so I'll probably wear either non-jean pants or just non-blue denim and some nice dark-colored sweaters. My POI specifically mentioned boots and warm weather clothes, so for shoes then I'd wear my cold-weather boots (not the giant rubber snow stomper kind - more like some of the more stylish Bare Traps boots, if you're familiar with the brand). They are warm, comfortable, and easy to whip on and off in the airport, which is important to me because I hate holding up the line at the security check. =P I'll probably bring a pair of dressier slacks and shoes in case, but I don't intend on wearing them unless I see everyone else in full-out business gear. But I'm in ecology, which from what I've seen is less "businessy" in dress than other fields, even within the biosciences.

Based on the context I assumed AA meant Affirmative Action.

Woo, that's great B2B! Good luck with your visits.

I hear you. I had to send a separate transcript for ONE! transfer course I took at another school, even though the credits are listed on my main transcript and I was never a full time student at the second school because I was still taking the rest of my courseload for that semester at my college. But I know it's because the grade wasn't listed for the transfer course. For me the most annoying part was that transcripts from my college are free, but of course I had to pay to get transcripts for this one course at the other school. Ah well.

Although I didn't think to mention it before, this was huge for me. Honestly, I would not have even considered graduate school if full funding (tuition waiver + stipend) was not both common and expected in my field.

Oh yes, this. My choice of undergrad was very disadvantageous for what I want to do now. But at the time I didn't know anything about graduate school or research in my areas of interest. I thought graduate education just meant taking classes at night after work so you could be paid more money at your job (though of course plenty of people actually do this). I thought I was going to become a park manager because that was the only career I could think of that would allow me to sort of do what I now plan to do in graduate school (and hopefully beyond). I know I'm privileged in the sense that I come from a very hard-working and supportive family. I consider my only disadvantage to be a lack of resources and knowledge that would have helped me find, and start working towards, my desired career path sooner.

Apologies for the double post, but again to felicidad: did you end up seeing the letter from the 11th grade teacher when you decided not to apply to Harvard? Or did you not have it? It would be interesting to know if said teacher was indeed using the same dull letter for everyone. Apologies also for the typos in my previous post...

That makes me sad - just the idea of someone writing a short and unenthusiastic letters for all of his students, especially for high school students who likely do not have the insight yet to ask for "strong letters" and not just letters. If a teacher has nothing nice to say about a student then he should decline to write the letter, unless the student insists, in which it's reasonable to suggest the letter won't be strong. If a teacher is honestly just clueless about how to write an appropriate letter nowadays, then he needs to get with the program and hopefully someone will point this out to him, especially since he has no doubt benefited at some point from good letters written on his behalf. (Note I say "he" just in keeping with felicidad's story)

Oh man, my family loves the Outback. We get our cakes from Dairy Queen though. =P I just hope I'm not messing everything up while applying to graduate school. I'll admit I did a poor job selecting and applying to undergrad schools. My dad picked up the US News Best Colleges thing and I pretty much just went through and picked some nearby schools where my GPA and SAT scores matched or slightly exceeded their averages. Neither of my parents went through the normal college process (though my mom worked several jobs and took night classes to eventually get her B.S.), so they didn't know any other way to guide me. I ended up going to the school that offered me the most financial aid, which turned out to be a good fit in that aspect, but not a good fit in almost every other. Oh well. I think I'm a little more informed this time around, though my family and friends have no idea and are assuming I know what I am doing. I forced myself to start networking at the end of my junior year, and after taking a year off to build more connections & get more experience, I think I am in a good place. For me at least. We'll see...

I applied to three programs and for awhile considered only applying to one. I think you could be ok provided your "fit" goes beyond just having matching research interests with your potential advisor(s); that is, you have visited the school / program (which it seems you have), have a potential advisor supporting your application (not just one who told you they will be looking for new students), and ideally have gotten to know some of the graduate students as well. Other connections with the program, either through previous research/work experience or LOR writers, may also be helpful. Finally, to be blunt, you need to be honest with yourself both about the strength of your application and the competitiveness of the program. For example, I wouldn't have applied to just Princeton EEB, no matter how good the fit or how amazing my application. The program is just too small and the school too prestigious to be confident about admissions. I'm also assuming the school you've picked provides good financial support, since stipend often plays a role in the decision-making process for people with multiple acceptances. In the end, you only need one, so I personally don't think it's a mistake to pursue one program if you are able to cultivate a relationship with the program beforehand and honestly don't want to go anywhere else. Good luck!

I don't know if it's true or not, but I've heard of things like public urination / indecent exposure getting people put on the sex offender's registry, even if the intent was (supposedly) not exposure e.g. a jogger ducking behind tree in a park to relieve himself. I think it depends on how many people witness the event and whether children are present. Apologies for the unpleasant conversation regarding a (sort of) old question, I just think it's an interesting case!

Law schools have a conversion system for GPAs, I believe. I don't know about graduate programs, though UC Berkeley asked for both my GPA and what it was out of. I'd imagine one of the reasons programs ask for full transcripts is to determine what a GPA really means; that is, did a student's high GPA come from getting mostly As and a few A-s or a B+, or did a student get a B- or lower in a major course and make up for it with A+s. But I agree with mechengr2000 that grades do not matter that much (of course they do matter enough that a 4.0 GPA is preferable to one hovering around 3.0 in most cases). But again, if it comes down to someone with a 4.0 (out of whatever) and someone with a 3.8 or 3.9, the decision will most likely not be made based on GPA.

For me, only UC Berkeley has an online status thing, and they updated it with my GRE scores very quickly (I think because Berkeley receives score reports electronically). Everything else (transcripts, LORs) were uploaded directly into the application. It was a very smooth process. My other two schools have no status checker and did not let me know whether my application was complete. One of them "welcomed questions about applications," so I emailed a few weeks ago to check if I was complete and didn't get a response. So I just left it alone. I have an interview invite from one of these schools though, so I'm going to assume they both got my stuff. =P

Ah, yes I edited my post before seeing yours; I initially forgot about A+s since I've never come across them personally. My mistake.

I highly doubt that would ever happen: if it came down to two people as you described, then the decision would be made due to some difference in research experience (it's pretty much impossible for two people to have the exact same experience unless they somehow did everything together) and not the 4.0. Besides, I don't know how it would even be possible to go from a <4.0 cumulative GPA to a 4.0, unless you round up or go to a school where A+=4.3, but in that case a 4.0/4.3 isn't the same as a 4.0/4.0. Again not that it will make much of a difference in admissions. I graduated with a 3.99; that's the number on my transcript and that's what I use when I self-report my GPA. I've never come across an application where I was forced to use one decimal place.

Several even! They have seperate threads for emails, conversations, sentences (similar to this thread), misspelled words... The email one is indeed massive. I had fun sifting through them throughout undergrad though: some of the stories are outrageous, and I liked the firsthand information regarding what professors find annoying in emails etc.

(And now the thread is ruined)

@alexhll6 as well: I think the subject test is only "vital" if it's required by a program because you don't want to risk having the adcomm immediately toss your app for not providing all required materials. I took the Bio GRE because it is "strongly recommended" for one program. Also I did not attend a well-known undergrad school, so I included the Bio score for all three programs as additional proof of my preparation (95% overall, 98% eco/ev/pop section). Obviously it won't hurt to send if you take it and are happy with your score, but if you aren't confident you'd do well and/or it's not required by any program, then it's not worth the money. As you can see from other posts here, it doesn't seem to make or break an application.

Haha. None of my schools required it but I sent it anyways (one "strongly recommended" it). I spent good money: they will read it and they will LIKE IT. *shakes fist* ...or they will just ignore it completely

GRADCAFE Y U NO WORK ლ(ಠ益ಠლ (Sorry for the meme-speak, but I can't help but use that emoticon when I can) Usually I just assume my laptop has gone lazy, but I guess it's good to know I wasn't the only one locked out. I gave up and returned to plowing through junk novels and abusing Amazon's 7-day ebook return policy.

Thanks Eigen; that's what I figure (and of course I don't think my Q score is horrible or anything)... I just think it's an interesting "what if" situation: what if a science student does well in science measures (major GPA, science subject test) but somehow doesn't do as well in another measure that is supposedly easy for many students, especially science students (GRE Quant). It seems like it could look a little strange to some people. I don't know if the situation would be the same in the humanities though, since from what I've read on these boards the verbal GRE is important, but I've never heard someone say, "Anyone who passed 9th grade English should be able to score high on the (old) GRE verbal."

I heard that this was the point of taking, and scoring well on, the subject GRE. This may not be applicable to history, for I bring this up as a Bio major from a pretty good but unknown SLAC with a high GPA (3.99) and Bio GRE (95%), but a sort of strange general GRE (99% V, 72% Q). I just wonder then if my lower Q score might raise suspicion about my GPA as a science student, and if my subject score would in turn counteract some of that suspicion.

I think that Zitro6 meant that getting an acceptance already has given her the confidence boost needed to apply to JHU, not that she wants to apply to JHU for a confidence boost. But either way, if a school "requires" (not just "recommends") a subject test, then it will probably use the test as a weed-out measure; that is, the adcomm can immediately toss applications that don't meet the application requirements. Note that I say "can" and not "will," since I'm sure, as with anything else, that this varies by program. I think it's a reasonable prediction though, since I'd imagine adcomms would be eager to whittle down the applicant pool as easily as they can.

I was just a lowly English minor in undergrad, so I don't pretend to be a grammar/writing expert. I do have a few peeves though: - Confusing "affect" / "effect" - Using "impacted" to mean "affected" (the debate continues regarding this one I guess, but somehow I still cringe whenever a news reporter talks about how a person has "been impacted") - "Grammer" (especially when discussing/criticizing someone's grammar)

Albert Einstein: Jan 12-13, Jan 26-27 Boston University (GPN): Mar 4-6 Case Western Reserve University (BSTP): Feb 3-4, Mar 2-3 Columbia (Integrated CMB): Jan 20-22 Columbia (Neurobiology & Behavior): Feb 8-10, Feb 29-Mar2 Columbia (Pathobiology & Molecular Medicine): Feb 3-5 Cornell (Weill): February Dartmouth (PEMM) March 2-3 Emory (IMP): Feb 2-4, March 1-3 Emory University (neuro? Feb 9-11 or Feb 23-25 Harvard (BBS): Jan 26-29 and Feb 9-12 Harvard (neuro? Jan 19-22 Harvard (BPH): Jan 26-27 Indiana University - Bloomington (Biology): Feb. 16-19 MIT (Biology): Feb 11-14, Feb. 25-28, Mar 10-13 Mount Sinai (Biomedical Sciences PhD): Jan 9-10, Jan 17-18 or Jan 24-25 MSU: Jan 5-8 MSU (Zoology): Feb 2-3 Northwestern (IBiS): Feb 13-14 or Feb 27-18 Northwestern (Neuro: NUIN): Jan 19-20, Feb 2-3, Feb 23-24 NYU Sackler: Jan 19-20, Jan 26-27, Feb 9-10 Ohio State University (IBGP): Feb. 9-11 Ohio State University (Neuro): Jan 18-20 OHSU (neuro) feb 5th- 7th Princeton (neuro? Feb 16-18 Rockefeller: March 1-2 and 8-9 Scripps Research Institute-CA campus: Feb 24-25, Mar 2-3 Sloan Kettering: 1/17-1/19 Stanford (SCBRM) feb 29th - mar 3rd Stanford (Biology) feb 29th - mar 3rd Thomas Jefferson (neuro? Jan 26-27 Tufts-Sackler (Integrated Studies): Jan 27 Tufts-Sackler (Genetics and ISP) Feb 10th Tufts-Sackler (Molecular Microbiology) Feb 2-3 Tufts-Sackler (Neuroscience) Feb 17th UAB (BMS): Jan 19-21 University of Chicago (BSG): Feb 23-25 University of Chicago (Molecular Biosciences? Feb 16-18 UC Berkeley (MCB): Feb 5-7, Feb 26-28 UC Berkeley (MBN): Jan 26-27 UC Davis (GGG): Feb 16-17 UC Irvine (CMB):Jan 26-28,Feb 2-4 UCLA ACCESS: Jan 28-30, Feb 11-13, Feb 25-27 UCLA ACCESS (Molecular and Medical Pharmacology): Dec 22 UC San Diego (Biomedical Sciences): Feb 9-12 UCSD Biological Sciences: Feb 1-2, Feb 22-23 UCSF BMS: Jan 26-28 OR February 9-11 UCSF Tetrad: Feb 2-3 OR Feb 24-25 UChicago (neuro? Feb 10 or Feb 13 (but travel times drag it out several days before and/or after) U Colorado - Denver (BSP): Feb 2-5, Feb 9-12 U Iowa (Micro): Feb 23-26 U Iowa (Neuro) - Jan 26-28 UMASS Worcester: Feb 2-4 and Feb 16-18 U Maryland - Baltimore - Feb 3 UMich (PIBS): Jan 27-28 (Cancer Bio), Feb 3-4 (general) U Minnesota (MICaB): Feb 9-12 or 16-19 UNC Chapel Hill (BBSP): Feb 2-4, Jan 26-28, Feb 9-11, Feb 23-25 UPenn (Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics): Jan 19-21, Feb 9-11 UPenn (CAMB): Jan 12-14 UPenn (neuro): Jan 20, Feb 10 UPitt (IBGP): Jan 20-22 URochester (BMB): Feb 3-4, March 2-3 UT Austin (CMB): Jan 26-28, Feb 16-18 UVa (BIMS): Jan 12-14 or Feb 2-4 UW-Seattle (Biology): Jan 13 or Jan 20 UW-Seattle (MCB): Jan 25-27,Feb 8-10 UW-Seattle (GS): Feb12-14, Feb 26-28 UW-Seattle (Neuro): Jan 24-25 U Wisconsin - Madison (Biophysics): Mar 1-3 U Wisconsin - Madison (CMP) : Feb 27th, March 5th Vanderbilt (IGP): Jan 12-14 Washington University in St. Louis (DBBS-MCB): March 1-3 WashU (neuro? Jan 27-28, Feb 3-4 Yale (B.B.S.): Feb 2-5, Feb 9-12