TakeruK

I don't think you will be penalized for reusing most of the material from your previous essay. Many of my friends who got the GRFP the second time around submitted only small modifications on their essays. However, I believe the scale is good, very good, excellent, so a "good" score means there could be a more work needed into getting a funded application. At some point though, a lot of the score is going to be subjective and it is hard to know why you got a certain score. So I wouldn't worry about it too much, but just a warning to still keep an open mind about rewriting a big chunk of your essays if that is what is necessary to improve it. I would encourage you to get feedback on your essays from as many people as possible. In my department, people are generally very helpful and your faculty, postdocs and senior grad students will be glad to review them for us.

I'm sorry to hear about these troubles. How much longer is your rotation? You should not have to deal with the abuse from the other graduate student, but I do think you should wait it out if the rotation will be over by January. In the meantime, I would suggest that you find other allies to help you deal with the arrogant older student. Maybe you can talk to the PI and get assigned to different tasks where you don't have to work with him.

I second rising_star's suggestion. If your letter writer does want to see an actual statement though you can then send them an "example statement" and explain that you'll tailor each statement slightly for each school. In the "example statement", remove anything you don't want your letter writer to see. You say that you are worried about your letter writer seeing your statement and that damaging your relationship. But have you considered that your letter writer may write in their letter that they look forward to you continuing in their organization with what they learn? And if your statement doesn't reflect that, wouldn't it raise a flag for the admissions committee?

My opinion is no. Fix it for other applications, but this is unlikely to make a difference. I think asking to resubmit will draw even more attention to it and could potentially hurt you because it might indicate that you are focussing too much on details that do not matter. But again, this is just my opinion based on what I think is important in my field. Get other opinions too

I would say that the reputation of the department within the field is more important than the reputation of the institution. So, with respect to the criteria of reputation (only one of many important factors) I'd try to maximize the combination of PI reputation and department reputation. I also think that the biggest benefits of a top program is not just the direct benefits of reputation, but the reality of what the reputation brings. I wouldn't pick the #1 school in the field because it has the label of #1. But, I would pick the school because its #1 label usually brings tons of donor money, tons of resources, etc. So, if you are comparing two schools with comparable resources, then reputation doesn't really matter as much. Also, if the other school has resources to compete with these top schools, then it's likely highly reputed too. Finally, I think some idea of scale is important. The details depend on each field, but in mine (a small field), I would say that the top 5 schools may be in a league of their own, then the schools ranked 6-30 are pretty much all the same. So there's little difference, in my field, between a school ranked 12th and 25th, for example.

Yep, that describes me pretty well. I keep a 8-5 schedule to match my partner's. I do the cooking at home, so I do not schedule anything past 5pm and let people who request late meetings that I need to be home to do my cooking responsibilities. I do make exceptions when there is no other alternative and there's enough advance notice (so that I can make alternate food arrangements for my partner), such as having dinner with a visitor or a seminar speaker!

I wonder if this is something specific to grad school, or if it's just generally true of most "young professionals" in their mid-20s, regardless of whether or not we're in school. I suspect it may be the latter! Do you mean a "divide" as in just two classifications of students/relationships, or an actual divide as in different social groups/circles?

I agree with @JoePianist---it's pretty early on in your Neuroscience program. How do you know that you would be much happier in Clinical Psychology? It's common to feel doubt about your decision in the first few weeks/months of a new program. Usually this is because no matter how great a program is, it's may not be as good as the potential greatness of something else. In addition, sometimes we may have set our expectations on our program too high. Your post doesn't really say what the problems you are having with your current program and why you think the new program would be a great fit for your future. But maybe you have already considered all of this and just chose not to share it here. (That's fine, no need to share personal details). It's hard to judge whether the unhappiness you are encountering are typical problems a new student encounters, or if they are serious red flags that this is not the right program for you! If you do decide to try to switch, I don't think declining their offer in the past will be that bad for you. Admissions at top programs are stochastic though, so even though you were a strong candidate before, you aren't guaranteed anything in the future. It may be also be a good idea to complete at least a year of Neuroscience program and/or a Masters degree (if that's available) before leaving. And you would want to leave your current program on good terms (i.e. with at least one person able to write a strong letter for you).

lol I just realised I commented on a really really old post. whoops! But just in case others are still reading, one great thing about the Amazon Fire tablets is in addition to their Android awesomeness, if you have an Amazon Prime account, you can download Amazon Prime Videos to your tablet for viewing while you are offline. So you don't need an Internet connection to have access to things that you could normally stream. This is super useful on airplanes. It's limited to Amazon content only, but if you already have the account, the synergy makes sense!

I got a Kindle Fire HD10 during last year's Black Friday (or Cyber Monday) sale for exactly these reasons and it was under the $200 price point too. Right now, it's $230 but if you are willing to wait until November, I think you can get it for around $180 if they do the same sale as last year. Or, you can pay $50 more and get it now, depends on what 2 extra months is worth to you. (Note: You may have to pay more if you want things like screen protectors, cases etc. If you really want to spend less than $200 total, including taxes, then go for the 8" Fire)

In general, you should avoid writing any negative things in your statements. Define yourself by positives---what you are interested in, what you are motivated by, what experiences you are seeking!

(P.S. I should add---although I have never received email like that, one of my friends did in their first year of TAing and these suggestions were strategies I thought about when I heard about this scenario so that I would be prepared if someone in my class sent a rude email complaining about something they should not complain about).

I think there are a few ways I might respond to this student. I'm not saying I know the best response since I haven't had this happen to me before, but I have done similar things as you (although I generally sit in the back instead of the front): 1. I might just ignore the email. I might be tempted to respond to the rudeness but I might also consider not justifying their rude message with a response. 2. I might call them out on their rudeness but I would not defend myself. I might write, "The tone and content of your message is not appropriate. Do not write to your instructors in that way again." 3. If I feel like making it a teaching moment, I might write something like "The tone and content of your message is not appropriate. I will discuss this issue further when you rephrase your message." When/If they do write back, I'd arrange an in-person meeting with them at my office hours and let them know why their message was not appropriate. I may also then take that time to explain the work you are doing and that it's not any of his business. If you do #2 or #3, you may want to also let the professor know what you are doing so that they have your back in case the student whines to the professor as well. (Or you may also consider letting the professor know in any case, just because they should know one of their students is acting this way.

I would seek the advice of English profs in your department. Maybe ask your other two letter writers. My main letter writer was also a mentor to me so I talked to them extensively about who else to pick for the other 2 letters. Also, for an MA student applying to PhD programs, it's normal to have at least 1 letter from their BA program, so I think it would make sense to have a politics professor write a letter since that was your BA major. I would say that in the physical sciences, it's natural to have people outside of your main field write letters if you worked with them. But right now, I'm also currently in a very interdisciplinary area of work, so this is more natural around me. I would ask the advice of your letter writers or other profs in your English department. (i.e. are these the people telling you that it's a risk?)

Don't fret about it. They got what they needed so they probably felt no need to write back. They probably stored your email until a time where they need to refer to it.

It's good to also read this page on the Quant section: https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/prepare/quantitative_reasoning On that page, they link to a PDF that explicitly defines all the assumptions and conventions: https://www.ets.org/s/gre/pdf/gre_math_conventions.pdf Playing cards are not mentioned on these pages at all. I don't remember any such question in my exam (but it was a long time ago). I would think that this means ETS should not ask about such things, since playing cards aren't exactly the same internationally and it's an international test. But good to keep what the above poster said in mind, just in case.

I used to just put them as events in my Google Calendar. Now, I use todoist (https://en.todoist.com/) -- it syncs with my work computer, my home laptop and my phone

Totally okay. 2 years is not a big deal. Many grad students are going to be coming into grad school a few years removed from undergrad, whether it's because they did something else, worked in industry, did a Masters, etc. I don't think most people will even notice that you are a different age.

Seconding what fuzzy said. I think it's normal in most fields that if you have a good job offer, then you're ready to graduate!

Oh, it's strange that you need a physical letter submitted! Usually they are all electronic. I still think it's worth following up with him via email 2 or 3 more times before giving up.

Yes, a few days is not a long time to wait for a response. Even if someone is abroad, they should still be able to write a letter if they wanted to (and they did say they want to). Just wait until a week has passed and send a reminder email if you have not heard anything.

Yes that's right I think the new way is better. When I took the old test, it was just one giant session and since every question's difficulty is based on how you are currently doing, this means that if you screw up the first 5 questions, it's bad news. And the scoring was even more opaque because they probably did wait for X questions before they started changing the difficulty but you don't know what X is. And, because each question is adaptive (instead of by section), you can't skip questions at all--you must answer each one before getting the next one.

I think the strangest part is that from Fall 2014 to June 2016, you were working on your thesis but no one knew that you were working on your thesis. I guess I am not sure how the Norway Masters system works, but most programs should have annual check-ins that you have to pass and there would be tuition fees or other annual things you have to do with the school in order to maintain student status. Does your thesis advisor or thesis committee know about this? I think your best chance of getting something out of this is to get help through your advisor or your committee. If they know you have been working hard on your thesis and been keeping in regular communication with them, they might be able to convince the school to retroactively re-instate you as a student and then you may be able to get a degree based on the existing work. If you really have been working on your own with no communication with anyone in your department, then I think that's part of the problem. Also, for most students, it's not really realistic to complete a thesis independently (otherwise you wouldn't need to go to grad school) so I find it unlikely that a school would want to grant you a degree based on unsupervised work. In this case, you might have to get some support from your department to be reinstated as a student and then finish your thesis under the supervision of a faculty member. It might mean you have to continue working on it a little more, but hopefully, they will allow you to count the previously completed courses.

Interesting---in my experience, I've met people that spend way too much time on the CV and focus on it more than other parts. Maybe it's because the CV is something that many people are familiar with through other life experiences (job applications etc.) However, I think the reality is that an excellent CV does the same amount of good as a good CV, so in my opinion, it's better to spend the time elsewhere (either on other parts of the applications or other parts of your life!).

The basic idea is that you will get a higher score if you:1) provide correct answers and 2) provide correct answers to difficult questions. Please make sure you are reading consistent advice because the General GRE and Subject GRE tests are scored differently. Also, there may be some guides still floating around that discuss the "old" GRE (prior to August 2011), where the test was adaptive at the question level (that is, whether you get question #15 correct determines the difficulty of question #16 etc.). Now the test is adaptive to each section. This means there are only two difficulty levels for each category (Verbal vs. Quant.). All the questions within a single section (difficulty level) are worth exactly the same. As @celaena23 says, the difficulty of the second section depends on your performance on the first section. After you complete the test, the software scores each of your sections and assigns you a score based on how many correct answers and the difficulty level of your two sections. Source: https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/scores/how/