Scholastica16:


I am still learning these things but I think the afore schools did you a favor as I doubt they would have funded you for an MS admit. I am saying this because they said they would not even on their website.

That aside, UW (Wisconsin?) were looking more direct PhDs if I am not mistaken. So, I think that is another reason they may have turned you down.

I understand at USC and California as a whole. The ROIs are good but $60k is still a lot to cough out or secure a loan for.

As for SOPs, personally I think they are way more important than we want to admit. In fact, I think MS apps getting fully funded is contingent on the SOPs, GPA, GRE, LORs in that order. I am not an authority but the few people I know who got it, wrote mind blowing SOPs even when they had average stats to go with it.

See it this way, the adcoms have every reason to question your first degree, to some degree GRE and maybe even LORs (as they don't know the school, GRE center or Profs recommending you) but for some reason, they buy into whatever your SOP contains as long as it arouses their interest in you.

So my advice is, make it creative; avoid clichés and overused sentences. Write introspectively- maybe even personally. Show that you would be a good fit regardless of your diversity or shortcomings. And speaking about shortcomings, if you have them, scratch that, since you have them, mention them in the SOP and show how you are steering your life away from them.

I saw this sentence by someone who got admitted into MIT and It got me interested in reading what he had to say. He started, "Sometimes I close my eyes, fold my arms and clench my fists. Then I think about a world where this man did not exist"...

The person who wrote this ended up talking about a drunkard father who beat him a lot growing up and hated the fact that he was a bookworm. Somehow the guy almost blamed his father for where he was at in life, but then flipped it in between and discussed the positive aspects of it and how ironically, it was responsible for his academic success and need to get into MIT.

Of course, he got technical at some point and talked about his field of study and passion but I was engaged reading him and I still remember aspects of his essay - even when I read it once, 4 or 5 years ago.

Nobody is asking you to go all flowery and poetic but you should tell them something about you, peculiar to you that they would want to admit and if you dig deep into you, you would find it.

For instance, you could explain your 3.76/5.00 by saying that anyone who judges you solely on that would be akin to a blind man who touched the trunk of an elephant and concluded that elephants themselves were like snakes. In other words, such a person would not get the whole/true picture of your acumen by your GPA alone. They would need to see you in your element; how you get epiphanies by analyzing life forms and thinking up ways to improve them or how seeing basic elements transform into complex machine fascinates the hell out of you.

I am talking too much. I got 7 rejections so maybe I should shut up at this point.

Cheers.

aamstih:


When is your Exams coming up?

Time2Smile:


Whao.
I would do my best to answer your question but I can't cover all bases in one post. One thing all prospective students should have in mind is that a good, or even great, GRE score is not enough by itself to secure admission and funding from a good school. Other parts of the application such as GPA, SOP, research experience also play important roles. I would add unequivocally that an important aspect of the application that is often overlooked(especially in this part of the world) is the recommendation letters. A glowing recommendation letter can be a difference between an acceptance and a rejection. It is a n opportunity for admission committee to gain insight into some of the applicants traits that might otherwise not show up in other parts of the application.


That being said, A great GRE score significantly improves the chances of admission. On why I was accepted late in the admission cycle, It was due to a number of reasons.

First, I didn't start and submit my applications early enough. I only decided to apply around November and could not get an early GRE date so I was forced to write in January. By then the application for most schools had closed.

Secondly, When I started the application process, I didn't know much about PhD in the US and frankly was not interested in US. I was looking at Canada, Germany and some other countries. But as I was preparing to write the GRE to boost my chances in the other countries I started reading about US admission from this thread and the students visa thread. So, I resolved to submit application to a couple of US schools since I meet the minimum requirements for admission. Consequently, I only applied initially to two(2) US schools, LSU Health Science Center New Orleans (which I regarded as a safe school but I was rejected) and University of Houston (Don't have a decision from them application still under review!!! Can you imagine?).

Therefore, I wouldn't really say my decision was late because it took University of Texas about 6 weeks to accept me after scrambling to submit my application on the deadline due to the reticence of my referees to submit recommendation on time. And I believe my GRE and GPA played a great role in getting me accepted. I say this because the Graduate coordinator requested for another recommendation letter after the initial committee review of my application because he said the original three didn't say much about my research skills( An euphemism for they are useless). At that moment I knew I had a good chance if I submit a sparkling LOR, and lo and behold I was accepted when I got another referee to submit a letter I helped him to draft. (It still took two weeks to get him to acquiesce to my request).

I believe you and other prospective applicants can glean some knowledge from my story. But, I think it is worth listing some of the lessons I learnt.

1. Apply early before the deadline and Spread your risk. Apply to at least 6 schools containing a mixture of reach and safe schools.

2. Before you apply to a school know how the admission process in the school works. LSU probably rejected me because I am out of state, it was later I read complaints from other Americans. I didn't have any business applying there I the first place( I am talking especially about the health Science Center). My application to U of Houston was doomed when I couldn't secure a faculty support because it is Professors there that admit PhD student to their labs in the Department of Biochemistry.

3. Don't overlooked any part of your application. A great GRE score and GPA are nice, but it my be your SOP and letters that clich the admit.

4. Work on your letters with your referees. A letter from a Dr. might be better than that of a Professor if the said Dr. writes a personal letter filled with anecdotes that shows he/she know you well and hold you in high esteem. (Your recommenders need to only write one letter each and just personalise by changing the name for each school). Also, Institutional email address gives more credibility compared to yahoo or Gmail accounts.

5. Start a draft of your SOP as soon as possible and let a number of people review it. The final version would be significantly different from the version you start with in most cases.

6. Like I have said before, the work that goes into securing admission and full funding is usually understated. However, the good thing is that it is a process with numerous steps and all applicants should take it one step at a time.

7. Last but not the least, Pray for favour, Grace and guidance.

I would add more tips as I remember them.

NB; At the risk of being pedantic, I would like to say that GRE verbal is more than learning vocabulary, it is the contextual meaning of the words in sentences that is being tested. It is always good to heed the advice I read somewhere "Write to express not to impress" in other not to come across as ostentatious.


Thanks, for the insights. It has been most pleasant to glean from your wealth of experience. I am much as curious as anyone out there, of securing graduate admission in a reputable school. It has been a dream long conceived, and I am sorry if the underlying tone of my above post is wrong.