Page 1 of 1

Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:47 pm
by twistor
I figure I might as well make my 1000th post something useful....

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmi ... sh-to-see/

Enjoy.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 4:58 pm
by fastones3
Ha, I can't believe people actually do some of those things...

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:51 pm
by quizivex
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:06 pm
by twistor
Did you do that by hand?

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:17 pm
by quizivex
Sortof. I made a grid like this in MS Word:
"
OOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOOOO
"
I put in "X"s to trace out the text, then used "EDit/Find" to replace the X's and O's with the smiley face codes. I copy/pasted the resulting mess into the forum.
:mrgreen:

Now someone should do the honor of listing the "top-10 twistor posts of all time "

#1 is, of course:
twistor wrote:PHYSIKSDUDE U R SO RIGHT. I KANOT SPEL EVEN TEH SIMPEL WURDS AND FRAZES. U R LIKE GIANT COCK OF WISDOM EJAKULATING UR KNOWLEDGE ONTO THESZE FORUMSS. PLZ ALOW US TO LAP UP UR TASTY WISDOM-CUM LIKE THE KNOWLEDGE WHOREZ THAT WE R.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 8:22 pm
by sterculus
Owwwwwww, the quizivex smilies hurt my eyes :(

Congrats on the thousand posts, though, twistor!

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2009 10:27 pm
by twistor
quizivex,

Very resourceful. And time consuming. Well, at least you haven't wasted so much time posting as much as I...

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:11 am
by Spark
What's even cooler is that quizivex is going to get to 666 soon

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:21 am
by twistor
Hmmmph... I had 666 once...a long, long time ago.

I've made something like 450 posts too many, and should stfu now...

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 2:29 am
by trani
I guess you gotta hurry up. You got some work to do to get to 1111th. :lol:

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 3:44 am
by secander2!
Congrats Twistor! Also, shouldn't PhysicsGRE.com get a bit more prestige as a forum now that we have a triple digit poster in our midst :wink:
FAQ: What are Smilies? wrote:Try not to overuse smilies, however, as they can quickly render a post unreadable and a moderator may edit them out or remove the post altogether.
quizivex, perhaps you should ban yourself or something!!! Seriously though, I think your congrats post was pretty cool :D

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 5:23 am
by WontonBurritoMeals
Twistor, I love you.

Also, some of those things on the list are meaningless...

What's wrong with having lots of music courses? If they had as many physics courses as the next candidate, so what? It just means that they have a well-rounded education... A lot of physicists were musicians anyway.

And someone can't have good physical intuition but bad GRE scores? @.@

May the wind be always at your back,
-The Living Alchemist

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 10:43 am
by twistor
You... love ... me?

...

Now it's going to be awkward for awhile. Am I supposed to buy you breakfast, or is it too soon for that?

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:11 am
by xudis149
congrats twistor

1000 wow! ... maybe we shud have a hall of fame for the senior members..

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 11:41 am
by metric
congrats twistor for your 1000 posts, although I have suffered some of them! :D. Just to keep on the same track, yet another post from the folks at cosmicvariance.com about the admission procedure:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmi ... ervations/

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:54 pm
by valkyrie
WontonBurritoMeals wrote: What's wrong with having lots of music courses? If they had as many physics courses as the next candidate, so what? It just means that they have a well-rounded education... A lot of physicists were musicians anyway.
She actually clarified that in the comments, saying the problem isn't when someone has a double major in Physics and, say, basket-weaving and do great in their Physics courses. I think what she meant is more that when she saw a candidate who had the minimum number of Physics courses with bad to mediocre grades, but three times as many music courses with great grades, she found it hard to be convinced that Physics was really their true passion.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:22 am
by naseermk
twistor wrote:I figure I might as well make my 1000th post something useful....

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/cosmi ... sh-to-see/
Nice post, Twistor.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:01 am
by Spark
That guy, Stu Dent, is being a complete tool.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:14 am
by twistor
He's right. What right does the admissions committee have to throw out applications without looking at them?

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:26 am
by nathan12343
twistor wrote:He's right. What right does the admissions committee have to throw out applications without looking at them?
But that's what they keep on telling this stu dent guy, they don't throw away applications without looking at them.

But even if they don't look very hard at the bottom half of the applications, they DO have many applications and few positions, can you blame them for being efficient?

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:31 am
by cato88
Spark wrote:That guy, Stu Dent, is being a complete tool.
tool- Someone who tries too hard to fit in with everyone else.
Someone who is easily manipulated by others,


He has a different opinion than most people on the blog so he must not be trying to fit in and is not being manipulated by others.

I would agree with twistor. A skim is a look and all applications should get at least that. You have no idea what the cutoffs are. What if they are using a 700 PGRE cutoff? How many people on this forum would be cut off? Would you feel you had a fair chance if you were cut off without even a skim?

I hope nobody thinks that is right and I would argue that type of person is a closer fit to those definitions of tool.
nathan12343 wrote: But that's what they keep on telling this stu dent guy, they don't throw away applications without looking at them.

But even if they don't look very hard at the bottom half of the applications, they DO have many applications and few positions, can you blame them for being efficient?
They believe looking at the application as just looking at GPA and PGRE. I dont think that constitutes a skim of an application maybe a peek.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:42 am
by Spark
twistor wrote: What right does the admissions committee have to throw out applications without looking at them?
I totally agree with you. A student pays a fee to have their application looked at, and the committee has no right to throw away an application or have a cutoff. But the admissions people are telling the guy that they do look at all of the files, and he is being unreasonably rude and taking their statements completely out of context.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:50 am
by nathan12343
cato88 wrote: They believe looking at the application as just looking at GPA and PGRE. I dont think that constitutes a skim of an application maybe a peek.
They do skim - reading an application isn't the same as skimming it.

She also says the graduate program assistant reads every single statement of purpose, if someone comes from a non-traditional background, overcame some obstacles, or for some other reason their grades AND pgre scores aren't very good, the file gets flagged and read.

If you don't have good grades or PGRE and don't have any extenuating circumstances, what right does the admissions committee have poring over every detail of your application when there are many other, better qualified candidates to consider and very few openings compared to the number of applicants?

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 4:51 am
by cato88
There have been a few posts on that blog since I last checked it. Although Stu dent has some points him and DrEvil are asshats. I do not agree with the self selection argument that the blogger mentions to argue against publishing statistics because self-selection already takes place. You still hear from people you wont get into X school with Y PGRE score although avg X PGRE is approximately Y. Go to physics forum and ask about your chances with a 3.4GPA/790 PGRE. As a note UCLA avg gpa/pgre are about 3.7/730.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:41 am
by twistor
Julianne posted a link to an older article where they say that they do NOT read every single application. I don't feel like sorting through it now to find the quote, but it's basically, "we're sorry to tell you but we don't read every single application."

I don't think it gets much clearer than that.

If they're contradicting that now it's to make themselves look good.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 10:27 am
by Fritz.Zwicky
Based on my reading of that blog, there is only one conclusion:

Stu Dent = Twistor

Fritz "I See Dark Matter" Zwicky

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:08 am
by twistor
lmfao

Any obnoxious person on the internet is obviously me. I'm also taking blame for the shitty economy.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:27 am
by Fritz.Zwicky
twistor wrote:Any obnoxious person on the internet is obviously me.
No, of course not, but here is the proof:

Cosmic Variance post by Stu Dent: | PhysicsGRE post by twistor:
(added two hours to reconcile the different clocks)

January 21st, 2009 at 11:06 am | Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:08 am
January 21st, 2009 at 9:56 am | Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:41 am
January 21st, 2009 at 2:19 am | Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:14 am

Who else would be posting on both at the same time, and posting pretty much the same thing? Q.E.D.

Fritz "The Original Dark Matter" Zwicky

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 1:49 pm
by abeboparebop
twistor wrote:Julianne posted a link to an older article where they say that they do NOT read every single application. I don't feel like sorting through it now to find the quote, but it's basically, "we're sorry to tell you but we don't read every single application."

I don't think it gets much clearer than that.

If they're contradicting that now it's to make themselves look good.
cato88 wrote: They believe looking at the application as just looking at GPA and PGRE. I dont think that constitutes a skim of an application maybe a peek.
The earlier Cosmic Variance article on the admissions process says that the first cut is based on a subjective weighting of GPA, PGRE, and recommendation letters -- so everybody's letters get read.

Plus, as nathan12343 mentioned, everybody's statement of purpose gets read in case there are special circumstances.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:02 pm
by twistor
Someone has too much time on their hands.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:03 pm
by twistor
Also not there is a relationship between the times I'm posting and the variation of sunspots.

Therefore twistor = sunspots.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:41 pm
by cato88
Fritz.Zwicky wrote:
twistor wrote:Any obnoxious person on the internet is obviously me.
No, of course not, but here is the proof:

Cosmic Variance post by Stu Dent: | PhysicsGRE post by twistor:
(added two hours to reconcile the different clocks)

January 21st, 2009 at 11:06 am | Wed Jan 21, 2009 11:08 am
January 21st, 2009 at 9:56 am | Wed Jan 21, 2009 9:41 am
January 21st, 2009 at 2:19 am | Wed Jan 21, 2009 2:14 am

Who else would be posting on both at the same time, and posting pretty much the same thing? Q.E.D.

Fritz "The Original Dark Matter" Zwicky
You couldnt qed that without being administrator for both sites ie Fritz.Zwicky = Grant and Discover Magazine. Thats just a weak correlation argument. I also dont get why twistor would start this thread so that you could reveal him as Stu Dent.

Re: Things the grad admissions committee does not wish to see...

Posted: Wed Jan 21, 2009 3:49 pm
by twistor
My post referred to the article, to hell with the comments.