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Conversation starters

"Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu" "Is 10 schools too little? What if I don't get in anywherrrrrrrrrre!!!!!"

Small change, I added a line to further push the idea of research. "This has been a question that I have been fascinated with since my introduction to biology, and the question that has inspired my research at the University of Coolness’s Institute of Gerontology for the past 3 years."

I've improved the introduction, how does this look? ____________________ Introduction Why do living things age? This has been a question that I have been fascinated with since my introduction to biology. It is something that affects everyone, and as it progresses, various diseases such as Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular disease are expressed at rapidly increasing rates. Discovering the processes behind aging and ways to slow or stop them would be of great benefit to preventative medicine, and this has propelled me to pursue a career in research to help solve this mystery. ____________________

All of my classes from both the community college and physics courses are on my main transcript, just listed as ungraded Transfer courses.

I've gone through a couple iterations with this statement, and was just wondering if anybody would have the time to look over it and make a few suggestions? Thanks for looking! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction Since I was a kid, I have been preoccupied with figuring out how things work and why they do. Not surprisingly, this took me into science and math in high school and, in university, into contact with a range of sciences, including psychology, biology, neuroscience, and chemistry. Eventually, I settled on molecular biology as my science of choice and on the question that has driven my research at the University of Coolness for the past three years: why do living things age? Research Detail In working with Dr. X, I conducted genetic analysis of C. elegans aging processes, and my experiments involved silencing the expression of various genes. My first project involved studying the lifespan effects of silencing the gene SIR-2.4, a gene that makes a sirtuin protein. Sirtuins have been shown to be important tools in regulating the aging processes of organisms ranging from yeast to humans, and SIR-2.4 is a homolog of the genes SIRT6 and SIRT7, which are found in mice and humans respectively. My research established that SIR-2.4 was not required for maintaining a regular lifespan under minimal-stress conditions. This project was an excellent means of jumping into the world of aging research as it immediately immersed me in the various types of experiments conducted by aging researchers and also let me add novel information to the field. My work then evolved into the project that contributed to the PLoS Genetics paper on the relationship between SIR-2.4 and DAF-16 in C. elegans. The goal of this research was to determine whether SIR-2.4 regulated DAF-16, a protein critical to cell cycle regulation in C. elegans which moves to the nucleus when faced with conditions of stress. The expanded set of work I did for this paper involved testing the worm’s resistance to heat and oxidative stress when SIR-2.4 was silenced and when it was not. The experiments were time consuming and required very careful preparation, but I managed to finish them and record results that would not only expand my knowledge of aging, but act as my first major contribution to the field. The results were that when sir-2.4 was silenced, worm lifespans are 10% to 30% shorter and have about 40% less DAF-16 at the nucleus after facing stress conditions than their control counterparts. Together with the research of my colleagues, this data indicated the novel interaction of sir-2.4 promotion of DAF-16 function and relocalization during stress. My research with Dr. Y involved studying citation networks, where I created mathematically-based publication maps of the University of Coolness’s various departments, visualizing citation patterns among departments and investigators. I retrieved publication records and mapped the resulting databases into their relationships based on citations and on publication amounts per author. The resulting maps indicated a lower total number of publications in the social science departments than the natural science departments, but the citations of those published works were more extensive in the social science departments than the natural science departments. Additionally, the natural science departments exhibited a more distributed network of publications per author as opposed to the more centralized distribution of publications in the smaller social science departments. These findings were contrary to what was initially expected by the department under which I was working due to the more established nature of the natural science departments, and this research turned out to be a first in making publication network maps for organizations at a full University scale. My current project with Dr. X is focused on the neurobiological aspects of aging within C. elegans, and has an endpoint of determining a neuromuscular target for pharmacological treatment of aging. Arecoline has been chosen for this study due to prior research suggesting its ability to encourage muscular growth in C. elegans. The project began with determining the ideal point of arecoline treatment in the worm’s development. Treatment beginning at the first day of adulthood and ending 2 days after has led to initial results of a 10% increase in average lifespan and increased movement in worms later in life. My hypothesis for this result is that encouraging muscle growth at the beginning of adulthood leaves lasting benefits for muscle health, which allows for a form of caloric restriction by increasing energy expenditure by the worm’s muscles more consistently through its lifespan. Experiments to determine whether a similar or proportional response exists if treatment is given later in life are underway, and this research will continue on to include motor-neuron stimulation through pharmacologic treatment as well. Desired Research at the University of Washington My current research in studying the neurobiological aspects of aging and their responses to treatment has confirmed my deep interest in studying this particular method of research. As a result, I find Dr. Peter Rabinovitch’s work with cardiac aging treatment and reduction fascinating. His experience and knowledge on cell signaling pathways as roads to aging reduction matches the information I highly desire to propel me into an effective research career. Along with this interest is that of a propensity to study the molecular basis for aging from a biochemical and genetic standpoint. Dr. Daniel Gottschling’s research on yeast in looking to determine the molecular events of aging captures my interest as an excellent opportunity for developing a deeper understanding of the aging process. The resources he has to provide a novel avenue of yeast study appear very promising and provide an environment that I would very much like to work in. Other mentors whose work I find interesting and would like to collaborate with at the University of Washington would be Dr. Matt Kaeberlein, Dr. David Cook and Dr. Jason Bielas. Future Goals I have set out to pursue further research opportunities through graduate school and through the pursuit of a PhD in the field of molecular and cellular biology, as I see my future self conducting aging research as a professor and the principal investigator of a future laboratory. The well-established University of Washington with its Nathan Shock Center would therefore be an excellent place for me to pursue these goals. It would be an honor to pursue my graduate degree at the University of Washington.

I started college in an engineering program for biomedical engineering and switched into Neuroscience after my first year. My research did not change though, I stayed in the same lab from the beginning of college and am still working for that lab. Is it worth mentioning in my SOP?

I've contacted several professors in the field and they've helped out with looking it over, and I've signed up for a session with my local writing center, any other suggestions?

So at my primary institution I have a 3.036 GPA. I took 2 physics courses at a local university over the summer, and counting those would boost my GPA up to a 3.129. I also took classes at a community college during high school which transferred, and also counting those would boost my GPA up to 3.348. Will Molecular & Cellular Bio PhD programs consider these classes at all in determining my "true" GPA?

I'm applying to Molecular and Cellular bio PhD programs and was wondering if there were any resources available to review my statement of purpose? I can paste it here but I didn't want to annoy you guys with another plea for review.

Hmm, thanks for the advice! Helps me see more aspects of the decision.

I sure hope that is the case. But your GPA is a definite boost to your profile. Don't forget that recommendations are a big factor as well, and with those grades I'm sure professors would write you great ones.

Well this will be interesting. My GPA is a 3.06 (3.17 if the whole "last 2 years of study" applies), but I have 3 years of research experience, a paper at PLoS Genetics (not first author) and I should be submitting a first author paper by this June. So we're opposites, yay!

Yeah, neither have I. But I've traded a good gpa for no debt by working a lot.

Hey everybody, I'm a junior applying for Ph.D programs for the Fall 2014 season and want to study aging. This summer, I currently have a set of choices: either I attend an REU at Western Michigan University, or continue to work in the same lab I've worked for since the beginning of freshmen year that already studies aging process in C. elegans. I'm currently working on my 2nd paper to hopefully publish before I apply. The other paper has already been published in PLoS Genetics, but I'm not first author. What should I go for? The paper will most likely be submitted by June, which is when the REU starts. Should I just stay in the lab and go for depth of experience? Or do the REU and go for a bit of bredth?

Also I have a summer job to pay for it. If you can demonstrate need, you can get a fee waiver at most if not all of these institutions.

Also, my University sends transcripts for free, but assuming yorkies post to be accurate of your school, 10 transcripts would make the final total $1,126.

I've just recently run the calculations of ten schools that I'm most likely applying to, and here's how it breaks down: Application fees: $691 GRE: $185 Cost to send GRE Scores (first 4 free): $150 Total: $1,026 Also here's my list of schools: Harvard, Weill Grad School Med Science, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Washington, Wisconsin Madison, Cold Spring Harbor Lab, UMichigan, Northwestern, Sackler School of Graduate BM Sciences, UT Austin

I'm also applying for Fall 2014, but I already have 2 out of the 3 recommendations lined up. Professors and PI's have no problem with you asking early. If anything it can make yourself feel more confident about having that part of your application prepped.