biotechie

Yes. She just corrected the school name for me. There was one other small typo (an extra s at the end of a word) that was corrected in the new version. I'm a little worried, though, since my official GRE scores I tried to get sent to them still haven't been sent. Looks like another phone call day! I'm literally going into the other lab to work, and my phone will be sitting on the other side of the room (on silent), set up so that it shows a "preview" of the first three lines of each e-mail that comes in. I can check it on the 3 minute breaks.

I got a wonderfully relieving e-mail, today: The school that I included the wrong school name in my first paragraph responded back to me, today. The administrator noticed the mistake and previously corrected it. They also still accepted my corrected essay, today. Whew! Except she signed her e-mail response to me with "See you soon." I don't want to think she is hinting at something, but I'm stalking my e-mail, now, as well. Ahhh!

Are they expecting your Statement of Purpose to be specifically limited to statistics? It would be helpful to know what is in the prompt provided to you before you wrote the essay. If you are not required to stick to strictly statistics, my questions are: We can see a little passion in the essay, but what makes you so passionate? Can we have a little dose of you in the essay? Where is the human behind the paper? What makes you stand out? You don't have to tell them "I stand out, because..." Include an anecdote that pushes them to see what a complex and amazing person you can be and how that will separate you from the other students who have written essays similar to yours. Obviously science for be is different than for you, but I was able to show I was passionate and what I wanted to work on through a story that personally affected me. You could potentially include portrayal of your field in the public, etc.

No worries! I should have been more clear. I assumed that PHDreams would have large departments simply because of the caliber and size of the schools that they were applying to. I guess many departments that are not science-based won't have so many faculty members. Now that I think about it, it makes sense. All of my programs have at least 50 professors with the largest having more than 150 that I could study under. In my case, there were lots of people who were doing things I was interested in. Since I know a ton of protocols, already, I was told it is more important to target professors doing research I find interesting rather than just doing techniques I want to learn.

I didn't mention 10-12 in my Statement of Interest. I actually didn't mention any professors at all. I made sure that my research interests that matched those of the faculty made it into my statement. I made it clear that I had looked over the department faculty and that my interests aligned closely with their interests. Three of my schools actually asked me for a list of professors, and they wanted around 10-15. The departments have about 50-100 professors because I am applying to interdisciplinary programs. So I simply provided a list with my reasoning for selecting each professor because that is what they asked for. I'm sorry that wasn't clear.

I e-mailed the program administrator and simply said that this was what happened and I hoped that the committee could review the corrected version. I am pretty positive they've already looked at my application, but I went with the whole, "I might as well try and show that I know there was a major error" in the hope that they'll see that I had enough courage to point out my own deficiency. I'm sure things like this happen a ton, but I'm the type of person who always has their i's dotted and their t's crossed. None of my advisors caught my mistake before I submitted, either.

The deadline was December 1st, but their first interview date is January 11, so I have a feeling they've already reviewed it. That might be the reason I haven't heard from them. However, their administrator is really nice, so maybe she can make sure they know I at least corrected it. Unlikely, but I can hope, right?

Okay, now I am losing my mind. I just realized I sent a school an essay that had another school's name in it. All other parts of the essay refer to the correct school, but not the single mention in my first paragraph. I used that paragraph in all of my essays and sortof used it as a launching point to get into writing the personal statement... but apparently I forgot to correct it. This was on the day when most of the applications were due. I corrected it and e-mailed the administrator explaining what happened, but it is still enough to really shake me up... especially since it is my second choice school. Oops. Hopefully they will understand, but I have a feeling it was already sent to the committee!

So you got an interview at UW? I got my rejection from Immunology on the 20th. My GPA and general GRE weren't as strong as yours, though. I also didn't take the subject test. I'm glad all of your are as crazy about checking out the results of others as me. If you guys didn't exist, I would think I was completely nuts to be so nervous.

I actually didn't mention a POI in my statements of purpose, but most applications asked me elsewhere. If you're worried about mentioning too many people, just mention a couple and then also make sure that you mention interest areas that are specific interests of your own that match those of those extra faculty. Maybe mention that your interests, such as.....""...... parallel with interests of other faculty as well. Then you can explain those interests in whatever way you want to. They'll know some of the interests in the department and be able to see where you fit. For the schools that asked me for a list of POIs, I gave 10-12. I think it is great that you are finding so many interesting people, but you're right. It might not be wise to name drop too many. Hopefully one of the vets sees this and can give you a better answer.

They're schools I still think that I could be happy at and do well at, but they're not the schools of my dreams. They have programs that are not exactly the way I would like to get a PhD (i.e. really drawn out coursework). I'm trying really hard to be realistic. I don't think the fact that I'm really applying for a PhD has sunk in. We'll see how I feel after I hear yes or no from my schools.

@ion_exchanger: Oddly I haven't had that issue, but there are only two of us eligible and actually applying out. I think these two professors really want me to get into a decent program. They were my undergraduate and Master's research mentors. I guess that makes them sortof my science parents? They know I'm good at verbal communication, and they know that I've been successfully through major interviews for other things as well as served on committees for interviews, before. They keep trying to keep me confident by telling me which schools they think I will get into. That is what makes me nervous. Then they play the "Lets quiz our nervous student over everything she knows in one question," game. It doesn't help. Apparently I make them nervous because one of the professors I picked out knows them really well (unbeknownst to me), and obviously that makes me a direct impression of their teaching. They are also just really excited that I've decided to go for a PhD. I think they thought I would quit after my M.S. As far as family at the holiday, I escaped most of it, too... but my mom likes to run around telling everyone that I am going to cure cancer. I used to do tumor suppressor research, but not anymore. I've given up trying to explain what I do and simply say I work with mice or cells on a dish. I'm adding a couple of backup schools, now, so now I full applications to do. Plus prepping for classes, running experiments, and gathering literature for my thesis. That is driving me nuts!

I didn't start freaking out until my professors told me they were nervous about my interviews. THAT made me nervous. Based on a little research, I shouldn't expect much from the other schools until late next week. So I think I will be okay until then. In the meantime, I'm trying to get sleep and work on more applications.

I'm working on about four applications at the moment, but I'm also trying to make figures for a paper and I'm summarizing the literature I will need for my Masters thesis. I would apply to more than that, but my funds for applications are running dry. I just wish the schools I already applied to would be better about their application status updates. It is really hard to confirm that everything was received without pestering them.

I think my professors (I have two PIs for my Master's) are more stressed out about my interview than I am. I'm just nervous that I won't hear from anyone else.

I think everyone is either prepping for New Year's Eve or we're all dying of anticipation... or both.

I'm a Master's student in science, and I teach a 1 credit hour lab (but I do the prep, so it is nearly equivalent). I spend nearly 10 hours per week not including teaching working on grading papers and homework as well as prepping my lectures. Since I do research, too, it is impossible for me to have a second job. However, I am also not allowed to have a second job. I wouldn't recommend trying to teach, go to school, and write along with an outside job, but I'm also from a science background. Check with your school. Some will not allow you to have outside employment. Others will make sure that you are paid enough that you don't need it. Make sure you know exactly what benefits and shortcomings come with teaching.

Whoops. I am not Asian. I guess that is what I get for copying a post and filling it in. Applying: Baylor, UW, WashU StL, UCSD, UF Interviews: Baylor Accepted: UW Rejected:

Undergrad Institution: Public, rural Tier I Research University Major(s): Microbiology Minor(s): Chemistry Overall GPA: 3.70 Position in Class: Top 20 Master's Institution: Same public university, under same PI, but in medical school Master's Concentration: Cellular and Molecular Physiology Type of Student: US, non-minority female GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 156 (68%) V: 157 (73%) W: 4.5 (73%) Research Experience: 1 summer working in an agricultural research lab in high school, three semesters working in a zoology lab performing genotyping and sequencing for a phylogenetics project, two years as an undergrad in a physiology lab running the mouse colony (4-6 strains, 400ish mice) and breeding schemes + a project, two years for a master's in the same lab with my own standalone thesis project... so nearly 6 years of experience in the lab. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Undergraduate Full tuition, room, and board scholarship, student employee of the year, won prizes at three poster sessions, funded Master's studies, somehow have survived so far with no student loans. One third author publication, three-four in progress, potentially one more before graduation. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: GA/TA for two years, plus I tutored a ton during undergrad. I was paid as an undergraduate researcher my junior and senior years as well. Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Lots of experience working in diversity organizations on campus, but because I'm Asian, the ill-fated "over-represented minority" in science fields it probably doesn't mean much, especially for the UC schools I'm applying to. Special Bonus Points: Three recommenders have been research mentors. The two I work under now told me I wasn't allowed to leave until I completed my masters, plus my project was cool. The fourth recommender is the university chancellor who is very active in maintaining undergraduate research on our campus. Applying to Where: All of these are long shots for me! University of Washington, Seattle: Immunology University of Florida College of Medicine: IDP, probably Molecular Biology based Baylor College of Medicine: Interdepartmental Program in Cell and Molecular Biology, Immunology backup UCSD: Biomedical Sciences (Worried about this one) WashU St. Louis: Molecular Cell Biology