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powderpig

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  • Location
    Washington
  • Application Season
    2013 Fall
  • Program
    Molecular and Cellular Biology

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  1. What are your strengths on the football field? The Patriots are in dire need of a productive wide receiver, while the niners have a glaring hole in the place kicker spot and an aging center. If you're a defensive secondary player with strong pass defense skills, I'd say you're a good fit for both teams. As a drafted player, salaries and location are not really a factor until your initial contract expires.
  2. What the hell, UCDavis is still sending out interview invites? Stop playing with my emotions, California!
  3. I'm looking at basically forgoing my retirement account for the duration of grad school, which will leave me with just about enough of a budget to live frugally, while still having enough to take occasional trips, etc. I actually sat down and did the math, and even if I wind up in a mid-range salary with a PhD I should still be able to contribute far more to my retirement than I can now, even including a 6-year gap in my contributions. So yes, I would say that it's a sound financial decision.
  4. Because each question has 5 answers and a wrong answer is worth -0.25 points, if you can eliminate one answer you might as well guess. If you can eliminate 2 or more answers, you definitely should guess.
  5. I took the GRE Biology test this year and did much better than I was hoping for. My study plan was pretty simple: Go to bookstore that had the Princeton Review GRE Biology Book. Copy the vocab list in the back of the book for notecard making (warning: do not actually buy the book to do this). Download a copy of Reece Campbell Biology. Read entire copy of Reece Campbell Biology (over ~3 months). I took notes on the material I was least familiar with, and printed out some of the larger figures as a study reference, such as the diagrams for glycolysis and the citric acid cycle. Take one or two practice exams (one is on the GRE website). I actually had the Kaplan Review study guide as well, and I would not recommend it at all, or any "study guide" for that matter. Much of the material was not presented in an organized fashion, and I saw many glaring errors in it as well. Every biology textbook will also have a study guide in it, and at least that information has gone through a rigorous and transparent editing process. The only use I got from it was the practice test, which I would not have needed to use at all if I hadn't already taken the free test on the GRE website as a benchmark. Just to emphasize my point, there was nothing in the test that wasn't covered in Reece Campbell, and maybe 2 chapters in Reece Campbell that weren't covered on the test. I got the impression that the test was written by someone who was using that book as a reference. Seriously. Get Reece Campbell.
  6. I can't speak for other schools, but at the UW, it was the POI's (and other grad students') suggestion to hold out for the better offers. You don't have to give an ultimatum (which could result in your fears being confirmed), but it doesn't hurt to ask about how flexible their funding is.
  7. They mail them via postal service. My online Stanford application from last year still shows up as "submitted," and I never got anything electronic about it.
  8. I'd say the tough truth is that your chances are not good at top schools. Many graduate schools (as opposed to the individual departments) have a 3.0 minimum GPA requirement for all incoming applicants. If you are a super amazing candidate and have a POI willing to go to bat for you, they might be able to get a waiver on a case-by-case basis. From personal experience, I know that UWashington doesn't even read applications with a GPA under 3.0. Some schools are starting to de-emphasize GPA this year (UCSF, for example), but sub-3.0 is probably outside of that range as well. My advice would be to take classes to get over 3.0 if possible (can cost a lot of money, depending on how many units you'll need). Other options would be to work with a PI willing to go to bat for you or look at a masters program instead of a PhD, although many of them will have the same minimum GPA requirements as well.
  9. Finally, some news about UCD! I'm already booked for their interview weekend though (2/28-3/1), so hopefully they have some alternate dates.
  10. Some schools will up their offer if you're still undecided. For example, I know that the University of Washington Biology program tends to offer more competitive funding options to students closer to the acceptance deadline. Your POI there will probably tell you to not accept right away to take advantage of this.
  11. Most annoying: Stanford - click click click click click to get to the sections of the application you need to edit. UC Davis - Personal statement, diversity statement, and research summary? It's like writing a bad book. Also, they didn't notice that their application wasn't displaying all of the entry fields until after they had all been submitted. CU Denver - Poorly written google docs file with generic supplementary materials categories, inability to look at information already on file, and no way to inform reccommenders (had to use a supposedly temporary supplemental app that's been in place for at least 2 years). Best: UC Berkeley / UCSF - Yay for electronic transcripts and an easily navigable application with satisfying checkmarks for each item. UWashington - All of the above, but requires only a personal statement and no damn diversity statements (I'm not diverse, I get it. Stop rubbing my face in it, stupid applications!)
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