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Everything posted by biotechie
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Many people view ranking as a really important part of choosing a school. However, I view the ranking of schools as pretty unimportant, to be honest. For me what matters if research fit, program design, time to a PhD, placement post-graduation, and availability of a few PIs doing things I'm interested in and taking students the time I would be rotating. It would help us more to give you advice if we knew your field.... in fields like Math and Engineering, the rank of the school might be more important for your PhD, but in the biomedical sciences where I'm at, the time when working with a hot-shot PI at a highly ranked school is going to help you most is your post-doc studies (assuming an interest in academia). For biomed, so long as you're in the top 75 or so schools for PhD and can get a post-doc at a top 30 school, you should be okay for applications to positions in academia if you're good at grant application. Pros for having a young, new PI: 1. As you mentioned, startup funds which will support you through your PhD. 2. More face time with the PI, so they're up on what you're doing and will be there more to help if you need it. 3. The PI is more likely to work WITH you than rather than over you. 4. They're pushing for tenure, which means you're going to have to work hard, but they payoff is likely lots of publications and getting to help with grant applications. 5. You say you know what you want to do 99.99%, and this guy does it. If they're willing to take you for sure as a student, go for it. It is a plus when you also love your project. 6. You get to help establish the direction the lab goes. PIs come in with a direction in mind, but you will have much more "wiggle room" in a new lab than you will in an established one. Pros for the older, established PI: 1. Established, so the lab is set in its ways, but probably has established, sometimes cookie cutter, projects for you to do. (The con is likely less wiggle room, which concerns me as you note only 70% interest match). 2. Established labs usually have good funding, but the TA will benefit you if you want to teach and work in academia. 3. The PI will usually be more hands-off, so you will be more independent. This is also a con as it sometimes makes it harder to get help. 4. Everyone considers this the "safe" option, and I would do this if you don't have plans for academia (if you're life sciences). 5. Will probably have you prepare your own manuscripts starting very early, and possibly submit portions of grants. 6. Competition is higher for student funding awards, but you might have more resources for awards and for research. If this were me, I would go for the new PI that matches your research interests, assuming he will for sure let you join his lab. As a student in the biomedical sciences, it is highly beneficial for me to have someone who works with me, sometimes even along-side me in the lab and lets me help with grant and paper writing. Soon I'll be grant writing on my own. For me, the biggest thing for my PhD is for me to learn how to be a good researcher, writer, and presenter while my post-doc is for me to use those skills to establish a pathway for me to get an academic position mostly independently. You also need to think a great deal about your fit with the school itself. It isn't worth it to have your dream project when the school environment makes you miserable. Do you mesh well with the other people in that lab? What about the potential classmates you might have met at interviews? The staff? Did the current students in the program seem happy? I actually selected my program based on fit to the environment as we do research rotations. Then I selected my PI at the end of three rotations. If you go to the top-75, you will need to spend a lot of time networking and establishing ties to get into a highly ranked post-doc. That's exactly what I'm doing, though I'm at a top-30 institution. I joined a lab with a brand new PI with guaranteed funding for 5-6 years with a project I was 80% interested in (which is now the coolest project ever, in my opinion), and at 2 years into my PhD, I am very happy with the lab I chose. We have publications going out the door and I get independence to dictate the direction of my project. It is also very beneficial to collaborate with hot-shot labs if you can, and also to get PIs to be on your dissertation committee who are well known in the field. You should also find opportunities to TA if you're not able to get them. Teaching now will really help you later on. The way I'm doing this is through a public science outreach program to local schools where I teach basic science techniques and also TAing a biology class at the university down the road. Please let me know if you have more questions I can help with.
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Just throwing in my two cents: I had exactly this happen, but not at WashU. I could have gone to the school I felt I clicked with or the school that had exactly the professor and project that I thought I wanted (in theory), but didn't click with. I decided to go to the school I felt that I fit the best rather than to the POI that I liked, and I can say it was the best decision I ever made. I even ended up joining a lab outside of the field I thought I was interested in, and I'm even more passionate about it than I was about epigenetics. The environment you work in is going to be way more important for you to learn how to be a scientist and do great research than a famous PI's name on your resume. Most of those big shot PIs don't have a lot of time to spend mentoring, but that kind of environment is best for you as a post-doc when you're more independent and trying to figure out how to strike out on your own. Once you get to that point, the big shot PI's name on your CV is going to help you out as your post-doc research solidifies the field you're going to spend the rest of your life in. Your PhD studies don't have to do that... they're just about learning to be a good scientist and how to survive grant and publication attempts. The bottom line is that I let instinct win, and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything at all. If anything, I think my experience is more enriched because I am genuinely happy to be here, which allows me to work well. There's never a moment where I wonder, "What if I went to school X? Would I be happier?" Definitely give your instinct a lot of weight.
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If you can, set it up so you're not in classes or TAing at the time. It'll make it a lot easier to plan and less likely that you'll miss pertinent information. Biomed PhD coursework is not a walk in the park (from experience). Plus, when you come back from the wedding and honeymoon, you may find it hard to study for courses. At least with lab work, you're actually doing something. You're welcome to PM me as well. I'm another BioMed girl thinking about her wedding so I can us all of the idea discussion I can get. We're waiting on the fiancé to move down here to actually set a date, but we're also waiting until at least 2016. I have the benefit of being done with coursework and quals, so I will just need to plan experiments accordingly and get permission to be out of the lab, but being in biomed does have its difficulties. I can just imagine getting a frantic emergency call about my mice while I'm on our honeymoon.
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Graduate programs don't expect you to have publications, but they do expect you to have had some solid research experience. To me, that means at least 6 months in a single lab, which is enough time to learn techniques well, learn to troubleshoot, and actually learn some of the reasoning and science behind a project. They want to know that you know what science entails and that you can handle research. However, at the top 20 molecular biology program I currently attend, there is one student who had only a single REU. I had 6 years research experience and a publication coming in, which made up for my GPA being lower than other applicants. Your grades are better than mine, but I scored higher verbal and writing on the GRE. If anything is going to hurt you, it is going to be that writing or verbal score. Many programs get so many applications that they use a GRE cutoff system to pre-screen applications. Because my verbal was below 80th percentile, I was cut from a couple of programs. You shouldn't be focused on rank, though. I keep saying this over and over, but you need to focus on how you fit in a program and if there are professors you want to work with there (who are taking students). Often, the people doing the things you will want to do are not at a top 20 school. You need to pick programs with several professors you would be willing to work under. You should also be willing to expand your horizons as far as research interests. So long as you do something at least a little related as a graduate student, you can get into what you want to do as a post-doc. It is usually most beneficial to pick a PI who you work well with even if it isn't doing exactly what you wanted.
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I am equally proud of both, for a combination of reasons. My undergraduate is a mostly unknown field, but I got some incredible research and leadership experience, and it still feels like home. You'll never hear me say I'm not proud to be from there. There are amazing people who I got to work with who, though not extremely well known, were amazing PIs or mentors to me. I would recommend anyone go there for undergraduate or a masters. My PhD school is a top 25 school, and the research environment is amazing. Any resource I need, I can find. Professors working on things within my field are available and willing to talk with myself and other graduate students. Emphasis is put on becoming a good scientist first and foremost, and these professors push us to succeed. Graduate students aren't competing with each other, either... we help each other. I guess my point is that I'm not "more proud" of one place or another. I love both schools, though on some points to slightly varied degrees. Just because the top 25 school is ranked so high isn't going to make me love it more, just like the unknown undergrad isn't going to make me less proud to have called it home. If you've seen my previous posts, you know that I don't like to pick things based on "rank" or "big names." I picked both of my schools for the environment, and I hope that all of you take that into account as well! If the students were happy and I felt like I could mesh with them, I knew I could be happy. If professors were approachable, I knew that I could work with them. This is why I can't be "more proud" of one over the other.... because I was able to pick where I would be happy, and have been equally so at both!
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How... do you plan a wedding in grad school?
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I was thinking I could get a ice cream cake from DQ, and have a wizard cast a spell to prevent it from melting.
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Do Ph.D. programs get better/easier once you finish classes?
biotechie replied to BETough's topic in Officially Grads
Classes + research sometimes feels like the weight of the world is on your shoulders, but I wouldn't say that goes away... Because now that I'm in lab full-time, I have more responsibility. I finished my qual at the beginning of the semester, and being done with classes HAS made things better for me. I agree with TakeruK that is not easier, but better. I find seminars that I'm excited about to plan into my week so I'm not just standing at my bench pipetting, and I also volunteer to TA one 8 week class per year and mentor rotations students that come through the lab. I'll have my own summer student this summer. So my days are still broken up and are not monotonous, but I have just as much stuff filling it up. I think the reason I like this so much more is that I'm pursuing knowledge in my research area, which is way more fun than being told to learn something. Nearly everything I learn has a direct application to the research I am doing. It is a daunting task, but it is much more enjoyable. I don't know what kind of relationship you have with your advisor, but I know I can tell mine anything. I mentioned when I joined his lab that I stress when I take a break and that it is hard for me to do. If he notices I'm in lab far too much, he'll mention that I should take a break, which helped at first to make me more okay with it. For a while, he even mentioned fun things he heard to do on the radio in to school to convince me I should go. Now I make sure I get a whole day off most weekends. My quality of work is much better when I am well-rested and have had some fun. If you're this stressed out, though, you really should talk to your advisor, a trusted faculty, friends, or your school ombudsman. They may just confirm that you're feeling normal things, but if you need to see someone about stress and anxiety, they may be able to help direct you. -
I personally wouldn't give up your offer for your relationship. Part of being with someone is being able to work with them, even if it means you have to live apart for a while. When I applied to graduate programs, my boyfriend of over 2 years made sure I didn't limit by location because of him. He knows that I value my independence and that I want to contribute to society through research. If I stayed and didn't go to the school I got into, I think I would be miserable right now, and that would be worse for us. So I moved 13 hours away and we have been long-distance for over a year. It sucks sometimes, especially when one of us is stressed out or upset, but we have made it work. Now, at 4 years in, we just got engaged last month, and will wait to plan our wedding until we can live together. However, we know we can survive despite the distance, and we are both establishing career paths for ourselves that will make us happy. My point is that if your relationship is meant to be, you guys will make it work while you go to school. Your relationship is still pretty young... I think if I were in your shoes, there is no way I would be willing to give up something I viewed as my best shot at my career, something I would find fulfillment in and use as a means to support myself, for something that I couldn't prove to myself was a sure thing. I only briefly considered it when I applied as boyfriend and I had been dating for so long. I feel that if he really is the one for you, he will understand if you also want/need fulfillment through your career, that you should pursue it through the best avenue you can. You already have the offer and the ability to go to this school, so I would jump on the opportunity. Besides, it is often considered to be more wise to do your PhD studies away from the area you might be living in... so you may be setting yourself up for better luck in the future by doing your studies away from where he is and pursuing positions in that region later on.
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Just another opinion to add to the list: I'm a current biomedical sciences PhD student going to my favorite school that I interviewed at... and I contacted no POIs prior to being asked to interview. I had to state professors who were doing work I was interested in, but I was not required to contact them. In one instance, the professor I mentioned in an application reached out to me to learn more about my interests and background, but that was normal protocol for professors from that school who were interested in having a new student. It ended up being a sort of pre-interview. That said, if your application requires you to contact professors, you should do so. For a December 1 deadline, it is too late, especially with the Thanksgiving Holiday coming up this week. For a January 1 deadline, you might be able to make it work. If it doesn't, you aren't required to, and then it is really up to you. Edit: From your list I applied to both WUSTL (Immunology) and University of Utah (Molecular Bio) in 2013. I didn't get an interview at WashU, but I got one at University of Utah, which I turned down. I didn't even mention professors I was interested in working under, there, but I got called back within days of my application!
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I joined Golden Key as an undergraduate. Then it looked good on my resume... now they just spam me with things asking me to buy insurance and, ironically, popcorn poppers. If you need to pad your resume, go for it, but I did not get any direct benefits out of being a member.
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Whoa, whoa, wait.... You say most of the students who try to volunteer are premeds, which is true at most institutions... However, are you telling us you're not interested in research at all? That makes me think that you don't know what a biomedical science PhD requires of you, and you need to have a long talk with someone who is working their way up in the field about what it takes to get there. Research is the single most important aspect of your PhD studies, and ultimately what you make of your career. Did you tell them you're not interested in their research? That would explain why they're more hesitant to take you. Did you try and find aspects of their projects that you're interested? Did you tell them you're interested in pursuing a PhD in biomed and that you want to do research? Did you volunteer to work as a research volunteer (unpaid) in exchange for the experience? My experience with research professors is that in general, money is tight. They're usually willing to take on any student who is volunteering their time or comes in with their own research award so long as the student finds an aspect of their projects that they think is interesting and can quickly become competent with that aspect of the project. You can e-mail around all you want, but a longer, year-long stint in one lab is going to be way better than a three-month summer stint.
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I keep saying this over and over, but where you do your PhD doesn't matter as much as where you do your post-doc studies and who you post-doc under. What matters is that you get into a program where you feel you fit well and under a professor who is going to work well with you and push you. A surprising number of the professors that are leaders in their field aren't even at these institutions, and most of them didn't study at top institutions, either. You need to be aiming for decent laboratory groups, specifically schools which have at least 3-4 professors you would be interested in working under as well (and who are likely to take students) as well as a program structure that you like. What will matter will be the work that you turn out as a student. That said, my opinion is that you DO need to have your feet wet in research if a research-related PhD is what you're after. The adcoms want to know that you have an idea of what you're getting into by going to graduate school, and they also want to know that you're a little experienced in the process. People who don't know what the true research experience entails sometimes wash out really quickly. They want you to be making and informed decision... graduate school, especially in the sciences, is not easy. It is difficult, and sometimes impossible to maintain a schedule like our normal, 9-5 friends do. I'm telling you this as I'm sitting in my lab, on a Saturday, waiting for samples. Honestly, any research experience is important. Anything that puts you into a wet lab (if that's your interest) and has you working with samples, running experiments, and most importantly, troubleshooting and being able to go down an altered path without going crazy when things don't work, is going to help you. You say that there are no labs doing things you're interested in... but maybe they're doing things you're slightly interested in. Perhaps one of the neuroscience labs is doing something with genetic markers for neurodegenerative disease or obesity... Both of those are huge disease where we know little about the biomarkers involved. You may surprise yourself and really love your project. I came from a cancer/epigenetics research background and joined a metabolism/neuro lab, and I love it. I thought I had a specific area I wanted to work in. Be willing to try new things! I'm not sure what you are thinking of when you say "significant" research experience. For me, that is amount of time and productivity. I had 4 years undergrad lab experience, 2 years masters, with publications in prep, but 90% of applicants aren't going to have that. If you just want to get your feet wet, I'd say minimum 6 months to 1 year working on a defined project in a single lab. Many of the applicants I interviewed with (at universities considered top 25) had at least 2 years, or at least a year and a summer REU. For a graduate school application in the top 50, I would aim for a minimum of a year if you can get it. If you can't get into a lab or get a summer research opportunity elsewhere, I would consider taking a year break to work in a lab as a technician before applying to graduate school. Keep in mind this is my personal opinion that research is absolutely required for admission. However, I don't know any students in the programs I interviewed at who had no lab research experience. I did not interview at top 5 institutions, but I did interview at top 25 and one top 50 institution.
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I will give you two reasons why this is important: 1. The ability to write well, in general, is extremely important in graduate school. The GRE tests to see if you are able to write in a specific way, but also that you can use proper sentence structure, punctuation, and follow grammar and spelling rules. While you may not have to write essays using the structure in the GRE, the latter part that I mentioned in the previous sentence is going to be important. You need to be able to write well to express your ideas and conclusions in an interesting, informative, and convincing manner. Not only is this important in graduate school, but also in your future career, even if you're not in academia. 2. Graduate schools are using the GRE as a whole to get an idea of how you could fare at their institution, and the writing part of the GRE is used to make sure you can appropriately communicate in a written form. Like I said before, you might not be writing in that way for school, but it is the easiest way to get an idea before they try and review your application. In some cases, where a writing sample is not required outside of the personal statement, that score on your GRE is the only information they get about your writing ability!
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I also use Mendeley... the comment that it is a lot like iTunes is one of the best descriptions I have heard. I've always said it is what would happen if endnote and adobe reader made babies. I use the plugin for Word for my works cited on both Mac and PC. Sometimes it is a tiny bit slow if you have a ton of citations in your document (in my case, over 200), but it works well. One problem with the sticky notes being searchable is that on occasion, I'll be looking for a keyword in a paper only to have it tag a note I had written. So one day when I was looking for use of MEF in papers, the results I got were a lot of notes where I'd commented on papers, "Try this in MEF." So be careful how you do your notes!
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If you're in a biomedical sciences program, usually students ARE from a wide variety of backgrounds, and they don't expect you to know everything from the beginning. I went through my coursework last year (we go through all classes in 8 months, so taking double course load), and I only got to choose a couple of later classes. During coursework, and then again during your qual, you sort of have to be okay with not having much of a life. I was in lab or studying most of the day. I would take a few hours on Saturday or Sunday to myself, but that's about it. Also, it sounds like you're doing rotations. Most programs have a certain number of hours they expect you to be in lab for your rotations. At mine, we were expected to be there around 20 hours per week. The professors are well aware that their rotations students are also taking 12+ credits of graduate level classes. If your professors are telling you that 20-25 hours is unacceptable, perhaps you need to talk to them about your studies and grades. From my experience, good professors are going to understand where you're coming from and work with you on this. That said, you may also need to re-evaluate HOW you're studying. Here is how I got through it: 1. Look over the slides and read any assigned papers or chapters BEFORE class. Look into primary literature more if needed. I did this the morning of on the bus ride into school 2. Take notes on printed out slides in class. I prefer printed rather than digital as I can diagram, better. 3. Record audio of the class (with the professor's permission) and note on each slide the time of the recording. 4. Review the notes again briefly THAT NIGHT. Write down anything that makes it more clear. Look up what you don't know. If something is really weird, listen to that time point in your recording. 5. Then on weekends, I would listen to the week's recordings, adding more notes. I did this because otherwise I have a hard time paying attention if I study quietly. 6. Once I have a good handle on the information from the slides, I make 1-page summaries of each lecture. I have small handwriting, so for normal people, this might be 2 pages. I include drawings of pathways and I add color to help make it memorable. This last step may seem excessive to you, but for me, it is much less stressful to have 1-2 pages per lecture than to have 10-20 pages of 2x3 slides per lecture! Finally, most biomed programs will make you retake the class if you don't get a B or better. For my program, if you failed a class, it pushed back your qualifying exam; we can't take the exam if we haven't completed a specific set of classes. If you failed a second time, you were recommended for dismissal. I don't know of anyone that has happened to, though. Check into the timeline for dropping/auditing classes. Schools that start in late August/early September have likely passed the drop deadline, so you may not be able to drop the course at this point and may have to try and soldier through. Drop dates are often times within the first month of the course, earlier if the course is short.
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Is it odd that I still read threads, but then don't post? I generally read something and have a comment, and then I either get distracted, or I decide my point is too minor of a contribution. That and I often peruse while waiting on time points.
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same. i think all i do is upvote or downvote. i like staying caffeinated, i don't want to be an espresso shot. i don't like that member titles can change.
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Keep in mind that I do almost no computational work. You also really need to consider what GeoDude said if you're planning to go that route. I know some computational labs that are small, and they function mostly through collaborators, but the big publishers are huge labs.
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I had the opportunity to go from a small lab MS to a large lab PhD, and I chose not to take it. I have a ton of reasons that I personally chose to join a small lab. A small lab in my biomed + biophysics field is 2ish grad students, and large labs are generally greater than 5 (these numbers obviously don't include post-docs, research associates, technicians, etc). Some of these may be things you didn't think of or things you absolutely wouldn't want, so maybe my rationale will help you start thinking about what you need. 1. Your post-doc is going to define where you end up if you want to stay in academia, and that's when landing in a big/well-known lab will help you the most. I don't think I'll be aiming for the top 10 labs in my subfield (I am in a biophysics department but not exactly doing biophys), but I'm certainly going to go somewhere that does good science. As long as I generate good data (and I already have a ton), network, and write, I should be in a good position to get into a post-doc at a strong institution. 2. I learned how to be a good lab technician in my previous studies in undergrad and my MS. I'm here to really learn science, now. I wanted a PI who could work with me and who would be able to make time for me. I rotated in both small and large labs. For me, it ended with me selecting a small lab with a brand-new PI. He is literally fresh from post-doc, but he does know his stuff. One con is that funding may get tight in 2 more years, but grant writing will continue. 3. I wanted a lab where I felt the effort would be more collaborative and where my input would directly contribute. In a way, this is independence to me. I didn't want to feel like a minion with a pipette; I wanted to be able to work out how to think, learn, and run experiments like the scientist I aspire to become. Many PIs have a set agenda they want pursued, first. This is mostly due to what they have funding for or what they need for the next paper or grant proposal. However, working with a new PI, the lab is getting established... and so is my project. Because I was able to bring some skills in from before and have a different background knowledge, we ended up taking the original project and it now goes in a direction much cooler than I could have dreamed. 4. In addition to the above, I wanted to work WITH my PI, not under a post-doc. This goal is easier to obtain by joining a smaller lab, less than 10 people usually. I probably see my PI a lot more than you would like (daily, which was unexpected), but I get the hands-on help when I need it and am free to pursue the directions I deem necessary for my project. 5. I feel that writing and presentation skills are something that I'm going to need to work up the most. Since this lab is small, I will have more opportunities to contribute to writing things up, and applying for fellowships isn't only a privilege, it is an expectation. The PI also has expressed interest in making sure I present often, and has already held true to that with a local presentation. 6. New PIs tend to have an incredible number of collaborators. They have to as their labs are so small! This is really beneficial to me as I get to meet nearly all of the collaborators as the only graduate student. They are familiar with my work, have their students learning a protocol from me while I learn one from them, and I am expanding my network. I'm still working with some of my POIs, but not as their student, which is actually sometimes more fun. Many of these collaborators are also well-known in the fields these new PIs are in. They will become co-authors on grants and will be communicating closely with the labs. 7. Lab space... I love having my own bench to work on as well as dedicated spaces in the lab for some of our protocols. I've seen other labs with the same amount of space with 3 times the number of people working and no space to call your own. Some of the larger labs, even those with really well-known professors, are going to have that problem. 8. I wanted a PI who knows what is going on in the lab and can still handle a pipette. You think it won't really matter, but one day, you'll work with someone who hasn't been in a lab for 15 years and gives you advice for protocols which aren't used anymore. Having a PI who likes to pop into lab and help with plasmid preps in between writing sessions is actually pretty fun and I know he knows what he is talking about when he tells me to use concentration A instead of concentration B. Some of this can also be viewed as a con, such as my PI being so new, particularly where funding is concerned. I have confidence in him. It is really going to be up to you to see how you mesh with the labs you are interested in, but I would really make a list of things you think you will value in a lab. If your list is similar to mine, you may do better in a smaller lab. It is a little early for you to be so worried, though. Applications aren't even in! I guess you can pick out POIs, but half of the time, they're not going to be taking students or you will ultimately not like their lab and go for someone not even on your radar.
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We call them safety schools, but what we should be really saying to applicants is that they should be applying to a range of schools where the schools have things you desire in a program. I actually didn't look at rank when I applied until after I submitted (and I am glad I didn't). What you should be doing is looking into schools which have the type of curriculum you want as well as several PIs (not just one!) with whom you might want to work. I did not contact PIs during my application process, but many students seem to. It is not required. Look for programs where the students are happy, and look at those students and see if you can see yourself among them. It is usually pretty easy to find out, but if you don't find out at application, you'll see it at the interview. Also look online to see where their students end up. Many programs even have a dedicated webpage for this. Select programs where you also like the location. I recommend going somewhere different from where you will ultimately end up. I went from super small towns to a city of millions. The city is not my favorite, but now I've lived here and I don't hate it. It is helping me decide what kind of place I ultimately want to end up in, and that probably isn't a gigantic city! If you want to look at rank, you can, but it really seems to stress a lot of people out. Rank should not be one of your highest worries. I would pick your top schools but also make sure you pick a couple of programs a little lower in rank. Like I said, I didn't look at rank during applications, but all of mine were in the top 50. I got into my top choice, which is in the top 25, and I turned down an interview at a higher ranked school because I was happier with the other one, but I know I could have been happy at any of the schools I applied to. Now, with all of this, I'm sure you've had a specific research area in mind. Research environment is important, and should be the largest component of what you constitute as "fit." Select places where you know you will have the resources to do the great research that is going to be required for you to graduate. Please go into your graduate applications with an open mind as far as your research area goes. I thought I would go in and join an epigenetics and autoimmunity lab, but the lab I ultimately joined does neurometabolism and lipids. There may be a brand new PI who will have startup funding and more time to spend working with you who may not have been listed when you applied. The PI you're interested in can lose funding, decide they don't want to take a student (even if you have talked to them previously), or even move across the country to another institution. Please feel free to message me with any questions!
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How early should I take the Qualifying Exam?
biotechie replied to Calorific's topic in Coursework, Advising, and Exams
I've been running a project in a similar situation since I joined the lab in the middle of my classes. My advisor guides me when I need it (as they're supposed to do) and I meet with him often to discuss data and where I am at. As long as your professor is guiding you to some degree, you should be fine. -
I'm writing this as a student who did a MS in molecular biology. How do you think you won't engage in research with a MS? Are you considering doing a non-thesis based MS? You should be looking into thesis-based programs. In the 2 years of my MS, I accomplished way more than I had in 4 years of teching 20-30 hours per week as an undergrad. You have to develop a process to read the literature, generate experiments, and analyze and interpret your data. You have to write your data up and present it yourself. In my opinion, immersing yourself in research means you're reading, planning, doing experiments, presenting your research, and writing about it. Your graduation usually hinges on a defense of your project, which is going to make you prove to the committee that you know your stuff. Very few tech positions do all of that, and you would definitely get it with a MS. When you go for your PhD, you're going to immerse yourself even more deeply, particularly once you finish coursework. My recommendation would be to apply to PhD this cycle along with a few MS programs. While jumping from lab to lab will vary the types of research you've been in, my opinion is that you'll benefit most from a MS.
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It depends on the field, really. In my field (biomedical sciences), if you're interested in a particular type of project, you can contact POIs, but if you're open to lots of things, you don't necessarily need to. They may not respond right away, or more likely will miss the e-mail because they're busy. However, the professors are used to being contacted and have never responded to me like they were annoyed. However, it is not uncommon to get very short responses (My PI frequently responds with, "Yes, do that." or "Sure."). I didn't contact POIs until I was setting up rotations, though others in my cohort had no problems. Other fields, where the dissertation project doesn't need to fit exactly within the regime of the professor's projects, it seems that there is less of a need to contact POIs ahead of time. Since we don't know your field, it is a little hard to say whether you need to contact POIs or if they are expecting to be contacted.
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Should I Transfer? Am I Not Cut Out for Grad School?
biotechie replied to Kenway's topic in Officially Grads
I second what everyone above has said about homesickness. I was pretty homesick for my first couple of months. I agree that it might be good to talk to a counsellor or your ombudsman about how you're feeling, but I think you should stick it out for a year and see how you feel then. In the meantime, here are some things you can do to help feel less homesick: 1. Skype and/or Google chat your friends and family. I didn't have time to do this often during my first year, but once a week, I would Skype my parents, and I video chatted with my boyfriend a couple of evenings a week. I found that if I used my TV as a second monitor and kept the video open with my boyfriend as we both worked in the evenings, it was more like he was there with me. In addition, some chat platforms let you play games with your friends. We had a monthly game night where we would play Uno or scrabble over chat. 2. Be a pen pal, the old-school way. This initially started with my boyfriend and I sending each other random things, then my grandma started writing me letters, and now I'm writing back and forth with my best friend. Unlike e-mail this takes a little more time and consideration to do, and it shows you care. I can distract myself with letters or making crafts/shopping for them, and it is fun to watch them open it over video. It is also really nice to get items in the mail that aren't bills! 3. Make it a point to go to the grad student mixers and events. Even if there is drinking and you don't drink, make it a point to go to a couple. You need to find people who are around you at school that you like to hang out with. Now I have a group of 5 or 6 friends, and we hang out for movie nights once a week or random outings in the area a couple of times a month. 4. Nothing says your friends can't visit you on a long weekend (provided you don't have school requirements... always put that first). You could also always road-trip to somewhere halfway between you for a fun weekend. My boyfriend comes to see me once every couple of months, but I also try to take a 3-day weekend every once in a while now that classes are done to go visit him. I make up for the missed day by working extra other weeks. I'm more in a lab setting, so my work actually requires me to be physically present in my lab. You may have more flexibility in math than I do in life sciences. it is perfectly acceptable (and usually expected) to go home for a couple of days for Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years. My PI made me go home for a short vacation when I finished classes in May. Most professors understand that we are human. 5. Find some hobbies that are actually fun to do on your own. I love painting, reading, and hiking (alone or with friends), but I've discovered my new favorite thing is going to museums alone. I get to take the time to explore at my own pace without someone getting bored and hurrying me up. 6. Try new things. I joined a zumba class, which I love, and I also play soccer, which I had never played before. I'm also joining a music ensemble (because I miss my music) now that my qualifying exam is over, and I'm volunteering for a science program on Saturday mornings for local middle school kids. Next summer, I'm going to learn to scuba dive. (I'll add more as I think of them) The thing to remember is that you want to go through this program because you love math. If you go to an institution closer to home and ultimately want to work in academia, it may actually make it harder to get a position there. You may find that you want to actually explore more of the world once you get used to being away; now I'm even looking into post-docing in Australia! You'll be surprised how you change in a year (for the better!). You just have to give it a chance. -
There are tons of programs which fit those really broad interests; I'm surprised you only found two! UCSF is going to be a stretch with that GPA. You will need stellar GRE scores and amazing recommendation letters. I'm not sure on if your research experience is going to be on the good side for UCSF or not. You're right that most students don't have publications going into their PhD. I had two in prep, but I was also almost done with a MS. I thought about applying to UCSF for a similar program, but they also required the subject GRE, and I decided my GPA and general GRE weren't going to cut it. If I had your GPA, I would probably either do a MS (and work your tail off to get a better GPA and gain research experience) or a post-bacc to raise my GPA while working as a lab technician and show I can be a serious graduate student. I'm not international, but I entered my PhD program with a 3.68 UG GPA and a 3.7 MS GPA plus 6 years of research experience (all of UG and MS, these aren't short research projects). I was accepted into other top-20 institutions than the one I ultimately attended, but I likely would not have been accepted into UCSF as I fell below their cutoffs. There are a select few that make it in despite that, and, while you can still apply there, you should have other really viable options. What I would do is look into tons of programs, particularly umbrella programs, to make your choices for application to about 6-10 of them. You can have a couple of schools you're not sure you will get into, but also pick several you like that you think you have a chance at. Your GPA may really kill you, though, if these schools have cutoffs they use. Look into that before deciding to apply. Also look for professors you're interested in... the best thing is to pick a school with several professors you think you might be interested in working under. University of Florida has a good umbrella program and lots of microbiology people. Baylor College of Medicine has several professors working with different pathogens, as well as a giant microbiome research presence. They also have a Tropical Diseases department. To apply THIS application cycle, you need to take your GRE as soon as possible, as well as the TOEFL if it is required, unless you're wanting to take a year off. If you take it in September, you have time to retake the computer-based test in early November, but you may miss some deadlines. You should probably look into who will write your letters of recommendation about now. Some deadlines are as early as November, and since you're international, you may have earlier deadlines than US students (for example, UCSD makes you submit a pre-application). Feel free to message me if you have questions. Good luck!