Biohopeful

What program at UW-Madison did you apply for?

Interview invite for University of Massachusetts - Amherst! February 22nd and 23rd.

I'm trying to stay positive. I applied to CMB. According to email I got, I'll hear something regarding their admissions decision by the end of January, but they did receive over 400 applicants to the program. That's quite daunting to hear, haha.

Congrats on your interview invites, everyone. I'm still sitting here waiting... (I think Northwestern IBiS is a lost cause at this point).

All my applications, including my January deadlines, are submitted. Still haven't heard anything good or bad from anywhere...

Congrats on your interview invites, everyone! I have two more applications to submit for January (waiting for my next paycheck) and I'm done with applications. All I've been hearing are crickets and hoping I'll hear something soon, after the new year. I'm getting worried now, especially since my GRE scores are crap. :|

I took it and did relatively well, though I wish I would've studied Eco/Evo more. Basically, the Campbell-Reese textbook (the huge one for Intro Bio) was a godsend. I also got the Kaplan GRE subject study book on amazon with my General GRE study book. That one is okay, but only in regards to what you must study, but I would use it along with a bigger book like the Campbell-Reese one. Using the Kaplan Biology subject book as your sole study tool will get you nowhere. You will also get a booklet from ETS and you can find older booklets online if you look for them. I recommend looking at this as well after you've done a good amount of studying. I took at least a year off from school and used the Campbell Reese to prepare. I should've spent more time studying, but I did score in the 88% in Cell/Molecular Bio, which is my focus. Overall, I got 76% and come from a relatively unknown Bio undergrad. I only sent my score to one place, so we'll see if it does the charm, as my General GRE was crap. As a note: I didn't realize this before, but if you pay and send your General GRE score somewhere, I guess you can send the subject test with it and it won't cost anything extra?

Congrats everyone! @biotechstudent: Did you send your subject GRE scores to Columbia? I know you were worried about those...

They don't mention anything on their website about reviewing applications on a rolling basis. They do mention their review period is December-February. Their deadline is in a couple days, so it wouldn't surprise me if they started looking at applications a little earlier and picking out the most outstanding applicants so far.

Looks like someone got an interview for Northwestern IBiS. Congrats! Their deadline is Dec. 15th, so I'm curious about the interview offer before the deadline (I don't think they don't review on a rolling basis).

Congrats to all the interviewees! It looks like I have to wait until January to hear back from anywhere...

I have 3 more to go that are due in January. I'm so ecstatic to almost be done! This wait is killing me, though!

I've altered my schools a little bit. My stats are on the first page. I decided to give up on Pitt and apply to U of Iowa instead (I think they'd be a better fit for me research wise, and their requirements on GRE/GPA are a little more lax). Also, anyone notice the flood of rejections from U of Washington's Cell and Molecular program yet?

There are some schools that will require you to establish a connection with someone as they don't do formal rotations, some schools don't care since they do rotations and some places don't expect students to know what they want to study, and then there are some schools that want you to drop potential thesis advisers into your SOP and it's a good idea to check and see if those advisers have the funding to accept students for rotation. I would say look at the program and what they want you to do. If they require that you connect with a PI prior to your admission, you should do that. Research fit is most important, though.

Haha, it's all good. Thankfully I'm not a "rabid" Packers fan.

Nope, I was born and raised in southeastern Wisconsin, but Chicago seems like a lot of fun. Plus, I'll still be able to see family on weekends if I so choose. Crossing my fingers and hoping everything works out!

We share the Chicago schools in common, except I'm trying for Northwestern's IBiS instead of DGP. We're applying to the same program at UIC, and I'm a bit worried about my GRE as I was perusing through the Graduate Student Handbook and noticed the GRE requirement is at least 2 scores above 50th percentile, and I only managed to get one of them above that. I've noticed I have extreme testing anxiety when it comes to standardized testing (I botched my ACTs too), so I'm not surprised if I don't meet the "cut offs" for many schools. It's a bit intimidating seeing everyone here with very good GRE scores. I also left U of Chicago out of my list. Northwestern is my dream school with UIC in second at this point. Good luck to you as well!

Everyone's profiles are really good this year. It's making me a bit nervous, haha. (My GRE scores don't help) Could anyone recommend any safety-like schools for my GRE: 149Q, 153V, 3.5AW? GPA: 3.68, years of undergrad and post grad experience, some presentations, coming from a smaller, lesser known state school.

Undergrad Institution: Small state school Major(s): Biology Honors/Psychology GPA in Major: 3.6 Overall GPA: 3.68 Type of Student: Domestic, female GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 610/149 V: 500/153 W: 3.5 B: 750 (76% - 88% in my specialty) Research Experience: Undergraduate: 2 years behavioral neuroscience, 1.5 years developmental biology (undergraduate honors thesis, 3rd or 4th author in spring, 3 poster presentations - 1 published abstract in Developmental Biology) Post-graduate: 1 year in clinical diagnostic laboratory Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Two undergraduate research grants. Graduated magna cum laude and completed university honors program. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 3 years experience tutoring statistics and biology courses, 1 year leading discussions for non major biology course, 1 semester TA for introductory biology laboratory. Co-founded an organization on campus to promote undergraduate research. Special Bonus Points: Made connections with some faculty members at a conference... and I'm female, but not sure how that counts in the grand scheme of things. First generation college student. Applying to Where: Northwestern IBiS - Developmental Biology University of Illinois Chicago - Biological Sciences University of Wisconsin Madison - CMB program Purdue University - Biological Sciences University of Notre Dame - Biological Sciences University of Pittsburgh - Biological Sciences University of Massachusetts Amherst - Cell Molecular Biology SUNY Albany - Biological Sciences University of Wisconsin Milwaukee - Biological Sciences Good luck everyone!

Hi all, I've been looking all over and I can't seem to find a good answer for this. I took the Biology Subject and ended up with a 75th percentile overall, 88th percentile Cell/Molecular Bio, 75th percentile Organismal, and 50th percentile Eco/Evolution. My concentration as an undergrad was in Cell and Molecular Biology, and those are the programs I'm interested in. Are these okay scores? Would you submit these to places that "encourage" them? I come from a small state school/branch of a flagship Top University. My GPA and everything else is fine, except for my GRE general that I botched due to extreme testing anxiety, especially under timed pressure.