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Application fees and waivers

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 9:00 pm
by CarlBrannen
I've been getting semi-spam email from graduate departments. One from RPI offers to waive the graduate application fee if I fill out a form. This was apparently because I filled out the free application at ETS that tells schools that you're interested in grad school. Anyone else get this sort of thing?

I assume that they sent me this based on my general GRE since I only took the physics GRE in October.

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 9:29 pm
by WhoaNonstop
Let's just say, since I first took the Physics GRE in October 2009, I've probably received at least 30 emails from Rush University about joining their program (something medical based it seems). They haven't stopped either, but it always seems to give me a smile. I swear I know everything about that school now just because of the emails from them.

-Riley

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Tue Nov 02, 2010 10:35 pm
by kroner
Yeah, I still get these. But it seems like they're all about business school or engineering or something else I don't give a crap about. Then again it's not like it costs them anything to bombard people with poorly targeted advertising.

Moral: Don't check that box.

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 4:21 am
by schwiss
CarlBrannen wrote:I've been getting semi-spam email from graduate departments. One from RPI offers to waive the graduate application fee if I fill out a form. This was apparently because I filled out the free application at ETS that tells schools that you're interested in grad school. Anyone else get this sort of thing?

I assume that they sent me this based on my general GRE since I only took the physics GRE in October.
RPI was exceptionally nice. Their first e-mail said "Dear George" (my name is not George), then they sent another mail with a corrected name, then a third one stating that "The application fee cannot and wil lnot (sic) be waived", presumably because I'm international. Really professional.

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 6:14 am
by satyad18
schwiss wrote:RPI was exceptionally nice. Their first e-mail said "Dear George" (my name is not George), then they sent another mail with a corrected name, then a third one stating that "The application fee cannot and wil lnot (sic) be waived", presumably because I'm international. Really professional.
Same here! Except that I didn't bother to read their mail and (possibly) find it addressed to someone else!

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 11:25 am
by HappyQuark
schwiss wrote:
CarlBrannen wrote:I've been getting semi-spam email from graduate departments. One from RPI offers to waive the graduate application fee if I fill out a form. This was apparently because I filled out the free application at ETS that tells schools that you're interested in grad school. Anyone else get this sort of thing?

I assume that they sent me this based on my general GRE since I only took the physics GRE in October.
RPI was exceptionally nice. Their first e-mail said "Dear George" (my name is not George), then they sent another mail with a corrected name, then a third one stating that "The application fee cannot and wil lnot (sic) be waived", presumably because I'm international. Really professional.
That's rather interesting because I've been getting a bunch of these from something called "liberal arts at Penn" and they keep addressing me as Jim (my name is not Jim).

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 11:56 am
by WhoaNonstop
Mine are addressed to "Taylor". I think I'm getting your mail. Want to PM me your email address so I can forward them to you? ;)

-Riley

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Wed Nov 03, 2010 12:44 pm
by HappyQuark
WhoaNonstop wrote:Mine are addressed to "Taylor". I think I'm getting your mail. Want to PM me your email address so I can forward them to you? ;)

-Riley
You do want to know me, since you take the effort to research my name. How pathetic.

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 4:49 pm
by CarlBrannen
Tulane has no application fee:
http://www.physics.tulane.edu/StudentsGradFAQ.shtml

Ranked around 20

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 7:12 pm
by WhoaNonstop
HappyQuark wrote:You do want to know me, since you take the effort to research my name. How pathetic.
I actually saw it in the Physics GRE Omnibus... I swear I'm not stalking you on a daily basis...

...or am I?

-Riley

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 9:06 pm
by HappyQuark
WhoaNonstop wrote:
HappyQuark wrote:You do want to know me, since you take the effort to research my name. How pathetic.
I actually saw it in the Physics GRE Omnibus... I swear I'm not stalking you on a daily basis...

...or am I?

-Riley
The phrasing of that sentence, the one I copied that is, makes me chuckle heartily.
riceOnWok wrote:
HappyQuark wrote:.........
Do you have nothing better to do that to waste your life write long post here? For your information, i did ask many admission people, and they all advise me to do what i wrote in the op. You do want to know me, since you take the effort to research the school i went to. How pathetic. "junior high research"? Can you not *** read?
On a more serious note, I'm looking out of my bedroom window and I can see you behind those bushes with the binoculars!

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 10:03 pm
by WhoaNonstop
HappyQuark wrote:On a more serious note, I'm looking out of my bedroom window and I can see you behind those bushes with the binoculars!
Just for the hell of it, let's assume I went old school and built a telescope to stalk you. In order to get 10 times magnification of you posting on PhysicsGRE.com, I plan on using an objective lens with focal length 15 centimeters. What is the focal length of the eyepiece lens and how far away do the two lenses need to be separated?

-Riley

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Tue Nov 09, 2010 11:12 pm
by HappyQuark
WhoaNonstop wrote:
HappyQuark wrote:On a more serious note, I'm looking out of my bedroom window and I can see you behind those bushes with the binoculars!
Just for the hell of it, let's assume I went old school and built a telescope to stalk you. In order to get 10 times magnification of you posting on PhysicsGRE.com, I plan on using an objective lens with focal length 15 centimeters. What is the focal length of the eyepiece lens and how far away do the two lenses need to be separated?

-Riley
Although this would ultimately mean I helped you stalk me, here goes nothing.

Start with the magnification equation $$M=\frac{f_o}{f_e}$$ and plug in the 10x magnification and 15 cm objective focal length to find $$f_e = 1.5\ \mbox{cm}$$. Since you want a crystal clear image of me while you sit in the bushes in your trench coat, licking your lips and braiding you hair while mumbling about naughty pigeons... you will want the focal points of each lens to coincide so you add the object lens and eye piece focal lengths together to get a lens separation length of

$$f_o + f_e = 15\ \mbox{cm} + 1.5\ \mbox{cm} = 16.5\ \mbox{cm}$$

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 12:03 am
by WhoaNonstop
Mmm.. Naughty Pigeons.

-Riley

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 2:58 am
by grae313
Get a room you two.

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 3:18 am
by HappyQuark
grae313 wrote:Get a room you two.
That is so hypocritical. I happen to know you were in those very same bushes the night before.

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 10:42 am
by WhoaNonstop
grae313 wrote:Get a room you two.
Let's say we were to get a room and pretend for the sake of physics, we could be represented by atoms. Assuming most of this forum would appreciate being in this room, let's say there are N people who are inside it. If the room has a 1.0 cubic meter volume. The probability that none of us are in a section of 1.0 x 10^-6 cubic meter volume in the room is?

-Riley

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 12:57 pm
by grae313
HappyQuark wrote:
grae313 wrote:Get a room you two.
That is so hypocritical. I happen to know you were in those very same bushes the night before.
W...what? That was uh... that was my cousin. Yeah. My cousin.

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Wed Nov 10, 2010 3:52 pm
by CarlBrannen
grae313 wrote:Get a room you two.
I was going to say something like this, but with more of a flavor of something like "youth is wasted on the young", "now that I'm an old man the women won't leave me alone but I'm too old to give them what they want", and "can you get eyelash mites by kissing?"

But I couldn't distill it down to a pithy one-liner. Maybe didn't try hard enough.

P.S. http://www.worsleyschool.net/science/fi ... tures.html

Re: Application fees and waivers

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2012 5:28 am
by blighter
schwiss wrote:
CarlBrannen wrote:I've been getting semi-spam email from graduate departments. One from RPI offers to waive the graduate application fee if I fill out a form. This was apparently because I filled out the free application at ETS that tells schools that you're interested in grad school. Anyone else get this sort of thing?

I assume that they sent me this based on my general GRE since I only took the physics GRE in October.
RPI was exceptionally nice. Their first e-mail said "Dear George" (my name is not George), then they sent another mail with a corrected name, then a third one stating that "The application fee cannot and wil lnot (sic) be waived", presumably because I'm international. Really professional.
That's strange. Any idea as to why this keeps happening year after year after year? I got an email yesterday from UC Riverside that read:
Dear [My name],

Earlier I had sent you an email inviting you to apply to the Graduate Program in Physics & Astronomy at UC Riverside, but I had gotten your name wrong. I had a problem with one of my lists of prospective students which had the name and email scrambled.

After checking, the email was indeed meant for you and I would like to invite you to apply for the Graduate Program in Physics & Astronomy. This is a research oriented Ph.D. program with an M.S. degree awarded at an intermediate stage. Below, I am sending you again the information about the program, including the correct username and password for the UCR Graduate Success Page. Sorry about the earlier mixup.
I looked up their earlier email and indeed it was addressed to some 'Daniel'.