mysinia

Based on my experience, I'm going to disagree some of these responses. Last year when I applied to PhD programs, I had 2 years of research experience studying bacterial infection and mammalian innate immune responses, including a few solid publications in the field. I looked at a number of environmental microbiology programs which had labs that studied ecological systems of bacterial infection and immune responses in invertebrates, and since I'd done summer research internships in environmental science and ecology I figured this was a perfect integration of my 2 interests. I spoke with prospective advisors at each of my schools to see if they thought this was too much of a stretch, and they all gave me positive feedback about my research background serving as a good, unique viewpoint that they typically don't get from applicants who are usually trained as ecologists. I was rejected from every single environmental micro program I applied to, and it's not like my GPA, GRE, recommendations, or personal statements were prohibitively terrible. I figured that the jump from biomedical micro & immuno to environmental micro & immuno wouldn't be too drastic, but admissions committees at these programs did. After I received all of my rejections, I was informed that I'd been awarded an NSF-GRFP (apparently my profile was good enough for them), so I contacted schools and many of them were happy to re-evaluate my application. When I went to meet with department members at places that agreed to admit me given my fellowship, they all said the exact same thing: I had a strong applicant profile overall, but because I didn't have research experience in their specific field of study, they weren't fully convinced that I fit into their programs properly. One big caveat to this is that I was trying to switch from a biomedical field to environmental programs, which are smaller, have less funding, etc. so they are typically pickier about finding applicants who will be directly admitted to specific labs. That's not exactly your case with switching from plant bio to immuno/pharmacology Biomedical programs allow for rotations, so there is some more flexibility there, which could help you out. bak3rme - what have you done that makes you want to pursue pharmacology or immuno programs? Classes? Is there any way to relate your previous experiences to where you'd like to go? I think that if you have absolutely nothing relating to either of those disciplines in your background, you could have a difficult time making a case for why those programs are a proper fit for you, especially since your competing applicants will most likely have at least some exposure to those fields. Anyways, that's just my two cents based on my story. Everyone's got their personal opinions based on what they've seen and experienced.

Yes, I declined that a while back. I wasn't nuts about the program, and I didn't want to go to school this year just for the sake of it. So, I decided that I'd take more time off to work and strengthen my application, then re-apply and hopefully get into some programs that I'd be very enthusiastic about.

Kind of a crazy demented roller coaster month for me so far. Got accepted to one program, but I'm not in love with it, so I'm passing on that offer. I got a slew of rejections about 2-3 weeks ago (see my lovely red signature), freaked out, and eventually resigned myself to working again for another year (or two) before re-applying, though I've been teching in a lab for 2 years since I finished undergrad in 2011. I was on fine terms with all of this until this morning, when I found out that I was awarded a fellowship through NSF GRFP! I've heard of programs reversing their admissions decisions later on if they find out that an applicant has external funding, so right now I'm in the process of contacting people in these departments to see if they're reconsider my application. If this doesn't work, my rejections will be even more painful, since I'll have to give up my predoctoral fellowship (they don't let you defer for a year unless you're already in a graduate program). We'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks! Fingers crossed for everyone else still waiting on decisions...

Awarded this morning... I'm in shock. I had a low undergrad GPA (3.2), but a strong proposal that I spent a lot of time on, very good letters of recommendation, and a handful of upcoming publications. As you can see from my signature, I've had a pretty awful application season. I won't be attending the 1 school where I did get in, so hopefully with this award I can convince some programs to reverse their decisions (since I've heard of that happening in the past). Fingers crossed, especially since I can't defer funding for a year, and it would be a shame to have to not accept the fellowship because I didn't get in anywhere! Applied to environmental sciences division (in the same category of undergrads, though I've been out of school working in research for the last 2 years): (IM/BI) E/G VG/VG E/E

Received my rejection via email this morning (PhD, environmental microbiology focus). Blah. Crossing my fingers that some of you guys will hear better news tomorrow, though!

I had applied to MIT CEE (environmental microbiology PhD); most of my other applications weren't to civil engineering programs, though. Congrats niven2 on your acceptance there! I'm gearing up for bad news this week from them, can't say it's unexpected though. Good luck to everyone else with your CE applications!

Congratulations to everyone who's gotten acceptances recently! It must be such an amazing feeling. I'm not strictly EEB, but most of my applications are in related fields (i.e. not biomedical sciences). From searching through the results pages it looks like quite a few of my programs don't get in touch with anyone until later in February/early March, and I'm under the general impression that a lot of EEB-type programs are on a later time scale, especially those that don't interview (somebody correct me if I'm grossly mistaken there). However, I still can't help that little nagging feeling that the reason why I haven't heard back is because of a flood of impending rejections.... we've gotta stay positive though! Let's hope that this next month or two will bring plenty of good news

Same here. I was expecting this, but still, not great for morale at the moment!

First interview offer! UConn MCB, Feb. 21-22. Great way to end this week.

Yes, very Boston-heavy (due to several personal circumstances). Luckily Boston is in no short supply of schools with great graduate programs, though!

Not Wellesley, but another LAC in western Mass.

Just found this forum... looks like it could be both a blessing and a curse! I look forward to indulging my neurotic tendencies here for the next several weeks. Here are my stats: Undergrad Institution: Top liberal arts college Major(s): Biology, Chemistry Minor(s): Biochemistry GPA in Major: 3.4 (Bio), 3.1 (Chem) Overall GPA: 3.25 Position in Class: Ehh Type of Student: Domestic(ated?) female GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 158 (74%) V: 164 (93%) W: 5.5 (96%) Biology Subject Test: 790 (85%)... not great, not terrible. Was "strongly recommended" for some of the program I applied to though, so I submitted my score. Research Experience: 1 summer ecology research in undergrad, 1 month volunteer ecology research assistant, 2 years at my current job (post-grad) as a technician in a micro/immuno molecular pathogenesis lab at a top research university. Will be 2nd author on two papers that will be submitted in the next month or two, and 3rd author on another paper to be submitted in the same time frame. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Nothing, really. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Current tech position Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Nope, nothing here either. Special Bonus Points: I had good personal meetings or phone calls with potential advisors at all of the schools I'm applying to, and I've got strong LORs. Also applied to 3 pre-doctoral fellowships, which were noted in my applications, though of course the outcome of those is determined after the whole admissions process. Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Varsity athlete during college (uhh...teamwork?) Applying to Where: MIT-WHOI (Biological Oceanography) MIT CEE MIT Microbiology Harvard MCB (MCO) Harvard OEB UCSD-SIO (Marine Biology) Tufts Biology UConn MCB (Microbiology) Northeastern Biology UMiami MBF Kind of a broad range of programs, but I'm interested in environmental micro (host-microbe interactions!) so that straddles a few disciplines. Haven't heard back from anywhere yet, though it looks like I missed out on MCB invites today (congrats Erbbie! Sob for me though, haha). Big congratulations to everyone who's gotten interview invites so far, and for the rest of us - let's keep our fingers crossed :-)