2021 Application Cycle

[EmmaJeanB]

Hi Y'all! I see no one has started a thread for the 2021 application cycle yet, so here we are! Application are beginning to close. Best of luck to everyone who is applying. I pretty much copied and pasted the subjects from the 2020 thread, but feel free to answer whatever you wish! This is my 2nd year applying to PhD programs so I send extra luck to those of you who are going through round 2 ( or 3)!

 

Undergrad Institution: (School or type of school, such as big state, lib arts, ivy, technical, foreign (what country?)... Overall Reputation in Biology?)
Major(s):
Minor(s):
GPA in Major:
Overall GPA:
Position in Class: (No numbers needed, but are you top? near top? average? struggling?)
Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?)

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:
V:
W:
B:

TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this)

Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

School - Department - Research Interest
School - Department - Research Interest
School - Department - Research Interes

[ignimbrite]

Undergrad Institution: Large public university with great reputation and good earth science reputation (although more for grad/research than undergrad)
Major(s): Geophysics
Minor(s): Data Science
GPA in Major: 3.83
Overall GPA: 3.61
Type of Student: domestic, female

GRE Scores (revised):
Q: 163
V: 166
W: 4.5

Research Experience: 2 summers and one semester of research at my university with the same PI (subject: geodesy/tectonics/data science). Resulted in one second author AGU presentation, one first author AGU presentation, and an honors thesis (if I ever finish it!)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: I got a summer fellowship award through my university. I've applied for the NSF GFRP but I think it's a big stretch.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 6 years of part time work experience, but none of it very relevant. I've been the VP/president of the earth sciences club at my university for the last 2 years though.

Special Bonus Points: 2 out of my 3 recommenders are very well known in their fields (one is my PI, and I've taken grad classes and worked on department policy stuff with the other, so I expect I should have decent letters). Also, my PI was the PhD advisor for the prof I'm interested in at U Oregon, and has worked with several of the other professors I'm applying under.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I took all classes pass/no pass last spring due to the pandemic, but so did many other students so I'm not sure how big of a detriment this is.

Applying to Where:

MIT | CalTech | UT Austin | Rice | University of Oregon | University of Wisconsin | University of Michigan

[Shashank PM]

Undergrad Institution: Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
Major(s): Geological Technology
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.97
Overall GPA: 3.83

Position in Class: Top 
Type of Student: International, Male

GRE Scores: N/A
TOEFL: 110

Research Experience: 1 Summer at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. 1 Summer at the RSES, Australian National University. Presented a poster at AGU FM 2019. Currently working on 3 first authored manuscripts and my masters dissertation. 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: ANU College of Science "Future Research Talent" (FRT) Award. 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Part of the AAPG and SEG Chapters at my University. 

Special Bonus Points: 1 out of my 3 recommenders is very well known in their fields.

Applying to Where:

UCB | CalTech | Princeton | Stanford

[MinDZ]

Undergrad Institution: A California State University, Graduate Institution: Mid-Size public university

Major(s): Geology BS, Geology MS

Minor(s): None

GPA in Major: Undergrad 3.78, Master’s 3.91

Overall GPA: Undergrad 3.4

Position in Class: Above average

Type of student: Domestic, female

 

GRE Scores: I did not need to submit scores this cycle

 

Research Experience: Participated in a project in undergrad, finishing my master’s thesis now. Presented posters at 2 conferences. Some research needed in my job between undergrad and grad school (2 yrs).

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 3 scholarship awards, 1st place research symposium presentation

 

Pertinent Activities or jobs: USGS contractor - 1 season, Park Ranger at Mount St Helens - 2 seasons, Science education workshop assistant - 2 years, Geology club treasurer in undergrad 

 

Special Bonus Points: Jewish female (If that’s a negative then I don’t want to go there anyway)

 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: 1st two years of undergrad were pretty shitty but I completely turned it around in the end. My master’s thesis is about Ridgecrest which is exciting to people.

 

Applying to Where:

 

University of Oregon - remote sensing,

Cornell - remote sensing,

Arizona State - active tectonics/remote sensing,

McGill - fault processes.

[MinDZ]

Is there a reason why no one is posting here this year? There was quite a bit of back and forth when I applied for my master’s two years ago. Thoughts?

[EmmaJeanB]

On 2/7/2021 at 2:39 AM, MinDZ said:

Is there a reason why no one is posting here this year? There was quite a bit of back and forth when I applied for my master’s two years ago. Thoughts?

I noticed the same  I was hoping to see a long thread of people. Especially since a lot of schools waived 1-2 requirements for this application cycle due to covid.

[jerryhoo]

Undergrad Institution: A small, prestigious public school in Virginia
Major(s): Geology
Minor(s): None, but I have the equivalent of a GIS certificate
GPA in Major: 3.80
Overall GPA: 3.70

Position in Class: ~Top 25% 
Type of Student: International, Male

GRE Scores: N/A
TOEFL: Waived 

Research Experience: 1 Summer at Virginia Institute of Marine Science (Coastal Geomorphology lab), 1 year at an atmospheric chemistry lab, Senior thesis

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Summer research scholarship 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Part of Geo honor society, free tutor for GEOL 101/110

Special Bonus Points: I've taken many math/computer science classes. I also have a solid background in Physics and Chemistry. 

Applying to Where:

West Virginia (Hydrology) | New Mexico Tech (Fluvial Geomorphology) | UT Austin (Fluvial Geomorphology) | U of Montana (Environmental geochemistry) | Montana State | NC State (Hydrology) | U of Wisconsin (Hydrology) | ASU (Hydrology) | Lehigh (Tectonic Geomorphology/remote sensing) | 

My top choices are NM Tech, UT Austin, and Lehigh All of the programs I applied to are MS programs

[Stephan Loveless]

Hi Everyone! 

This is my first time posting anything in the forum, and my first time applying to grad schools in the U.S. Has anyone heard anything from any universities? I still haven't heard a thing. Here's my info for this forum. Appreciate any input! From the looks of things this forum seems a little quiet. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. 

Wishing everyone luck!

Cheers!

Master's Institution: Tel Aviv University
Major(s): Geophysics and Planetary Science 
Overall GPA: 95%
Position in Class: Summa Cum Laude
 

Undergrad Institution: University of California Santa Cruz
Major(s): Earth and Planetary Science - Planetary Concentration 
Overall GPA: 3.61
Position in Class: Honors in the Major 
 

Research Experience: Parameter studies modeling the thermal evolution of water rich, rocky objects. Mixing equations of states of ices and silicates. 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Summa Cum Laude - TAU, Academic Excellence award - TAU, Honors in the Major - UCSC

Applying to Where:

University of Georgia - Geology PhD - Tying observed tectonic features with thermal evolution models of terrestrial planets
Georgia Tech - Earth and Atmospheric Sciences PhD - Glacier impacted surface features and tectonics, remote sensing observations of terrestrial objects.
University of California Los Angeles - Geophysics and Space Science PhD - Mineralogy EOS and internal dynamics of terrestrial objects, remote sensing and in situ observations of terrestrial object surfaces, surface processes and internal processes of terrestrial and icy planetary bodies. 

Edited March 18, 2021 by Stephan Loveless

[jerryhoo]

I applied to 9 schools. Got into WVU, New Mexico Tech, and University of Montana. Waitlisted by North Carolina State. Rejected by Wisconsin, and Montana State. Haven’t heard anything from Lehigh, ASU, and UT Austin... I have friends who got into Penn State and University of Wyoming earlier this month 

[EmmaJeanB]

When did you apply to NCSU? I submitted my application later than normal (3 weeks ago) and now I am wondering how long it takes to hear a response.

[jerryhoo]

I applied in late January. The waitlist was unofficial. I had to email the professor and he told me I will be accepted if another person declines the offer.

[jerryhoo]

@EmmaJeanBDo you have updates? I was rejected from UT Austin and ASU. Lehigh waitlisted me. At this point, I'm pretty set on going to WVU. 

[EmmaJeanB]

On 3/26/2021 at 11:12 AM, jerryhoo said:

@EmmaJeanBDo you have updates? I was rejected from UT Austin and ASU. Lehigh waitlisted me. At this point, I'm pretty set on going to WVU. 

WVU was my 2nd choice before they rejected me. NCSU POI told me on Friday that I'm pretty much in the same situation. They are waiting to see if any 1st round picks will turn down offers, if so, then I'll hear something the week of April 15th.

[EmmaJeanB]

@jerryhooSo, I’ve personally still not heard from NCSU, but just received a great offer from OSU and have decided to pursue my studies there instead.  Really liked NCSU but the risk of waiting until after I the 15th to hear from them is a gamble I’m not really comfortable taking. 

[jerryhoo]

I got into NCSU too! But I ended up signing a contract with WVU, because I'm more interested in the project.