Huw

The Machine

If you want the chance to mentor a PI, choose school B.

South east

I just wrote that email a few days ago. I thanked them so much for accepting me, but have decided to attend at another school. Then I listed some things that impressed me about their program and recruitment event. They were very happy for me and thanked me for the compliments. It was pretty easy actually.

Moon cake

I don't know much about either, but I would say Duke. This is only based on who has the best old-looking pointy tower-like structure on campus.

pink bean

I think GPA and course grades don't really matter much. Mine suck and I have had really good response this year. I have five Cs on my transcript, most are from the last year or so. From my experience, the only thing important is some real world experience. That's basically the only thing good about my application (and it's not even all that impressive itself). If you don't get in, just take a year and do some serious exp hunting. Then apply to >5 schools next time and watch the invites roll in.

Good call

My girlfriend got hired at her first nursing position, so I was waiting in the HR office for her while she did some computer tests. I pulled out her laptop and checked my email, and there it was. Couldn't tell anyone at the moment, so I just had to settle for one of those suppressed internal celebrations with just a smile on my face to show it. Then she came out and I told her about it. We also got engaged the evening before that, so it was a pretty nice weekend.

Are you saying I go looking for hookers?? Shh

Sorry for bashing D: OK so, the New Mexico vibe is great at first. I even felt it when I went back to Abq to interview last month. Warm weather, very sunny, beautiful mountains closeby, lots of history, unique architecture, really awesome food. But then I started to remember my other opinions about it. It is known as "the land of mañana" which means most things are put off till tomorrow. I can't really explain why I don't care for NM very much, but some people do very well there. It has definite pluses but more unforgivable minuses in my own experiences (which might not apply to everyone, so no point in making too much generalization). It's mostly just that I can't stand being there anymore and it was easy for me to get tired of it and hate it. Advice for people moving there: just be patient when you don't get helped by a government employee or even someone at the university. They will put you off until tomorrow, usually. If you are used to big cities, Abq should be no problem. It has extremely rude drivers, very scary areas, lots of hookers, etc. but it's more weird being part of a more rural setting than a true big city. But like I said, the food can be amazing, and you can PM me if you want to know my favorite restaurants (most of which aren't even in the city).

Med school applicants cannot survive in graduate school, let alone one of your "dream schools." Do you even know anything about those schools, besides them being highly ranked? You sound like someone who just wants a way to get famous and/or rich. But I want to give you some serious advice if you are willing to get real. First, to completely switch from medicine to research, you surely as hell need to spend time in the lab away from patients and anything clinical. This will help you see if you actually like research or if it's just some mildly interesting rabbit you are chasing at the moment. Do this for at least one year. Second, you need to get real and look at specific programs that fit into your interests from your experience. The school itself has nothing to do with your future compared to the individual projects going on and the PIs you might work under. Third, stop viewing the world as one fancy buffet all reserved for you. You can't just decide to get research experience. You have to work your butt off to find opportunities for it. If you somehow land a research experience position with some potential, but your motivation is getting into a "top tier program," then your research will be crap and your LOR will also be crap. So the bottom line is, get serious about research or go back and try becoming a silly doctor again.

I grew up near Albuquerque and applied as a backup school, but definitely won't be moving back there... I miss the food, but that's about it.

I heard that sometimes big companies hire entire graduating classes of Texas A&M engineering students. But I would definitely choose A&M anyway. That is an uncommon offer, and you should really be proud of it. College Station is a big city full of undergrads, which might be the only negative in my opinion, unless you like partying (probably not since you're chemE). Otherwise Texas is a fantastic place to start a career and to live.