TakeruK

It's a little strange to hear that funding is based on GRE scores! But perhaps this is field dependent? I also want to point out that in many fields that are quantitative, the GRE Q score is actually the one that is worthless** (since you should already know math well above the GRE Q level) and I think the Verbal score is actually the most important for people in math and physics type majors. I put the ** after worthless because I should qualify this statement: I mean worthless as in, you should get some cutoff value but beyond that will not help you. For example, I don't think there is much difference between something like 90th percentile in the GRE Q vs 99th percentile for people in quantitative fields. On the other hand, I think scoring higher on the GRE V will impress people in quantitative fields. But I think meeting a cutoff is more important, additional gains above that should not really matter. There are lots of GRE study tips on this forum, and elsewhere (in the form of books and websites). I think dedicating a serious chunk of time over the next month can improve your score significantly. It might help to set a concrete goal as well. I don't know for sure what geology programs will look for (although I am in a earth science department now, where geology and planetary science students are considered together for admission) but you aren't aiming for a perfect score, just something a bit higher. I think your goal score should be somewhere around the 50th to 60th percentile. Most schools in my field of research publish GRE cutoffs at the 50th percentile, so scoring above that would be ideal, but I'm not sure if going beyond that would be worth the return on investment.

I agree that asking what is necessary is a good idea. After accepting their offer, my current school wanted us to submit all of our medical records, both immunization and also proof of a physical exam. They say that they want this by July of the year you are enrolling, so I did this. Although physical exams are covered by our Canadian healthcare system, getting them for a third party costs like $130 :(. After arriving, I learned that many other students did not do this ahead of time and in fact, you can get them done after arriving (when you would be covered by the school insurance so it would be free). The moral of this story and almost every other situation in academia where you encounter something that is a burden, you should ask to see what is actually necessary and avoid extra costs!

I'm not 100% sure that the kiosks are the wrong way to go. I think it's wrong because there is a single person for all of the kiosks and they don't have the same setup of computers that the other agents use to process the I-20 etc. However, maybe you are meant to go through the kiosks first and then get redirected to one of the other agents (and thereby getting to skip the potentially longer line) or maybe the person at the kiosk does have more equipment than what meets the eye! Maybe the next time I enter the US through YVR, I'll just ask the border agent if the kiosks would work (Or maybe another Canadian here can answer it for us!)

Although I did not mail any paper copies of anything to my US grad schools (paper materials are common (at least in 2010-2012) in my field in Canada though, for both schools and fellowships), I generally always use paperclips whenever I submit hardcopies of anything to any organization. I feel that paperclips allow the reader to decide if they want the pages together or separate, and it's especially easy if the receiver needs to scan or photocopy the individual pages for multiple members on the committee etc. A staple forces the pages to be stuck together! Like fuzzy, because paperclips would mean that it's possible for one of your pages to go missing, I put my name and Page X of Y on every page for things submitted in this way.

Maybe it just depends on the field? Most schools in my field understand that getting things like official transcripts cost money (for all the transcripts I needed, it costs a total of $40 per application just for transcripts) so just asking for unofficial ones helps reduce the financial burden. Some schools were also okay with self-reported (i.e. unofficial) GRE scores too.

They won't tell you if they will accept you because they are not the ones making the decision. Also, don't ask about this. The purpose of the interview/meeting is for the two of you to talk to each other and get to know one another, not for you to find out a decision and it's not for them to make a decision on the spot. For your SOP, I'd keep it general. Just say that you are looking forward to meeting Prof X and the rest of the faculty when you visit on Y date (if they read it before your visit, maybe they will take time to meet with you; if they read it after your visit, then maybe this will remind them of you).

I also entered from YVR And many times afterwards since it's where home is for me. 1. My flight originated from YVR. I checked my bag with the airline and then went to Preclearance/border control afterwards. The agent will scan your ticket and know about your checked bags but you do not bring it with you to the checkpoint. Since you are connecting through YVR, it will depend on your airline whether or not your bag is checked through to the final destination or if you have to pick it up and then check it again with the airline flying you from YVR to wherever in the US you're going. Also, there was one time where I entered the US through LAX (was traveling from a place other than Canada). In this case, you go through Passport Control/Border first and then pick up your bag later. This is the standard order in every country I've entered as far as I can remember. I never have my checked bags with me when I cross the border. So it should be no different here. (There is a customs agent after you pick up your checked bags--you hand them your declarations form and they will generally wave you through unless you have something on the form that indicates further inspection is necessary). 2. This part is tricky. This information is accurate as of December 2014, my last time going through this...it may have changed since then. When you get to YVR Preclearance, the line will split into two. There is one line for Canadian/US passport holders and one line for "everyone else". Do not go through this expedited line with the kiosks. You cannot cross the border as a F-1 or J-1 student this way. Sometimes there is a person at the split that will ask for your passport so they can direct you to the correct line. Show them your Canadian passport but clarify that you want to enter as a F-1 student and they should direct you to the longer line. The expedited line is only for Canadians wanting to visit the US or for Americans returning to the US (But maybe they have upgraded this to include F-1 status as well and/or I may have been wrong. In any case, asking the person directing people will get you the right answer, and if you are still not sure, you can't be wrong if you go in the longer line). Luckily, the "other" line isn't very long usually. You will enter the long snaking line part and when you get to the front, there are something like 6-10 border agents that will call you when they are ready for you. Remember, this is the general purpose line for entering the US so to make it easier for both you and the agent, greet them and just clearly say that you are entering on F-1 status and have your passport, boarding pass, and I-20 immediately ready. ** Oh also, be sure to pick up a US Customs declaration form before you get into this line. They are usually on counters along a wall or something. Filling this out before you get to the border agent will make things easier. The form looks like this: http://www.cbp.gov/travel/us-citizens/sample-declaration-form Note that you should have some information on a slip of paper handy to make this form easier (e.g. your US address). P.S. Before you go through Pre-clearance, make sure you have everything with you. Once you speak with the border agent and cross through the doors to the US airport terminal, you cannot go back (or at least, there are giant signs saying that you cannot enter and I don't think running through the border doors in the wrong direction will make you any friends with US Immigration). Once, when returning to the US after a conference, I realised I left my poster tube back at the security checkpoint!! Luckily, I found a very nice gate agent that was willing to use their security credentials to go back and collect the tube for me. PPS There is a Tim Horton's in the US Terminal where all the gates are. Get something to eat there, it will be your last chance for Tim Horton's in a long time!! Even if you don't really like Tim Horton's, most Canadians I know will desperately crave it after awhile in the US because it represents familiarity and home! I guess you should pass on this if you actually hate Tim Horton's though. Good luck!!

fuzzy and rising_star made the good point that sometimes schools look great on paper but turn out very different when you visit. This was the case for me too, for a couple of schools. But I still did not regret applying and visiting, because I would not have known this ahead of time! In my opinion, applying to a larger number of schools is also a good idea because you increase your chances of admission at a single school and you get to "hedge" your bets in case you picked a couple of bad schools to apply to.

In my experience, academic "interviews" like this are very informal. Think of it more like a conversation about yourself and expect them to also spend a lot of time telling you about their work. If they ask you direct questions about your knowledge, it wouldn't really be like an exam/test but more to find out/clarify what you do know. For example, in my field, for a visit by a potential applicant, they would never ask something like "Okay, derive the equation for hydrostatic equilibrium here for me" but instead they might just ask if you know how to do it. They will certainly ask you a lot of questions about your past experience though, so the best way to prepare, in my opinion is to make sure you are able to summarize all of your past achievements and your past research experience concisely. I would even think up a 30-second summary for each item you might want to talk about. Another good way to prepare is to be knowledgeable about their work so that you are able to understand their discussion and to ask interesting and appropriate questions. This is not to say that you aren't going to be evaluated, but I don't think it will be an oral exam format. Through their conversation with you, they should learn a lot about how you interact with others, how you approach science/research and this will be your chance to tell the faculty about yourself and make a good impression (so that when they see your application later, they can remember you in a positive way).

I applied to 8. Typical numbers in my field range from as low as 4 to as high as 20. There is no single "right" number--it depends on your goals and the amount of time/money/effort available to you. It's far more important to ensure you apply to programs that will be good for you than to meet a number! Usually the high numbers are people applying to two different subfields or two different degree programs altogether! Also -- immunization records for applications? That's new to me! I only needed to provide that for the school just before I started to attend. Same for many transcripts--most of my schools just wanted unofficial transcripts (e.g. screenshots or PDF versions) and only required official transcripts for verification/confirmation once they made a decision. I had to keep a detailed spreadsheet to remind me of all the deadlines, to remind me to check on LOR status, to remind me of which people I emailed etc. during the whole thing. Good luck

1. Email back the professor on sabbatical and ask if there is a time he would prefer for you to follow up, after his sabbatical ends. Email the professor without an opening back now to say thank you. 2. Yes. 3. On average, 1/3 of the professors I emailed replied with encouraging words, 1/3 just said that they will talk to me after the admission decisions are made and 1/3 didn't reply at all. 4. Sometimes when people retire, they just disappear and won't be good advisors. Sometimes "retired" professors are still there full time and you wouldn't even know they are "retired". It's still worth meeting them, you won't know how much they will be around until you meet them and talk to them.

I think there already exists a lot of detailed strategies at various online websites and test prep books. They will go in more depth and be more tuned to modern tests than I can provide (I took it in 2011, prior to the "Revised General GRE" update). However, I think I can still provide general "mindset" tips for preparing rather than specific strategies for questions. First, remember that the section title is Quantitative Reasoning, not "Math". Just like the Verbal Reasoning section is not about how many words you can memorize, the Quantitative Reasoning is not about how many obscure math rules you can remember. It's actually a test of critical thinking ability when applied to quantitative topics. Keeping this in mind when you study and prepare will be helpful. Of course, sometimes knowledge is power! Having a large vocabulary helps you spot more nuanced meanings behind the word choices, and having a good knowledge of basic mathematical concepts will help you solve these problems. Especially for the geometry problems, they are really like the "Sentence Completion" type questions! That is, I think a good balance between the two would be to use a test prep book or website to help you determine which geometry rules / math tools you should know and learn them. Then, when you encounter questions during practice, make sure you are using these same skills to get to the answer. Sometimes, it's not super clear and the answer looks like "oh you have to do this special trick for this question" but I found that that is very rarely true. If you find a question that turns out to require a special "trick", then it's either a bad example question, or you don't yet fully understand the mathematical tools or the approach to the question. This is like a more quantitative student, like me, making a mistake in the verbal section because I did not consider the less common meaning of a common word (e.g. "row" to mean an quarrel). So, during your preparation, if you find yourself thinking that there are many questions that you just have to memorize yet another trick to solve, I would advise you to stop and take a step back and try to reanalyze the approach. Try to build the solution using only the basic tools. I know I keep mentioning these "tools" but not actually say what they are. As I said above, I could try to list a "toolkit" but my GRE Q experience is outdated and there are already well written websites and books that will be much more thorough. But I hope this study/prep strategy will be helpful to you!

All I know for certain is that when I asked the US schools how I should convert my undergrad GPA (we just get grades out of 100, with a letter grade as a reference only), they said that I should not convert them and they will use their own metric. Almost all transcripts come with something on a second page (or the back) from your school stating how grades are awarded, etc. Beyond that, I do think that Canadian applicants are very common to US schools and they will have a good idea based on previous applications. This is true for many other international countries too. Admissions committees will know that, for example, in certain countries, a grade of 70% is very good, while in Canada, it is not very impressive for a graduate student applicant. From my limited experience, I find that Canadian schools tend to treat grades a little differently than US schools. Most Canadian schools treat grades as an indication of absolute competence (e.g. an "A" grade means you know all of the material very well) while many US schools I know about treat grades as an indication of relative ability (e.g. an "A" grade means you are one of the best students in your class). So if you are at a Canadian school that uses the "absolute competence" mindset and applying to a school that uses a "relative ability" mindset, if the admissions committee does not account for this difference, you might end up with an "inflated" GPA. I think admissions committees are very aware of this though, but I point this out because it's important for you to be aware of differences as well, if you just want to do some "ballpark" estimates/comparisons. Finally, when percentage points are converted to a letter grade in the US, I find that US schools use a different metric. At UBC, a "first class" (A-, A, or A+) is a grade at least 80% (85% is A, 90% is A+) but in the US, a "first class" grade is 90% or higher (low 90s is A-, higher 90s is A+ etc.). However, this is a more convoluted metric, because you would also have to standardize what kind of ability is awarded "90%" as well, and this differs a lot not just between schools, but between professors too! In the end, the GPA is one small component to the holistic graduate admissions process. Don't get too caught up in it. Schools tend to publish average or median statistics (GPA, GREs, etc.), and by definition, about half (exactly half if median) of their successful applicants are below this value!! Instead, think about it this way: schools are looking for ways that you demonstrate excellence and expertise. The GPA is just one way to do that. When they do consider GPA, they are likely looking to find students that are in the top X% where X can be a range of values depending on each school. Overall, I would say you are competitive for graduate schools if you are at least in the top half of your undergraduate class. But the converse isn't true, in my opinion.

Thanks for continuing to update us. I am sure this is helpful information for other students who might be facing similar situations. I think the latest development at MU sounds like a good one as it at least means you do not have to pay anything right now while both sides sort it out. Hopefully other schools will go this route (vs. having students pay now and then getting reimbursed or refunded later if it works out).

Definitely agree with you on everything here. For some reason, when reading through this thread, I thought I saw more than one reference to the Ms/Mrs address and I did not intend to single out you or your example. I also did not intend to imply that kicking someone out of class is an appropriate response, but I wanted to just separate/distinguish between professors who insist on "Prof" vs "Dr" (or vice-versa) and professors who insist on not being called "Mrs/Ms". I know that I did not have all the details in your brief example and I tried to avoid directly referring to it, but I now realise that by using the same adjectives as you, it didn't look that way. Sorry!

I am not an expert in immigration/visas/statuses. But I can confirm that yes, if an international student changes their PhD program (and school), it means they will need new status. For example, my DS-2019 (for J-1 foreign student status; F-1 students would have a form I-20) is only valid for my Planetary Science PhD program at my school. However, there are processes in place to change your student status because you are changing your degree. Your school will work with you to get the proper approvals. If you finish your first program (e.g. with a Masters) and then enroll in a brand new PhD program at a new school, I am pretty sure you will have to get a new status (I-20 or DS-2019). You can do this without leaving the United States as long as your new program begins within the time limit for your previous status (I believe it's something like a few months after you finish your first program, depending on F-1 vs. J-1 status). If you do not leave the United States, you do not need a new visa, just a new status. For those who don't know, visas are required for permission to enter, and status is required to permission to remain in the US for a specific purpose. Whether or not this would be a problem is hard to tell. When you first apply for F-1 or J-1 visa and/or status, your intention must be to leave the United States at the end of your academic program. However, you are allowed to change your mind if a new opportunity comes up! Your intention only must be to leave the US at the time of application/starting your program. For example, there are many international students who came to the US for undergraduate on F-1 status and then applied for and got into US graduate schools also on F-1 status. No problems there. The system is not set up to limit international students to only one degree, but to prevent international people from using student status as a way to gain permanent resident status. I agree with bhr that if the OP does not finish the first program, then it may cause complications in getting the new status from the new school. But it's certainly not impossible, and changing your mind about what field you want to pursue is not against immigration policies. Overall, I think that being an international student will add additional steps/work but I think the main issues will be following the department/university policies while taking these extra courses!

In North America, "Dr" and "Prof" are different titles because Dr is someone with a PhD while Professor is not a protected title and can be given to any position. For example, in some Canadian colleges (equivalent of US community college), most instructors have Masters degrees but the title is still "Professor". That is, "Dr" is a degree qualification while "Prof" is a job title. But I also know in other places, the title "Doctor" is very revered and you only get that when you are something like a tenured professor or like the department head. No one addresses a new PhD by "Doctor" there. The person that told me this was a professor from Europe. So, like I said above, it's very contextual and it's probably best to figure out what each person wants and err on the side of caution/formality if not sure. Finally, I just want to point out that when female professors request that their students do not use "Mrs" or "Ms", it's not always a sign of "snootiness" or "formality". Addressing a woman who has earned her doctorate degree as "Mrs/Ms" is insulting and it is (un)consciously implying/assuming that she is not qualified. In my opinion, assuming a "Mrs/Ms" title is even worse than an accidental first name address when the person prefers Prof/Dr.

There is no standard way. If the school application requires you to convert to a US GPA for their forms, then you would have to clarify with them because each school might do it differently or would want you to do it differently. However, in my field, almost all schools asked international GPAs to be presented in their original form. However, if you just want a general comparison, there are two types of "4.0 GPA scales" that I've noticed in the US. For both types, the grade points are awarded as follows: A = 4.0, A- = 3.7, B+ = 3.3, B = 3.0, B- = 2.7 etc. (A, B, C and D are integers, and +/- are 0.3 grade points) The difference comes in the treatment of the A+ grade. In a 4.0 scale, if an A+ is considered a standard top grade, like in Canada, then it's often also worth 4.0 grade points in a 4.0 system. However, some schools consider A the standard top grade, but A+ is awarded in special situations as "bonus". In this case, a A+ would be 4.3 even in the 4.0 system as "bonus". This is rare though. There's also the 4.3 GPA system. Note: You would not simply convert your 7/9 cGPA into a US GPA system. You would have to convert each course's letter grade into a grade point (out of 4.0 or 4.3) and then do a weighted average over all your courses, weighing by the number of credits, in order to compute your 4.0 or 4.3 GPA. And as you would figure out by now, a 3.5 GPA is basically somewhere between a B+ and A- average.

I'm glad that you are acting within the policies of your department, university and financial aid Perhaps I misunderstood what you wrote earlier, because it sounded like you were violating some kind of policy. I thought this because you wrote about your concerns that if your advisor found out, they would have grounds to remove you from the program. But if you are doing what you say and taking the courses as required/allowed by your policies then you can cite these policies if your program has issues with your out of department courses. As I said above, if you make satisfactory progress in your main degree program and your policies don't exclude you from taking these extra courses, you can indeed spend the extra time anyway you want! As to whether or not you will succeed, that is hard to tell, I agree. I would say that just because it worked for another student does not mean it will work for you. But good luck!!

I agree with rising_star that you need to have a definite timeline to graduation! In most programs, you are required to have regular thesis committee meetings and at the first meeting, you lay out your path to graduation and the committee approves it, which is kind of like an agreement that if you do X, Y and Z, then they will agree you are ready to defend. At each subsequent meeting, you revisit the timeline, see how much you have progressed and make adjustments as necessary. The committee will also hold both you and your advisor accountable and ensure that everything is being done to keep you on track. It does not sound like these kinds of meetings are happening. I think this is the school's fault, not yours, because the program should have a system in place to ensure their students graduate in a reasonable amount of time. I am not sure what your field is like, but in my field, 5-6 years is the norm. If you are not finished within 6 years, you and your advisor actually have to petition the Graduate School to continue. Petitions are generally granted, but this serves as a check from the Graduate School that certain professors or programs are not intentionally holding their students back. It is very strange to hear that you are finishing your 8th year and your colleague Joe took 10 years. I feel like this is a big red flag that your school is letting you down. However, it is not very helpful to dwell on what should have happened at this point. You are right--the main focus is for you to get the paper out and graduate and move on. My advice on how to do this would be to get help and allies. Start with other professors on your thesis committee. Find other professors in the department, especially the Head or the faculty member in charge of graduate students. If necessary, go outside of the department and seek help from the Graduate Office. I think your eventual goal is to get you and your PI to agree on a set timeline of how this paper will be published and how your thesis will look and when you will defend. You will get it in writing and it will be basically a contract that if you do A, B and C, then X, Y and Z should happen at the specified times. Your plan should include contingencies, like "okay you agree to do this experiment before you can submit, but what happens if the result is inconclusive?" Decide now, how many more experiments you and your PI are willing to do before you will submit what you have. Decide now, what chapters will go into your thesis and exactly how much more work, and how long will it take, for you to complete it. Decide now, what happens if something doesn't go as planned. Ideally, you and your PI / committee would be able to decide on this as part of the normal advising process. However, it sounds like there are some communication issues. This is why I suggested getting outside help, such as other professors, the Department Head/Graduate Chair and the Graduate Office. If your PI is intentionally being malicious and keeping you from graduating, it might take a few other faculty members on your side in order to convince them to agree to something like this. If this is not the case, then the extra people can maybe help provide additional guidance (not to blame you but being a neutral third party, I want to consider both cases). Good luck!

There is no single answer that fits all situations because really, it will depend on each professor's preference and your interaction/relationship/familiarity with each professor. I can say though, that in most North American schools in my field, the norm is for students (undergraduate and graduate) to refer to professors by their first name. Sometimes, a professor will ask their undergraduate students in the classes they teach to refer to them by "Prof. Smith". It is extremely rare, in my field, for anyone who is doing research work with a professor (whether it's an undergrad student, graduate student, or research scientist) to call the professor by anything other than first name. However, when you're meeting professors for the first time, it is hard to know what they would want. It's always better to err on the side of caution and formality. Some strategies you can employ are: 1. Address them as Prof. X and see what they say. They might tell you to call them by first name instead, but even if they don't this doesn't mean that they insist on a Prof X address. 2. Even if you know who they are already, when you meet them for the first time, introduce yourself as "Firstname Lastname" (or whatever you preferred to be called) and listen to how they introduce themselves. 3. If you are in email contact, see how they sign their emails. If it is Prof. X then it's a strong sign that you should stick with formality. However, if it's their first initial or their first name, it is an indication that first name is okay, but not really a certain thing either. Overall, I don't believe there is one clear method where if they use a certain form of address in one way that it means you should use that form of address. Instead, you will have to just interact with them and judge/gauge it from how they communicate with you (verbally and non-verbally). You should be able to get a sense of what they like from getting to know them. This is tougher when you are from a country where the etiquette is different, but you can also ask American students in your department for help on what each professor prefers.

I will have two answers here. One that is idealistic and one that is practical. First, the idealistic answer: The fact that you are an international student and would have to go home if you dropped out of your program does not impact the morality of using funds to attend one graduate program while really taking courses to fulfill another goal. I'm sorry, but I think a student that accepts money (whether it's from the school or another source) to complete a certain PhD program while knowing that they will be in fact fulfilling another set of requirements is acting immorally. In the ideal world, the right thing to do is to either drop out of your program or finish the Masters program, return home, and then reapply to an undergrad program in your new field. The practical answer: I'm sorry that the above answer is really judgmental. I realise that reality doesn't allow everyone to take perfectly ideal actions. I don't think this justifies immoral actions, however, sometimes the cost of being moral is higher than the cost of taking the immoral action. I don't know all the details of the situation but the fact that you are considering it means that there must be some really strong / compelling reason for you to take this action. In your first post, you say The truth is that you are betraying your program and your professors by deceiving them about the intent of your time in their program. As I said above, you may have good reasons to do so, but you should proceed knowing that this is what you are doing. As such, my only advice for you is to be very careful and ensure that you stay within the bounds/policies of your program and your funding source as much as you can. I agree with ExponentialDecay that it is almost impossible for anyone here to give more specific advice because everything depends on your situation. Also, even if I knew your situation better, I'm not certain I would want to advise you on how to "cheat" the system because if you are successful, it eventually and indirectly hurts students who enroll in programs they intend to complete. All this said, although I don't agree with or support what you are trying to achieve (or at least, what it sounds like you are trying to achieve from the content provided here), I understand that you need to do what's best for you and I wish you good luck! I hope that you will recognize and realise that you are entering some immoral areas and take responsibility for that.

Here is my opinion, but as I am not in your field, perhaps you would want to weigh the opinion of a biologist more highly. I don't think having two LORs from the same lab will "look bad" in the sense that it won't actively hurt you. However, it could potentially "waste" a LOR space that could have been used to highlight different positives about you. If the two LORs from the same lab will address different parts of your experience (sometimes your lab work can be neatly divided into two or more components, and each LOR can focus on each of these components). Since you do have another research PI LOR, I would suggest that you get a letter from the Ecology prof as your 3rd LOR instead of a second LOR from the same lab. This part might be field-dependent, but I don't think you need all three LORs to be from the exact same discipline. Many undergraduates have diverse research experience, because the point of undergraduate research experience is to try different things, not to specialize (that's what grad school is for). However, if you didn't have a 3rd research LOR lined up and you were choosing between a second LOR from the same lab vs. a "did well in class" LOR, I'd say go with the second LOR from the same lab.

I listed my schools. I just filled in as many schools as boxes were provided (usually they say "up to 4 other"). I applied to 8 schools in total, so like fuzzy, I picked the 4 that were the most similar. In most cases, this is a standard question in the "standard set of application questions" that every single applicant gets, no matter which program they are applying to. However, for the few schools where the department made their own application question, when they chose to ask this question, they were clear to say that our answer would not affect the admission decision (they said the same thing for the questions regarding financial aid). From talking to professors during visits and after getting to grad school, I found that the reason for the question was mostly what fuzzy said: to gauge main competitors for future years, but also to help them determine the number of offers to make. For example, if the program was planning to admit 5 students in total, and then they realise that all 5 of their top candidates also put School X as the answer to this question, and they know that School X is their main rival (let's say half of their admitted students end up picking School X over them), then the program might choose to make 1 or 2 extra offers instead of waiting for the first 5 to make decisions and then make offers off the waitlist. Having this information allows programs to consider probabilities and make optimal decisions, which actually helps applicants too (if you were the first on the school's waitlist, wouldn't you rather get an offer in the first round rather than the second round if it was pretty much a sure thing that you would have gotten a second round offer?

In terms of recommendations, I have only good things to say about State Farm. Every agent I've worked with (kept State Farm when moving so I've worked with several agents now) has been very knowledgeable and, in my opinion, honest/open about the product they are selling. They don't try to push me into buying a specific amount of coverage and they are very patient and happy to go through a million different permutations of coverage levels until I found the one that I thought was both affordable and covered enough. I also did my own research on insurance plans and was glad to see that everything my agent told me Just a month after I switched to State Farm, we were in a collision (the only one I've been in, thankfully)! We were rear-ended. When actually making the claim, you deal with a completely different set of people. It's a little scarier because you only talk to them on the phone, and they have scary titles like "Underwriting" and "Claims Adjuster" and they send you all the paperwork. The agents from my local office were very good though and they helped us go through the claims process. And everything went very smoothly. We had to document everything of course, and provide lots of evidence, but despite the claims' department's scary titles, we never felt like we were under investigation or being accused. I think this is important because the aftermath of the collision was already stressful enough, we would not have liked it if we also had to fight our insurance company. I'd second mandarin.orange's advice to find a reputable company and do your research. I would much rather get my insurance from a mega-insurance corporation like State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, etc. than smaller companies that might disappear!