2014 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[GeoDUDE!]

Four rejections, have four left. Anyone hear from CSM, Penn State recently?

 

I know someone who got into penn state in the middle of feb for MS.

[Hanyuye]

has anyone heard from Rice? I mean the normal MS program, but not the profession program.

Nope, not me neither.

[gelologist]

Hi, I have a kind inquiry that why would you apply to South Dakota School of Mines and Technology? I mean there is even no ranking of its geology program in USNEWS. And I think the faculty and courses are very limited there.

 

Because it seems to be at least a halfway decent program, and maybe Crazy wants to study exactly what the faculty and courses offer there.  People also apply to schools as safeties, among other reasons.

 

Anyway, not trying to be cold about this by any means, but I think there's little reason, really, to look at rankings for a grad program.  Ok, sure, if you want to be a professor or something, it helps having a top tier school on your PhD degree. Not to mention, top schools arguably are better off in the funding department, and all the benefits that brings with it.  Otherwise, though, so many amazing PhDs are churned out by just the top tier programs alone that many people with incredible academic backgrounds end up at schools that wouldn't be at the forefront of anyone's mind when considering so-called top programs.  However, just because they aren't at universities that are household names doesn't mean these faculty aren't great people doing incredible work, and doesn't mean that there's no reason to apply to work with them, especially if there's a great research and personal fit with them, and the institution these faculty are at.  This last bit may be a stretch, but I liken it to saying, "it's not where you do your degree, but who you do it with." (Meaning it's more about studying what you want with an amazing advisor, than it is about slogging through school to get the university name on your diploma.)

 

Comments and discussion welcome here, but I guess I'm trying to say there's no reason to discount the quality of an education from a school - or to question why someone would apply there - when many of the faculty at all institutions (and the research they're conducting, which - however limited - may be appealing to someone) are all incredibly qualified these days, regardless of rankings.

 

Cheers!

 

gelologist

[RockSniffer]

Welp, e-mailed yesterday and they responded back today saying: Sorry for the delay, it'll probably a few more days until you get official word, but you are declined.

[Crazy454]

Hi, I have a kind inquiry that why would you apply to South Dakota School of Mines and Technology? I mean there is even no ranking of its geology program in USNEWS. And I think the faculty and courses are very limited there.

I applied to places that were proved to be a good fit. The state has diverse geology and the university is in somewhat close proximity to the Bakken shale play and strongly field oriented. When I met with a professor, I decided the university could offer me what I needed from a school and applied.

Those ratings are nice but by no means are they the be all end all. The most important thing for me had been my connection with the potential professors and what my likely thesis would entail.

[Anatexis]

I'm waiting on Louisiana State. Someone posted on the results page that they were rejected via email on March 28th. If it is anyone in this thread, I was just wondering if you emailed them for a decision or they sent out a 'formal' rejection email? My portal still says "under review by department" and I'm very anxious to hear results. It's my dream school. 

 

Thanks

[turbidite]

I'm waiting on Louisiana State. Someone posted on the results page that they were rejected via email on March 28th. If it is anyone in this thread, I was just wondering if you emailed them for a decision or they sent out a 'formal' rejection email? My portal still says "under review by department" and I'm very anxious to hear results. It's my dream school. 

 

Thanks

This may or may not help, but when I was accepted by LSU (early March), they sent out a formal email. I didn't really ask them about the status of my application during the waiting period. I would imagine that your application is still "under review" because there are a fair amount of first round acceptees who haven't committed to a school yet. This includes me, but once I hear back from UT-Austin I'll make up my mind pretty quickly! 

[Anatexis]

This may or may not help, but when I was accepted by LSU (early March), they sent out a formal email. I didn't really ask them about the status of my application during the waiting period. I would imagine that your application is still "under review" because there are a fair amount of first round acceptees who haven't committed to a school yet. This includes me, but once I hear back from UT-Austin I'll make up my mind pretty quickly! 

 

Thank you so much for responding. That was definitely helpful. I was overly choosy about the schools I applied to, so I only only applied to two and I made the waiting list but was eventually rejected by what I thought was my safety. My POI at LSU has research interests that are directly in line with my own so it just seems so perfect. I'd be devastated if I didn't get in, but from what you said, it sounds like my luck is very short.   

[WDE]

Anatexis

 

I posted the LSU rejection on March 28th. They sent me an official rejection, I didn't email them first. Good luck with LSU, it seems like they might still be making decisions if it took this long for them to get back to me.

[Anatexis]

Anatexis

 

I posted the LSU rejection on March 28th. They sent me an official rejection, I didn't email them first. Good luck with LSU, it seems like they might still be making decisions if it took this long for them to get back to me.

Thank you so much for replying, WDE. I'm sorry you didn't get in, but thank you for letting me know the method. I appreciate it. Good luck in your future endeavors!

[rricenator]

B.S. (#2) Geosciences

Accepted: Colorado State University, PhD. Geosciences

(funding offer to follow)

 

Woot! Woot!

 

[chrissytine]

I'm curious if people have interviewed with the EPS department at Cal. I'm going to meet with a few professors there on Monday and was wondering what to expect/how I should prepare? Feeling a little intimidated!

[wwzzxx]

Because it seems to be at least a halfway decent program, and maybe Crazy wants to study exactly what the faculty and courses offer there.  People also apply to schools as safeties, among other reasons.

 

Anyway, not trying to be cold about this by any means, but I think there's little reason, really, to look at rankings for a grad program.  Ok, sure, if you want to be a professor or something, it helps having a top tier school on your PhD degree. Not to mention, top schools arguably are better off in the funding department, and all the benefits that brings with it.  Otherwise, though, so many amazing PhDs are churned out by just the top tier programs alone that many people with incredible academic backgrounds end up at schools that wouldn't be at the forefront of anyone's mind when considering so-called top programs.  However, just because they aren't at universities that are household names doesn't mean these faculty aren't great people doing incredible work, and doesn't mean that there's no reason to apply to work with them, especially if there's a great research and personal fit with them, and the institution these faculty are at.  This last bit may be a stretch, but I liken it to saying, "it's not where you do your degree, but who you do it with." (Meaning it's more about studying what you want with an amazing advisor, than it is about slogging through school to get the university name on your diploma.)

 

Comments and discussion welcome here, but I guess I'm trying to say there's no reason to discount the quality of an education from a school - or to question why someone would apply there - when many of the faculty at all institutions (and the research they're conducting, which - however limited - may be appealing to someone) are all incredibly qualified these days, regardless of rankings.

 

Cheers!

 

gelologist

Hi, gelologist and Crazy454. Thank you for the discussion.

 

But we are different in status. You are an American person but I am an International student without the permanent residence permission in US. If I could not be admitted into the top programs like UT TAMU OU, would the oil companies hire me? The domestic firms would prefer to employ the US students from the university like South Dakota (just for example) which is out of the first-tier programs rather than employ the International students from LSU which is doubtlessly more prestigious than South Dakota in my view. You know why? Once the oil company would like to hire me, they have to pay much effort to help me to gain the H1B visa or something like that. We have no choice but to try to be admitted into the distinguished programs to compensate the lack of status.  

 

What is more, if I fail to find a job in US, I have to come back to China. The HRs could not recognize all the decent petroleum geology programs in US. They could only be familiar with the diploma from the top-tier programs as I listed partially before. I mean, regardless of the academic capacity of the students themselves, the diploma of South Dakota is even less competitive than that of my current university in China.

 

Sometimes, my tone is aggressive just because English is not my first language. I apologize for that. 

 

Looking forward to your reply!

 

Xuan

[wwzzxx]

I applied to places that were proved to be a good fit. The state has diverse geology and the university is in somewhat close proximity to the Bakken shale play and strongly field oriented. When I met with a professor, I decided the university could offer me what I needed from a school and applied.

Those ratings are nice but by no means are they the be all end all. The most important thing for me had been my connection with the potential professors and what my likely thesis would entail.

 

 

Because it seems to be at least a halfway decent program, and maybe Crazy wants to study exactly what the faculty and courses offer there.  People also apply to schools as safeties, among other reasons.

 

Anyway, not trying to be cold about this by any means, but I think there's little reason, really, to look at rankings for a grad program.  Ok, sure, if you want to be a professor or something, it helps having a top tier school on your PhD degree. Not to mention, top schools arguably are better off in the funding department, and all the benefits that brings with it.  Otherwise, though, so many amazing PhDs are churned out by just the top tier programs alone that many people with incredible academic backgrounds end up at schools that wouldn't be at the forefront of anyone's mind when considering so-called top programs.  However, just because they aren't at universities that are household names doesn't mean these faculty aren't great people doing incredible work, and doesn't mean that there's no reason to apply to work with them, especially if there's a great research and personal fit with them, and the institution these faculty are at.  This last bit may be a stretch, but I liken it to saying, "it's not where you do your degree, but who you do it with." (Meaning it's more about studying what you want with an amazing advisor, than it is about slogging through school to get the university name on your diploma.)

 

Comments and discussion welcome here, but I guess I'm trying to say there's no reason to discount the quality of an education from a school - or to question why someone would apply there - when many of the faculty at all institutions (and the research they're conducting, which - however limited - may be appealing to someone) are all incredibly qualified these days, regardless of rankings.

 

Cheers!

 

gelologist

 

Hi, gelologist and Crazy454. Thank you for the discussion. 

 

But we are different in status. You are an American person but I am an International student without the permanent residence permission in US. If I could not be admitted into the top programs like UT TAMU OU, would the oil companies hire me? The domestic firms would prefer to employ the US students from the university like South Dakota (just for example) which is out of the first-tier programs rather than employ the International students from LSU which is doubtlessly more prestigious than South Dakota in my view. You know why? Once the oil company would like to hire me, they have to pay much effort to help me to gain the H1B visa or something like that. We have no choice but to try to be admitted into the distinguished programs to compensate the lack of status.  

 

What is more, if I fail to find a job in US, I have to come back to China. The HRs could not recognize all the decent petroleum geology programs in US. They could only be familiar with the diploma from the top-tier programs as I listed partially before. I mean, regardless of the academic capacity of the students themselves, the diploma of South Dakota is even less competitive than that of my current university in China.

 

Sometimes, my tone is aggressive just because English is not my first language. I apologize for that. 

 

Looking forward to your reply!

 

Xuan

[GeoDUDE!]

I think you are wrong; The school i'm currently at is unranked with 0 oil connections and 2 people in my lab (we are a seismology and geodynamics lab, with no industry training but more geared towards academia and pure research) who were international students from india found a job. One took a bit longer to find a job, but he moved to houston after he graduated and found a nice home. It was difficult, and he had maybe 20 interviews, but he finally got a job. He probably would have got one earlier if he practiced interviewing before hand.  There is a plethora of oil jobs all over the USA, if that is where you desire to live, and finding a job is more likely derivative of your skills and intellect and less about where you come from. Sure top schools will place easier, but there is definitely enough to go around right now. 

[Flavia]

Hello all,

 

congrats to the ones who got admitted and good luck to the ones still waiting

 

I applied to four programs and got no answer yet. I am checking the application status and on all of them I have something to the effect of graduate school sent the documents to the Geology department and it is still under review.

The programs are Geology at UT, EER at UT, Geology at TAMU and Geology at USF (all of them for MS)

I saw here that UT sent out admissions letters, did they send out rejections too?

Any idea of what this utter radio silence means? Will I get an answer at all, or if it is rejections they will not respond at all and just let me figure it out?

Edited April 7, 2014 by Flavia

[owl13]

Has anyone heard anything from San Diego State? I still have 2 more pending applications, and this wait is driving me crazy. 

Edited April 7, 2014 by owl13

[GeoDUDE!]

Hello all,

 

congrats to the ones who got admitted and good luck to the ones still waiting

 

I applied to four programs and got no answer yet. I am checking the application status and on all of them I have something to the effect of graduate school sent the documents to the Geology department and it is still under review.

The programs are Geology at UT, EER at UT, Geology at TAMU and Geology at USF (all of them for MS)

I saw here that UT sent out admissions letters, did they send out rejections too?

Any idea of what this utter radio silence means? Will I get an answer at all, or if it is rejections they will not respond at all and just let me figure it out?

 

 

it might mean that you will not hear until all the first round has accepted (likely near or after april 15th). My friend got into U Chicago in may, so still hold hope!

[Flavia]

Thanks GeoDUDE, yeah still holding hope.

[turbidite]

it might mean that you will not hear until all the first round has accepted (likely near or after april 15th). My friend got into U Chicago in may, so still hold hope!

So what about people who have been accepted in the first round for some schools, but not others? For example, I am also waiting on UT and don't want to commit to my second choice (accepted already) until I hear back from UT. I'm just paranoid that if I don't accept my second choice before April 15th, I might get my offer rescinded, even though they never specified a particular deadline in their acceptance letter.

[ssynny]

So what about people who have been accepted in the first round for some schools, but not others? For example, I am also waiting on UT and don't want to commit to my second choice (accepted already) until I hear back from UT. I'm just paranoid that if I don't accept my second choice before April 15th, I might get my offer rescinded, even though they never specified a particular deadline in their acceptance letter.

Have you tried calling the admissions committee to find out when you can expect to hear back. They're usually understanding with people who have other acceptance deadlines. It doesn't hurt to ask!

[rockwell_]

I'm nearly at the end of my application results and have a clear front runner from 5 previous aps.

 

I followed the news about future unconventional plays in the US and found Rick Behl at California State Uni - Long Beach, who apparently hosts an very positive and petroleum influenced program. I got some great feedback from current and previous students.

 

It seems like a bit of an obscure school but it's focus seems well fitting to my style and interests. Except the lifestyle of Long Beach worries be a bit.

 

 

Does anyone know or have heard much about the CSULB expereince?

[GeoDUDE!]

I'm nearly at the end of my application results and have a clear front runner from 5 previous aps.

 

I followed the news about future unconventional plays in the US and found Rick Behl at California State Uni - Long Beach, who apparently hosts an very positive and petroleum influenced program. I got some great feedback from current and previous students.

 

It seems like a bit of an obscure school but it's focus seems well fitting to my style and interests. Except the lifestyle of Long Beach worries be a bit.

 

 

Does anyone know or have heard much about the CSULB expereince?

 

Its a commuter school, with most people in the graduate school doing part time masters while doing a job (teachers).  The one nice thing about Long Beach is downtown is pretty cool, especially near the peer. It also has probably the best public transit in the LA area. my dad worked in downtown longbeach for a while, and i grew up about 30 minute drive from there. I cant really comment on the social scene in terms of the college, but the bars down there are nice. Residents of long beach tend to be younger than the surrounding area. There aren't many unsafe parts but there are also not many very nice parts. Its a nice mix of beach city and urban. There are also some incredible restaurants down there.

Edited April 8, 2014 by GeoDUDE!

[Anatexis]

So what about people who have been accepted in the first round for some schools, but not others? For example, I am also waiting on UT and don't want to commit to my second choice (accepted already) until I hear back from UT. I'm just paranoid that if I don't accept my second choice before April 15th, I might get my offer rescinded, even though they never specified a particular deadline in their acceptance letter.

 

Just curious, you don't have to answer. What is your second choice?

[restill]

So what about people who have been accepted in the first round for some schools, but not others? For example, I am also waiting on UT and don't want to commit to my second choice (accepted already) until I hear back from UT. I'm just paranoid that if I don't accept my second choice before April 15th, I might get my offer rescinded, even though they never specified a particular deadline in their acceptance letter.

 

I'm waiting too. I've been accepted at Kent State University for a PhD, fully funded, in the fall, but I've been waitlisted at my first choice school, Michigan State University. I was also told by my advisor (here at KSU) to make the decision on or before April 15th. If I ask for an extension, it's bad form. From my advisor. Eeep.

 

What I've been told to do at this point is e-mail your person of interest and explain your situation. I was told to tell them they are your top choice, yet the school you have been accepted to will likely expect an answer by the April 15th deadline. I haven't done this yet, but I plan to send my POI a message this week. Perhaps you should give it a go. I figure, it can't hurt, can it?

Best of luck! I'm curious as to how this plays out for all of us stuck in this very rocky boat named "Deadline".