Hillary Emick

I had an interview in January and didn't hear back anything at all until the first week of March. I wouldn't assume the worst. Hang in there.

I applied there as well in a different department. What I have found is that it such a huge university that the wheels of bureaucracy turn very slowly. Don't lose heart yet.

Is this coming from a professor or someone in department administration?

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.

That is a great book. I just finished Barnheart by Jenna Woginrich. Backyard agriculture is one of my hobbies. I am working on The World According to Monsanto by Marie-Monique Robin, and Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi. The former is depressing and the latter is a strange novel but I kind of like it.

I come from really old school rural New England farm families on both sides, where hard work has traditionally been held up as a value a lot more than higher education. My mom was a first generation college student, and I am a first generation graduate student. There are people in my family who are really proud of me and think it will be cool to have a Dr in the family. I know my grandma would have been very proud. She was a very smart woman who just didn't have these kinds of opportunities in her day and was always very proud of my mom and I for going to college. There are also naysayers in my family circle who poo-poo all over the idea and think I am crazy and/or a bad parent for giving up a salaried professional job and going off to live on the other side of the country on a grad student stipend. Frankly, I could care less. I learned many years to let other people's opinions, particularly the jealous or jaded ones, roll right off of me. There are about a dozen people in this world whose opinions actually matter to me. They all support me 100%.

I don't think they would market such things if it was really socially unacceptable. My mom was so proud when I graduated college that she not only sent out graduation announcements, she took out an ad in the paper. Seriously.

I had a baby a month before I graduated with my undergrad. I didn't find school and being pregnant to be difficult. I did find school and a newborn to be extremely difficult. I took off a few years between undergrad and graduate school to finish having babies so I wouldn't have to juggle that latter part again. If you aren't due until after the semester is over, I don't think it's that difficult to be pregnant and a student. In a job, you take a few weeks off and you go back and things are where they left off more or less. If you miss a few weeks of school, it goes on without you and you have to make all of that up. That was the hard part. I was back in class with a one week old baby and a pillow for those awful plastic chairs. I pulled it off but it was one the most difficult things I've ever done.

A motorcycle. Not an expensive one, but definitely a motorcycle. I had one years ago but gave it up because I wasn't riding it enough to justify the maintenance costs. We only get about 4 months of motorcycle weather up here in Vermont, and that's if it doesn't rain the whole time. So now that I am moving to Arizona where it is always sunny, I am going to make the most of that. And I can additionally justify this to myself based on what it will save me in commuting costs.

Do your research on property management companies in the area. Get in touch with one or more good ones. Let them know what kind of living situations you are looking for. Fill out their application and let them help you line up good housing from afar. Checking with current grad students about the area and the neighborhoods is a good idea, too.

I spent seven years in the professional world after getting my BS and I'm now going back for my PhD. It was actually an asset to my application to have professional experience. Getting LOR's after the time away from school wasn't a problem for me, nor do I think it would be if you were a memorable student. I also stayed in touch with some of my undergrad professors over the years and they were happy to provide LOR's.

I have a similar background. I got my undergrad degree from a tiny state college. I had strong LOR's from my undergrad professors, who are great professors but none of them are involved in research in the field I am entering or have a lot of publications or big research grants/projects. I still got a very good offer from a well ranked school. I think in a case like ours there may be a little more weight to the GRE scores as an indicator of how you stack up against a larger pool of college grads. I also have several years of professional experience in a somewhat related field, and my LOR from my employer and my professional experience were very helpful. You may want to apply to some master's programs to cover all your bases, but a spot in a PhD program isn't necessarily out of your reach. I think it helps to focus on cultivating a relationship with POI's whose work you are genuinely interested in.

I would strongly recommend that you do contact more than one POI. If more than one professor wants you there, your chances are very good.

There was a lot of stress in my life this winter because I only applied to 2 schools, and the one I thought was a sure thing fell apart when the professor who wanted me in her lab decided to leave the university. So I was mired in anxiety and self-doubt for weeks while I was waiting to hear back from the other school. It all worked out for the best in the end (I got a good offer from the school I really wanted to go to, and I think I appreciate it even more now than I would have otherwise) but I could have saved myself a lot of stress if I'd done a better job giving myself options. My 2 cents from this experience: Cast a pretty large net. This is an extremely competitive process and you want to give yourself options. Cultivate relationships with more than one professor in the department in which you are applying. The more professors who want you to come to the school, the better your chances are of getting in.

I had an interview in January and was told I would get an admissions letter in 2 weeks or so and a funding offer by mid-March. The admissions letter didn't come until last week. Don't despair yet. The wheels do turn very slowly inside the universities. For us, this is our whole life on the line. For the administration, it's just another stack of papers to process.

I sent a simple email to both my POI and the department chair (who I'd had some exchanges with) at the school I was rejected at asking for some frank feedback on the deficiencies in my application materials so I could develop a more competitive package next year. It didn't seem they thought it was an outrageous request and they were encouraging.

I'd been out of school for 6 years and in my first practice tests did fairly bad on the math sections. I did the Princeton Review's free practice tests, which don't just give you a score but also identify the specific areas where you missed questions. I then used a variety of resources to review those areas and math concepts and raised my score to an acceptable one (80th percentile).

I also applied. Has anyone heard anything? The website said that people would be notified in May, but I am also curious if there is a second round of materials or interviews for finalists and when that process might occur.

I think you can address this in your SOP. Do not write this in a way that frames this as a reason for bad grades, frame this in a way that shows how you have overcome adversity to be successful academically. Make it a description of an asset not a deficit.

One of the schools I applied to specifically requested a two-part SOP consisting of a personal statement and a statement of research interests and goals. I liked this format and used it for my other SOP's as well. I sent this out to my recommenders both for their review and to inform their LOR's. I got some very helpful feedback and improved it quite a bit from the first draft. I did not detail awards or scholarships I've received. That was a part of my CV rather than my SOP. Part One - Personal Statement Introduction: why I am applying to this particular program Summary of undergrad & professional experience (also addressed not-so-great GRE analytic score) Personal history and motivation, professional goals Part Two - Research Interests and Goals Broad areas of interest within program (also identified faculty I wished to work with) Specific area of interest and tentative dissertation topic Potential applications for described research and future research I may wish to undertake

I agree ^^^^ Once you are no longer employed, you can have your FAFSA amended based on your new earnings or lack thereof.

I don't think it would be extremely rude to rescind your acceptance if the funding doesn't work out. I think that would be reasonable and understandable.

I'm baking pie, of course. I have about 6 cups of frozen pureed pumpkin left from my farm share this summer and might as well use it before it gets frost bitten.

My scores were similar. The writing score isn't great, but it's not that bad either. I addressed it in my cover letter and explained that, "The writing score does not reflect the true extent of my abilities when I have access to ample resources and time to review and revise my work. My undergraduate grades are a much better indicator of my writing abilities." I still had a very strong application with a 4.5 on this section and got in to my top choice.

I am leaving a full time professional job that I have been at for 7 years to go live off a grad student stipend. I plan to supplement my stipend with some student loans, and to live more frugally for the next few years. It is a huge pay cut for right now, but an investment in my future.