snap

Yes I would like to know about $$$, but whats the name of the school you are trying to talk about?

That actually sounds right, thank you FSIA. I only applied to RIT and UVM, (yes that was stupid). I wanted to work after I graduate, so I did not pay attention to GRE or application stuff until january, by then the chances of finding a job seemed slim. I applied in a rush, had 15 days of GRE preparation, and my SOP was probably mediocre.

Just trying to get some advice form the gradcafe community here. Here is my story. I transfered to a State School in NY (SUNY Plattsburgh) form a "not known" school in Kathmandu, Nepal. I had 2 years of college in NY as well as Nepal. The education system in Nepal is different from American system in that you don't take any general education or liberal arts classes at all. i.e. right form your first day as a freshmen you start with whatever major you picked, in my case it was Biochemistry. After two years when I transferred to NY, the admissions people at SUNY saw a lot of credits on my major field and approved a lot of them for transfer. Hence, I took only few upper level classes in NY (although they made me take all 100 level bio, chem and phy classes). My grades at SUNY were fairly good (GPA 3.5) compared to what I had before I transferred (GPA 2.4). I think I hit a turning point when I made the transition to America, became more responsible or something and magically improved my grades (part of the credit also goes to the SUNY policy not to include GPA form classes taken in other universities/colleges in their transcript, without such policy my GPA right now would have been 3.0). While in college, I had 2 and sometimes 3 part time jobs to survive financially which not only affected my grades but also took away the time I could have given for independent research. Also, since I was in college in NY for only 2 years I had less time to accommodate to the academic setting and find a professor to start an independent project with. The only real independent work I did involves creating flash animations to illustrate molecular mechanisms which was used for instruction in Cell Biology class. I graduated in in Dec 2008, with hope of getting a job as a research technician and getting some experience before I applied to grad schools. However, the closest I have got to my plan is having a part time job as a laboratory assistant (duties: feed zebra fish and clean fish-tanks) in Boston. I am thinking about applying to grad schools but I dont know if my credentials are good enough to get accepted into a program with funding. My GRE scores are: Q 740, V 340, AWA 3.5. (considering retaking) I was accepted to a MS Bioinformatics program at RIT for this fall but had to decline because I received very little scholarships. Thank you for reading my post thus far. If you have spent your valuable time reading through my story I am sure you can spare a minute and post your advice. The following questions are of my specific interest: Q. Should I apply for a PHD program at all? (it seems like there is more chances of getting funding for PHD compared to a MS) Q. What schools should I apply to? (primary focus: Bioinformatics, also interested in cell biology and immunology) Any other advice are also welcome, Thank you for reading.

Congratulations! (thats for the balls, not the school)

Uncertainty.

The reason I am posting here without actually answering the original question is because I really enjoyed reading this thread (especially ndufour and gadhelyn). I think I want to study Bioinformatics but I really don't know why (except for my inclination towards maths, physics and computers); which is why I am reading this thread. I would like to hear more from you guys. I agree with ndufour's non-reductionist idea. So are you going for Bioinformatics? or something else?

A bunch of minds together is better than a single mind.

$$$

Anyone looking to go for Spring 2010?? (life sciences of course) I know the following take spring apps. School.......................... Deadline Mcgill............................july 1 (biochem) U of York, toronto..............Aug1 (fall 09) Oct 15 (winter 10) U of new Hamshire.............Dec 1 (biochem) Colorado state U................Nov 12 (biochem) Looking for more schools here(primary focus north America but geographic location is not primary focus). Any information would be greatly appreciated. *I am primarely looking for biochem/cell bio programs but am not limiting myself to those, also it will be helpful for others as well to do so here. Thanks all.

Good topic here. I do have a goatee. which I shave everytime I have a job interview. I made a promise to myself to grow dreadlocks and locks on my beard as well if I get accepted into grad school. Which might have to wait till next year. The reason why I decided so is that you cant grow it while you are job hunting. Once I am sure I dont have an interview for 4 years I will definitely gorw my hair and beard.

I do the same lol. heahhahahah. ehahhaha, i think we have the same mailman. ehahahhahahhaha I feel the same with postal service, never reliable. But compared to so many places around the world, i guess we are in postal heaven.

Great thread guys. loads of info, i keep on coming back here just to remind myself. I only have the answer to the 1st question. I decided to get a PHD last month. I completed undergrad in Dec 08, Biochemistry. currently work as a lab assistant (part time), havent found a real job yet. I was accepted in 2 schools for MS w/ no funding hence declined. from where i am standing i only have one way out, get a phd w/ funding.

talking about the classic mistake of applying to only a couple of schools, yes, i made the same mistake. I chose schools (3 total) based on geography and didnt bother about the program too much. I do have 2 acceptances for MS but no funding (obviously). I think this time around i will apply to a lot of schools, all PHD programs, 10 at least (there goes 1000$ down the drain). need to plan ahead, i am already feeling like I am falling behind. retake GRE, ask proffs i havent seen in a yr to write a reco and make 10 copies, oh yea. and a new SOP,

good to hear the news mmr. Congratulations.

Good thread here. Really got me thinking. Unfortunately I don't know what I want to do yet. All I know right now is that I need to get into grad school now to make a living later. I know it sounds weired, but I don't even know if my life goal will be anywhere close to my undergrad major.