Sarvesh

I would say Columbia. I like your analysis however I am not sure if it's all right to take into consideration the factors beyond the course you are going to take. For the degree you are going; Columbia is better than UPenn. For me that ends the dilemma.

Too Many Questions!:) Unofficial Admit: Columbia University Applied: 28 Dec 2005 Deadline: 1 March 2006 Rolling Admission: Yes Decision: 25 Jan 2006 You didn't ask for this, but I feel it's important: Major: MS in Computer Science Good Luck!

Amazing :) Congratulations!

@ tarandeep Thank you. Your application must have been marked complete on 10th Jan 2006. That means 2 more weeks wait I suppose. I have applied to following universities and respective status: -> 01) Stanford University -- DECISION AWAITED -> 02) Carnegie Mellon University -- DECISION AWAITED -> 03) University of Washington, Seattle -- DECISION AWAITED -> 04) Columbia University -- ADMIT GRANTED -> 05) Arizona State University -- DECISION AWAITED -> 06) University of Arizona -- DECISION AWAITED -> 07) University of Colorado, Boulder -- DECISION AWAITED -> 08) Stony Brook University -- DECISION AWAITED -> 09) Oregon State University -- DECISION AWAITED -> 10) University of California, Irvine -- DECISION AWAITED @ bilash Thank you. Cost is huge, I agree, but I am unable to find any good university giving aid for *just M.S.*. So I am sort of mentally prepared though still looking forward to more results. Specially my dream university Stanford :) GRE AWA: 4.0 No publications or research but lot of relevant experience from projects I carried out independently and commercially alongside my engineering course. Like: -> Secure Email Gateway -> Research on Online Security Risks. Done for a law agency. -> Email Encryption -> Online Anonymous Browsing -> Email Tracking, etc. If you need more details, feel free to ask please.

Hi Tarandeep, I completed my application on 28 Dec 2005. Then dispatched my transcripts which they received around 3rd Jan 2006. I uploaded transcripts online required for speedy processing. I heard a response from them on 25 Jan 2006. If you need more information, please do not hesitate to ask. I learnt a lot from TM during my GRE days and if I can help anyone here, I take it as a priveldge. Thanks.

Hi, sorry to learn about your reject. I yesterday got admit from Columbia. I do not have spectacular profile but some solid work experience which they might have found relevant. Your aggregate, your GRE and your experience should all add to your overall profile. Good luck for upcoming admits. GRE: 1360 (q800+v560) BE: 77% (till 6th Sem) University: MDU, Haryana Work Experience: Not official in a company, but my own projects

I did it yesterday and everything went smooth. Please cross check that you are using a touch tone phone.

Thanks RKhanna! Quantitative: I won't say it was tough but had I not been patient solving first 10 questions (almost took me 20 minutes) - I wouldn't have scored perfect score. Later 18 I could solve in around 10-12 minutes (because they were more application of brain than working it out on paper). Basically the key here was to not mark anything wrong in first 10. Because if you do, you are penalized heavily in CAT. Verbal: Yes, I don't seem to remember words now but I got 2-3 out of Barron which is actually responsible for my score below 600. Otherwise before that, I managed to get around 620-650 in BigBook papers a day before my test in few consecutive tests. Unihehe: (Thanks a lot!) Quantitative is definitely difficult. Verbal - It's entirely your luck. If you get word which you have done, it will be cake walk. If you get some weird words in first 10 - then you have to perform through out test to score around 600. That's the whole trajedy of CAT (on the up side, do first few wrong and no one can take you below 600) - specially in Verbal. I believe Verbal is neither difficult nor easy - it's just what you know and what you don't and it horrible way to measure someone's verbal talent :D Back to RKhanna, Academically I should have GPA over 3.80. I don't know exactly but one of my friends (who has better performance that I have) got her GPA evaluated and it was 3.93. Regarding other academic achievements - I have some good work experience (out of college) which should give me an edge. I am advised 30-60 Ranking universities but I am trying all I can to get into top 30 ;) It's difficult but unless I get rejected I am not loosing hope!!

Hey Everyone! Thank you every one for your support. I checked TM often to stay up to date. My score isn't exceptional but I am satisfied. I hoped for 1400+ but I am glad I didn't get in 1200's :) I studied overall for 25 days. No, it was not intentional but due to certain unavoidable reasons my 20 days were wasted and I didn't want to push my date further. I strongly feel that for GRE a month prepration is more than enough and longer you stretch it, the graph starts declining. But yes, if you are working or attending college or doing something else, stretch time as much as you can afford. I took off from my college! Verbal - I had pathetic English and I did Barron. Also did many practice tests. You should also. Scoring Around 600-650 is not tough but be cautious that slipping below 500 is also not difficult. I am not scaring you - but staying on these forums - I got used to read 700+ Verbals :) I will just suggest - Stay cool and calm and except what you deserve. Maths - Didn't touch because I whole heartedly worked on Verbal to improve it. BUT - Don't ignore maths, I was shocked at the level of Maths in GRE. It's 30% more difficult that PP and I got too many Standard Deviations, Mode, Median, Probability. Incidentally later questions were better since they were geometery and didn't involve much calculation. But do not ignore it even if you are very good. It never hurts to know formulas at least and my position was that I had to calculate values for tan30. Lol. AWA - I again ignored and it was my first essay in exam. I know my approach will seem very casual but actually it isn't. I tried to utilize my time by devoting it all to what I had deep problems with - Verbal. My score was 340 in Verbal 20 days before. 470 - 3 days before (I am talking of PP) so it paid me to work on Verbal though it may not be good score for an average English speaker. I haven't yet received score but I am confident that I couldn't have written it better. If you can afford, read NY Times or Aldaily.com. Both are good though AlDaily bores you to death :D Overall - since my GRE isn't that good I am thinking of taking GRE Subject Test. I am still confused but should find a solution soon. If you have any advise for GRE Subject Test, Please share. I will be grateful to you. I am planning for Computer Science.

Great. Interface is very neat and clean; very well organized. It will be a good idea Arjen or Nitin if you send an email to grillyourself [at] yahoo.co.in with subject like: "URGENT! Regarding GRE Material" (or whatever) and leave details about web site. Reference to that email address is given in many threads and information to email users would make this change smooth and painless.

I am resending everything I downloaded from there. I have some other stuff too which I will be able to categorize and send after 31st August (after I am done with my GRE). Meanwhile anybody who has anythin which is not already there; please upload. Material should appear in the mailbox approximately in 45-50 minutes from now. Lets hope previous deletion was accidental; otherwise someone can come again and delete it. If someone does that for fun; the least I can say is that it isn't funny :)

I tried accessing the account but probably someone changed the passowd (and I can't seem to justify what was on his/her mind when he/she changed it). I think ISH will be able to help us out here since she created the email address (side note: thanks again for your wonderful effort). Anyway I had downloaded quite a few things from that address few days back so if you guys are willing to create another email address, I will email all attachments there. Other alternative is that I upload to some web site and you can keep downloading. The problem with this method is that I will zip everything together so ultimate size of file may be in range of 15-20 MB. Good Luck.

You are most welcome yasseramin & coolmavs! I am also going through this hi-frequency word list every now and then to make sure I do not make mistake with at least these 300 - 350 words.

For verbal: Won't say it's normal but, yeah, nothing abnormal if you are: 1) Not through with your word list. 2) You are not a native speaker of English. Try to finish with word list asap. Then practise as much as you can. Word list is the foundation and practise is what can take you to your magical figure - 1400+. Good luck.