mandabeth

I use a national bank that has free ATM access everywhere. I switched to that from a credit union because I travel a lot, so it ends up saving me at least $3/week when I get cash out. The local credit union would really add up in fees whenever I wasn't at home.

I did. Not everything, but a lot of my work revolves around leadership (fairly big role on student government, freshmen RA, etc.) It wasn't a filler, and I think it gives a bigger picture of what I do. I listed it the same way I listed non-academic jobs, and I do think it has bearing on my undergrad career, since it shows I can balance working 20+ hours a week and classes. Of course, every situation is different, and academic things should definitely come first.

Would you be happy with a Masters from your current program? Is is a one year program? Someone else correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it's better to stay in the undergrad program than to try and convince masters/phd programs why you should switch in the middle of your current program. In terms of classes, if you're applying for applied math, you've probably just barely met the minimum requirements. Common requirements I saw when applying this year (for applied math phd programs) are real/complex analysis, differential geometry, ODEs, PDEs, abstract algebra...

I have the basic kindle (7" screen.) I love it for pdfs because you can email them to yourself and have them automatically download. I'll send an email with all my problem sets for the week, and then I don't have to carry my laptop with me all the time.

My study abroad courses (with grades) are on my undergrad transcript, and no one's asked for an additional one so far--which is good, since because of how the program is run through my alma mater, I don't think I could get a transcript from uni abroad. If your grades aren't on your undergrad transcript, you almost definitely have to send one. Otherwise, you're probably fine unless explicitly told otherwise.

I was diagnosed with mono a couple days before taking the subject GRE, and obviously didn't do so well. I ended up not mentioning it in my personal statement, because I decided to focus on the positives (and really wanted to talk about the research and experience I have outside the classroom, since I definitely wasn't going to get in on the strength of my GPA/GRE alone.) So far I've been accepted to a couple programs, so I don't regret my decision at all. However, if I hadn't gotten in, I might have regretted it--what if that would have been the difference between a rejection and not? Maybe talk to your recommenders, and see what they suggest. My academic director suggested that I have a prof who knows my work comment on it in the LOR, since they'd have more authority to say that they thought I could do better than I did (obviously, any student has excuses for why they didn't do better.)

I just noticed this week that my GRE scores are missing from a school I applied to (even though I definitely sent them.) Luckily, I've already been accepted to a better school, so I'm not going to bother to pay to resend them. I'm just waiting for the rejection.

I do this too. I have classes over lunch, so if I put a slim fast (or other protein shake...but slim fast is cheap) in a travel mug I can discretely "eat" during lectures.