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Applications to Brown, Cornell, Vandy, Notre Dame, Minnesota, and Iowa Writer's Workshop are in, just have to finish up the app for Johns Hopkins, then I am done and can largely stop thinking about this until like February. I met with the three professors writing my letters last week and one has already submitted, the other two have promised to submit. That was an exhausting sprint but I am glad I crammed it all in early and just clicked submit to prevent myself from constantly looking back and doubting elements of them. I realized I really do not need to constantly revise my personal statement until December and can just let it be. Lovely feeling.

Hey! Thanks for getting this started! Seems like a forum hasn’t been made in a few years and I’ve been anxiously combing over old ones lol. I finished my application mid September and my final reference letter was submitted September 26th, which is when my app was officially market complete. My application status sat at “preliminary review required” for close to a month, sometime within the last week it has switched to “review in progress by department” If NPSIA is following a similar admissions timeline to previous years (that is, acceptances starting to roll out 1.5 months after the date they claim applications start being reviewed) it seems like some of us might start hearing back about decisions in mid November! Side note: I just looked on the NPSIA website and saw they concentrated the field specializations which is interesting, my top choice was IIA so I’m most anxious about we reaching the stage of application status where NPSIA discloses what specialization we are being considered for. Best of luck!!

Who else here is applying to Stanford? Can’t believe their deadline is Dec 1 😭

Hi everyone! Applying to UVic M.A in Counselling this fall. If anyone has applied to this program please message me! Have lots of questions!

20K is difficult to live on, even here, but some do. Most students get by with just a small part-time side hustle. I personally worked in publishing for years before doing my MFA, so I kept a few coaching clients that I work with one day a week, and that's been just fine. I also want to note that the prestige of the actual *faculty* is considerable here--e.g., Meg Day just won the Guggenheim, Carter Sickels is rapidly becoming one of the most in-demand queer/trans writers working, and Belle Boggs has been putting out brilliant books of many genres for decades with Graywolf and elsewhere. (She's also the head of the NC chapter of the American Association of University Professors and has been using her tenure to fight for academic freedom all over the state.) Anyway, I love it here! APPLY! I want another fabulous crew of first-years to join our rad cohort next term.

ur in the wrong thread friend

Just completed and paid the fee for my Ph.D. application for the Creative Writing/Literature at USC. It's great to rest a little while working on more literary submissions and my day job.

Hi everyone! I'm in the process of applying for the 2026 cycle and am hoping to view some successful statements of purpose in English or related interdisciplinary fields. If anyone would be willing to DM me your SoP I would be extremely appreciative!!! Thank you!

Hello! I am almost done with my PhD in CS at OSU. My research topic is Addressing Drug-related problems (Therapeutics) using Graph Mining Techniques. I want to pursue a postdoc next year. I want to expand my research to precision medicine or cancer drug discovery. I don't have much knowledge about renowned professors in these area. Can you please recommend some great professors working on precision medicine or cancer drug discovery? It will be a great help.

Current MFA student here. There are a significant number of people in my program on student visas, including POC, writing about imperialism and colonialism (and queerness, for that matter). I have trouble imagining a US-based MFA program that is not supportive of students doing that kind of work. The day-to-day experience you have as a queer POC in the US will depend hugely on where you live (coastal city vs southern college town for example). This is probably common sense, but be aware that the people reviewing your visa application may look at your social media posts.

I know they are restructuring it. (Verified) I suspect it might be to have a hybrid verison as well where you can study residentially and then use a current employer for the practium but that is purely my guess.

Wait, how have I never heard of NC State when compiling my list for this year?! This sounds so fun with the faculty parties thrown

I heard it's truly about the writing sample, less about if you have previous works published or not.

NC STATE FIRST-YEAR MFA STUDENT, HERE TO ANSWER QUESTIONS. Greetings and salutations. Last year at this time, I was going out of my mind with application stress and confusion, so I want to pay it forward on behalf of the folks that gave me advice and helped me along my journey. I am now at NC State, a first-year MFA student in Fiction, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY PROGRAM. To say it has exceeded my expectations doesn't begin to cover it. From the strength and diversity and noncompetitive camaraderie of my cohort (and their respective genres--GENRE FICTION AND YA ARE WELCOME HERE, BTW); to the endlessly supportive faculty (who I carpool with, who throw us parties at their houses, who will read your entire manuscript in their free time, these are the devoted faculty members of your freaking dreams); to the support for queer, trans, BIPOC, and neurodivergent folks; to the generally activist/SJ-forward vibe; to an academic program that only asks you to teach second year and lets you be the *INSTRUCTOR OF RECORD*---I am telling you, this program deserves hall of fame status, and every single one of you should apply, unless you really hate places that are gorgeous and friendly and spending your days debating Flannery O'Connor in a library that's larger than the NYPL. And oh yeah, NCSU's MFA is a two-year program, fully-funded, including free health insurance, and a $20K/yr stipend, gym membership, and more amenities than I can list, including everything from being able to borrow kayaks and VR equipment over the weekend to the ability to take classes for free at Duke and UNC Chapel Hill. It's epic here. I am learning more than I would have thought possible from workshop and classes; only a couple months in, I already never want it to end. Ok, that's my playful pitch. Ask me anything about NC State's program in thread! (*EXCEPTION: Please do NOT ask me about application stuff/how I got in/what they're looking for. They're looking for brilliant writers of all stripes and styles, and no two people here are even remotely similar in their aesthetic, so I promise you, it's a meaningless question. I am here to talk about *this* program/MFA life/what to expect if you come here to join the WolfPack.)

This is just not true. Job applicants in English stand very little chance without journal publications on their CVs when they apply for jobs. And the best way to tell if an English PhD is capable of publishing a book is whether they've been able to publish an article-length selection of their dissertation in a reputable journal. The two things are connected. A peer-reviewed article in a top journal is evidence that your scholarship is groundbreaking and original enough to publishable. Again, this seems mostly speculative. I have a hard time recalling anyone I know who has several "marvelous articles" in top journals but can't pull themselves together to publish their dissertation as a book. The two things are connected. Someone who can publish in top journals is already producing quality scholarship. Almost invariably they have honed the skills they need to turn their dissertation into a book. The articles are evidence that they are prepared to write a book-length monograph (I assume that's what you meant instead of "monologue"--a monologue is a long speech FYI). And if someone has a hard time securing a TT job despite several well-regarded articles, the reason is likely because there are no jobs--not because that person is an immature scholar who can only write articles.

I'm a 5th year phd student studying biostatistics, expecting to graduate this year. I am now facing two options for choosing a career in industry. One is a data scientist position in a tech company and the other is biostatistician at a big pharma. These two are very different options with different pros and cons. I'll share some of my personal understanding of these two options. I think people already talk enough about the pros in tech (money, large datasets, new methods, etc), so I'll talk more about why I think pharma might also be a good choice to think over tech. It seems that pharma really needs biostats people to run the clinical trials. The work itself may not look exciting in the beginning. It involves many routine work, such as writing SAS, SAP, meetings with different teams, etc. In general, you need learn different components of clinical trials, not just the technical/statistics parts. In fact, there may not be many fancy modern stats methods involved in clinical trials, due to FDA regulation and other reasons. I believe the key part is really to understand the whole picture of clinical trials and get experiences over the years to prepare yourself for the potential of leading a trial. Also, there might be many regulatory writing involved. I think one advantage of being a biostats at pharma is that this career path is clear. You have people ahead of you showing you the examples of how to be successful here. And you can see where you are 10-20 years later. Say if I am at the age of 45, I might find being a biostats/associate director (AD)/director (depending on how much you have promoted) has easier lives than being a data scientist at competitive tech companies with many young talents. I just feel that pharma values years of experiences more. In big tech, there are positions value more of experiences than technical skills, but I just feel they are either high level manager position (which is very competitive to get), or product manager types of positions. In pharma, from what I heard recently, promoted to AD are probablty doable, but to director is not so guaranteed. Although being at AD doesn't mean you get paid more compared to the level you can achieve at tech, the hierarchical structure may gives senior people less stress and more power. If I'm in a place where people around me are at the same level but just younger than me, I may feel stressed in tech. I know ultimately, choosing a career depends on what a person really likes. But for me, I am never the kind of person who knows clearly what I definitely like and hate. I am ok with coding, programming, but I'm also ok with writing papers and communicating with people outside the domain. I can't find in either tech or pharma, what I definitely love and hate. That's probably because I do not have enough working experiences, but that's also why I really have the difficulty choosing a direction. I am closer to the deadline of making a decision. Any comments, options and suggestions are highly appreciated!

Hi y'all. Wondering if anyone has any knowledge about drug testing for practicums in MSW programs in California. I was accepted today to CSU San Marcos and know that some clinical facilities may require drug screening for MSW students. Drug testing was mentioned both in the info session and acceptance letter - not that the school does testing, but that clinics might. I haven't heard about this from SDSU, the other school I'm waiting to hear back about. I was wondering if anyone knows when drug testing takes place before the start of the fall semester? Since cannabis is legal in California, it would be helpful to have a heads up about when we could be tested - I have no idea when we pick or get assigned a facility to do clinical work in, but imagine it will be sometime by Summer. I tried asking the school about specifics, but they had no info - just said that some clinics might do drug testing so be prepared, but it would be great to have any clue about when this might be...asking for a friend, lol. Thanks!

I am in pharma and I am leaving soon because of the things you listed, because they weren't good fits. I did manage to recently find a more Bioinformatics DS drug discovery type focused position, and they are willing to train me on the domain knowledge thankfully, also because probably my undergrad background is also in a biomedical field so I wasn't a pure biostat/stat person. The TLDR is if you really really want to do stats, data analysis, and modeling focused work, then Biostats in pharma will be disappointing. You don't have to go to big tech though, you can look for something like this too in other titled position. I had gotten feedback on a similar topic weeks ago and I meant to update that but after a whole month of interviews, I managed to find this as an MS. The interviews for diff DS positions were a mix of presenting data analyses I had already done (I used grad school stuff for these), take-home data analysis, data wrangling tests on coderpad, and leetcode type qs. I bombed the leetcode ones but I passed the ones that had the other 3. And then made the decision, hopefully the right one, on one which seemed more analysis focused on biochemical data. One of the others was academia (which had lower pay) and then another I got the vibe during subsequent interviews it was more DE focused despite claiming to do causal inference and ML. Ironically, Biostatistics is a good fit for people who want occasional simple statistics and more focus on writing, communication, FDA/regulatory stuff. If you want to use more statistical methods and have it focused mostly on programming, modeling, etc though then DS, ML engineer are better. For me, what drew me to biostatistics major was the data analysis and modeling, so it turned out that being in pharma in a Biostat *title* was an extremely poor fit for this. I've hated writing ever since middle school and the documentation was painful and stressful for me more than learning advanced programming, ML/DL, and data analysis. I think often times there is a common misconception in school that STEM is "harder" than humanities, social science, writing etc and there are definitely people for whom its the opposite and this side is fortunately or unfortunately depending on the person a major part of biostatistics titled jobs. You have to want to get better at it and improve over time to be successful in Biostatistics, and it's something I had near 0 interest in my entire life. It is true you won't be competing with younger people who could be sharper technically when you get older though I think most likely you will have to pick 1 and then see how you like it in the 1st year. This is how I have ruled out all Biostatistics jobs in the future for me.

I think you are totally right. I do realize the money difference and yes it's an offer from FAANG. That's why I struggled a lot because I know this is the type of opportunity that I really appreciate and might feel regret if letting it go. In pharma, I think it's also easy to find other similar pharma companies but the difference is that you still do the similar work. The reason to leave a pharma for another pharma is because you want to get promoted faster. If you hate the current biostatistician work, you have to leave pharma. So you are right, tech has more flexibility in trying different work. Another fact about me is that my significant other is currently working as a DS in tech. So I was thinking maybe it's better if two persons in the family are in different industries to share any possible unknown risk. I also considered the possibility of switching if I regret. It seems that tech to pharma is technically easier if you can accept getting down paid, but pharma to tech practically happens more also because of the salary increase. But either way, I will have to start as a new grad. Tech and pharma seem to be totally different paths and they do not value you more just because you have experiences in the other industry, if I understand correctly.

Does anyone know if the ASTRO (Advanced Short Term Research Opportunity) has a drug screening for applicants?

While I haven't been there specifically, all of my internships with national labs and government contractors(think northrup grumman, boeing etc) have required drug testing.

Innovation Info Conferences proudly announces the International Conference on Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Development (IPSDD 2018) to be held during November 05-06, 2018 in Prague, Czech Republic. The IPSDD 2018 Conference is organized by the Innovation Info Conferences (IIC). The theme of the conference is "Embracing Innovative Technologies in Drug Development, Manufacturing and Discovery", will underpin the need for collaboration and cooperation of individuals from a wide range of professional, academic and technological backgrounds. IPSDD 2018 aims to bring together a wide range of active expertise, covering all stages of developments from lab to consumer: scientists, researchers (senior and young), academicians, clinical pharmacists, companies, investors and regulatory authorities. Moreover, the meeting is designed to serve as an effective international platform for all participants for networking as well as to contribute to the discussions on innovative technologies employed in modern drug discovery and delivery to promote development of efficacious novel drugs. Interested people can register and submit abstract here: Website: http://www.pharmascienceconferences.com Topics: Drug discovery, pharmaceutical ingredients, Pharma Conferences, Drug affinity, Genomics, proteomics and Bioinformatics, pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, , drug resistance, brain drug delivery, Nanomaterials, Polymer Chemistry, drug development, Drug Designing, Drug screening, Drug Carriers, Regulatory Intelligence, Pharmaceutical Market, Pharmacotherapy, Pharmacotherapy, Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmaceutical Nano systems, Pharmaceutical Nano systems, IPSDD, Pharmaceutical Nano systems, Pharmacist, Clinical Pharmacy, Patient compliance, Pharmacology and Toxicology.

Mark Your Calendars for IPSDD 2018 - Prague Pharma meeting during November 5-6, 2018

Below I have included my first draft of my SOP for a Masters of Public Health. I have also included an additional and optional addundem, because my undergrad GPA is 3.0 - RIGHT on the border of most grad school cut-offs. I would appreciate any and all advice! Perhaps help me find my blind spots? Anything I should mention/did I get too personal? Thanks!!! We all experience a watershed moment at some point in our lives. My watershed moment was on August 9th, 2012. This was the day I got sober; a proud accomplishment I am strongly maintaining to this day. This was the moment I grew from a somewhat niave and unfocused young adult into a strong, capable, and highly motivated woman. This is the moment that marks the realization of my passion for public health as well as my committment to pursue the failures and hypocracies in U.S. drug policy as my career. My personal journey through life has taken me places I had never dreamed of. However, I am a firm believer that one's mistakes in life can, with hard work, lead to one's greatest achievements. I have spent the last 3 years totally consumed with educating myself on the history, sociology, and politics of drug use in America. During my senior year of college, I pursued various upper-level criminal justice, sociology, and social work classes to further round my eduction on this topic. The more I learn about U.S. drug policy, the more I see that drug addiction and drug-related crimes are first and foremost a public health issue and not a criminal pursuit. I want to be an advocate and educator for change in U.S. drug policy. I see the damage that the philosophy behind The War on Drugs has caused, from mass incarceration, to a strengthening of the black market, to the billions of dollars wasted on a harsh and offensive law enforcement and criminal justice system. I see the barriers that current U.S. drug policy constructs against addicts, which allows for communicable diseases to flourish as a result of inadeuqate access to clean and safe resources. The U.S. is misappropriating their resources by continuing to fight drug use as a criminal matter and I believe that no significant gains will ever be made until U.S. policies begin to treat drug use, abuse, and drug related crimes as a public health issue. I lived in Portland, Oregon for 5 years while pursuing my undergraduate degree. This city is quite progressive in drug use policies, relative to many other major metropolitain areas across the United States. Portland boosts free needle exchanges, free detox centers, and strong rehabilitation programs with city sponsorship. I have recently relocated to ********, Texas due to my fiance's career, and the United State's current policies and practices in regards to drug use have further revealed themselves as utterly detrimental. I see the incredible violence that the drug war causes on the nightly news and newspaper covers; I can gauge the misunderstanding of drug addiction by the ridiculous amount of drug offenders who are sentenced to hard federal time with no offer of a rehabilitation option. At this point in my life, I am absolutely thirsty for change and have every motivation in the world to pursue these changes through a career in public health. What attracts me specifically to the Masters of Public Health program at ******** ******** University is the interdisciplinary methods of teaching, allowing the student to trailor their studies to both issues at their local community-level but also broaden their core competencies of global public health problems. I am aware of what my specific passion in the field of public health is, but I believe that ******** ******** University's program would further transform my passion into a well-rounded and fully developed professional competency. I believe that a complete education and mastery of public health is absolutely necessary to successfuly accomplish my goals in public health policy; this is something that I know the program at ******** ******** University will be able to provide. What I have to offer the Masters of Public Health program at ******* ******** University is an untamed passion, a unique prespective, and an incredible capacity and motivation to succeed. I am a powerful individual who has been lucky enough to discover my true purpose in life and I know that the program provided at ******** ******** University will help me to achieve my dreams. My decision to go to graduate school is far more than a building block to my future; it is the only way I can possibly accomplish the widespread changes for the betterment of public health that I feel is my responsibility to do so. Addendum: As is evident from my academic transcripts from Portland State University, I began my college career with a committed love of learning that is reflected in my outstanding academic records and academically based scholarship, as highlighted in my resume. However, a history of drug addiction can also be intuited during the middle of my college career, where my grades dropped, following an all-too-predictable pattern. After my junior year of college, I took a much needed break from my schooling to recover and heal from my drug addiction. During this time I not only gained an incredible sense of awareness about myself but I also began to see the many failures and hypocricies in U.S. drug policy. I was once told that in order to find my passion, I should discover my weakness. It is because of my personal struggles and subsequent recovery from drug addiction that I found my passion in public health. I returned my senior year with a strong focus of what I wanted to learn and a renewed sense of learning in general, which is evident in my class choices and strong grades that I received during the 2014-2015 school year. I do not regret any choices I have made in the past because it has made me the person I am today; and today I am a strong, powerful young woman who is confident of her path in life and will stop at nothing to pursue her passion.