PROFILES/RESULTS of the 2006 graduate applicants

[Panda77]

Age: 28
M/F: F
Location when applying:Rome, Italy
Major(s) in undergrad: Business Administration
Undergraduate institution: small unknown liberal arts college
Major(s) applying for: Economics
Area of specialization: Macroeconomics, Monetary, International econ
Degree(s) earned: BA
Degree(s) applying for: PhD
Undergrad GPA (try to adjust to 4.0 system): 3.69
Class Rank (if applicable): don’t know
GRE Verbal: 1st time:460; 2nd time:540
GRE Math: 1st time:740; 2nd time:710
GRE Writing: 1st time:4.0; 2nd time:3.5
How many months did you study for GRE general: the first time I didn’t study a lot, I was still in school taking 5 classes and time was scarce so I studied a bit over the week ends. The second time I did a lot more since I had more time (I was working at the time). So, I studied for 2 months an average of two hours per day, but preparing only the math section. Yes, look at my scores ... I do believe this damn test is absolutely worthless!
GRE Subject (if applicable):
How many months did you study for GRE subject:
Researched as undergrad in University (y/n & years):
Researched as undergrad in Industry (y/n & years): One year. I was a research assistant in the economics department for a U.N. agency
Published (y/n & # of articles): no, nothing.
Other: several years of math and science tutoring mostly at high school level, but did some at undergraduate level too. Received a scholarship for my last undergrad year and was given an award of academic excellence in Finance and Accounting.
Advice to those applying to grad school: Carefully research school, you will want to apply to those were your research interests match those of the faculty; this is extremely important! Apply to as many schools as time and money permits, admission decisions are too random to be predictable. Do not apply only to top 10 schools, there are far too many smart and dedicated people around then spots available, you are allowed to dream but don’t forget to be practical too. Give yourself A LOT of time to write your sop, it is an important part of the application and you will want to be very much focused on research and career goals which might not be that easy. I spent 2.5 months and countless revisions on it. Get close to professors as much as you can, the more they know about you the better their lors will be. If you have the luck of being in a big research university volunteer to help out one of your profs with his/her research over the summer between your junior and senior year; it will give you an insight of what research is, something to write about in your sop, and you will be better known by at least one prof. One last thing: start the process as early as you can not only because it is really time consuming but also because if you do so you can contact profs at the schools you are thinking of applying to. To get in touch with profs is a smart idea to have some sort of advantage over the other candidates, but you need to do it early on (i.e. over the summer) because if you do it around October/November it might seem you are doing it only for the admissions process and not because you are seriously interested.
Accepted Schools (aid: y/n and how much and what form; date notified and method of notification):University of Iowa, PhD (full aid in the form of fellowship + TA/RA, notified via e-mail on March 8th) SUNY at Binghamton, PhD (no aid, notified via web site around March 20) Boston University, MA (no aid, notified via e-mail on March 28)
Rejected Schools (date notified and method of notification): Georgetown Uni (letter) George Washington Uni (letter) U. of Virginia (e-mail) U. of Rochester (e-mail) Rutgers (letter) Purdue (web site)
Waitlisted Schools:IndianaUniversity, JohnsHopkinsUniversity, TempleUniversity. Well, I don’t know whether I was waitlisted at these schools, but I still haven’t heard anything from them. At this point they will all be rejects I think.
ChosenSchool: Do you need to ask?! U. of Iowa of course!!

[Ivo]

Age: just turned 27
M/F: M
Location when applying: Seoul
Major(s) in undergrad: Int'l Economics/ Law
Undergraduate institution: best school for economics in my country, totally unknown outside
Major(s) applying for: Political Science
Area of specialization: Comparative Politics/IR
Degree(s) earned: BA, M.P.P, and finishing M.A.(studied at two unis simultaneously)
Degree(s) applying for: PhD
Undergrad GPA (try to adjust to 4.0 system): 3.97 for undegrad, 4.0 for grad.school
Class Rank (if applicable): 99th percentile rank(at least that's what the transcript says)
GRE Verbal: 660
GRE Math: 760
GRE Writing: 5.0
How many months did you study for GRE general: 2 months full-time
Researched as undergrad in University (y/n & years): RA for 1,5 years at my grad. institution
Published (y/n & # of articles): No, just helped my advisor with publishing
Other: received couple of awards at various institutions for academic performance
Advice to those applying to grad school:
TIME, TIME, TIME - everything needs to be done early. This process can't be done at the last push.
RESEARCH, RESEARCH and RESEARCH! The more you do, the clearer idea of what to do next and the greater chances for an admit. In your SoP write less about yourself but more about your research ideas and the questions you'd like to solve. Suggest further topics which need to be examined. Indicate which profs. match to your interest.
Establish good relations with your professors and work for them!!!All what needs to be said about your great personality and potential must come from their mouth. You shouldn't be wasting precious space in your SoP on that.
GRE - don't underestimate AWA - especially for people who apply for PolSci. Also if you don't do well on AWA (which is the first part of the test) you might get dishearted and do poorely on the rest of the test. That happened exactly to me - after a messed-up AWA, I couldn't focus anymore.

Accepted Schools (aid: y/n and how much and what form; date notified and method of notification):

Berkeley (personal email at the beggining of Feb., later received a full funding package for 4 years - 1st and 4th year a fellowship, 2nd and 3rd GSI).
UVA(middle Feb.,Presidential Fellowship - 3 years fully covered)
UCLA (end of Feb., personal email with conditions a bit better than those of Berkeley).
GWU (no funding, mid. March)

Rejected Schools (date notified and method of notification):

Duke, Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, Chicago, MIT, Yale, Cornell

Waitlisted Schools:
none but MIT would have admitted me if I had funds available

Chosen School:
Berkeley

good luck to all!!!

what's happening?

[pheonix]

Thank to all who have posted . it will be of immense help to Fall 2007 aspirants (like me...)
There are loads of people on TM who have great admits and who haven't posted here.. I think they should share their profiles in this thread..

[Pranky]

Age: 22
M/F: F
Location when applying: Kolkata, India
Major(s) in undergrad: Computer Science
Undergraduate institution: Some College under Nagpur Univ.
Major(s) applying for: Computer Science
Area of specialization: Network Securities
Degree(s) earned: B.E.
Degree(s) applying for: MS
Undergrad GPA (try to adjust to 4.0 system): 4
Class Rank (if applicable): 1
GRE Verbal: 490
GRE Math: 710
GRE Writing: 6.0
How many months did you study for GRE general: 2 months
GRE Subject (if applicable): NA
How many months did you study for GRE subject:
Researched as undergrad in University (y/n & years): 3 projects
Researched as undergrad in Industry (y/n & years):N
Published (y/n & # of articles): N
Other:
Advice to those applying to grad school:
Hey guys, I believe please pay close attention to every details on ur application part. Every document in the application portion holds equal importance including ur SOPs (vvvv imp), Letters of reco., Resumes ans ofcourse ur fin docs. Also if possible u can give them a brief description of the previous course that u have pursued. This really helps them make a sound decision, even incase of fin aid!!
Accepted Schools (aid: y/n and how much and what form; date notified and method of notification):

Purdue University with TA; date notified: 1st week of Feb., email

Rejected Schools (date notified and method of notification): NA

Waitlisted Schools:NA

No decision yet: NA

Chosen School:
Purdue
__________________

[fear is the key]

Anybody heard from ECE of U of Toronto? Pls. give ur profile. I m so worried.

[waitingting]

fear is the key,

i am at Toronto and applied there for ECE. i also know quite a few other U of T students who applied. sorry to tell you this, but acceptances started going out by email around mid-March, and the deadline to accept their offers has passed (March 31). i'm not sure if there are second rounds though. you should probably call them to be sure. the fact that i was notified only by email may have had to do with the fact that i am a U of T student.

edit: or.... are you "worried" because you are applying next year? sorry if i'm misinterpreting.

[pheonix]

Thanks to all those who posted !!! But I still feel there are plenty of people who can post and help Fall 2007 apllicants...

[fear is the key]

Originally Posted by waitingting

fear is the key,

i am at Toronto and applied there for ECE. i also know quite a few other U of T students who applied. sorry to tell you this, but acceptances started going out by email around mid-March, and the deadline to accept their offers has passed (March 31). i'm not sure if there are second rounds though. you should probably call them to be sure. the fact that i was notified only by email may have had to do with the fact that i am a U of T student.

edit: or.... are you "worried" because you are applying next year? sorry if i'm misinterpreting.

Thanks 4 the info. Actually I have applied this year, around 3rd week of february, they sent an e-mail telling that a professor is interested, I contacted him immediately-but I don't know what happened in a day-not a single word from either of them till now-not even a rejection. In 1st week of april, I asked them what's going on-still no reply, so I thought may be they r into radio silence or something- . Also, there's no change in my status page. May b there isss a second round Anyway, webpage says May 15 is the final day- i guess I will wait until then.

[Antichron]

Age: 23
M/F: M
Location when applying: California
Major(s) in undergrad: Economics
Undergraduate institution: UCLA
Major(s) applying for: Economics
Area of specialization: Economic Theory
Degree(s) earned: AA/BA/MA
Degree(s) applying for: PhD
Undergrad GPA (try to adjust to 4.0 system): 4.0
Class Rank (if applicable): Unknown
GRE Verbal: 660
GRE Math: 800
GRE Writing: 6.0
How many months did you study for GRE general: 2 months
GRE Subject (if applicable): N/A
How many months did you study for GRE subject: N/A
Researched as undergrad in University (y/n & years): Y. Research assistant for three projects. Attended nearly fifty workshops and seminars.
Researched as undergrad in Industry (y/n & years): N
Published (y/n & # of articles): N
Other:
Advice to those applying to grad school: Go to seminars, as they are the best way to learn what is currently going on in your field, which will allow you to sound more informed in your personal statement. In addition, they give you a (somewhat skewed) taste for what research in your field might be like.

Audit difficult classes before enrolling in them. For classes like real analysis, you are at a distinct advantage if you have already seen many of the proofs.

Study for the GRE. It is not a particularly easy test, since it tests material that you have likely long forgotten, and it is very time pressured. Nevertheless, with lots of practice, you can do very well. Also, memorize at least 500 words off a GRE vocab. list.


Accepted Schools (aid: y/n and how much and what form; date notified and method of notification):
UCLA ("full funding")
Columbia (20k/yr for years 1-5)
Yale (23k/yr for years 1-5)
Berkeley (22k/yr for years 1-5)
Princeton (26.7k for years 1-2, 21.5k/yr for years 3-5)
Stanford (30k for years 1-2, 19k/yr for years 3-5)
Chicago (26k/yr for years 1-5)
Harvard (25k/yr for years 1-2, 19k/yr for years 3-5)
MIT (29k/yr for years 1-2, 22.5k/yr for years 3-5)

Rejected Schools (date notified and method of notification):

Waitlisted Schools:

Chosen School: MIT

[Hermione]

Age: 21
M/F: F
Location when applying: India
Major(s) in undergrad: Biotechnology
Undergraduate institution: One of the best schools for my field in my place
Major(s) applying for: Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Microbiology and Immunology
Area of specialization: Microbial Pathogenesis
Degree(s) earned: B. Tech
Degree(s) applying for: PhD
Undergrad GPA (try to adjust to 4.0 system): 3.6 (after adjusting it to 4.0 system)
Class Rank (if applicable): 14/140 (not mentioned in transcript and not official)
GRE Verbal: 560
GRE Math: 780
GRE Writing: 4.5
How many months did you study for GRE general: 1.5 months (part time)
GRE Subject (if applicable): Applicable, but not presentable
How many months did you study for GRE subject: Not applicable
Researched as undergrad in University (y/n & years): yes, 3 years part time
Researched as undergrad in Industry (y/n & years): No
Published (y/n & # of articles): yes, communicated one to a national journal, another manuscript to an international journal in preparation (mentioned in reco by my research mentor); 3 conference presentations (abstracts published)
Other: -
Advice to those applying to grad school: Apply early and apply wisely. Do not apply to lots of safe schools... and certainly do not apply to places where you definitely know you wont want to go. Get srong recos and write a personal SoP. Do not narrate all your academic accomplishments and your experience in SoP. Include atleast a paragraph abt why you like the particular univ and the research there. Feel free to mention faculty names even if you dont have contact with them. But make sure you dont give randome names, do your research before giving names. These ppl will most likely view ur application and might be in your interview panel. So make sure you really like their research.

Accepted Schools (aid: y/n and how much and what form; date notified and method of notification): Duke (23k/year; march 28), UT southwestern (21k/year; end of February), UMass med school (26k/year; march first week), Wake forest (21k/year; December end)

Rejected Schools (date notified and method of notification): UPenn, Northwestern, Tufts, Umaryland - Baltimore, Wis-Mad - I emailed all these places and except for UMB all of them said 'sorry, you are out'. UMB said they were still considering and later sent air mailed a reject.

Waitlisted Schools: None

Chosen School: Duke