fluttershy

Hey! I saw you posted on my thread as well. We have eerily similar situations - BS and MS at Michigan and considering staying vs going to Cornell. I have not made my final decision yet but I am heavily leaning towards Cornell. It's really hard since I am so established where I am both academically and personally, and Michigan has so many great faculty members that even if I left my current advisor I know I'd find someone else great to work for. With that being said, I think its time for a change. I'm pretty burned out by Ann Arbor to where I can't even appreciate it anymore. I went back and visited Cornell again, and the campus is so gorgeous and I just felt inspired intellectually to start learning. I think it's important that we begin our PhD's excited, not burned out. So if thats the case for you, maybe its time to move on too. I'm hoping I can officially accept this week so I can get out of this terrible limbo period. Let me know what you ultimately decide, maybe we'll both be representing Umich in Ithaca this Fall!

Umich!!! Although I am biased since I've been here for 6 years and love the university and Ann Arbor. I have never heard of Northeastern University and I don't know how their Bioinformatics program is ranked, but you can't go wrong with Michigan.

Hi everyone, I would appreciate any feedback on this extremely difficult decision I am facing. Both programs are fully funded. 1. University of Michigan - PIBS Umbrella Program This university is my home, and I really love the department. I've lived here for 5 years: completed my BS, MS and tech'd for ~1.5 years here. I know many faculty, and this university is large enough that I never run out of new opportunities, labs, and faculty to meet and collaborate with. Integration with hospital. Have a current very successful PI I work well with and can continue with if after rotations it seemed like the right fit. Cons: - been here a long time, sometimes feel sick of Ann Arbor. Maybe going away would make me realize how much I love it again. - All of my degrees will be from the same school (controversially not as big of a deal as it used to be). 2. Cornell BBS Program Also an umbrella program, open to letting me work with Cornell faculty across campus as long as they have space/funding. Department has been very supportive in providing me opportunities to speak to current faculty and explaining the neuroscience opportunities. Housed in the vet school. I am very open minded with exploring new research and have many potential PIs I am interested in. It might be a great opportunity to stretch myself to move somewhere new, do something completely different, gain new experiences. Cool similar town to Ann Arbor, similar weather. I find myself excited about the prospect of completely changing my life. Cons: - abandoning my current situation and venturing into the unknown (maybe a pro?) - smaller neuroscience department Thank you for any feedback!

PIBS - Molecular and Integrative Physiology

Cornell and Michigan contacted me for interviews today. This is one of the best days of my life.

No I mean I know people in that department and neuro has specifically been reviewing apps for the past 2 days. That email is a generic PIBS email that everyone got.

The neuro program is one of the most competitive for PIBS I was denied last time, although my GRE was really bad. I wish you the best of luck though!

I do know that the neuro committee met yesterday to review apps. I applied to a different department though.

Ugh I know. Its so hard for me to focus.. but I know if I don't then my PI is going to get mad at me lol.

It doesn't help when you work at a lab full-time and are constantly reminded of grad school (and have friendly people around constantly asking if you've heard anything yet).... Need a distraction so I don't go insane. Trying so hard to be patient and let things work out how they will

Congrats! Did they call or email you?

This is me every day.... just want this month to hurry up!

Since I am constantly lurking this thread, might as well join the conversation too. Good luck everyone. Undergrad Institution: Top Public School Major(s): Neuroscience Minor(s): GPA in Major: This is tricky, I'm a nontraditional who transferred junior year from CC. Overall GPA: 3.5 combined (3.76 at CC and overall 3.37 at my university - but >3.7 for last 4 semesters) Position in Class: Not known. Type of Student: Domestic female Graduate Institution: Same school (MS) GPA: 3.93 GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 153 V: 155 W: 4.5 B: Research Experience: 5 years total: 3 years in a biopsych lab with a senior thesis and co-authored conference poster, masters work w/ third author pub, and 2 years as a research technician with 2 pubs in review at top journals, one first author poster presentation at a conference, and another poster co-author Awards/Honors/Recognitions: University honors 2x Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: (hopefully) strong PS explaining circumstances for why I had to go to CC, and successfully transferred to a top university, should have 3 strong LOR's from PI's Applying to Where: UWisconsin - Neuro and Physio Northwestern UMICH - PIBS University of Washington Cornell BBS Yale BBS Harvard Neuro Columbia Neurobiology Rockefeller Hoping my strong research experiences, graduate school success, and LOR's will make up for lower GRE scores and slight hiccup in grades first year after transferring - it was just 2 semesters but it destroyed my overall GPA since the transferred grades weren't included in the calculation.