POG0628

It gets better though, you have to think about all the application costs. For example: I applied to 12 schools. For me the average application fee was probably closer to $60-70. $23 per GRE score report. The community college I took some of my courses at during high school was $10 per transcript. One school required the materials be submitted through Interfolio, another $25. I had to submit inserts with two sets of my transcripts, so for those my current university charged another $10 per ($20). I've often joked that graduate applicants must be good for the economy.

It's possible there could be some people who feel their toes have been stepped on, specifically at Choice A. But I think the more important question is this: What to you feels like it will be the hardest to live with? Rejecting a school after giving them an unofficial acceptance, or going to a program that you don't actually want to be at for 5-6 years?

I can't speak to the specifics of chemistry, but I will mention what a department advisor once told me: Always remember that departmental requirements are not designed to precisely match the entrance requirements of your dream school. I had been considering applying to medical school, and had to deal with the English and math requirements. I had taken one of my semesters of college English as an AP course, and has taken both my semesters of calculus as a community college sequence while still in high school. Despite that, I could have still applied and potentially gotten in, particularly at a less than ideal choice, since I did technically meet the requirements. But it just wouldn't have looked as good. I'm imagining your situation may be quite similar in that regard.

Fantastic! Are you going to be starting your research in June?

A young woman in my honors seminar is attending an undergraduate research conference at UCLA and informed me that she not only submitted an application fee with her abstract, but also was required to submit $10 once she accepted their invitation to attend (http://www.psych.ucla.edu/undergraduate/purc/applying). Now, I'm not sure how much they are asking you to pay, or if it's a conference specifically catering to undergraduate presentations as my classmate's conference is, but it does give me the impression that at least under some circumstances this is to be expected. Perhaps your professor might have some (more definitive) thoughts as well?

Congratulations! Great to hear from another future Buckeye!

I will be joining you in the Clinical Psychology program actually. I do wonder, however, if anyone who has gotten in knows when we will be hearing the results of the university fellowship competition. I was somewhat unclear on that from the information they gave us at the interview weekend.