meki4life

Hi all, so I'm a first year Earth Science student; right now I'm taking a grad level Nuclear Physics class from the Physics department in my university because my research has something to do with cosmogenic production (nuclear reaction) Initially I was planning to audit the class, but as the class went on I did fairly well on the homeworks and first midterm. However I totally bombed the second midterm (the entire class kinda bombed it, the average was 55 but since I don't have strong enough background in physics-land I scored a standard deviation lower than the average) and now my grade is hovering at C+/B-. Apparently according to other Physics grad student this is kinda how the physics department in my university try to weed out non-commited physicists out of their program. In my Earth science program, C+ would mean academic probation; so should I withdraw from the class and get a W in my transcript? I told my advisor about the possibility of getting a W, and he totally understands my circumtances but I'm afraid that it hurt me in the long run (getting scholarships, fellowships, etc). If this happened during my undergrad year, I will definitely plow through till the end (with help of several Red Bulls during finals), but the possibility of getting academic probation if I didn't do well in the final really scares me. Also I personally think that a B- is still within reach - however I'm not sure whether the risk is worth it for me especially since it is a tangential course (not even an elective) Any comments or recommendation here would be greatly appreciated

yeah I got accepted to University of Rochester Ph.D program so don't worry about it, the professor that I applied to is a really great guy and he already had a couple of science papers under his name so I think I would be in good hand. But thanks for worrying, I just feel kinda bad leaving his offer hanging and keep waiting for other top schools when I don't think I have that good of a chance of getting admitted there anyway. And good luck for everyone else in this board, sorry for the downer question and stay optimistic

Hi guys so I have a question, at this point do you think people who applied but don't get any response/interview from the POI still have a chance to get in? Because I asked my undergraduate advisor and in my university and he said that they usually called/invite the prospective students that they really interested in and then leave everyone else in the wait list incase someone dropped out so all the acceptance letter would arrive in late february/early march and then they'll sent all the rejection letters all at once in early april for all the remaining smucks. I'm really sorry I don't want to be a downer here I'm kinda in similar situation I haven't heard anything back from MIT EAPS and Berkeley and kinda losing hope on those schools the wait is messing up with my brain

Hi guys I'm also just registered, Undergrad school : Upper mid-ish private university ranked 30~40 on USNews Cum GPA: 3.78 Major GPA: 3.98 Major: Earth Sciences Minor: Double minor in Environmental Science and Math GRE: Q 87% V98% W48% Undergrad research experience: Worked on ICP-AES & MS as undergrad to analyze marine sediments, still working on a senior thesis also using the ICP MS to analyze the chemistry in salt marsh interstitial water and one field season in Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Publications: Two presentations/posters at AGU'11 (none of them as main author and I personally didn't attend the conference because I was doing my fieldwork in Antarctica) Accepted : UofRochester (Ph.D) Rejected: MIT/WHOI Waiting: MIT EAPS, Berkeley, Stanford, Columbia, UPenn (all Ph.D) So I have a question, I already had an informal meeting with my POI over at MIT, and we had a nice chat. However he was hinting that he probably would need a more experienced/senior student than someone who is fresh from an undergrad. The story is although I was applying both to the Joint program and MIT EAPS I'm basically applying to the same person. Since I got rejected from the Joint program does that mean my application to MIT EAPS is also toast or there is still a chance for me to get in there. I want to send an email asking the POI to clarify this but I'm kinda afraid to bother him and don't know what to say