cynder

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

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

Agreed. Thankfully that's not what I said. . .at all.

You should email the dean of admissions, but be sure to CC the president of the university and the chair of the program to which you're applying, as well as the head of the financial aid office. For example, if you were applying to Harvard and wanted to know how your second-author publication might affect your chances of admission I'd email the following people; they'll be happy to mull over your important concerns:

Drew Faust
Eric Jacobsen
Dan Nocera

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.

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.

A second author publication is great since not many will have that, but it's not likely that you will be the only applicant with publication(s). You should be clear in specifying what role you played / how you contributed to that project in your statement of purpose (SOP) -- did you do the lab work? did you write the paper? did you do the analysis? Reviewers will be also interested in what your supervisor for this project writes in their letter of recommendation. The publication itself shows that you have worked on stuff that produced actual results, but they will be interested in how well you worked, and whether or not you would make a good researcher.

I don't think a single publication alone is enough to "circumvent" a low GPA because nothing is really clearly defined, there isn't a rubric that says a 3.X GPA is worth Y publications etc. A publication is a great thing to demonstrate your research ability/potential, which is valued by admission committees.

It might seem paradoxical that while people say that grad schools care a lot more about your research than your grades but then still care about your GPA. I think it's because they would want the focus of their program and their students to be research, but they want good GPA students so that they know you will not be struggling in their courses.

For defining safety schools, I found it useful to ask a mentor in your current department (your research supervisor perhaps) for suggestions on where to apply. Make sure you are getting their honest opinion though, and not someone who will say nice things to you to be encouraging or to avoid hurting your feelings. Get second or third opinions too. There are websites such as gradschoolshopper that might list average/median GPAs of admitted students, or you could look through Chemistry applicant profile threads (if they exist on gradcafe or elsewhere) to see what kind of profiles got into which schools.

But I think the most important factor in application is research fit. If you match up really well somewhere, you might end up getting into a higher ranked school that you might have originally thought. Or, a lower ranked school might actually have one of the best groups in your subfield. If in doubt, I would recommend applying to a whole range of rankings, rather than splitting the schools into safeties and not-safeties.

Now this is a situation that would merit a more in depth explanation of why you've decided to travel elsewhere. The person you've spoken with has obviously invested more than the average amount of time in getting to know you and your suitability for their program and working with them, and has connections to people already in your network (which isn't out of the ordinary, but if you're talking multiple connections. . .)

I would pow-wow with your current advisors, or whomever is writing your letters and ask them - since they seem to know these professors personally/professionally - what might best be the approach to take with each of these professors.

ANDS!: I am sure you mean well, but many of your posts seem to have a severely negative tone. I was drawn to TheGradCafe.com for the supportive and positive environment. I think that many other posters feel the same way about this forum. In the future, I would prefer that you refrain from responding to my posts if you cannot be cordial.

While I do agree that your email may be appropriate for the program admission supervisor, I think that it'd be best to put a bit more effort into the emails to professors. They spent a lot of time trying to get us to work with them. I don't see this as overcomplicating the situation; we should certainly keep a good working relationship with people who will be our colleagues.

I accepted an offer at a school, and now I need to decline other schools! What is the most respectful way to do this? I found a few other threads, but I'd like to get some new & fresh ideas.

Exactly. Perhaps people want to over complicate things because it is a big step in their life, and each action demands some grand gesture. Unless you're an exceptional candidate and the department went out of their way to recruit you (read: did they do anything they didn't do, or wont do again, to another candidate) a simple email suffices.

But hey I'm sure someone will come along and tell the OP what they want to hear: personalized hand written cards (perhaps scented) expressing deepest regrets and the hope that this doesn't completely shatter their graduate program.

Ok all, thank you for the advice. I said something along the lines of:

Dear X,

Thank you for your interest/time/etc. X University is amazing, and I had such a good time/X/XXX/whatever. It has been a difficult decision, but I've decided to attend XX. I very much look forward to seeing you at X conference. +something personal

Best,
HABANERO

I doubt you're going to get any "fresh" takes on these because the consensus is the same:

"Dear so-and-so,
Thank you for reviewing my application; however I have accepted an offer from University X."

There is no reason to over complicate it, and likely whomever is in charge of grad admissions is just going to check mark your name off and move on.

After I began to get single negative downvotes on random old posts ( etc). I dropped around ~10 positive votes in 1 day without posting any new information. Many of the downvotes have been on highly-rated old posts in very inactive threads. I, of course, don't mind people expressing their opinions--but I don't feel like that is the case here. Right after the linked thread ended, the negative user began voting down all of my new comments obsessively. I spoke to a mod, but they said that they were unable to do anything about it. I stopped caring, but I can't ignore it after logging in today and seeing that the user has gone so far back. I've tried hard to be a positive member of this forum, but it is impossible when a user is systematically stalking my posts. It's taking an emotional toll on me. It might be silly to want to rack up positive votes on an internet forum, but I don't care. If this kind of behavior were going on in real life, I'd be getting a restraining order.


To the rest of the awesome posters on here: thanks for everything. Best of luck in graduate school! Don't say anything to make that user upset, or they might do the same thing to you.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Oh my good heavens...forever more will I wonder who could have possibly voted that innocent comment down.

There is no negative tone. It is simply me not shining you on; you asked for opinions, I gave you one which you reject out of hand which lead me to conclude you don't actually want opinions just validation for a decision you have already made. Nature of the beast.



I amended my recommendation to be more in line what you were seeking. . .did you not see?

Well then by all means, craft personalized emails for these instructors you have had these substantive conversations with who I am quite sure will remember you in 5 or 10 years.

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And how do either of you know what these experiences are like?

I think that some of the members of this BB who are dog piling on the OP are using the anonymity of the internet to practice habits that are going to lead to profoundly unhappy moments in graduate school.

Here's the deal. Everyone (including tenured prize winning professors) has buttons they'd rather not have pushed. Almost everyone (including tenured prize winning professors) are going to get those buttons pushed. Most of the time, the buttons are pushed accidentally. Sometimes, the buttons are pushed to see what you're made of. Rarely, the buttons are pushed because someone wants to make you look bad.

How are you going to respond when you don't have +1/-1 buttons in front of you? Are you going to make a public statement about pulling back? Are you going to get snarky with someone face to face? Or are you going to laugh into your sleeve? How will you want to be treated when you're the one whose buttons are getting pushed? Will you want sympathy, empathy, or callous snark?