Queen of Kale

My husband and I keep joking that the process needs to have something akin to the Domino's Pizza Tracker.

I had an unofficial e-mail from a POI this weekend too; but if I looked back at most of my e-mails from POI they usually e-mailed either on weekends of after 10pm - maybe the only "free" time they have? Still, we have to pause the crazy sometimes - right? That's why I started taking yoga again, to give myself a few hours a week in which I absolutely could not reasonably check my phone. Basically I'm treating it like time-out for neurotic adults. If weekend are enough disincentive to stop obsessively checking your email, stick with it, otherwise I highly recommend tying oneself into a human knot for awhile.

This is such a helpful tip! I realized that some of my applyweb apps were adjusting my completion date when I logged in to check my status. So although my app had been completely finalized weeks and weeks, each time I double checked my application the completion date was altered to my last log in date. I don't know why I never thought of incognito mode, but you're my hero-of-the-day.

speed metal

Congrats everyone!! Mr. Buttons; you mind letting me know when visiting weekend is? Also, how UT Austin contacted you? Just curious as a fellow applicant there DunDunDun, and so it all begins!

club soda

speak up

central time

I would remove the second to last sentence and merge the last sentence into the preceding paragraph.

You guys need to come check out the old threads in the Earth Sciences section of the Physical Sciences part of Grad Cafe! Last year there was a great sense of community, but also the old threads are a wonderful resource for questions like this. Not to mention, we love new people and you might have more replies for field specific questions like this. I don't have any interview experience yet myself, but I do want to point out that many, many applicants in the earth sciences did not do undergraduate work in geology. I would say of the research groups I am interested in joining about 1/2 of the current graduate students have backgrounds in math, physics, or chemistry. So while you should be prepared to answer the "switching fields" questions, don't feel like you're the only one. Many geology departments really seek out these types of applicants for their stronger quantitative or "hard science" skills.

Yeah, I've definitely checked out previous years results (well, I'm downplaying the obsessiveness a bit) and I am expecting many results for several weeks as you suggested. On the hand, I know that there's always a bit of unofficial news that isn't reported on the results page (which I remember from when I was around last year) and I also just wanted to nudge the thread and make sure it stayed alive until people actually begin getting official results. I'd hate for new earth science people to visit the page once, see how quiet it is, and never come back. Plus, lo and behold, as soon as we both mentioned how quiet the results page was a new result was added last night But I appreciate the advice about NSF deadlines, it's something that's easy to put out of your mind if you're not in an NSF-funded lab.

Anybody hear anything yet? The results thread is deeeeaaad for geop*|geol*|geos*|earth|planet*|space|ocean* and the wait is making me a little crazy. My only formal feedback thus far was an e-mail from Washington University encouraging me to apply for a fellowship and stating that decisions would come out in the next few weeks. How is it going for everyone else? All quiet on the grad school front?

Yeah, what you said was 100% right, I just wanted to add that I wasn't sure it was the whole story. But, I want to clarify, the percentiles are printed on your score report and it is unlikely that they would go to the trouble of looking up your new revised percentiles. If anything they would most likely be comparing raw numerical scores or look at the percentiles on your score report. Just my logic, I don't have any inside knowledge.

Strictly, I'm not sure this is true. I sent half my GRE scores last spring, shortly after taking the test my scores were 87% in Gaunt, 98% verbal, and maybe 84% writing. Those were the percentiles on my actual mailed GRE scores. When I sent my second batch this fall my percentiles had changed to 84% quant, 98% verbal, and 87% writing. (I'm improvising on my numbers, I'm not sure I remember exactly) And these revised percentiles were reflected on my second batch of mailed GRE scores. Although the score was from the same test, my GRE report does have two different percentiles. I have heard, although not from ETS directly, that a little wiggling in percentiles within the first 3 months of taking your test is typical, as your final percentile reflects your test-taking cohort in the time preceding and after your test whereas your initial scores only reflect the results of those who took the test before you. I hope that helps!

I agree with Midnight Streetlight about the free ETS diagnostic tool. The bright side of taking the test twice means you should be able to clearly see what sort of problems are most difficult for you and focus on learning those. I chose not to retake my exam in the end, but when reviewing my Quant section it became clear that the only problems I missed were the probability problems - which for me added up quite a bit. Focusing in the way should help you save time when you prepare as well. Last but not least, good luck!

"Night" by Zola Jesus (or, if I take out my headphones, the hound and husband 'sleep-purring' next to me"

I finished all but one of my apps by mid-October, but despite some friendly e-mailing with POIs before Christmas, have heard nothing official from anyone and nothing from POIs for weeks now. Cue slow build to crazy.

New York style thin crust, extra cheese, peppadews. I can eat an 18" in the course of the day (with a little help from my hound)

I think I applied to this same school or at least one with a strikingly similar prompt. I used the same essay format as with my other schools: short paragraph explaining why I selected school/department/POI based on fit, paragraphs about each research experience with connecting themes to tie them together, and conclusion paragraph. That's it, quick and dirty. I left out memberships, etc as they were covered in my CV.

I gave my LoR writers a 6-pack of beer. But, you know, after everything was submitted

No exaggeration, i just realized when reading this thread that my UT status has been at "Attention: Your file has been forwarded to the Graduate Committee for review" for two months. So, the likelihood that I will go insane before hearing from them is pretty high. Anyway, just wanted to join in the moment of solidarity.

I'm a freakishly private person, and I feel strange about putting myself "out there" like this, but this thread really helped me figure out my target schools last year so here goes nothing: Undergrad Institution: unranked Major(s): Earth Science Minor(s): none GPA in Major: 4.0 Overall GPA: 3.88 Position in Class: no idea Type of Student: short freckled female GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 162 (85%) V: 168 (98%) W: 5 (92%) Research Experience: REU internship, national lab internship, NASA internship Awards/Honors/Recognitions: general pats on the back from my school Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: applied to NSF GRFP (for the apps that ask), contacted professors at all schools (fairly early), and feel really really jazzy about the research I want to do (which I hope comes across in my SoP) Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I'm a licensed cosmetologist (yup, seriously) Applying to Where: Brown University University of Chicago University of Texas University of Minnesota Washington University in St. Louis University of Michigan

After 6 months of combing through 120 programs in my field, narrowing by research fit, seeking advice from trusted people in my field, contacting professors, and being a complete and utter bore to anyone who made the mistake of asking about "the list" - it's done. Which is why I am shocked and amazed that now, after hearing me prattle on for months, those near and dear to me have begun sprinkling conversations with: "well have you considered school GYFHJKJH (which doesn't do anything like what I do)" to which I'm forced to reply "yeah, but, you know, great school - just not what I want to do" to which the inevitable reply is, "well they have a great program in isduhisduhf (thing unrelated to me)" I appreciate the support of course. But why must it be now, when I have bored myself with my own nitpicking, when the list is formalized, when I can put those dark days of list-uncertainty behind me? Now is the time for meaningless application talk, essay revisions, selecting letter writers! I can only assume my friends and family have had a peak into this even duller world of approaching conversation and suddenly dream-school-talk seemed fun and fancy free by comparison.

I graduated high school early and was on track to graduate college a few weeks before I turned 21 when... my life took a few major turns. Now I'm married, back in undergrad and set to graduate (with a completely different degree) at 30. If i get into a graduate program I won't graduate until 35+. The truth is from young over-achiever to non-traditional older student; I've never felt at a disadvantage or that I was missing out on something the other students had. Having run the gamut I can say that each experience has it's own set of compromises, and challenges, and you will come out older and changed no matter what age you went in. I know it's terribly cheesy but it's hardly worth time fretting over, you can't change your age, you know what you want to do, and ten years from now you'll look back on whatever age you are now and think of what a young foolish thing you were back then.

Researching this site, particularly the earth science threads, proved invaluable in my early preparation for applying to grad school. This Fall is my application season, and now I wanted to start a thread where both first time applicants as well as those on a second or third application season can discuss applications for this year. So tell me, where are you on your application? Is anyone else narrowing the list of prospective schools, contacting POIs, preparing essays, or considering external funding opportunities?