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More money, lower cost of living, at a better school with more interesting professors and smarter fellow students (future peers).  Seems like an easy choice to me...

Do not do a science PhD without full funding.  That's the universal advice from all my profs.

is this possible? (no the answer is not present in their online materials) any knowledge of this happening? it'd be in the college of engineering. i guess it's all dependent on many factors but i'm just wondering if people have pulled it off.
 
i got into a nice private school, then got myself a prof who is willing to fund me with an RA there, but i also really want to be on the west coast, the program there is smaller but similarly ranked. and it's close to silicon valley so there would be plenty of good prospects.
 
was thinking of deferring to spend a year at the private school to see how it goes (i know it'll be more academically rigorous), if it sucks, take my admission at uc...

Becoming a university professor is difficult... the job market in academia is terrible now, and there just aren't very many openings for professor jobs. To get one, you'll need not just a PhD, but almost certainly at least one postdoc position as well. Are you sure that's what you want to do? I only ask because you said "maybe a university professor?" It's a great goal to have, but it'll take a lot of dedication, so you should be sure that your heart is really in it before you invest so much time and energy (and money) in it. There's also a big difference between a professor position at a liberal arts college (which typically has a heavy teaching component to it) and a professor position at a large research university (which typically has a larger research component to it, obviously). The latter is what I'm going for, and so I know more about it. At a research university, a lot of your time as a professor would be spent writing grant proposals and other not-so-fun stuff... which is something to consider. I know a lot of people who only realized that several years into their PhDs, and many of them left their programs after deciding that they didn't want to do that. Anyway, I'm not trying to discourage you or anything... I'm just saying that you should think long and hard about the specific type of career that you want first, because that will determine which schools you apply to. There are many other things that you can do with a graduate degree in biology if you decide that a professor job is not what you want. Have you ever considered an adjunct lecturer position? Since you enjoyed your GA position last semester, I'm guessing that you enjoy teaching at the undergrad level more than you enjoy teaching at the high school level. There are adjunct positions at both community colleges and four-year institutions, and many of them require only an MS in the field that you would be teaching in. I don't have a sense of how good the pay is, but it probably varies a lot based on the area and quality of the school.
 
Anyway, if you want to get into a graduate program that is research-based (as opposed to education-based), it would be really beneficial for you to have some research experience under your belt. Grad school admissions are just so competitive these days, and students who have already done research (even if it was just for a summer as an undergrad) probably look much more attractive to an admissions committee. That said, a lack of research experience is not an instant "app killer." Here's what you can do if you want to become a university professor:
 
First, you'll almost definitely need to do a second master's program (one that is research-based and that has a written thesis requirement). Many PhD programs will be very reluctant to consider an applicant who has no experience in independent research, but master's programs are usually a tad more forgiving when it comes to previous research experience. Cast a wide net and apply to as many master's programs as you can. I recommend this because your lack of research experience will unfortunately put you at a bit of a disadvantage and so applying to numerous programs will increase the chances that you'll be accepted to one.
 
That said, it is a disadvantage and not a roadblock. To counteract it, make the other aspects of your application strong. Study hard for the GREs and try to get as high of a score as you can, retaking the test if you don't do so well the first time. Normally, I advise against taking the subject GREs because they're kind of useless (one's academic transcript should be sufficient to establish proficiency in the field of interest). However, if your undergrad coursework was more education-heavy than biology-heavy, then I think it would serve you well to take the biology subject GRE. Make sure to get strong letters of recommendation too. You'll likely need three; the person that you GAed under is a great option... she might not be willing to write it (and you should be understanding if she declines), but it's definitely worth asking her for a letter. Try reaching out to several professors from your undergrad or master's program too, or perhaps even a professional reference from the high school where you are working now. You want to choose letter writers who know you well as a person (not just a number in a gradebook), and who can speak to your strengths (hard worker, enthusiastic, pays good attention to detail, etc.). It's usually best to choose people with whom you have done research in the past, but that's not an option for you. So, instead try to choose people who can show that you have the same general skills that any good researcher should have (dedication, time management skills, work ethic, et cetera)... basically, you want to show the schools you apply to that you have what it takes to do research, even though that you haven't done any in the past.
 
The statement of purpose is another area to really focus on in your application. Use it to describe why you've decided to leave the field of education and pursue a more research-oriented career. What you really want to do here is show the admissions committee that you are not only seriously committed to this new path that you're embarking on, but also that you are genuinely passionate about the particular field of biology that you want to do research in. That said, do you know which field you want to go into? I'd advise figuring that out first before you apply. Are you a neuroscience person? A molecular biology person? Or perhaps an evolutionary biology or ecology person? You'll have much more success in your applications if your SOP is more focused. In fact, academic fit is probably the most important thing here... admissions committees will likely reject an otherwise impressive application (good GPA/GRE, good letters, etc.) if the fit between the student's research interests and the research interests of the faculty at the school just don't match. Thus, it's really important to (1) determine what your research interests are, (2) apply to programs that have faculty who do research in that area, and (3) convey your genuine interest in this area of study in your SOP. It also wouldn't hurt to contact potential advisors before you start your application to discuss your goals/interests and the possibility of working with them. In fact, I'd recommend doing this even if it's not required by the program for you to have an official application sponsor.
 
If, however, you don't yet know which field of biology interests you, I'd suggest taking a few graduate level courses as a non-matriculated student before you apply. You can probably do this at your local university, though I don't know exactly how to go about it.
 
Anyway, all of that will help make you more competitive for MS programs. You GPA is already very good. You just need to make sure that the other aspects of your application are also as great as they can be so that they counteract the lack of research experience. :-) Then, once you finish the MS, you could either go on to get a PhD or enter the workforce. There are a number of careers that would be available to you with just an MS.
 
If your undergrad degree is in biology, you could also apply for biology internships before you apply to grad schools. I don't know if there are many available for this summer (deadlines may have passed on many of them?), but there should still be some, as well as internship opportunities for the fall semester. These could give you a little research experience that would look good on your CV and boost your chances of getting into a good program.
 
I hope this was helpful! I think that you have a shot and should totally go for it if this is what you really want to do. The lack of research experience may be a disadvantage, but it's not one that would be impossible to overcome. It's also probably a little field-dependent. There are fewer specialized lab techniques in a field like animal behavior than there are in fields like microbiology and neuroscience. It may be harder to get into a lab that focuses in one of the latter two fields than it would be to get into a behavior lab. But, don't assume that anything is impossible.
 
Good luck!

I don't think there is such a thing as a surefire objective measure of a prof's success. Metrics like h-index and impact score are good ways to broadly divide profs into categories (e.g. famous, well known, unknown etc.) but as a google search of these metrics will tell you, there are some biases, especially against young, up and coming profs. I think these metrics are like GPAs and GRE scores -- they provide useful information but I wouldn't use these metrics to directly compare two people with similar scores.
 
I would strongly rely on the subjective opinions of people you trust. Before making my decision, I met individually with several people I trusted (former advisors, senior students) and basically went through my top choices with them and asked their opinion. I wouldn't solely rely on the opinion of one person, so it's important to ask around and see what people have to say. I attended some conferences before and during application season so when you talk to other students at these events, the conversation usually turn to grad school applications when they find out that I'm applying to PhD programs. When I discussed the profs/programs I was considering, people generally share their thoughts about the profs and schools and I factor in those opinions too.
 
However, I think one very important thing is not just how famous/well-known/successful the prof is, but how famous/well-known/successful the prof can make you! A superstar prof can be great at doing their work but terrible at advising. I would actually try to look up the papers that are coauthored by the prof in question and one of his/her grad students (ideally, the ones where the student is first author). Check these out -- is the writing quality good? Are they published in good journals? Are they interesting results? Do they have a lot of citations or does no one really care? Also if the prof is older, check for trends in his/her research -- did they start strong but have slowed down a lot in recent years?
 
The advantage of having a superstar prof is that you want to do superstar research with him/her and get your name associated with theirs. But this is only possible if the prof is doing superstar level research WITH their students! 

I'm going to be living in a place where temperatures go to -15 degree celcius!! And I currently live in a place where it reaches a scorching 50!! It's gonna be one hell of a change!

I would err on caution contrary to what's being posted and say you should assume you won't get off the waitlist. It's definitely possible, but the odds are against you and it's better to play the probabilities and assume you're not getting then (so if you do, you're delighted, and if you don't, you're not disappointed). 
 
While many applicants are cross-admitted and necessarily must decline schools, schools also try to account for this by overadmitting by as many was 4-5x their expected matriculating class. So often, a few people slip through the waitlist, but it's definitely not as frequent as you might hope and you shouldn't count on it. 
 
Play it safe and go with what's certain. If you're on a waitlist, plan for not getting in. You still might, but don't hold your breath.

California - and by extension their schools - is broke, bud. That said, if you thought you were going to live like a king on a TA stipend.... Get some roommates, it's doable

You can find a prof's h-index very easily with Web of Science database. 
Simply do a search with author name. From the results list, choose "Create citation report" link.  You will get a lot of useful data including: published items/ # of citations in each year, and of course the h-index.
Just be sure to remove the wrong articles from the results list, if that author has a common name.

You have my sympathies.  My 7-year marriage ended without warning in August of last year.  As if the divorce process itself isn't stressfull enough, I suddenly found myself being a single parent to a teenager and having to work full time to afford my last year of undergrad. 
 
Grad school is my bright spot.  It's my fresh start.  I'll have a new apartment with all new furniture (cheaper than moving my existing things half-way across the country).  I'll be at a school I love, doing work that I love, and I won't have to deal with the fear of bumping into my ex-husband every time I leave the house.  My son is excited about the move, and while he has to leave behind friends, he sees it as a fresh start as well.   
 
My advice is to look into activities in the area around your grad school.  What better time to get out and try something new?  You'll need a break from studies anyway.  Why not make this the year that you learn how to knit or tap dance or even join a roller derby team?  You'll be giving yourself the opportunity to grow as an individual and expanding your social circle in the process.
 
I won't lie and say that any of this is easy or that I'm not at all scared about making things work this fall, but I try to look at it as the incredible opportunity it is.  After a few months I've also come to be very grateful that things ended when they did.  I have had time to pick up the pieces, and I most of the beurocracy will have been handled before I leave the state.  Better that it happened last August than in the middle of preparing for qualifying exams or getting ready to defend my thesis.

I enjoy almost everything I do in grad school. Except maybe not some of the pointless aspects of some classes, but really overall, I'm happy to be learning it.
 
I think people complain about it because firstly, humans like to complain. But seriously, it's not that we don't like what we do, it's because we are working very hard with not much guaranteed rewards. Grad students work 50-60 hours per week (some even more) for under $30k/year, usually. This goes on for 5-6, or even more, years, and there is a lot of stress in the job as well. Not to say that other jobs aren't as stressful, but for example, there are other jobs that easily pay double the salary of a grad student, for only 35-40 hours per week, and when you go home, you don't have any work left! So I don't think it's that we don't like our work, but generally, the quality of life as a grad student isn't as good as someone with a "real job". When I see what my non-grad school friends are doing, I have to admit sometimes I am a little jealous. But I view grad school as a training phase to get through, rather than the dream (i.e. most people I know don't think "Yes!! I am finally in grad school!" but instead, they are thinking "Yes! I made it to the next stage of my career/life goal! Let's get through this!").
 
However, all that negatives aside, there are huge amounts of positives that outweigh it (or I wouldn't be here in grad school)! My number one reason for going to grad school is to increase my ability to get a job that I will enjoy. Sure, that job might have longer hours and won't pay that well compared to how much effort one needs to put in to get the job, but I don't want to spend the rest of my life hating the 40 hours of week I work and only looking forward to evenings and weekends.
 
The second reason is for the ability to travel. I love travelling, seeing new places, meeting new people, and academia gives me tons of opportunity to do that. When I was growing up, two of the places I wanted to see most in the world were Rome and Paris. Our family thought about a family vacation over there once but when we saw the cost of flights, we knew that it wasn't going to ever happen. But, in 2011, I went to a conference in France and was able to include sightseeing in Paris as a part of it! Grad school gives me the opportunity to have experiences that are not possible any other way. This is also the reason why I am pursuing a PhD instead of just a MSc (in Canada, MSc is what's required to teach at colleges) because lecturers don't get to travel but researchers do! It's also a reason why I went into astronomy-related fields -- observers travel to exotic places and the theorists, being jealous of observers, often plan their conferences in tropical/exotic places too!
 
The third reason is personal freedom and flexibility. I like being able to set my own schedule and to some extent, make decisions in my work. I would not be as happy with a strict 10 days holiday that have to be booked in some strict protocol and a supervisor that tells me exactly what to do all the time. I know this is not true for all jobs, and that academics are still constrained by funding, grants etc, but having worked in "blue collar" jobs before, I know I definitely prefer the freedom of an academic.
 
Finally, the last reason is that I enjoy science and the process of research! Although this appears last on my list, it doesn't mean I don't like academia at all. But if I had to prioritize what I was looking for when choosing an ideal job, I wouldn't mind a job that doesn't involve science or research if it fit the other 3 desires! Anyways, I like grad school because I am surrounded by people with similar scientific interests and motivations. I enjoy the sense of family with my cohort, that we are all doing this together and I know I can count on their support. I also like the sense of community in my field -- conferences are like mini-reunions with people you haven't seen in awhile. You also quickly build up an entire network of people whose couch you can crash on all over the world!

I love grad school.  I'm finishing up my Master's and considering a PhD and I feel guilty for being indulgent.  I've been working seemingly non-stop to prepare for a conference on Friday (not even a big conference) for at least a week.  I've been staying up until 3 AM and getting 4 hours of sleep.  But honestly?  Every time the work dies down I start to feel empty.  Sure, some of the work is less enjoyable.  Sure, some courses aren't the most fun.  But at the end of the day, I basically set my own schedule, I immerse myself in topics I am interested in, and I interact with informed, driven, interesting people  (which of course is not everyone in grad school, but there's plenty of them around).

Does anyone have some lighthearted blogs about grad school and academia to share?
 
My faves are the fabulous gif blog wheninacademia.tumblr.com and the sadly-no-longer-updating academictimgunn.tumblr.com. I also just discovered a new one, englishgradstudentshaming.tumblr.com--it's like that dog shaming blog, but for English nerds. 
 
My dashboard could use some new material, though--suggestions?

yes, they are too long and winding, almost like a stream of consciousness 

This application season ended for me mid-Jan, and I have sinced contemplated about how one would pick out just one school.  
I know very well that it is one of the most important decisions I will ever make. 
 
Before you read any further, let me tell you that I have done as much "homework" as I possibly can on picking schools (feel free to advise me on this): (1) school rankings, (2) department rankings, (3) research fit, (4) professors' research background / tenure (or not - how many years left) / publications etc, (5) Their placements (academia and industry), (6) fundings, (7) if they are taking new students, (8) cost of living, weather, quality of life at that area.
 
I thought I knew a lot.  And that has changed completely, in the last few days.
 
I (luckily) got my hands on this source of information which provides me with a much more complex picture of faculty connections, their personalities, their styles of working with students, and academic pedigrees that generally are not available to applicants.  Long story short, it involves a lot of luck, and I have learnt several things that I want to share:
 
1. An adcom picks out applicants based on these factors, in order of importance: (1) rec letters, (2) combination of GPA and GRE scores, (3) statement of purpose, (4) research experience.  Why, you ask?  Name recognition is very important in academia, and if your rec letters come from the big shots in your field, it makes your applications 10x better.  GPA+scores give a general idea of competence.  Your SOP tells them what kind of person you are; how much and how well you can talk about your research experience shows commitment and competence.  If and ONLY if your SOP matches with what were written in your rec letters, then you are in.  From what I heard, generally undergraduate students do not partake in very meaningful research, so adcoms see it as a preparation step of commitment and resilience, rather than looking at the quality of the research itself.
 
2. Keep an open mind:  Do not be obsessed with school rankings.  Be where you feel the most happy.  Be where you feel supported by faculty.  Be where department dynamics and lab dynamics are good. Generally, you have an idea of this during your visits, so do not make any decision before you visit all the schools you are accepted to.
 
3. The most important thing about picking a school, is that feeling like there is more than one person in the department you could be happy working with. Be robust to environmental fluctuations!  It is very possible that you dont end up working for that one person that you wanted to.  Only join a department that you like working for more than person.
 
And there is so much more.  As I come to realize how complex it is, I feel obliged to share what I have learnt.  Good luck with your decision!

I had to visit and make a choice on schools twice -- in 2010 for a MSc in Canada and in 2012 for a PhD program. In both cases, I did not get the feeling that everyone was 100% right. I don't think I have ever visited a school and instantly knew "this is the right place for me". I did get the feeling that "oh this place is pretty nice" and over the following days/weeks (and after visiting a few more places) did that feeling grow from "I guess this is the best choice out of the ones I have" to "yes, I am really excited to do this next fall!"
 
It's always scary to start something new but you can't make progress without some risk/adventure. I'm not saying that everyone should go to grad school and that you should always take every risk. But, I think it's perfectly normal to not feel 100% sure / good about choosing a grad school / choosing to go to grad school! 

I used to highly recommend Macbook Pros (used one through most of my Masters program and work after) but recently upgraded to a Lenovo Thinkpad T430.  As other have said Asus and Lenovo tend to have decent quality laptops at a price a lot lower than Macbook Pros (my loaded T430 cost less than the base Macbook Pro). 
 
But since I'm a new fan of Lenovo I'll say a Lenovo Thinkpad (mainly the T series or if you need a bigger screen and extra video processing the W series). I've also heard good things about the X Series. But speaking for the T series, this is the iconic line with water resistant keyboard, internal roll cage, steel hinges, and has passed 8 of 9 military spec tests for durability and operation in many conditions. And it's the only laptop approved for use on the International Space Station. That's damn cool. Just upgrade to the higher screen resolution and keep Windows 7, trust me on this one. Lenovo has a new T431i line coming out soon as well.  

Late-2010-and-onward Macbook Air (13", not 11"). I was going to upgrade to a Retina Macbook Pro, ditching my old 2008 MBPro, but an emergency with my cats made me buy a late-2010 Air. 
 
It's fantastic. So much lighter, the screen is not at all tiresome, the resolution is actually higher (15" 1440x900 versus 13" 1440x900), the battery life is phenomenal, and I don't miss the backlit keyboard at all. I'm actually disinclined to go for that Retina now, since I know it will be heavier, bulkier, etc. 

Never lie. Not only is it unethical, it can come back to bite you in the arse some day. And you don't want that to happen in this small small academic world.
Tell them your financial problems and hope they will help. If they don't, so be it.
 
This is the market deciding your worth. It does suck but there really isn't a lot you can do.

To lie to them about other offers would be very unethical.

I changed everything content-wise both times, but this time I spent even more time choosing a topic of study, and I also changed my approach in general. Re topic, I learned this time that the right study topic will do half the work for you...I met with one of my interviewers a couple weeks after the interview and she confessed that there were parts of the interview I didn't do so hot on, but that they wrote me a strong rec. letter anyway because the proposal idea 'just made too much sense' to turn down. As for approach, as a student you get used to having applications be about selling yourself and your credentials,  but that's where I realized I went wrong the first two times...the Fulbright committees don't care how great you are, they wanna know why they should care about your proposal here and abroad, and why you're the best person to facilitate the intercultural conversation your study topic is aimed at starting. I know that sounds obvious, but actually approaching the application from that angle is easier said than done, or was in my experience.

wait until you know all of the funding situations before you make a decision. I would avoid going into debt for grad school if possible. 

I am currently in a PhD program for Chemistry right now. I don't think is a good idea to attend a program just for a specific group.

After you entered the program, you will have to submit another application to join the research group of your choice. However, this is where a lot of students (some of my peers) got screwed over and some of them ended up either

(1) switched to another division
(2) joined a different research group
(3) left the program

Do you consider yourself as a top/competitive student in comparison to your cohort class?

What is going on?

I've been feeling the same... oddly enough, when I've talked to other grads it seems we've all been feeling similarly but no one's been saying so... 
 
I googled "how to cope with grad school" yesterday and came across this article: http://www.gradresources.org/articles/emotional_fatigue.shtml 
 
which I found helpful.. at least now I know it's not just me.. For me, I feel isolated even when I'm surrounded by people and even while I'm interacting with them sometimes...it's more than "just" isolation and I'm trying to figure out a way to reason with it so I don't get wrapped up in my head.. 
 
I know my post isn't helpful in that I'm not offering a solution, but perhaps it might help to know that the reason you might be feeling isolated is endemic and inherent in grad life in general.. : / a kind of paradoxical "collective isolation" *ironic lol*