TeaGirl

I'm a woman in a STEM field. Not just STEM, but a field where the female:male ratio can be as low as 1:10 or less and I did my undergrad in a country where it's little harder for women (but changing slowly for the better). So here are some of my experiences on this: I went into engineering because I love it. My family has a few engineers and doctors, so I had plenty of support from that angle. Math and Physics were my favorite subjects in school, I read a little about mechanical before choosing it as a major, dove in, and haven't looked back since. The academic environment is really fair and supportive, and I've never faced discrimination from faculty or administration whether in my undergrad in my home country or in my Masters in the U.S. There were some times when I'd be grouped with some guys from my class I hadn't worked with before, and you can see a little the assumption that they would be doing the "dirty work", especially seeing as I can come across as a petite helpless looking person. That assumption was quickly corrected within minutes since most of us girls in the class either had or quickly developed take-charge attitudes. I can't say I felt any discrimination at all in the U.S. People are sometimes surprised when I talk about what I study/do, but they're friendly and nice. The only place where discriminations really reared its ugly face was when I came back home and considered finding a job here to take a break from studying between my Masters and applying for a PhD. I have to say most companies were decent, but a few were terrible. Some of the questions I was asked were borderline insulting. However, in every single job interview, I had to insist and assure the interviewer that I did want to go on-site and do the required traveling if I took the job. There's a tendency to put women in desk jobs. Added on top of that is that I cover my hair and people just assume things all the time. I decided to teach at my undergrad school in the end. You can often see this difficulty in gender bias in how the ratio of female:male grad students increases to almost 1:1 here as compared to undergrad, because a lot of girls end up choosing grad school after a run-in with the job market. Overall, I don't regret it one bit, and I'm very optimistic about my future! Side note, I did the test and got: "Your data suggest a strong association of Female with Career and Male with Family compared to Male with Career and Female with Family." Not really sure what it signifies, haha.

I don't know. I was waitlisted last year at 2 programs and never got in. It depends on whether the school is one of the top programs in the field (that means most people will accept their offers) or not. You've got a better chance than most I believe since your POI still wants you to get in, so there's hope.

I would look into different rankings for engineering programs, and specifically aerospace engineering since that's your goal, and just go through the list one by one. I don't know about financial aid, but there's a lot of really good engineering schools out there. A top 20 or 30 school with a great GPA and getting involved in some undergraduate research with a couple of professors should be good enough for getting into one of the top programs for your graduate degree. You may find this link for California useful: http://admission.universityofcalifornia.edu/counselors/transfer/helping-students/second-baccalaureate/index.html UC-Irvine is pretty good in AE and takes on second bachelors. Maryland accepts post-baccs as well. I'm sure you'll find others if you dig around. HTH.

I agree. I would do a post-bacc to get a second BS degree in engineering. I imagine you've already completed all the humanities and other related requirements for your first degree, so you should be able to get your BS degree in about 2 years as you'd only need to take the required number of math/science/engineering classes.

If you're completely set on getting your PhD, I think your best shot may be to go work as research assistant (or whatever the title would be) with a POI in one of the schools you want to get into. They'd be more willing to take you on if they've seen your work first hand. The problem usually is that programs may view graduate GPAs as inflated and would look at a low undergrad GPA from a good school as a red flag. That said, I'm not sure so someone correct me on this: I think if you take a few undergraduate post-bacc courses they will be averaged with your undergraduate GPA which can raise it. It may also be of help if you take these as some tough engineering courses at your prospective school and ace them to show you're good enough for the program. However, two problems I can think of: I don't know if this works after you've completed your Master's degree, and the expense of it. Talk to your grad/undergrad advisor at your current school for some help on this.

Actually, I just today received an email from one of my schools with the subject saying "admission decision." I was accepted You never know!

Haha, that too

Wherever I go (got one acceptance), I'm planning to buy myself a really cool laptop and a school hoodie. Also from the looks of things, some expensive warm winter boots and a proper jacket/coat.

I'm sure it won't matter at and it was probably just some curiosity on their part for additional information. On the other hand you just opened a whole new avenue of obsessive checking

city street

I went through a similar situation but I already had an acceptance from one of my top choices so I politely declined. I would just say that you would be very interested and happy in working there but that you'd need a bit more time to make a final decision on accepting since you haven't heard back from all the programs you applied to.

I made a list of all the universities I applied to and added the dates according to the results search of when I may start hearing back. I check this list several times a day to make sure it's okay I haven't heard from them yet. That's not overdoing it, right?

take out

I opened my email this morning and saw "University of Maryland" as the sender. The bottom dropped out from my stomach and my heart went to 1000. Then I realized it's some irrelevant auto-emailed spam thing from the university reminding me of how I can check my account. Gaah..

I'm coming to see that the ones who do the worst mentally and emotionally at graduate school may be the ones who had the least idea of what they were getting into. I think if you go in with clear goals, realistic expectations, and understanding what it will take to get that PhD, you are less likely to come out feeling abused or with such a cynical view of the entire process.

Haha, I don't know why I completely didn't get this one Forgot about window A/C units.

primal instinct

Depends on where you live and how hot/cold it can get. So a unit with central A/C has no windows? That doesn't sound very nice. Unless they say that utility bills are included with the rent, you will have to pay for electricity cost of the A/C.

I would also avoid carpeting if possible or vacuum on a *very* regular basis. I didn't have allergies before, but at the end of 2 years with carpeting (even though I vacuumed once every 1-2 weeks) I was chronically sniffing and had trouble with my sinuses. That can't be good for allergy sufferers.

I will be the most overexcited human on the face of the plant. They may have to peal me off the ceiling. I hope you do get your acceptance!

bat man

Yeah I would contact the program coordinator and explain. Some schools only require transcripts from places where received a degree, so you'd be fine with those, otherwise, ask if you can send it in now. Good luck!

I would definitely recommend you visit the school at which you'll have the interviews. For the other school, like TakeruK said, maybe you can see if you can reschedule a second visit. Or perhaps, email some professors to see if they'd be willing to meet you, etc.

Yeah I agree with the others. $84,000 in loans is absolutely not worth it, especially since there are plenty of other programs that will get you to the same end goal for whole lot less money. You could end up paying for that loan and the interest for the rest of your life!!

Your stats look good on paper. The fact that you have a clear idea of what topic you're interested in working shows academic maturity, also good. Two strong LORs are of course needed but for the most prestigious programs, they not only need to say that you're good, they need to say that you are amazing. Publications of course would help a lot. The fact that you're finishing undergrad in just two years (did I understand that right?) could be really great and in your favor as it shows that you are smart and hardworking. On the other hand, it could work completely against you if a program deems that you may be too young/not mature enough to handle the pressures of being a PhD student. This point will completely depend on the LORs and your SOP, and how you come through to someone reading both. You may want to not mention your age in the application as someone noted above. Once you're ready to apply, email professors you'd like to work with (or ask your own professors for contacts at certain programs) and ask if they are taking on students. You don't want to waste money applying to a program and a PI who isn't taking students the next year. I recommend you apply to at least 7 universities all of which you'd be very happy to go to. That way, no matter where you go, you wouldn't feel like you settled. (Biochem people, feel free to correct me on this point if the field is more or less competitive). Finally, you seem like a smart person who's got their stuff together, but from experience, even smart people can fail. You really will not know whether or not you're good enough to get into a program till you try, and if you're set on your career path, I highly recommend you try.