Applying in Fall 2007?

[Othello]

Hello everyone. I've been reading this forum for a while and thought I'd finally register and participate. It's sad to see this place so dead over the summer, so I thought I'd do my part to reenergize the discussions. I'm very curious to learn about other people preparing to apply for graduate school and fellowships this coming fall.

Real quick self-introduction...

I'm a rising senior at a respectable state school studying materials engineering. I'll be applying for a PhD in Mat. Sci. & Eng. this fall, as well as some fellowships. My top choice schools are Stanford, MIT, and Caltech (though the particular order changes every few days...), and I plan on applying for the NSF, NDSEG, and maybe the Hertz fellowship.

I'd love to hear the plans and stats of all those applying this fall.

[foldingtime]

im nervous because i applied two years ago and didn't get in to any of the 7 programs i applied to (creative writing)--- or should i say, "to which i applied." im planning on re-applying to english programs (not creative writing) in the fall and am extremely nervous. im so hyper-aware of what i did wrong last time (asking the wrong professors (my advisor was a complete jerk), not taking the gre subject test, writing my personal statement at the last minute, etc), that im spending most every waking moment preparing for this. ive already bolstered myself for rejection, but im planning on applying to a ton of programs, because if i only apply to 7 again and dont get in i know it will bother me. make sense? i scored over 1400 in the gre standard last time (and still im considering taking it again so as to get a more impressive score) and i know i can do well in the english subject test--- i've been reading the nortons like crazy, etc. also, i know two professors that i would visit and talk to, the one of whom gave me a "he-was-my-best-student-ever" recommendation last time. anyway, itd be nice to know if anyone is as nervous as i am. i cant help it, and i dont think itll go away. im certainly looking at dream programs like cornell, duke, virginia, washu and yale, but also at more realistic programs like purdue, rochester, uconn, unh, etc. i have this huge list of schools, because, because of last time i am extremely worried. anyway, thanks for reading,

[foldingtime]

for more of my stats: i went to a complete no-name state school small branch, my gpa was 3.6 (not sure what it was in my major, but certainly it was higher), and no, i'm not choosing schools based on name only--- im interested in medieval english with an interdisciplinary philosophy approach, which schools like cornell and purdue and duke and buffalo are good at. also, last time i applied (idem) only to creative writing programs and my writing style is quite avant-garde, to say the least (which is not to say that that is why i was rejected, but--- anyway, you can see ive been overanalyzing this ad infinitum).

[Othello]

So what have you been doing these past two years? Did you not reapply last year? Are you applying for MA or PhD? I can't imagine not being nervous when applying to grad school. It's been said over and over again here that grad school admissions are a crapshoot. Safety schools do not exist. Applying to a good number of schools, as you are doing, is a wise idea.

[Minnesotan]

I have a BFA in writing, myself (although I'm off to grad school in a completely unrelated field), and the truly sad thing about MFA programs is that the only piece of the application packet the department takes into consideration is your writing sample. The grad school itself has some minimum qualifications, but all a good GRE score will get you is a leg up on the other GTA applicants who would rather teach writing than pay for something as ultimately worthless as an MFA. heh

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that you shouldn't get so worried. Yes, you'll need to prepare, revise, and have professors look over everything possible, but remember that any program outside the fine arts will take a broader approach in the selection process. There are research proposals, test scores, grades (why do writers need good grades? pfft!), and references to consider, in addition to the writing sample.

As for Othello, I have no idea what's up in the world of science, so I'm worthless there. =)

[foldingtime]

hey, thanks minnesotan and othello, you've both made me feel quite a bit better already. ive said to myself repeatedly, "they rejected your writing style, self, not your ability as a scholar," (or something like that, not as formal), but still there lingers the doubt. just out of curiosity, how was the mfa program? as for me, ive been in drudgeville that last couple years. i didnt reapply last year because i was drained from applying/getting-rejected the previous year; so, my mind/future-plans were all muddled. but, really, im glad to have not reapplied last year, because i know i would have come at it from the same angle; simply, i would not have taken the process as seriously as it warrants. so, in that regard, being rejected and subsequently taking time off have helped me in approaching my future much more than, say, if i would have been accepted to some school to which i didnt really want to go, or if i had been accepted at my top school and walked around with some my-writing-is-amazing air; being rejected and taking a year off (or two years, depending on how you view it) having given me a context. and if there's anything that writers need---as my family and friends have been intimating for years---it's context.

[agm]

I just started a mat sci 07 thread in the applied science section -- woohoo.

My info:

Physics BS (Spanish minor, but I bet nobody cares)

GPA 3.8 total, 3.9 physics

GRE 780/780/5.5

research: 1 second-author publication; 10-week program at ORNL and 1 year (ongoing) at my school

interests: something involving energy efficiency/renewable production, recycling, etc -- technologically speaking, experience with both metals and thin films and interest in nanoscale systems, but not narrowly defined yet

schools: Cornell, MIT, RPI, Northwestern, still looking!

I'm thinking about NSF, etc, but I'm not sure I have a good enough idea of what I want to do to write a specific research proposal.

[Othello]

Hey, agm, I didn't notice you posted here. I'll post my stats as well to give you some comparison.

Materials Engineering BS

GPA 3.83, 4.0 major

GRE 780/630/4.5

Research: Done some stuff for professors at home school; two good REU programs; hoping for a publication as a result of my work this summer...

Relevant Activtity: Tutored students at my school for a while, also privately tutored some Korean children in English

Interests: Thin film materials, bulk metallic glasses, mechanical properties

It's hard to determine how strong of an applicant I am, but professors at my school have recommended top programs to me. Sure, I'll apply to all of the elite programs with matching interests, but I'll definitely go with my own advice and apply to a wide range of schools. I can't wait to see what kind of results I get in the spring, though applying to all these fellowships and grad schools will make for a rather hectic fall semester...

[tvn]

I am applying for Ph.D in Comp Sci Fall 2007 and looking forward to the fellowships also.

[Othello]

Hi, tvn. Nice to finally see some fresh replies here. Care to post some stats? Where do you plan on applying? Which fellowships are you most interested in? What are your research interests?

[tvn]

My academic status is not very impressive comparing to most others, my GPA is around PI from a pretty small campus. I haven't taken the GRE yet, scheduled it for late Sept. I will apply to about 10+ schools although I am not very sure which yet, CMU is on that list. I am counting big time on my research experiences here. Interested Fellowships ... all that are avail such as NSF, NDSEG, HERTZ, etc

I am looking for programs in Evolutionary Computing (which is quite new and not supported by many univ's).

[Othello]

This is my current ranking for schools I plan on applying to. I know I don't have any "safeties" in there, but they're really the only places I could see myself attending. The first three are far, far above the rest, however. I'll be very bummed if I don't get into one of those three, but it's not like I could go wrong with any of these institutions. I can't wait to see what happens.

1) Stanford

2) MIT

3) Caltech

4) UC-Berkeley

5) Harvard

6) Princeton

7) Northwestern

8)Columbia

9) Penn

10) Washington University in St. Louis

11) UC-Santa Barbara

12) UIUC

What kind of research experience do you have, tvn? How's the major GPA? What kind of school do you go to?

[tvn]

I had couple research co-ops with the Naval Research and also did some researches at school with a profs. These work yield some publications to good conferences in my field

Oh do you have a Google account? I created this Calendar that contains deadlines to grad school & fellowships which hopefully be beneficial to others. If you have a Google account you can also edit it, add deadlines etc to it.

https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?s ... e8e7075057

[Othello]

Well I don't currently have a Google account, but I'll register to try out the calendar. Looks like that might be helpful.

[History_Nerd]

Well I don't currently have a Google account, but I'll register to try out the calendar. Looks like that might be helpful.

I didn't use the calender myself, but it sounds like a great idea. I had one, giant sheet of paper that I wrote down every single deadline for the seven programs I was applying to - and the paper got so crusty and nasty that by the time I was finishing my last application, every time I would take the paper out of my bag - people in the computer lab would move away from me. Ewwww.

[tvn]

I hope it's a good sharing resources , when you have a google account you can also modify the calendar, put your own deadlines and share with us also. So far I have about 4 Fellowships deadlines there (nagivate to October and also on) ... Soon I'll add university application deadlines.

[gradgirl]

im nervous because i applied two years ago and didn't get in to any of the 7 programs i applied to (creative writing)--- or should i say, "to which i applied." im planning on re-applying to english programs (not creative writing) in the fall and am extremely nervous. im so hyper-aware of what i did wrong last time (asking the wrong professors (my advisor was a complete jerk), not taking the gre subject test, writing my personal statement at the last minute, etc), that im spending most every waking moment preparing for this. ive already bolstered myself for rejection, but im planning on applying to a ton of programs, because if i only apply to 7 again and dont get in i know it will bother me. make sense? i scored over 1400 in the gre standard last time (and still im considering taking it again so as to get a more impressive score) and i know i can do well in the english subject test--- i've been reading the nortons like crazy, etc. also, i know two professors that i would visit and talk to, the one of whom gave me a "he-was-my-best-student-ever" recommendation last time. anyway, itd be nice to know if anyone is as nervous as i am. i cant help it, and i dont think itll go away. im certainly looking at dream programs like cornell, duke, virginia, and yale, but also at more realistic programs like purdue, uwash, rochester, uconn, unh, etc. i have this huge list of schools, because, because of last time i am extremely worried. anyway, thanks for reading,

Hey, I hope you're hanging in there... I just wanted to say that I just finished the whole application process to PhD programs in English this spring. I was a nervous wreck too... but I survived! Try not to worry too much... I think once you've done the best you can, a lot of it is really beyond your control and you just have to hope for the best. I'm not doing medieval lit (I'm in 20th century lit, with an interdisciplinary focus), but if there's anything I can do or advice I can give you regarding the whole application process in English feel free to drop me a line. So many people on this forum and over in applyingtograd kept me from losing my mind this past fall/spring that I'm really anxious to return the favor and help as many people as possible )

Also, you've said you applied once and feel like you have a better idea of what to do now... that was definitely the case for me, too. When I applied to MA programs, I was basically going in blind and ended up somewhere sort of mediocre at best... but after my MA I felt like I had a much better idea of what to do (or NOT to do, as the case may be) in my application packets. My instincts about what I'd done "wrong" the first time around and how I needed to correct it seemed to be, for the most part, correct.

Good luck!

[HoldOnTrue]

Hi everyone. I've been reading through the forum for quite sometime and am hoping to gather as much info about grad school and the dreaded application process. Everything is so overwhelming! Here's my stats.

Major: Communication Studies (emphasis in public relations)

GPA: 3.4/4.0

GRE: ---

Research: Several research projects including one which received the CSCA Top Paper Award.

Interests: Interpersonal Interaction including cross-sex friendships, para-social relationships and the affects of pop culture and technology on relationships

Applying To: Ohio State, Minnesota, Madison, Illinois-Chicago, Memphis, Northern Illinois, San Francisco and Hofstra.

I'd love to chat with others going into any type of comm program and of course any others looking to give some advice. I feel like I'm so lost when it comes to applying. Am I choosing the right programs? How high of a GRE score do I need? Ahh, the questions could go on...

[jennesy]

I'm going to reapply this fall as well. I applied to 10 social psych PhD programs last fall and got rejected everywhere. I did get into a MA program at NYU, and deferred that for a year as a back up plan. I know what I need to do - retake the GRE, get stronger rec letters, and be more aggressive about contacting faculty/knowing who is taking students for that year. I'm just scared that I'm going to get rejected everywhere again...and then what?!

[pinkflyer]

I thought I would post, even though everyone here is either in English or Engineering.

I'm going into Sociology. I'm pretty nervous. I am applying to schools as follows:

U of Michigan

Indiana U-Bloomington

Ohio State

UCLA

U of Washington-Seattle

NYU

Northwestern

U of Arizona

-They are all top 30. I wonder if this is a bad decision. My advisors do not think so. My current advisor is the current president of ASSI (Symbolic Interaction) and my other advisor is up and coming in the field and just finished her first book. Both are writing recommendations for me.

I have strong a strong writing sample. I also have an honors degree and am currently completing my honors thesis on Transgender representations in the media using a Symbolic Interaction lense.

Current Stats:

BA in English

minor in Sociology

3.89, 3.92 (English), 4.0 (SOC)

Taking GRE August 16. Currently scoring in upper 80 percentile Verbal, quant about 60th percentile.

Any advice out there? Oh yes, and I currently attend a Tier One Research University that is Catholic and is medium sized.

[yin-bodhi]

I thought I would post, even though everyone here is either in English or Engineering.

I'm going into Sociology. I'm pretty nervous. I am applying to schools as follows:

U of Michigan

Indiana U-Bloomington

Ohio State

UCLA

U of Washington-Seattle

NYU

Northwestern

U of Arizona

-They are all top 30. I wonder if this is a bad decision. My advisors do not think so. My current advisor is the current president of ASSI (Symbolic Interaction) and my other advisor is up and coming in the field and just finished her first book. Both are writing recommendations for me.

I have strong a strong writing sample. I also have an honors degree and am currently completing my honors thesis on Transgender representations in the media using a Symbolic Interaction lense.

Current Stats:

BA in English

minor in Sociology

3.89, 3.92 (English), 4.0 (SOC)

Taking GRE August 16. Currently scoring in upper 80 percentile Verbal, quant about 60th percentile.

Any advice out there? Oh yes, and I currently attend a Tier One Research University that is Catholic and is medium sized.

If you want to study transgender stuff, OSU is not the place you want to be... I have my B.A. from OSU and there just isn't much going on in the transgender or media areas in the department of Sociology at OSU. Plus, crime on campus is spinning out of control. Indiana U might be a better place for you. They're very open and accepting to those issues. Northwestern might be a good fit as well. Have you considered Cornell University? I would choose Cornell University over NYU.

[Christina]

Hi,

I did my BA in a top English school and am doing my MA there this year too. I want to do a Ph.D. in Religion (more specifically, Jewish Studies focusing on sociological stuff and women's and children's experience around 500 BC-500 CE; maybe medieval too).

GPA: a First (roughly equivalent to a 3.8/3.9 I hear)

GRE: ---

Schools: Not sure yet, I still have to talk to my professors about which are good for my interests (British terms start in October). The other thing is I'm thinking about telephoning the actual departments at the schools and trying to figure out where I would fit in and where I wouldn't since I don't really want to waste my time or money on bad applications. Is anyone else thinking about doing that too? Thing is, I'm terrified of phoning up and sounding like a total idiot, 'so you errr...like...errr...Jewish, err...stuff?'

If anybody else is doing Religion, or not sure how to pick schools, please reply or PM!

[History_Nerd]

Christina -

If I were you, I would start by asking your professors who are in the know which programs might be a good fit. Maybe get a list of 30 schools or so. . . Also, don't be embarrased to look at rankings and add a few schools to the list and/or think about where you would like to live and add a couple of prospective schools to your list based on important things like sunshine and how happy you will be living somewhere.

Once you get this big, massive list of schools, start looking at web pages. Look at what the faculty are interested, write down names of people you find interesting, look at program requirements, what special resources related to Jewish Studies do certain programs have. It doesn't cost anything to look at web pages, nor does it impact your reputation (like a unorganized phone call might . . .).

After you get a better feel for the programs, you are likely to narrow down your list to something far more reasonable like 10 schools or so . . . At this point, it might be a good idea to consider drafting e-mails to various faculty members at these schools. "I was interested in your program for such and such reason" and "Your research seems particularly interesting to me because . . . " etc. etc.

Keep in mind that this is somewhat like an application, be polite, be patient, be polished. Have some idea going into this what your goals are and what you are interested in and so forth.

You should get a feel at this point that certain schools are going to be very interested in what you do and certain schools are going to pretty much ignore you. Take the 7 or so schools that respond to your e-mails and engage in a dialogue with you as schools that you should apply to. . . some of the people you exchange e-mails with might even invite you to call.

This process has worked for me and a few friends of mine at grad school. Good luck.

[Big Baby Jesus]

Hey everyone,

I'm applying for Materials Science programs next fall, but I want to make sure I can get some good mechanics at the same time.

Schools I'm going to apply to:

MIT

Stanford

Caltech

WUSTL

UCSB

Northwestern

I also plan on applying for the NSF, NDSEG, and the Hertz.

[Othello]

Good to see another materials scientist. I've been working a lot on getting all these applications sorted out; it's more work than I thought... I'll be applying to nine schools for a PhD in Materials Science:

Berkeley

Caltech

Columbia (Applied Physics & Applied Math)

Harvard (Applied Physics)

Michigan

MIT

WUSTL

Princeton (MechE & Aero)

Stanford

I'm also making good progress on the NSF and NDSEG; I just need to get the proposals done for each. Man, what an ordeal the process is... Filling out the applications, sending GRE scores, sending transcripts, getting recommendations sorted out, writing essays...ugh. I can't for next Spring when I can just sit back, relax, and hear all the decisions and fly out to some of the schools. That'll be a good time...

Big Baby, can you give some personal background and stats? What are your research interests?