<p>Crash, your thinking is very similar to that of Josh.</p>
<p>Hey guys, my name is Steven. Iâm new to this forum and I just wanted to ask if any of you realize you youâve been duking it out with Josh for 11 pages? I just want to say that I think this is great, also, I have a situation of my own regarding grad school admissions and I wanted to see what everyoneâs opinion was and whether I should start another thread for it. I certainly wouldnât want to break this up, not to mention my field isnât CS or AH, itâs in the life sciences. Anyway, just let me know because I wanted to get feedback from this group of posters in particular. Thanks!</p>
<p>Oh yeah, Iâll go ahead and tell you guys that i created a whole new thread about my ordeal. I did so in order to not interrupt the lovely conversation this thread has developed. Hereâs the link if you want to check it out and feel like throwing some advice my way. Thanks guys!</p>
<p><a href=âLife Sciences Graduate Admissions Advice - Graduate School - College Confidential Forumsâ>Life Sciences Graduate Admissions Advice - Graduate School - College Confidential Forums;
<p>cardfan, can you explain what you mean by that? I assume you think itâs impossible for the OP to score in the 700s on the quantitative section of the GRE. Iâve tutored students through calculus that you would be surprised to even see going to college. These are skills that can be learned if someone puts in enough time and energy. Scoring in the 700s on the verbal section is another thing entirely.</p>
<p>Ok Josh I understand that you have a great drive an passion and with those as you couple those with a great work ethic you can choose whatever you want to do. Now I have read EVERY reply that you and others have made and you are seriously looking at a needle in a haystack possibility in getting into a Grad program. As an undergraduate in Biomedical engineering with a minor in computer science I see that there is a little misunderstanding in the math requirement. Yeah most PHDâs programs in CS donât mention requiring calculus, just like most Bio medical engineering PHDâs donât list biology or fluid mechanics. But the reason is not the one you have been consistently stating: that it is because you donât need the subject matter for the course and I donât think you have truly go that. Itâs not stated because it is assumed as a forgone conclusion that you have taken Calc1,2&3, linear algebra and depending on the school discrete mathematics and even you international students they have assumed that if you have a major in something IT/CS related that you have already taken the math. My mom also didnât have a high school background in math but she was able to get into a small low-rank college for Nursing school when her law degree didnât transfer. And probably something that people havenât been telling you in this thread; America is the most stuck-up country in their schooling they really donât care about how things are over in Australia and how in those programs you donât need to have math in order to get a basically CS degree. The story about you is nontraditional which I heard helps but only if you have met or almost met the competitive standard. You can get in and design a PHD program to combine both of your loves. The only dream you have to give up is getting both a PHD in CS and a PHD in AH because PHD programs in America are selfish so they only want to see one school for a PHD you can design a PHD that encompasses both but thatâs up to you and your adviser.
SO you are facing an uphill climb up MT. Everest but it can be done though probability not ivies because they are able to pick the cream of the crop so even with you underdog story they could find ten people like you for that spot with better gpas and LORs. what to do
one: improve GRE scores substantial like for real
two: decide on which department to apply for and work on improving your stats for computer science I would honestly go back and take those math classes you skipped out, yeah in upper level you may not be doing âcalculusâ but calculus is the shoulders you will be standing on in order to do those things for tips look at the schools undergrad CS requirements( those are the students that are most likely to get in to the program at the IVY league level and for top programs and take all of the required math needed) yes it may be annoying but a lot of these students (I know of several) take upper level grad school math courses as an undergrad to get an edge on the competition
three: make sure you have a correct translation of the gpas and realize that in america they donât settle for mediocre performance in grad school and most will kick you out at the 3.2 range so a 3.5 gpa in your masters wonât help in the way of counteracting anything bad in you stats; it just says this person isnât an idiot whoâs daddy paid for them to get in. taking those math classes can help boost it up too so two pluses in math scores
four: DONâT MENTION THAT YOU LACK HIGH PREPARATION AT ALL. EVEN IF IT COMES TO WHY YOUR FIRST GRE SCORE IS BAD IN INTERVIEW JUST SAY FOR THAT YOU WERE DRUNK DURING THE TEST. reason- it is required in the U.S for every student to have completely an accredited high school for admissions to college in a accredited program and to finish an Bachelors in an accredited program to get into an PHD program so by mentioning that you donât have a good high school preparation will just equal an x on the application and have the 200 dollars spent for the application fee wasted
five: get god LORs I think you get the point for that one
six: publish a paper if you can in a reputable source on the subject, if you can do that then it will take some knocks away from not having as high of a gre/gpa do to the fact that PHDs are about research note itâs some knocks
those are my six steps and if you are willing to take the time and effort then it may work
though keep in mind that being an non-us national will hurt you even if your stats are perfects so you need to find out what the overachieving U.S students are doing and top it b/c we as a country want to help our own before strangers so a 3.7 is good for PHD if you went to school in the US and are a permanent resident/US citizen not for an international student. work hard and study, and save up because PHD apps in the US can hit up to 2000 dollars so this is not a venture that you take lightly
good luck</p>
<p>You do realize that this thread is three years old, right? It would be great, though, for the OP to post an update â what heâs doing now, what he learned along the way, etc.</p>
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<p>I sure hope this is a joke because itâs awful advice!</p>
<p>Iâm so glad BME posted on this and bumped up the thread. This whole thing was hilarious.</p>
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Hahaha, this is so hilarious. </p>
<p>I already got seriously tired of the opâs replies on the first page. My deepest respect to everyone who stayed around and continued posting until the very end of this thread. You must be extremely patient people indeed. I canât believe I missed this in 2009 :)</p>
<p>Though I really wonder what has happened since thenâŠ</p>
<p>I am also glad that this thread got bumped up. Itâs my first time to CC, and this topic piqued my interest. I have a relatively low undergraduate GPA (a bit higher than Joshâs), but my GRE was high. On top of a (relatively) strong SOP, LORs, and multiple publications, I was able to get into graduate school into an âIvyâ (accepted last week!).</p>
<p>To anyone that feels that their GPA or GRE scores are insufficient, they probably are. You really need to make up for them by retesting in the case of a low GRE score, or you need to really shine in different areas in the case of a low GPA, or both.</p>
<p>Josh should get a PhD in trolling⊠Or he could teach a PhD in trolling.</p>
<p>lolâŠyeah he probably could teach in a School for trollingâŠ</p>