porge1991

Very close. And as far as i'm aware we can go to seminars/talks at one another's institutions. Its a pretty great part NY.

Committed to Sloan-Kettering as of yesterday. Well done all. Now I can focus on actually finishing my degree.

Yeah, Sloan Kettering is what I was referring to. Thanks for the advice - definitely sounds a lot more intense than what i'm used to in Oxford where everyone rides a bicycle but i'm glad it's not unheard of (I also had interviews in Long Island, not one person seemed to have a bicycle - and everyone just seems to drive tanks really agressively so riding a bicycle seemed to be a deathwish).

Is cycling a thing in Manhattan? I live in a small city right now where I cycle all the time and I love it. I know that public transport in NYC is great and I also know that, should I accept this offer, I won't actually need transport to get to my work because the accommodation is so close, but for getting around the city in general I would love to use my bicycle where possible. Do many people cycle? Is it dangerous? Do bicycles get stolen often? Thanks

Just got early offer of admissions from Cold Spring. Pretty sick.

I really don't want to wear a suit but i'm hoping it's not a problem. Had a 3-day interview event in the UK the other day and about 70% of the guys were wearing suits but only around 20% of them were invited back to the one-on-one interviews. I don't want to draw any conclusions about that except that I really don't think it matters either way (although one of my professors has said in the past that if anything his immediate reaction to a prospective student wearing a suit is a negative one which, if I were a professor, I imagine would be the same for me).

Someone has posted interview invite from Weill Cornell BMCB. No news for me yet....

Weill Cornell BCMB interview invites started rolling out around this time last year....

Hey, i've heard of some similar issues to yours so will try to offer some advice. You're in your 2nd year of grad school, so does that mean you've done 2 years of just classes and lab rotations and have very recently picked a PI? Or have you actually been doing research on a PhD project with this PI for a long time? If the former, I don't think it would be too hard for you to start doing your PhD project in a different lab at the same institution, without having to redo coursework, would it? If you've actually done a year of research on this specific project have you asked about continuing with the same project in a different lab? As an example, someone working in my lab originally started her PhD in another. Her PI also left and wanted her to move with him but she didn't want to. Her funding was from a body distinct from the lab itself (NIH I believe) so she was able to join our lab. It works fine because although my PI doesn't directly research what she does, its a structural biology lab also with the same sort of equipment/ reagents/ expertise etc for her to continue her research. My PI is actually really great and has taken a very active role in her project, researching it himself etc so it's turned out completely fine. Obviously it's an ideal sort of situation but if you're at a big institution with funding secured independently of the PI and with other labs doing similar-ish thigns this may be an option for you too?

Does anyone have any good (free) software they recommend to test your work for plagiarism? I know it seems a bit odd to ask because obviously I should know that I haven't been plagiarising but sometimes it's hard to tell what constitutes actual plagiarism. I'm doing my masters dissertation right now and writing my introduction is proving to be a bitch. The point is my research focuses on a particular protein and studying its binding biophysically with various chemical fragments but as part of the introduction I need to give general introduction to the protein - its cellular roles etc. So obviously i'm referencing the same key original papers that all more recent papers on this proteindo, and what's proving to be a bitch is making sure I reference them in a way distinct from these other papers. It sounds easy but it's just the comments are so general and not really anything to do with my research that i'm worried it seems like i've just plucked them from other papers. So yeah, sorry for ramble, but just want to make sure that officially i'm not plagiarising.

Phew, woke up this morning to my CSHL interview offer. Guess they don't send out all the invites at the exact same time. Supposed to be going 30 Jan - 3 Feb but might be conflict with one of my interview in the UK which is 28-29 Jan. Have asked CSHL if the wednesday is simply the arrival date or the actual beginning of interviews. If its the latter I could probably get there in time but man i'd be exhausted/jetlaggy.

I have a question: what's people's advice on emailing admin committees once you know invites have been sent out but you haven't received anything yourself. For example. a few people here have got CSHL interview offers and I haven't heard a peep. It's not going to crush me if I get a rejection I just really want to know. Is it common to email admin asking a general question about when interview offers are sent out, or is that really pushy?

Congrats!!! I haven't heard anything which I guess means i'm gonna get a rejection, aw well.

Can I ask which program at Weill-Cornell it is you have an interview for?

Nope. I have Christopher Lima and Emily Cheng interviewing me.

I have my skype interview with GSK on tuesday. So nervous :S

I didn't get a response - but I only emailed yesterday and I imagine they're done working until after xmas.

Just got email for interview offer from Sloan Kettering. First US interview offer so very psyched! Will have to do it by skype though, which I hope doesn't hinder my chances.

Okay so some of my friends here at Oxford are really into modafinil in a big way. Apparently it keeps you awake and focused but in a really pure and natural-feeling way. Unlike some similar drugs where you are essentially shaking and focusing on the most inane things you actually want to do your work. So a friend of mine took it during some of his med exams and aced them and another friend who has lots of sports commitments sometimes takes it when she needs to work in the wee hours of the morning. It sounds too good to be true to be honest. The problem is, it sometimes comes across like these friends are a little too dependent on it, and can't accomplish big tasks without it. That's my biggest concern, and that's why i'll never take it.

The whole thing is quite a grey area in my opinion because there's also going to be such differences between schools. I didn't bother trying to convert my results into a GPA but part of me thinks I should have. I study Biochemistry at Oxford University and got an average of 75%. Here that's considered really good but compared to the scores I know the US students get it's pretty poor. I'm just hoping the US professors are aware of this. I'm also a bit worried about the class ranking mania. I came 15/100 in my year, which doesn't seem particularly amazing. The thing is though (without trying to sound too obnoxious) I came 15/100 at *Oxford* - where all the undergrads got straight As across the board at their secondary schools and where most people work exceptionally hard and are very intelligent. So whether someone who came top 5% in their year but went to a school with a lower standard across the board is "academically more successful" than me, I don't know. But like I said, it's all one big grey area so who knows.

Well they've waived the application fee so i've gone ahead and submitted, may as well.

I have a question that some of you may be able to help with. I was originally going to apply to memorial sloan-kettering also for the biomedical sciences PhD. I didn't in the end because i'm also applying to quite a lot of places in the UK in addition to the current 3 i've applied to in the US and didn't want to spread myself too thin (/spend too much money on applications). I recently keep getting emails from the associate dean stating that they've extended the application deadline until next week for me to submit my application. Is this a good sign? I'm actually really interested in the cancer focus of the institution (I did previous research at big cancer research institution in London) and some of the faculty's research interests me (the structural biology focus) and so if this email is an indication that they are potentially interested in me as an applicant I would go ahead and submit it. However, the pessimist in me thinks that this is probably just a generic email they use to get more money from those who have made an application but not submitted it. Thoughts?

Hi, as far as i'm aware i'm the first UK student posting into this thread. Whilst i'm applying to very competitive institutions in the UK and am hopeful I will get offers, i'm completely pessimistic about my US applications, purely because the process is so different and seems so streamlined for US students. Undergrad Institution: University of Oxford Major(s): Biochemistry GPA in Major: First class marks in finals (the top degree classification) Overall GPA: Position in Class: top 10% Type of Student: male, white, international GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 156 V: 164 W: 4.0y (totally underestimated the GRE - thought it looked easy when I skimmed through the book and, in all honesty, the content is, but I really should've practised at doing it faster/ the types of questions that come up) Research Experience: 2 months in structural biology lab (GPCR) with very successful lab group at Oxford Uni. 2 months in molecular biology lab at the institute of Cancer Research, London. Currently doing 4th year research project in membrane protein crystallography lab - hoping to publish later in the year. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Domus Scholarship (for finals marks), 2 research funding packages for above projects Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Special Bonus Points: Very working class background (although no real allusion to that in application so doesn't really make a difference) Applying to Where: Biochem-related programs at The Rockefeller Cold Spring harbor Weill Cornell Like I said, i'm really not hopeful about getting into these programs because I just think, as far as US admissions are concerned, that i'm not a strong candidate. Nevertheless i'll see how it goes and if I get rejected from all i'll do a PhD in the UK.