Physwimic

I used the Kaplan book, which had a list of 300 or so words. I studied them, and believe this did indeed help. I saw several of them on the test, and it probably added a few points to my score. The 300 words was worth it to me for the few points. I had a friend who used a book with 1000+ words. According to her, she didn't see any of them on the test.

In my opinion, the "ivy league" brand name matters little in grad school. To the general public, it matters a lot. Particularly if the ivy you are talking about is Harvard or one of the other well known ones. The name recognition gets you a lot of bonus points when you tell friends. And if that's why you're going to grad school, then by all means choose the most widely known ivy. Inside your field, people will be much quicker to consider the reputation of the school in the field. While some big name schools carry weight in the academic world (and the ivies often fall into this category because they often have excellent programs), personally, I think if you are trying to judge how "well" you did in the application process, you are much better considering if you got into a top ten vs. top 100 program. This being said, I would caution you to remember that a huge part of grad applications, at least in the more academic fields, seems to be random. While getting into a top program marks you as a good candidate, not getting in doesn't necessarily mean you suck. As for clout in grad vs undergrad degrees, I think by choosing to go to grad school, you have already placed yourself in a tier above most undergrad students, and this is largely irrespective of where you go. At the end of the day, I'd place a lot less importance on the ivy league name and just choose the place that offers the best fit for you personally. Forget about what other people think; that isn't important. What is important is that you are happy. Finally, before other people jump down my throat for posting this, I will say that I have a ugrad degree from an ivy, and chose not to go to an ivy grad school after being accepted to one. My decision was based on what I said above. Draw what conclusions you may...

The approach I always took was a combination of short and elaborate. Basically, I got right to the point. I made it abundantly clear in the first paragraph what I was after and put some of my academic information right up front (school, degree, etc). This way they could easily figure out if they were interested and if not, they could just press delete. Then I would expand and describe my background in greater detail, why I was interested in their work, and try to show a genuine interest by asking thoughtful questions. Finally, I'd reemphasize why I was writing them and attach a CV if they wished to know anything in further detail. From the responses I got from professors, this worked decently well, but I am sure other people have different views.

In answer to #1, talk to them. The easiest way is to email them and tell them that you are applying as an MA candidate and are interested in doing research for them. Often times they will tell you whether they have funding to pay you, or to provide equipment and supplies for you, or they just don't have the resources to take you on. From my experience, you really don't have to ask outright, just let them know you are interested. If they think you will work well and have the funding, they will let you know. If not, they probably won't respond at all or will apologize and let you know they aren't taking students. One final note, they may side step the question at first but show interest. This is often because they like you and don't know if they will have sufficient funds yet (for instance, they are applying for a grant but don't know if they will get it yet), so be prepared to maintain in contact with some people until funding is sorted out.

I'd assume that during your visit you met a program secretary/coordinator of some sort (someone who took care of all the paperwork, organized your visit, etc). If you have their e-mail, I'd send them an e-mail asking if there is any word on reimbursement. It could be that your paperwork got lost in the shuffle, or that you are missing something that they need to reimburse you. I'd certainly take a more active role in this though, since even at the snails pace that most academic institutions work when it comes to giving out money, you should have heard something by now.

I took several practice tests. The one supplied by ETS was, in my opinion, close to the real test. Kaplan, as is to be expected, had two practice tests. The first was harder, and the second easier than the real test. I believe most prep books do this so you work through the book and then feel confident going into the test.

I think the much more pressing question is how your research experience is, what sort of recs you will get, and writing a good SoP. In short, a 3.7 is not going to put you in the definite pile, but it is certainly not going to exclude you from any of those schools. I know plenty of people who got into tier 1 schools with that range of GPA.

Sounds like we get to stress for at least another night. All of the fellowships need to get their act together on notifying applicants. I feel like we live in a very connected world that makes this process all the more stressful since they refuse to become more connected.

I guess I should add that I am unable to log in to the awards page. Is there any biosciences person who can, or is there still hope?

I applied in the biosciences and have yet to hear anything. Has anyone received any rejections yet? I'd just like to receive mine so I can move on.

I can't speak to history programs, but I can tell you that I saw quite a few people on interviews and accepted students weekends at prestigious schools who were coming from smaller schools that didn't have a reputation. I think they had a burden placed on them to demonstrate they were good and ambitious, but that wasn't through having a 4.0 or spectacular GPA. It was through showing a dedication to your studies and tenacity to search out unique experiences in the field. I say spend the next year doing something interesting but related to your grad school dreams and apply. You are already in great shape minus the GRE!

In the rare cases it does occur, you can also usually petition the grad division to revisit the issue. One of my friends did this and ultimately got the decision over turned.

I had the Kaplan book and my girlfriend had the Barrons book. I am of the strong opinion that the Kaplan book was better. I also think the Barrons list of a million GRE words is excessive and not very useful. However, Kaplan has a list of something like 250 which I found immensely useful. I think about 6 of them showed up in my test, so I think my 20 hours of studying them was probably well worth it. Just my advice. Oh, and I found the writing section in Kaplan useful. They seemed to have some very useful advice on formating essays which I think worked out very well for me, but am not really sure how crucial it is to doing well on the GRE (ie, you probably don't HAVE to format your essays the way they tell you to, but I think it helped me avoid some other pitfalls).

I could only remember my argument topic, and I can confirm that my argument topic was on the list. However, I don't know how much this helps. If you have enough time to go through and prepare essays for all of those topics . . .

Give them a call. It's much harder to blow you off on the phone, and you can be a lot more persistent.

So I never lived in Bethlehem, but I lived about 15 minutes away a couple years ago. I also spent a year attending Lehigh as a commuter student. I still have ties to the area, so I have (limited) knowledge. While I can't speak much about rent (at the time I was living with my parents, so rent was dirt cheap:), I can tell you that Bethlehem is a pretty nice city. You are in for a real treat if you like music, since quite a bit of money has been invested to increase Bethlehem's lot in the arts scene. They also have Musikfest and Celtic Classic, two major music festivals held every year. Anyway, as far as my knowledge of housing, I think the area right around Lehigh is pretty nice, although probably somewhat over run with undergrads. From my (although somewhat limited) knowledge of Bethlehem, the areas mentioned in the 2009 posts are still ok. In general, Bethlehem is kind of an up-and-coming area, and so if things are changing, they are improving. If you have more specific questions, feel free to ask.

Depending on the program, absolutely. I applied to two different programs at one school. However, read their websites carefully; I had one school where I had been planning to apply to 2 programs, but they only let you apply to one.

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results." I am insane.

"I plan to study the estimated cost (in lost productivity, life-span reductions due to stress, etc) the NSF GRFP program causes each year by failing to disclose an official announcement date."

I can't believe that the NSF (although this goes for most grad programs in general) can't give us a specific release date for results. I also don't understand why they give themselves 6 hours to upload the results. You would think they could write a program just to post the results in under an hour. Finally, how do they not post the score reports at the same time?

I think getting cold feet is pretty normal. It ties into the impostor syndrome. You start off questioning how you got in, and quickly spiral to "do I really want to do this?" I'd say having the hutzpah to apply to MA programs, stick with an MA program, and then go through the application process again for PhD programs is your indication of how much you actually want to do this. Take a deep breath, and dive in!

I wouldn't worry too much. Supervisors realize that this is your first time in this situation while they have (probably) done this many times before. That usually means that they will work to make sure the conversation runs smoothly. It's their job to do this, and presumably they are good at it. It wouldn't hurt to think through what you want to ask them and write it down ahead of time. I always find it helpful to come up with a few questions related to their research ahead of time so you can sound educated.

I was just accepted to 2 graduate programs out of undergrad. I have a publication in progress.

Look into specifics about his research, and ask him questions about it. Professors love talking about their research, and if his research interests match yours, you should be able to come up with questions. This is a chance for you to gauge wether you could work with this professor as a mentor, so you should try to judge how he interacts with his students, as well as his unique way of approaching research. Also, you may be able to get his insight into how he thinks the program to which you have been accepted can benefit you. I found that a lot of professors had interesting, albeit biased, insight into the pros and cons of programs. And as ci1717 said, this is an excellent chance to network and set up future contacts.

1. Can you survive without a car? 2. What is placement after grad school like (where do people go)? 3. Do you have time to take interest classes (such as a ballroom dancing class or something else)? 4. Make sure to ask professors what they like about the school. They often have interesting and enlightening responses. I also found it helpful to gauge the interactions between students in the program, although I felt a community was really important for me. Maybe it is less important to other people.