LastGradStanding
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Posts posted by LastGradStanding
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Which university was this?
Waterloo
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I just got another rejection. This one was from the program that I thought was the most open to my learning disability. I'm only good at a very narrow range of things which is something that's supposed to be ok for PhD programs. I'm beginning to think that I have Asberger's as well so I'm giving up PhD applications and saving my pennies to get tested. It's not like that would help me get admitted, I just need to know.
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Just checked my status and saw that I was denied. The least they could have done was send me an email telling me to check my status or an outright rejection email.
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I'm trying to keep hope alive but the odds are diminishing by the day. Anybody ever done research while not enrolled? As in getting a friendly prof to show you the ropes and attempt to publish the results?
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Has anyone heard anything about UW CS admissions yet? The deadline was a month ago but they're still taking applications according to their website. Nobody has updated the tracker for this recruitment session.
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I forgot to mention that everyone thought I was an ECE student. Apparently that's all that black men study in engineering school.
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I was the only black guy in my whole program for my first semester. Another guy came the next semester but he was from overseas. Being the only AA sucked. I always got stuck with the dirtbags for group projects because everyone from the majority would pair up so quickly that it would just be me and a few deadbeats left within a couple of minutes. This affected my grades twice. I had friends in other fields who had similar experiences. The dirtbags will do nothing and leave you to carry all of the weight, and if you get a B instead of an A they'll explain it away as the result of being paired with a black person.
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How did everything end for the OP?
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Everything is done with my app. I applied directly for the PhD (which this school allows) but noted that I was willing to do the MS if they thought that I should do one first. I'm gonna wait a few days before hitting the send button though. History has shown that there is always one little improvement that could've been done when immediately send my SOP. If it still looks perfect after 2-3 days then it's good to go.
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So I posted my last post after seeing your first post but before seeing your second post!
In light of the new info (that you have a Masters in a very specific sub-field/application of the field but not enough general knowledge), I would say that this is not that abnormal, but there is probably no common practice. Also, it depends on the circumstances of your Masters -- is it equivalent to a Canadian Masters? (Like I said above, the Canadian Masters program is a bit different than a US MS). Depending on what your undergrad and Masters degree are (are they the same type of degree that you would be getting in this department?) another school might accept you for a PhD program.
I am not surprised though, if they won't want to accept you into a PhD program because you only know your specific application/sub-field instead of general knowledge. In Physics in Canada, I've noticed that many departments have the mindset of "you're a physicist first, and then [your subfield, whether it's astronomy, medical physics, quantum, condensed matter, etc.] second". The requirements for graduate degrees in any subfield of Physics would generally be heavy on the "core" courses of Physics, even if they have nothing in common with your actual research. i.e. you'll be hard-pressed to find an astronomer who got their PhD in Canada but did not take Quantum Field Theory! I'm not commenting on whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, but it exists and that might explain why you would be asked to do a Masters there first.
I like the Masters first then PhD because it provides you with an actually useful degree if you decide that you don't want to stay in academia (or your supervisor decides that you didn't live up to expectations). However, I would consider the cases where a student is forced to leave after a Masters as a failure of the school and supervisor, in most cases!
I have a professional masters but I took extra classes in hard stats and CS rather than fluff classes like most of my classmates. My MS program was much harder where I earned it than the equivalent program is at my target school. I think I'd make a great TA since I did it at my old school. Since graduation I've been building my skills in my spare time. I have lots of practical knowledge but I don't have anything on a transcript that says I know a CS theory. It was also a non-thesis program and I think most Canadian schools want applicants who've done a thesis for PhD programs. I haven't done research, just teaching. At the time I didn't think I'd want a PhD.
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With all that said, you're saying that your school generally puts people directly into PhD programs. Actually, you said the person said that non-traditional applicants are ONLY accepted for Masters studies, but that does mean that ALL masters students are non-traditional applicants?
No, they just don't accept non-traditional applicants directly to the PhD program.
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While I am most familiar with social science admission processes, I know that across the board in Canada it is very (very!) rare to go from undergrad straight to a PhD program. The typical course is bachelors degree, masters degree, then phd.
I have a Masters in a specific application of the field I'm interested in. I just haven't taken the core set of coursework for the field in general. They want me to know the core before being allowed to pursue a research oriented degree.
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How common is it to apply to a PhD program and have them admit you as a Masters student? I talked to a POI who just took on a bunch of students and won't be taking on any more soon. She said that I had a decent shot at being taken on as a student with a non-traditional background but I'd have to take some remedial courses (which is fine).
As I was writing my SOP I rechecked their website to be sure of the wording and it looks like wording about remedial courses refers to Masters students. I emailed a program administrator and she confirmed that the non-traditional applicants are only accepted for Masters studies. This is a Canadian school. In the US you earn a Masters on the way to getting a PhD. I'm not sure that this is the case in Canada. They do accept people into the PhD program from the Masters without reapplying though. I already paid all of my fees and my app is complete except for the SOP.
Should I change my status to Masters applicant or should I leave it as-is with the expectation of a Masters admission?
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I have applied to master's programs for Speech-Language Pathology two years in a row now. The first year was while I was a senior (undergrad), the second time was the year right after I graduated. Both times I have been wait-listed to half the schools I applied to, but in the end was denied acceptance. My experience has more than doubled since my first year applying, I currently work part time in a preschool at a speech and hearing center. My GPA is only 3.4 and a 3.23 in my major (low for speech path students), and my GRE scores have been very average both times I have taken it.
Has anyone had success in applying to graduate school a third year in a row? Any suggestions to make my application stronger, if I should even apply again?
Thanks.
If they accept new students more than once a year it would behoove you to apply during the off-peak semester(s).
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Just list the individual skills of interest to the employer without saying where they came from.
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Any other dyslexics have any input?
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A low gpa won't bar you from all schools, and while I do sympathize with your condition, realistic advise is still the best advise.
Things I'd reommend you do before you apply
Write personal statement letters that focus on your strengths, however, if you feel your low gpa is the largest factor preventing success, use what resources you can to mitigate this. Include in your personal statement why your gpa shouldn't be the primary focus, ask your reference writers to try and address the issue if possible, if possible show product you have created (publications, patents, etc) to demonstrate your competence outside of memorization.
As far as research experience in a lab goes, yes it might be true that for a course or directed studies, working in a lab requires a higher gpa. However, many labs will take on volunteers who have a bit lower gpa. This will still allow you to gain that vital aspect to your application should you need it.
Contact individuals youd like to work with and see if they are accepting grad students. It might be the individuals you are interested in working with, will not be accepting any further students as is. Similarly you can test if you two have a good fit or not.
Is there any way to do research to boost my odds? I've seen a few non-profits that offer these sorts of opportunities but they all seem to be region-centric and on the east of west coasts. I'm in Houston which poses a problem.
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Try applying outside the US. Good luck!
I've been looking at a program in Canada that I think would be a good match. They've got several ML courses instead of jamming everyting in 2-3 classes. They're also well funded but it appears that they are very highly ranked in CS. I meet the resident GPA cutoff but not the international one. I might be able to get an exception but it's still intimidating. Believe it or not I didn't know the two #1 ranked depts that I had joined were so well regarded. I practically stumbled into them.
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This is the second year in a row that I've been struck out by every school that I've applied to. I'm dyslexic and have had some health issues but it's mainly the dyslexia. I have a (barely) sub-3.0 GPA from my masters and a slightly lower GPA from my double bachelors degrees. I was actually diagnosed in the 2nd grade but my mother decided to ignore this information with the hopes that the problem would just go away. By the time I was diagnosed as an adult significant damage had been done to my transcript, mainly from liberal arts courses. Any course that requires rote memorization of data rather than learning processes is difficult to me. I learn best by doing things but most schools nowadays are all about memorizing and not actually doing things so my GPA isn't an accurate representation of my capabilities. I'm trying to get into a machine learning PhD program but this GPA is killing my dream and I have no job offers right now mainly because of my GPA. I don't have many options left in life.
I have nothing but As in machine learning courses and a large amount of math and statistics coursework under my belt. Both schools I attended quantized grades such that each grade is an integer while many competitors have grades that are in third or quarter grade intervals. This causes a lifting effect so extreme that I'd have a 3.5ish GPA using their system. I went to two non-inflationary schools and didn't realize how much other universities inflated grades. I pointed out this discrepancy this year and got a little bit more consideration than I did last year but the outcome was still the same. I can't even get a conditional admission.
Do I actually need a PhD? Honestly, I'd rather learn on the job but that option is not available to me. I've seen a few jobs that offer training but you have to have the right GPA. Most openings that I see are PhD only, no MS allowed. Pursuing a PhD is my best option right now but I have a low GPA, little work experience (recession claimed my job before grad school), and no research experience (only the high GPA students were allowed to do research). My teaching\training experience doesn't seem to matter either. I've found one school in particular that houses computational versions of my previous 3 studies within the CS dept, has lots of machine learning coursework and a fairly flexible PhD program. They seem to prefer c++ and Python which are my two languages of choice. It's a high ranking school but 2/3 of my degrees were from #1 ranked depts and the other was #14 so hopefully that won't be an issue. How can I get through to the admissions board? Is there anything I can do before I apply?
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below a 2.7 GPA undergrad, won the NSF fellow and accepted to my top choice program. There is hope you guys LOL Also I have below 50% rankings on all sections of the GRE. Such is life, I barely studied.
I was rejected by a lot of professors. One professor even questioned my intelligence despite the fact that I had way more research and presentation experience than most coming out of undergrad, then after explaining my situation, he never emailed me back! I told my teachers and they all labeled him a jerk and told me some professors are full of themselves...so I felt better. Lol I went with the 1 professor that agreed to take me on one there was funding despite my low GPA and before I even applied for the GRFP. Plus it was my first choice school.
One thing I recommend is if you are like me and you see your GPA decreasing fast during your undergrad then get as much experience in a lab, volunteer if you have to, do a few technician and summer jobs. Stick with doing jobs at universities so you can Build up your connections that matter the most. Remember you're trying to get into grad school, so it's just smarter to keep working with professors or university owned organizations.
Unfortunately I went to school where GPA determined access to labs and research, which is why I'm still stuck.
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I still haven't even been interviewed. I guess it's safe to say I didn't make it. I wonder why they send out bulk rejects at the end rather than as they make decisions.
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Any good news for anyone this recruitment cycle?
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The result tracker shows that the first round went out a few weeks ago but nothing more recent. It's my first choice and I'm getting nervous. I've tried contacting the staff but they won't respond.
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Did you speak to your bosses boss about it?
Canadian school applicants
in Waiting it Out
Posted
It was for May.