Testing, testing, 1 2 3...

So, I took the GRE yesterday.  I was FREAKED OUT, since according to the test preparation book I used, I was doomed to miss 1/3 of the questions.  Also, I was working like a madman last week since I started at my new lab (I'll get to that later) so I had practically NO TIME to prepare.

Luckily, the test wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.  I kind of bombed the math section (well, I didn't finish it and I had to guess on a few questions) but I felt pretty good about the verbal.  I think that my main problem is that I just don't do mental math very quickly, probably because my ADD doesn't permit me to have a very structured thought pattern.  Also, I've used a calculator for pretty much everything besides simple addition since high school, so I was kind of doomed from the start.

Anyway, I got my verbal and quantitative scores right away.  I got a 670 on verbal and a 720 on quantitative (1390 cumulative).  Oddly enough, when I looked up percentile rankings, my verbal is actually MUCH higher than my math.  It corresponds to a 95th percentile ranking, while my quantitative was only equivalent to about 75.  To get above 90th percentile, apparently you have to get pretty much a perfect score on the quantitative.

Normally, these scores would be great.  One thing that I do worry about slightly is that I'm really trying to compensate for my GPA.  While these do go a short way to do that, I'm going to have to have stellar recommendations and very good applications.  I'm not going to be able to go to any top-tier schools most likely, but I think I was doomed to that when I decided not to show up to biochem.

This brings me to a bit of introspection.  I think that I have ridiculously high expectations of myself.  In my mind, if I studied for another month, I could easily get a perfect score on quantitative and possibly improve my verbal.  Because I don't fail very often unless I totally deserve it, it's really hard for me to handle scores that are merely "acceptable."  However, I think that I'm just going to have to get over myself and deal with it, since I need to be focusing on applications and I don't even know if my new scores would get to schools before application deadlines anyway.

And now the really important question.  Where do I apply?  Obviously, my best bet is a state school.  My sister Jennifer suggests Big 10 schools, and I think that I could handle that.  One of my obvious concerns is that the school needs to be in a pretty liberal, metropolitan area, since a)I'm used to Chicago and may go crazy in a small college town, and b) I need to go somewhere I feel comfortable as a gay man.  As several people have pointed out to me (not just Jennifer, who I think has slightly suspect motivations) Columbus has a sizable gay population and would be a good place, as far as the Midwest goes.  I'm actually giving Ohio State pretty serious thought, and it would be pretty cool to have a family member in the area.  (Especially one who is a professor.)  Another possibility would be picking a school based on where I want to live.  Obviously, it would be pretty cool to go to California.  My sister Elizabeth seems to think that I actually have a fighting chance of getting into CalTech.  I seriously doubt that, but it would be pretty cool if I could.  I mean, there's no harm in trying, right?

So now, my current course is to round up some recommendation letters (luckily, I now have two professors that have had me both in the classroom and in the lab) and take a serious look at programs and prospective labs to see what I'm really interested.  I most likely want to stick to some sort of genetics or cell biology, although there are some aspects of ecology and microbiology that really interest me.

Wish me luck, I guess.  Hopefully by this time next year, I'll be in a PhD program, working my ass off.

SO MUCH STUFF

Somehow I'm feeling completely overwhelmed on every front. I'm way behind on my studying for the biology GRE exam, I've got orchestra to practice for (at least now it's one orchestra, not two. Last week drove me totally crazy), and I'm trying to pull together a homemade Halloween costume when I barely just learned how to sew a straight line. Plus, I'm trying to juggle three ongoing experiments at work when i'm only supposed to work 30 hours a day. Oh, and I might only have a job for a few more weeks. Add on top of that the fact that I seem to be suffering from some MAJOR seasonal affective disorder already, and I'm about ready to go crazy.

So I'm going to take a step back, and talk about completely irrelevant things. Like music and TV.

First of all, and most importantly, Rachael Yamagata just released her new album. Now, I'm actually surprised about how excited I was about this. I mean, I never really listened to her first album obsessively, although I do think it's gorgeous. But there's just something about her music that I absolutely love. First and foremost, she's just got the most awesome husky voice, and she manages to write really emotional songs without coming out sounding whiny or cliché. That being said, I REALLY HATE the pacing on the album. Yeah, it's all gorgeous, and as far as songwriting goes, I think that she can do no wrong. However, she stacked all of the slow, soft songs at the beginning of the album and then jammed all of the faster-paced and edgier songs at the end. I'll be the first to admit that I have a really short attention span, and after 3 or 4 ballads, I get a little snoozy. But I'll tell you, the first time I heard Elephants, I literally almost cried. This woman is totally amazing.

Another exciting media thing: I finally watched the S2 premier of the Terminator TV show. LOVES it. First of all, it starts out with a bloodbath set to Shirley Mansion (the singer from Garbage) singing an awesome song about Samson and Delilah (probably a cover of a famous song). Then, lo and behold, she's ACTING in the show AS A T-1000! Running an evil corporation! Yeah, I'm a huge nerd. Let's face it, I watch TV for pure escapism, so as far as I'm concerned, the campier the better.

Then of course there's Project Runway. I'm annoyed with this season, I think that all the designers kind of suck, but I was actually glad that the last episode went the way it did. I've been hoping for Jerrell to get kicked off the show for the entire season, mainly because I just despise his style. I'm personally rooting for Korto, because what I've seen of her collection seems much more diverse than the other two, and Leane's is pretty, but so obsessive and her color pallet is too limited.

And last but not least, there is the issue of my Halloween costume. I have decided that it has to include some sort of lacing, and I'm trying to decide between a tunic and leggings, or a vest and pants. Tunics seem to be pretty ubiquitous as Robin Hood's uniform, but a vest would be much easier to make really tight, and I could lace it up all the way. I'm also a little concerned about the hat and boots, since those are things that would probably have to be bought, so I'll have to settle for what I can find/afford.