cynder
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Posts posted by cynder
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When you went to visit the PI, was that PI at your undergraduate school or at least driving distance from your undergraduate school or hometown? I don't see any other way on how you can visit a PI in person.
I made an appointment to visit the lab when I was in the area, Im international so the distance is way too large otherwise.
Not saying that you should visit every lab you are interested in by the way! An email would work as well to find out if the publication matters. Just pick some labs you are interested in and send an email stating your interest with some information about yourself. You can ask in that email if they are considering taking new students. Or you can just apply and find out that way
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What are some examples of schools that consider a second author publication as a deciding factor? How would I go about finding this out?
Personally I went to visit a PI who I was interested in working with before the application season. We talked about the chances for admission and he mentioned that I had a good chance of getting accepted because of my publications (though first author). The PI was in the same subfield as me, I think thats is most important, otherwise they will probably not be very interested in your paper.
I wouldnt know of another way of finding out other than talking to faculty. Alltho I did notice that depending on the school they sometimes specifically ask for you to mention publications, sometimes they dont. I got accepted to the schools that asked to list publications, and got rejected by the only school that didnt ask. That may be coincidence, I dont know.
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Im worried because I already live in the US and have to transfer status from H1-B to F1. It wont be as easy as going to the consulate in my home country. Does anyone else have a similar situation?
Ive been contacted by International Student Services for my information and I have provided it to them, now lets wait and see how long it takes to get all documents.
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The weight your publication gets may also depend on where you apply. If you apply to a school with a group that is working on projects closely related to the work you published then I think your publication can be a deciding factor. Make sure to mention those groups that work in fields related to your publication in your SOP. I did something similar and it compensated for my non impressive GPA (tho Im international so it doesnt scale exactly), GRE scores were fine for Q/V/Chem.
On the other hand, if you apply to a school where noone will have read/heard of/understand your publication, it probably wont get much weight.
Im leaving out ranking here, because I dont think it matters that much in this case, it would be more about the fit.
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If getting your posts downvoted on an online message board qualifies as "really aweful behavior" then I feel your moral compass is broken. There is way worse going on in this world. Also in the thread you refer to in your initial post you complain alot about people downvoting you. This is to me a very annoying habbit, and one that leads me to downvote any post where you complain about being downvoted, as I feel that kind of complaint doesnt add anything to the discussion.
- onemlielma, bluebunny, blueribbon and 3 others
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So, did anyone actually get a rejection notification from UCSD?
Yes, I got it on last week Thursday.
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Ok, so they just sent me the rejection around 11pm. Guess they mustve spent the whole time, up until this evening, pondering the decision. Or maybe they just couldnt be bothered with informing me a bit sooner before April 15th...
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Same here. I asked about the status on the application website but got no reply....
Ow well, if it takes them this long its likely a rejection. They may just keep us hanging to have backup if they didnt get enough acceptances, but they could be a bit more upfront about it.
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The OPs only post on this board and this most recent reply almost make this seem as someones assignment for an ethics class or something
- VioletAyame, Brisingamen, JSmoove and 4 others
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As far as I know the GPA is less important for international students, since it doesnt translate well between different countries. Focus on your research experience and get good recommendations, then just apply where you would like to go.
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I am fairly sure too but I can not understand why they don't just send an email to say I have been rejected...Actually I have already got acceptance from my top choice school but I would prefer to accept its offer after receiving all answers...What do you think?Is it better to wait for them or accept?I am international so I don't have a good knowledge of how these things work...thanks
If getting accepted by either of these schools wont affect where you will go for your PhD. then you should just go ahead and accept the offer from your top choice.
I also think that if you havent heard from them yet it is likely a rejection, likely but never certain until they tell you :S
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Did they specifically ask you at any point of the application wether you have attended any PhD. programs previously and did you lie about it there? If so this may be a big problem.
Regardless of the answer to that question I think it best to confess. While it is true that graduate institutions ask for transcripts of all the institutions that you have attended past high-school it is generally NOT required to provide all complete transcripts before being accepted. You should contact the graduate office and provide them with the transcripts from your 2 failed attempts at a PhD. course, how you explain the fact that you didnt provide those sooner is up to you. What they will do with that knowledge is up to them.
I dont know wether the consequences for what you did will be as severe as people here have mentioned (since you did not commit forgery of any kind), but I am sure that it will haunt you if you dont sort this out before you start your PhD. course.
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Too early to decide for me. Havent heard back from one program and only had 1 interview weekend so far.
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sick brags all around in this thread
Pompous thread.
I think both of you completely missed the point of this thread. I really doubt that the OP wanted to brag annonymously to people he never met, and probably never will meet.
It raises a very legitimate issue, and looking at the replies, one that several other people were wondering about. Just because someone gets into a top ranking grad school doesnt mean that they should attend that school by default. For example, the OP indicates that there is another school which he would rather join and he is anxious to hear back from (Columbia).
Since his resume must have been good enough for getting admitted to several top ranking schools this shouldnt be the reason for his rejection from BU. So then the question of this thread is, what was the reason for rejection? And how to adress that in case you really want to go to a specific school (again regardless of school rank)? Apparantly just working on your GPA/GRE/etc. is not enough.
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Its all about how you "fit" in the prospective graduate class that they have for the next year. How your research experience relates to what their faculty does etc.
That said, I have a pretty similar situation as you do. I applied to 3 schools, I got accepted in the 2 schools with the higher ranking in my field but I havent heard anything yet from the school that I initially thought would be most likely to accept me.
Finally, since its your safety, could it be that your SOP for that school was less strong? For me it was much easier to write a strong SOP for my top choice for example.
- cynder, stablecamel and Hanyuye
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I actually just spoke to a few people at the undergrad school and it turns out that the gap won't be much different. The big difference will be that I will have to work for it (i.e., TAships, RAships) at the undergrad school whereas at the other school it would just be handed to me. I don't mind working for it though...
I'm having such a hard time with this! I feel like I've pretty much decided that I fit in better at my undergrad school but it's just so hard to turn down the other school because it has a better reputation and better known psych department. I just don't want to regret this decision later on. Not to mention that the advisor at the other school has been trying so hard to get me to come there but I just don't feel like I will be aligned with his research interests or that we will work well together.
Is it SO terrible to turn down a top-ranked school for an average school? Am I crazy?!?!? :/
Being interested in the research that is going on at the university where you do your PhD. is the most important in my opinion. That said, you dont have to do your graduate research with the PI who sent you the acceptance letter. Are there no other labs at the Canadian university that you are interested in? You could contact those labs and see if there is a oppurtunity for you to do your research with them (you dont need a commitment, just a confirmation that they are interested in taking on graduate students).
Personally I wouldnt want to stay in the same institute for my graduate studies as my undergraduate studies, but that is a personal preference. My reasoning is that moving into a new location will teach you alot about coping with the changes that will innevitably come when you finish your graduate studies. It also never hurts to meet new people, especially those that work in a similar field as you.
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It will definitely help to get in to a better program if you do well during your Masters and get recommendation letters from the profs.
Skipping courses depends on the graduate school, you can try to negotiate it but they dont always let you skip.
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A bad TOEFL score can hurt, but I dont think it is necessary to score very high on the TOEFL. Just make sure you score sufficient in all the sub-categories.
Research experience in your field is really the main thing you should focus on. And make sure that whoever you do a research project for will write you a strong recommendation.
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If you can gain research experience and show it (publication/presentation/poster/recommendation) I think it can help to compensate for your GPA. My GPA wasnt excellent but 2 years of research experience compensated it and I got accepted in my program of choice.
Also, since you are good at cs and statistics your grades for the subjects related to those fields should be better, most programs ask you to list the most relevant courses and your grades (and GPA) for those seperatly. Taking GRE subject tests may help you as well.
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I had the same problem. I have a converted GPA of 3.14, even when I was at the best 15% of my class. At least in my school, I don't know anybody having a converted GPA greater than 3.4. What I did is to ask my school a transcript that included my relative position for each course.
Thats a good idea!
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Just hear from UCSD. Admission without any financial support. That's fine as I am going to apply scholarship from other organization, which I have mentioned in my application material.
congratulations!
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Any word back yet?
Not yet, but Forest post at least gives a little hope.
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Just cant take the waiting so I sent a message to UCSD, Ill post here when I get a reply.
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Anyone hear from UCSD? they said final decision would be made this week but i haven't heard from them yet.
me neither
How much stipend are you offered for Chemistry Fall 2012?
in Chemistry Forum
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