Taking the GRE on Thursday. I've only taken practice exams so far, and my scores are okay (I think?) but every once and a while I perform a lot worse on the math.
I can't remember if I mentioned this to you when I PMed you, but the calculator they use in the software is really bad. If you can find a simulator, you should use it and get accustomed to it. It's really bad. It'll slow you down and drive you nuts. If I could change one thing about my GRE experience it would have been to be more prepared for that.
I can't remember if I mentioned this to you when I PMed you, but the calculator they use in the software is really bad. If you can find a simulator, you should use it and get accustomed to it. It's really bad. It'll slow you down and drive you nuts. If I could change one thing about my GRE experience it would have been to be more prepared for that.
I didn't even realize there was a calculator when I took the GRE my first time. Ended up not having enough time for the math portion due to it. After getting some proper prep time(I know how to do fourier transforms but random geometry problems I haven't done in forever would make me think too long >_>) I "aced it"(got what I needed for grad school) the second time after knowing how it was all set up.
Just had a paper with my name on it (not first or last author) rejected from Science after being in review, and a paper on which I was third author rejected from Nature Methods and Cell.
I'm tempted to make a thread about this, but this seems like a decent starting point.
how many people with a BS in engineering have benefited from a MS?
I have a BS in Chem Eng, and have been working for two years. I'm not thrilled with my job, and i'm trying to keep my options open. I'm tempted to take two years off and get a masters of some sort in engineering. i know most end up with a MBA or something. I'm tempted to get something in another branch of eng. electrical or mechanical.... not sure
Depending on where you work, you might not benefit from a MS in terms of pay or promotion. If your a BS Chem E at Abbott or Exxon Mobil, depending on how the company views those things, you might get nothing out of it.
Im a MechE and quit my job a couple days ago to start my fulltime MBA because I didn't like my day to day work, my coworkers or lack of upward mobility. Raises and promotions were also stagnant.
So it kind of comes down to what your passionate about, what your trying do do in the next five years and how much money you are ok with.
Taking the GRE on Thursday. I've only taken practice exams so far, and my scores are okay (I think?) but every once and a while I perform a lot worse on the math.
At least my scholarship gives me $500 for GRE related expenses so I can retake it a few times.
so I was able to get a TA position for the fall guaranteeing paid tuition for that semester, but gotta figure out the other ones. My adviser wants to work on a F32 in the fall, so idk how that'll go
Traditional, full-time MBA programs tend to naturally take up more of your time so whether or not you want to work while in the program is a major consideration. Generally, I feel that full-time programs tend to be seen as a bit more prestigious though as they usually require better stats to get in.
I mean it's all subjective. The information is as reliable/accurate as is reported by the schools. The most widely consulted are USNews, Forbes, the Economist and Businessweek. Businessweek has been screwing up on its MBA rankings recently though.
Thank you. For me I don't have much of a choice as I have a family support and my wife doesn't have stable income. I have to go with a part-time MBA program.
Thank you. This is great. But I don't have what it takes to get into the top 20 schools. Maybe the top 50 or 100 schools. I'm evaluating MBAs from local state universities like Cal State Northridge, Cal State Fullerton, Redlands University, and I'm also considering an online MBA from Arizona State University. ASU definitely has more prestige than the other three schools, but I don't know if really hurting myself by going with an online program.
Someone also recommended Pepperdine University, but that is way to expensive for me. USC as well.
I'm considering taking the GMAT exam. Any tips or good sources to read up on? Planning on taking it late October. Hopefully I'll have enough time to study for it and then send applications. At the same time I'm kinda worried I might be stressing myself too much because I also plan on taking the CFA exam in December. What do you guys think? Should I drop one?
Just bumping this thread to announce that my thesis got accepted.
I am extremely happy right now and need to share it with you guys. I don't write much here but it has been a long road to finally be in this situation. I want everyone who is doing this same thing to know that it can be done. If I can write a phd thesis, anyone can. Haha. Only the defense remains but I am not scared about that at all.
Thanks. Already stressing about it but I am searching and contacting everyone I know. 40 years...damn. Then I'll definitely buy that around the world cruise. Better start saving for it right now.
Got a question for you MBA guys. I got 690 on my GMAT last weekend. What are my chances in getting into a school like LBS or the bottom 10 ivy schools in the States? Should I do it again to try and get 700+? My GPA is 3.3 in Computer Engineering from University of Waterloo.
I can't remember if I mentioned this to you when I PMed you, but the calculator they use in the software is really bad. If you can find a simulator, you should use it and get accustomed to it. It's really bad. It'll slow you down and drive you nuts. If I could change one thing about my GRE experience it would have been to be more prepared for that.
Still not done! Tomorrow is the final presentation. It's given me so many things to think about and I got really lucky that my research mentor is amazing. I'll probably post more about it when I'm back home.
so I was able to get a TA position for the fall guaranteeing paid tuition for that semester, but gotta figure out the other ones. My adviser wants to work on a F32 in the fall, so idk how that'll go
Thanks so much! Congrats to you as well! It's interesting that we are sort of in reverse scenarios; in my school you do the defense first, then you revise/edit, and only then does the thesis officially get accepted.
Thanks so much! Congrats to you as well! It's interesting that we are sort of in reverse scenarios; in my school you do the defense first, then you revise/edit, and only then does the thesis officially get accepted.
I am doing two universities with two degrees. The other is first defense then revise, the other is first revise then defend. Same thesis though but a bit tweaked for both.
I've been drinking a lot of beer and enjoying life these few days. Feels like a ton of stress is off my shoulders.
I am doing two universities with two degrees. The other is first defense then revise, the other is first revise then defend. Same thesis though but a bit tweaked for both.
I've been drinking a lot of beer and enjoying life these few days. Feels like a ton of stress is off my shoulders.
One of the best feelings in the world. When you are finished, I'll make a toast for you for sure virtually and if you happen to be in the neighbourhood, I'll treat you to a beer or two.
I am doing two universities with two degrees. The other is first defense then revise, the other is first revise then defend. Same thesis though but a bit tweaked for both.
I've been drinking a lot of beer and enjoying life these few days. Feels like a ton of stress is off my shoulders.
Not in grad school, but I'm just finishing up my first summer of undergrad research. I need to put a poster together for an undergrad conference detailing my results and experience and I'm just freaking out because my results absolutely suck, and I'm feeling that I wasted the time of the prof who took me on. It for sure was a learning experience for me though, and at the end of the day it really made me think if grad school is something that I actually want to pursue.
Still not done! Tomorrow is the final presentation. It's given me so many things to think about and I got really lucky that my research mentor is amazing. I'll probably post more about it when I'm back home.
One of the best feelings in the world. When you are finished, I'll make a toast for you for sure virtually and if you happen to be in the neighbourhood, I'll treat you to a beer or two.
I'll be applying to a few bacteriology and immunology programs in the fall. I graduated in May and decided to take a year off to build up my resume a bit. I had nearly a perfect GPA but practically no research experience or published works, so I needed to boost those aspects.
Obtaining my MBA has been the best decision that I've ever made in my life.
I am a senior contract analyst at a hospital in the Chicagoland area. Additionally, I've been an adjunct instructor for nearly four years. My degree has paid for itself many times over. Also as well, everywhere I look as I'm back on the job hunt again, my MBA in healthcare management is one key component that I have that can separate me from competitors on the job hunt.
Not in grad school, but I'm just finishing up my first summer of undergrad research. I need to put a poster together for an undergrad conference detailing my results and experience and I'm just freaking out because my results absolutely suck, and I'm feeling that I wasted the time of the prof who took me on. It for sure was a learning experience for me though, and at the end of the day it really made me think if grad school is something that I actually want to pursue.
Still in undergrad so it's more about working on applications for grad school. End goal is having a really strong writing sample.
GRE results. 164 Verbal, 158 Quantitative Reasoning. I was getting in the 160-164 range for Quantitative Reasoning in the practice exams I took so I'm definitely gonna retake the exam.
The scores seem fine for the Sociology programs I plan on applying to, but I gotta work on Quant. if I do decide on applying to Statistics programs. D: I don't see a lot of statistics on those and I'm wondering if the profile for applicants looks like the one for Mathematics applicants.
Not in grad school, but I'm just finishing up my first summer of undergrad research. I need to put a poster together for an undergrad conference detailing my results and experience and I'm just freaking out because my results absolutely suck, and I'm feeling that I wasted the time of the prof who took me on. It for sure was a learning experience for me though, and at the end of the day it really made me think if grad school is something that I actually want to pursue.
Most professors really don't expect all that much from just ~3 months of an undergrad jumping into and out of a project knowing very little about it beforehand. I've participated in an undergrad research program and as a grad student have judged a lot of undergrad research posters and trust me, you're not the first to freak out over what you think may be inadequate results. After the first poster session you'll realize a lot of other people won't really have that much to show.
Focus on what you've learned and contributed to the project, even if only conceptually. Why do your results "suck"? If it's just crude data, you can easily say they're preliminary results. If it's because the data is disproving your/the project's research hypotheses, that's just part of the research process and perfectly acceptable. If it's because you think there's a fault in the experiment's methods, you can say that in the poster itself and present reasons as to why it happened and how you would change it. I know it sounds like I'm telling you to "stretch the truth" so to speak, but that's not really what you'd be doing. My point is that undergrad research is all a learning experience, and everyone knows you can't get a ton done in just 3 months. Just put your research experience into that perspective, I wouldn't sweat that too much.
At any rate, who was your mentor? Whether it was the prof who took you on or one of his graduate students, you should sit down with him/her and go over the poster and your results. If you're worried those results are not good, tell them that. Again, don't feel bad or worry about letting them down, just be honest. Whoever your mentor is should be willing and approachable enough to do this for you. Not only so that you get peace of mind that someone is signing off on your work, but also whoever you're working under more than likely wants to make sure that whatever comes out of their lab is approved by them, as it's a reflection of them as well.
I graduated less than a month ago and somehow managed to get full funding for a masters. The masters begins at the end of September. A bit scared that I am jumping in too soon, might die without a break from education but I couldn't defer the funding a year :/. I have always wanted to do one so hoping that is enough motivation to push me through it.
Yeah, to add on to EatinOlives's experiences, I've been mentoring an undergrad's research project this summer, and like you, wbsmcs, she wasn't overly thrilled with her research. So we pivoted and took a look at why her results were so lackluster, and now, in the waning days of the season, she's going to argue that she's discovered a gap in the current scholarship around her topic.
Now, this is in English, so your project might be entirely different. But. like EatinOlives, I think the important question is "why?" You've done the work, and you've learned from your experience. At this point, it seems to me (and this is without knowing anything about your work) that what you've found is far less important than being able to synthesize and present the possible reasons for the lackluster results.
GRE results. 164 Verbal, 158 Quantitative Reasoning. I was getting in the 160-164 range for Quantitative Reasoning in the practice exams I took so I'm definitely gonna retake the exam.
The scores seem fine for the Sociology programs I plan on applying to, but I gotta work on Quant. if I do decide on applying to Statistics programs. D: I don't see a lot of statistics on those and I'm wondering if the profile for applicants looks like the one for Mathematics applicants.
If you're applying to Sociology programs, this would place you above minimum requirements to enter a top 10 program (your AW does matter a little bit, but mostly your writing sample will fill in for your AW). Very few stats programs in the US are quant-heavy. The emphasis would be on verbal for interpreting your GRE results.
For Stats/Math, I think your Quantitative would be a little low for top tier programs, but ultimately GREs are normally not a central part of an admissions profile, but rather a sanity check. So if you have a 4.0 from Carnegie Mellon engineering or whatever it's not likely they're going to care that you only got 80th percentile on GRE math.
If you've got funding to re-take there's no real reason not to, but I do caution you one thing: a 164 verbal is quite good, and it's entirely possible if you retake that might slip. It would be very unenviable if you ended up getting, say, 161/161 on your retake and trying to decide whether your prospective schools care more about the three you gained in Quant than the three you lost in Verbal. I know I wasn't over the moon about my Quant score (competitive, but not where I wanted to be
since Stanford was my #1 choice but they didn't let me in anyway so fuck those guys *cries*
) but my Verbal score was high enough that I didn't want to risk it on a retake.
Not in grad school, but I'm just finishing up my first summer of undergrad research. I need to put a poster together for an undergrad conference detailing my results and experience and I'm just freaking out because my results absolutely suck, and I'm feeling that I wasted the time of the prof who took me on. It for sure was a learning experience for me though, and at the end of the day it really made me think if grad school is something that I actually want to pursue.
No one should ever feel bad about null results. Embrace the null. It might not be good enough for top tier publishing, but it's good enough to be proud of your work and do an undergrad conference poster. Don't massage the data to get a result. Own the null. Don't say stuff like "results come close to conventional definitions of statistical significance". If you want to reject the p-value paradigm, don't say that at all. If you want to use the p-value paradigm, don't tip-toe around the fact that you didn't make it. Remember you can robustness check a null the same way you can robustness check a positive finding; try alternate specifications and models, try looking at outlier data. If you try a bunch of different stuff and you feel really confident in the null, more's the better.
No such thing as a sucky result, just a sucky execution.
For Stats/Math, I think your Quantitative would be a little low for top tier programs, but ultimately GREs are normally not a central part of an admissions profile, but rather a sanity check. So if you have a 4.0 from Carnegie Mellon engineering or whatever it's not likely they're going to care that you only got 80th percentile on GRE math.
In my endless quest of compensating my crippling insecurity I have been messing with the idea of getting an complimentary online MSc in Statistics from an USA institution. I was about to apply when the dollar surge happened. I consider myself to be a strong enough candidate to be accepted without much problems, but after reading your post I got the sensation that I'm underestimating the difficulty of the task.
In resume, can you give me a a few lines of insight of how competitive is the admittance to a statistics MSc program? Sorry for the inconvenience.
No one should ever feel bad about null results. Embrace the null. It might not be good enough for top tier publishing, but it's good enough to be proud of your work and do an undergrad conference poster. Don't massage the data to get a result. Own the null. Don't say stuff like "results come close to conventional definitions of statistical significance". If you want to reject the p-value paradigm, don't say that at all. If you want to use the p-value paradigm, don't tip-toe around the fact that you didn't make it. Remember you can robustness check a null the same way you can robustness check a positive finding; try alternate specifications and models, try looking at outlier data. If you try a bunch of different stuff and you feel really confident in the null, more's the better.
No such thing as a sucky result, just a sucky execution.
My Masters thesis work was a basically a null result given our initial assumptions, but that alone was a significant result and I managed to get a meaningful conclusion and a theorem out of it that is currently under review for publication .
If you're applying to Sociology programs, this would place you above minimum requirements to enter a top 10 program (your AW does matter a little bit, but mostly your writing sample will fill in for your AW). Very few stats programs in the US are quant-heavy. The emphasis would be on verbal for interpreting your GRE results.
For Stats/Math, I think your Quantitative would be a little low for top tier programs, but ultimately GREs are normally not a central part of an admissions profile, but rather a sanity check. So if you have a 4.0 from Carnegie Mellon engineering or whatever it's not likely they're going to care that you only got 80th percentile on GRE math.
If you've got funding to re-take there's no real reason not to, but I do caution you one thing: a 164 verbal is quite good, and it's entirely possible if you retake that might slip. It would be very unenviable if you ended up getting, say, 161/161 on your retake and trying to decide whether your prospective schools care more about the three you gained in Quant than the three you lost in Verbal. I know I wasn't over the moon about my Quant score (competitive, but not where I wanted to be
since Stanford was my #1 choice but they didn't let me in anyway so fuck those guys *cries*
) but my Verbal score was high enough that I didn't want to risk it on a retake.
Dumb question: What is AW? I haven't heard the abbreviation before.
I'm not from a top school or anything, just a relatively good city school. (I've said it before on GAF so I don't mind being specific: Hunter CUNY). I do think my GPA is far more indicative of my math skills, and I'm considering doing the Math Subject GRE.
I thought that most schools took the highest of the each section from different exams you took? I know Princeton does that. D:
I do have around $500 that can only be spent on GRE materials or exams so yeah, I think it makes sense for me to take it again. My Verbal score doesn't fluctuate nearly as much as my Quant. seems to. I just need to learn how to do the Quant questions faster. When I do get to them all, it's just barely.
If you're applying to Sociology programs, this would place you above minimum requirements to enter a top 10 program (your AW does matter a little bit, but mostly your writing sample will fill in for your AW). Very few stats programs in the US are quant-heavy. The emphasis would be on verbal for interpreting your GRE results.
also worth noting that for many programs, if you know who you want to work with, you can start reaching out now. Read some of their papers. send them an email with some thoughtful questions about their research. In many places, if a professor wants to work with you, they can go pull you application regardless of your scores. If you've got an interesting course of research in some area that they're interested in, they may take you on and you may not have to spend money on additional tests.
In my endless quest of compensating my crippling insecurity I have been messing with the idea of getting an complimentary online MSc in Statistics from an USA institution. I was about to apply when the dollar surge happened. I consider myself to be a strong enough candidate to be accepted without much problems, but after reading your post I got the sensation that I'm underestimating the difficulty of the task.
Definitely don't underestimate yourself, and online programs typically have much lower admission requirements than in-school programs, especially if you're paying for it yourself with no funding. I know very little about online programs and in a lot of disciplines they're quite frowned upon, but Stats may differ.
I can't remember, are you in Comp Sci? If you can get into a Comp Sci grad program, you can get into a Stats grad program. Standalone Masters degrees in most non-professional subjects are kinda uncommon in the US, Masters level degrees are typically a stepping stone to a PhD or a consolation prize if you wash out.
In resume, can you give me a a few lines of insight of how competitive is the admittance to a statistics MSc program? Sorry for the inconvenience.
I should clarify that I'm not in stats, I'm in a social sciences discipline known for quant work. Most quant social sciences departments in the US offer cross-listed PhD + MSc Stats programs for students to supplement their in-department methods training with stats courses.
But if you're applying to a decent US Stats grad program, typically you'll want a quant GRE score of 160+ (which reflects top 15-20% of those who take the GRE) + good undergraduate or graduate grades in a STEM field. It depends on your admissions profile. If you've got CS grad work and you're applying to study Machine Learning or Computer Vision, I can't imagine you'd be rejected for having a more marginal GRE. On the other hand if you have an undergrad Psych degree and you're applying to, like, Information Theory or something, I suspect that they'd want to see evidence you are bringing something ot the program.
