Biology applicants Fall 2010

[gremot]

Got an interview invite to UMich PIBS today by phone, for the 1/28-1/30 interview weekend. First interview invite, and I am SO happy I can finally relax about this.

congrats and good luck! I'm also applying for PIBS but haven't heard from them so far- but I suspect international students might be considered later--- I'm definitely not going to panic

[spectralScatter]

Got an interview invite to UMich PIBS today by phone, for the 1/28-1/30 interview weekend. First interview invite, and I am SO happy I can finally relax about this.

ditto. feels good

[imillan]

Got an interview invite to UMich PIBS today by phone, for the 1/28-1/30 interview weekend. First interview invite, and I am SO happy I can finally relax about this.

I know!! I just got my first interview invite from Harvard Neuroscience by email today, now I can really relax for break

[dzk]

I know!! I just got my first interview invite from Harvard Neuroscience by email today, now I can really relax for break

Also got the Harvard invite! See you then!

[Narin]

Bleh

Undergrad institution: Cambridge

Undergrad Degree: Natural sciences, specialising in Biochemistry (M.sci.)

GPA: Not applicable, different grading system

GRE: 700 (97%) Verbal, 780 (89%) Quant, 6.0 (98%) Analysis

Biochem GRE: 770 (99%)

Research Experience: 3 Summer research projects, and a couple of research projects that are part of my degree. (HOW the hell do some people have 2 years worth of undergrad research experience???) No publications.

Applying for Chemical Biology programs at:

Harvard

Scripps/Oxford Joint

Rockefeller/Sloan Kettering/Weill Cornell

Fingers crossed. Wished I had talked more about my research experience in my application letters. No idea how my references are.

[disco]

Interview invite to UCSD Biomedical Sciences last Fri 12/18. Anyone heard from UCSF Tetrad or Berkeley MCB?

[Krypton]

My invite for Berkeley MCB was last Friday. Interview offers will continue to be made through January 31st.

[Bsab]

Hi all,

Undergrad: University of Rochester (Molecular Genetics)

GPA: 3.91

GRE: Q:85% V:89% A:63%

Research: combined 2.5 years of lab work, with over a year devoted to one independent project, no publications

Applying to Molecular Biology programs at:

Harvard MCB

Princeton

Gerstner Sloan

WashU

Columbia

MIT

Rockefeller

UCSF-TETRAD

UC Berk MCB

Stanford

Interview invitation so far from UC Berk, Princeton, and Sloan!!

Way excited! has anyone heard from the other schools on my list?

[jambromr]

Hi all

Undergrad at a top school but an insignificant country lol

GPA :3.6/4.3 - i don't know how that goes in a 4.0 scale - some system gave me 3.5/4.0, another 3.2/4.0 - i would like to belive it's 3.5 lol - still, not very impressive

Currently doing my Master's at same top school from insignifcant country

GPA: 4.0/4.0

GRE

Q800 (94%). V710(98%), A4.5 (64%)

Toefl

120/120 ( I'm an international applicant)

Have been doing research for 2years and a half now- I have my own project for my masters but it's progressing at a turtle's pace -

done research with protein modification, yeast two hybrids, common basic molecular work (dang i should have talked about it more on my SOP)

No publications, one poster presentation in a major symposium, but was not the main presentator (?) - kind of a backup (but still, my name's on it and the schools won't check so there)

LoR from my advisor and two other professors who have not seen me in research but have known me since my undegrad. I really don't know how they'll write for me tho - hopefully well, but ummm. i'm not counting on it much (which sucks cuz apparently they're important )

what else...

oh, I'm gonna receive a scholarship from a private foundation here if i get accepted in one of the top graduate schools so i'm applying to

the immunology dept. of Upenn, Stanford, Cornell,

biology in public health / epidemiology in Harvard, Yale and Johns Hopkins

cell.mol.path at wisconsin (actually i haven't applied to this yet)

biology at MIT and WUSTL

actually, i'm not very confident - i have no research experience in immunology - just in general molecular biology and some in neuroscience

and I don't think the recommenders took enough time for my LoRs

and I talked about a bunch of crap in my SOP, and just one paragraph about my current reseach

plus i'm an international applicant...

but oh well

I haven't heard from any school's yet but most of my applications have been completed only last week so ... hopefully... it's just too early

good luck to all of you~!

[hamster09]

got invites from UCSF, UNC, yale, cornell and columbia. yay!

[tess]

Hey guys

Undergrad: UC davis, Nutritional Biochemistry major

GPA: 3.93

GRE: Verbal: 640/92% Quantitative: 790/92% Analytical: 4.0/41%

Research: combined 2 years of lab work, no publications

Haven't got any replies yet.

Anywayz,

have you guys sent in your GRE subject test scores?

I took the november 7th test and just got my scores by post 2 days ago

GRE BIOLOGY:75%, not good at all.

Do you think its worth sending in the subject test score?

[nthrapplcnt]

Hey all, new member here. BSE/MS Biomedical Engineering, 3.7, 3.5 respectively, both from same Big 10 school. 2 talks, 2 abstracts, 2 papers submitted to [decent] journals (but 0 pubs). GRE: 780Q, 540V, 4.5A. Applying to neuroscience @: NYU (CNS prog), Caltech (CNS), Harvard (Neurobio), Iowa (Neuro), University of Washington-Seattle (Neurobio/behav), Indiana (Neuro).

Interviews @ UW, Iowa.

No word from anywhere else.

It looks from the string here that Harvard has begun sending invites ( ). Any word on NYU, Caltech, Indiana?

[bumikaze]

Hi

I am applying to Immunology programs, at a lot of reach schools in the boston area

MIT

Harvard Medical

WUSTL Medical

Tufts Sackler

BU Medical

GRE

Q:770

V:650

A:4.5

Biology:760

I have been working that last 2.5 years at a biotech company

Worked one summer in a lab in Switzerland

GPA

3.5

3.6 in Biology

[bumikaze]

Hey

I only sent my GRE bio score to the schools that required it, I got a similar score and decided not to send them mostly because all the applications were already due before I got my scores

[ScreamingHairyArmadillo]

Anywayz,

have you guys sent in your GRE subject test scores?

I took the november 7th test and just got my scores by post 2 days ago

GRE BIOLOGY:75%, not good at all.

Do you think its worth sending in the subject test score?

I sent mine and had a 72nd percentile. Granted, I had a 90th percentile in the evolution and ecology section which is probably more important for my own field and focus.

If your school requires it now, send it. Your score (I think) is not going to hurt your application.

[phh]

Hi everyone,

I have been watching this thread since it started, but am too shy to post my stats.

The past few days have been very tough 'cuz I have seen many of you getting invites/acceptances. Though my programs are not quite same as yours.

I am hoping ppl applying to the same/similar programs would be willing to share news as well as comments to my applications.

Research interests:

Computational bio, esp in population genetics and human evolution.

International applicant; currently work as a research associate in a research institute in the States

Degrees:

BS in CS(GPA: 3.6) and 1st MS in EE(GPA: 3.8) from my country

2nd MS in Computational Bio (GPA: 3.3) from a US-university

Papers:

One ISMB poster (2nd author)

One IEEE conf full-paper (1st author, but not in Bio)

One technical report of national science foundation in my country(1st author, awarded, and is related to Bio)

One MS thesis in EE (not going to publish due to a stupid reason, sigh....)

Two papers in Bio are expected to be submitted soon.... though I believe they will not be accepted before the application results are out.

So they would not be that helpful I guess.

LOR:

well, this part of my application is tricky. only know one of them is excellent.

The other two are unknown. could be ranged from fairly good to neutral I think.

Applying to:

Harvard(OEB)

Berkeley(IB)

UChicago(Molecular Biosciences)

Cornell(Tri-I Comp Bio Med)

Upenn(GCB)

UCLA(Bioinfo)

UMich(Bioinfo)

UCI(MCSB)

UA(EEB)

Any comments are welcome!

Thanks.

[gremot]

Hi everyone,

I have been watching this thread since it started, but am too shy to post my stats.

The past few days have been very tough 'cuz I have seen many of you getting invites/acceptances. Though my programs are not quite same as yours.

I am hoping ppl applying to the same/similar programs would be willing to share news as well as comments to my applications.

Research interests:

Computational bio, esp in population genetics and human evolution.

International applicant; currently work as a research associate in a research institute in the States

Degrees:

BS in CS(GPA: 3.6) and 1st MS in EE(GPA: 3.8) from my country

2nd MS in Computational Bio (GPA: 3.3) from a US-university

Papers:

One ISMB poster (2nd author)

One IEEE conf full-paper (1st author, but not in Bio)

One technical report of national science foundation in my country(1st author, awarded, and is related to Bio)

One MS thesis in EE (not going to publish due to a stupid reason, sigh....)

Two papers in Bio are expected to be submitted soon.... though I believe they will not be accepted before the application results are out.

So they would not be that helpful I guess.

LOR:

well, this part of my application is tricky. only know one of them is excellent.

The other two are unknown. could be ranged from fairly good to neutral I think.

Applying to:

Harvard(OEB)

Berkeley(IB)

UChicago(Molecular Biosciences)

Cornell(Tri-I Comp Bio Med)

Upenn(GCB)

UCLA(Bioinfo)

UMich(Bioinfo)

UCI(MCSB)

UA(EEB)

Any comments are welcome!

Thanks.

relax!

I'm international applicant and haven't received any interview invitations yet.. but I'm not worried - at least so far. I think they look international applications separately and a lot of schools haven't even started with it.

You're stats are great, just have patience

[phh]

relax!

I'm international applicant and haven't received any interview invitations yet.. but I'm not worried - at least so far. I think they look international applications separately and a lot of schools haven't even started with it.

You're stats are great, just have patience

Thanks, gremot.

My main worries are lacking of strong bio background and the two unknown LORs.

Though these two are out of my hands at this moment. And yes, I also heard the committees usually review international applications later.

But still a bit nervous.

Cheers.

[genotype]

Hello Everyone!

I am new here; this seems to be a wonderful resource for those of us applying to grad school (and beyond). I was in a doctoral program previously but had to leave for personal (non-academic) reasons.

I am applying to the Stony Brook Genetics Program as my only choice, due to a variety of reasons. My stats are as follows:

GPA: 3.5 (Yale), B.S. Biology (Intensive Research Track)

GRE: 700 (V), 750 (Q), 5.5 (W)

GRE Biology: 880 (97th percentile)

I have an MA from Stony Brook as well, GPA 3.6. I have 3+ years of research experience as part of my M.A. and my undergraduate studies. I have recs from an undergrad mentor in the field I am looking to go into, as well as from three professors from the department I used to be in at Stony Brook. I have two publications as well as a variety of presentations etc. and a history of grant funding.

I am a nontraditional student, having been in the workforce in an unrelated field for the past 6 years. I financially supported my husband while he was completing his PhD, and am now looking to return to grad study.

I would love to hear any feedback and am looking forward to going through this journey with you all.

[gremot]

Thanks, gremot.

My main worries are lacking of strong bio background and the two unknown LORs.

Though these two are out of my hands at this moment. And yes, I also heard the committees usually review international applications later.

But still a bit nervous.

Cheers.

we all have our fears But I guess as we cannot change anything anymore, let's just keep our fingers crossed and hope we get in somewhere

Hello Everyone!

GPA: 3.5 (Yale), B.S. Biology (Intensive Research Track)

GRE: 700 (V), 750 (Q), 5.5 (W)

GRE Biology: 880 (97th percentile)

I would love to hear any feedback and am looking forward to going through this journey with you all.

I see you went to yale - how did you like it there?

and great results on GRE Biology btw!

[genotype]

I see you went to yale - how did you like it there?

and great results on GRE Biology btw!

[genotype]

Thanks, gremot.

My main worries are lacking of strong bio background and the two unknown LORs.

Though these two are out of my hands at this moment. And yes, I also heard the committees usually review international applications later.

But still a bit nervous.

Cheers.

I wouldn't worry too much. I was an international applicant when I applied to grad school after college, and didn't have any trouble. I wish you the best of luck with your applications!

[disco]

Got an invite to UW MCB. Still haven't heard from Berkeley/UCSF...getting a little nervous about those two.

[systems]

Interest: Quant Biology

Major: Applied Math (Ivy)

GPA: 3.70

GRE: 780Q, 720V, 6.0AW

Research: 3 yrs, specifically biological network analysis through informatics approaches. 2 publications: 1 first author, 1 middle. Couple conference presentations, too.

LoR: 3 good LORs.

Applying to:

Princeton qcb

MIT csbi

Harvard systems bio / biophysics

Stanford csb / biophysics / bioinformatics

Columbia dbmi

Berkeley biophysics

i think a couple more by i don't remember right now...

i haven't heard from any programs yet. maybe soon?

[phh]

I wouldn't worry too much. I was an international applicant when I applied to grad school after college, and didn't have any trouble. I wish you the best of luck with your applications!

Thanks! I am trying to relax myself, and enjoy my holidays.

Happy holidays and wish we all hear good news soon after admission committees back to work NEXT year!