acetylcholine
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Posts posted by acetylcholine
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Like Vene said, there must have been some red flags during your interviews. You're shy, but not socially awkward enough to warrant a rejection. That's good. Those professors meet with a lot of people, and if they're not on the adcom, they're probably more concerned with recruitment than with trying to pick apart your application. If you want an answer, you need to speak to someone who has been looking at your profile and your character critically, i.e. someone on the admissions committee.
Let's just assume you're reasonably likeable and that you communicate your science well such that you are not being rejected for issues with your resume or personality. The only thing I can imagine that would earn you these rejections is your niche research interest. If it's so specific that there are only a couple faculty that have the expertise to advise you, that might be the problem. In fact, if that's clearly your passion and it's not something you'll be able to work on at the schools you're interviewing with, you will get rejected as a bad fit for the program. Having a narrow or extremely well-defined research interest is a red flag to a lot of professors from what I've been told during my interviews.
It's also possible that you make a poor first impression. People who know you well probably think you're fantastic. People you meet for a first time might think something else. My impression is that you're judgmental, entitled and self-centered. Obviously, your friends know you well enough to see beyond that and this probably isn't who you really are with people you like. However, this is the sense I get having read several of your posts. This is my honest feedback that you asked for, albeit with a very limited sample size, so take it with a grain of salt. I hope you can read through your past posts and figure out why I think this (hint: look at how frequently you make yourself out as a victim and how much you shit on other people).
My suggestion is that you apply to programs that don't do interviews. Your profile is strong enough to get you in somewhere and your recs were clearly good if they got you six interviews.
I am fairly sure I'm not shy. Somewhat introverted, yes, but not shy. They're two different things.
I am moderately sure that my research interests are very near the top of the list of reasons as to why there might be a problem.
I probably come off the way I do because lately, the only reason I've been posting is because I'm upset and very confused about what's going on. 'Entitled' is one thing, but I don't feel entitled to a degree so much as completely unsure as to why I'm being dinged so badly and concerned that it's for really crappy reasons, and consequently, I am in fact fairly angry.
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You said you were an introvert. It's possible your personality is preventing you from conveying your passion for research. Sheer passion and drive go a lot further than stats. I would recommend scheduling a mock interview (a lot of universities have career centers that offer this service free for students and alumni) and getting feedback that way.
Maybe. I have difficulties with being terribly effusive. It seems like there's a fine line between 'this person's communicating sheer passion and drive' and 'this person is a wacko'.
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3 semesters is definitely not a lot. If it wasn't full time, especially if you're already 26, that's definitely a red flag. Even if it was full time work, that's still very odd and won't be very competitive against the 21-22 year olds who have 1-3+ years experience. You're also competing against 26 year old technicians and master's students who have significantly more experience. You need to prove to them that you can work full-time on research, for say 1-2 years minimum AND get publications. Doesn't need to be 1st author, but get your name on pubs. Help out with other people's projects in the lab. This should be relatively easily if you work 2 years full-time in any average lab. The harder you work, the better. You should be working your ass off anyways.
To put it in perspective, I was a very competitive applicant with a decent GPA (3.5 w/o 1st semester), but about 5 years of combined research experience (2 years in 2 labs simultaneously). I'm age 22. I worked my ass off way more than full time while taking classes and it undoubtedly showed in my letters of rec, publications, etc... For someone who is 26, they are expecting a lot more research experience barring extenuating circumstances. Since I don't know what those are in your case, I can't guess how that would affect your chances. I have circumstances that affected my school performance, so it's certainly possible to overcome those with a strong research/work performance.
I did come from the university of michigan as well, which will definitely make a difference when comparing someone's grades from that school to some from a rank 250 school. I don't know exactly what a rank 250 school is like, but Umich is about rank 20 and I've taken classes at a community college (unranked). The difference in course difficulty was phenomenal. What you learn in Calc I at a community college is not equivalent to what you learn at Umich.
My advice, if you still want to pursue research, would be to directly email any professors at any institution that are doing research that interests you. Ask them if they have need of a tech and if you could tech in their lab for 1-2 years. You should get paid for this work. Include your CV and tell them that you can have your recommenders send them letters of rec on your behalf if they are interested in considering you for the job. You will probably have to apply widely and won't hear from most or get rejected outright. Alternatively, you could pursue a MS if you have the money.
I can only imagine your frustration. Whatever you do, get in a lab or keep working in the one you are in. If you don't do that, I can't see your situation improving, even in Europe.
Best of luck with everything. If this is something you really love, keep at it.
Here's what baffles me: If this was a problem, they would have tossed my CV out the window without even inviting me for an interview. Yet three places did. I'm confused.
Regarding why I finished at 26 after an abortive first try, those years off were spent earning money at shit jobs to pay for college again. Perhaps I should have explained this on my app. We're not all privileged.
Regarding research, I was under the very mistaken impression until about sophomore year of college, and I'm STILL very angry at the person who misinformed me about this, that you couldn't DO research as anything earlier than a junior in college, and I still don't quite understand how anyone without an upper-level class or two under their belt gets into a lab. In theory, freshmen and sophomores don't even have any real lab skills yet.
I don't think I actually learned any useful lab skills until I started taking a graduate-level molecular methods class, actually, despite the fact that I compared lab syllabi from my undergrad institution and other more highly-ranked, household-name ones and they were pretty much identical.
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Getting 6 interviews should be enough so that even by dumb luck you'll get an admit. Graduate programs aren't going to the expense to bringing you there to jerk you around. To put it bluntly, you fucked up. The simplest explanation is that during the interview process you said or did something that raised alarms. One post-interview rejection is bad luck, 6 is a pattern.
And from literally EVERYBODY I asked, faculty who were and were not on the adcoms, I couldn't extract an answer from them as to what, and I have no idea what it could have possibly been. If that was the problem, nobody's being honest with me. I certainly wasn't the yob at my Florida interview who got so drunk that he wandered into the woods outside town, passed out, and got mugged the next morning. (Yes, that happened to some guy at the interview. Very weird to hear about.)
I have gone around asking virtually everybody I know who knows me well enough that it wouldn't be awkward if I do in fact have a problem with how I come off, and I get a 'no, you're fine, why are you so concerned?' answer. Consistently.
I would be perfectly happy if someone gave me a blunt answer that maybe made me sad a bit but that I could act on rather than telling me a lie. And I don't know if the people I'm talking to about this are being honest with me anymore.
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Pretty much just lost it. I have been rejected for the second year in a row.
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I didn't get in the second year in a row.
Fuck American science. I'm going to Europe.
EDIT: Am I just getting downvotes because you lot think I got rejected for being an idiot? Here's my stats:
I have a 3.69 GPA with honors, 167V/163Q/4.0A GREs, a second-author pub, about three semesters' worth of research experience including at two prominent research stations, two and a half years spent at community college, one first abortive try at college when I was younger before the second time went through, and I'm not sure anymore what my letter writers think of me. I may not have taken enough credits each semester as I was going through undergrad.
My interests are a little niche, probably (evolutionary developmental biology with a focus on neuroscience). Evo-devo bio has only just now set up a professional society in the United States. I don't THINK I'm socially awkward, and everybody I've asked has said I have no problems, but I'm beginning to be doubtful.
I'm twenty pounds overweight, if that makes much of a difference, which according to peer-reviewed research it might. I'm just a little introverted. Not shy. Just more easily exhaustible than average when it comes to social shit.
I got three interviews each year, so the adcom clearly knew all this going in and invited me and then fucked me over.
My undergrad school was somewhere in, like, the top 250. Third-tier shit. Public institution. Yes, this matters: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/03/education/edlife/why-you-cant-catch-up.html?_r=0
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No, I'm just asking them to make them in enough time so those of us still waiting can get offered the position, if that's the school's modus operandi.
- FoggyAnhinga and GeoDUDE!
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This is 100% false. Wanting something for yourself is not selfish. Wanting something at the expense of others is. Grow up.
How is it at their expense if they've already got it?
Wanting something at the expense of others is realizing that the process is competitive and someone will get screwed in the end no matter what you do. Maybe they won't get screwed next time.
Or maybe you didn't get burnt enough.
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I think its a bit selfish to suggest this. Considering they worked just as hard as anyone else to get those acceptances, they should have the time they need.
We all want in grad school and we want to save our own hide first. Is that such a bad thing?
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If you are having issues figuring out why you didn't get into your schools, call the admissions office for your programs and ask why you got rejected and what you can improve on. Most schools will be more than happy to answer your questions.
And I did. I got some nebulous shit about fit, even when I thought I did my best to make it clear that I believed I would fit with a variety of labs.
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Thank you. This has been a message from the Still Worried Grad Applicants.
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eteshoe, at least turn down SOME of those acceptances. It's not polite to hold onto so many when others might want in.
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I graduated from a top 200 university (... lol), got a 3.69 at graduation, honors in the major, 167V/163Q/4.0A GREs, a second-author publication in an excellent journal, supposedly good LORs, three semesters of research, am taking some graduate courses in the meantime, and...
I'M PROBABLY NOT GETTING IN A SECOND TIME EITHER!
... It's so bad I'm seeing a therapist. Seriously.
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It looks like I may get rejected from everywhere AGAIN. (Biomed PhD, dev neuro.)
I graduated in 2014 with honors in the major, a 3.69, 167V/163Q/4.0W GREs, a second-author pub, great LORs (I think), three semesters of research, am taking some graduate courses...
And possibly for naught.
I don't know what's wrong with me, I'm seeing a therapist because this is causing me despair, and my mind is going to dark places.
Random people on the internet are asking me if I have some kind of mental disorder when they hear about this, which is bizarre because, hell, I've asked. Multiple people. INCLUDING my therapist. To which the latter has said no, and I've asked even the most blunt people I know if I have other personal problems, and that's not it either.
I hear mixed messages about funding in my area.
I'm confused.
I'm beginning to develop very deep resentment toward people who got in the first time.
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I am down to 2 schools left out of 10.
This is my second round.
I don't know what's wrong with me.
I am miserable.
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Interview at UT Houston, February 5-7.
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Interview at Pittsburgh, 2/12-14.
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Got rejected from UW MCB.
I got an email from one of my schools - I don't want to say which - saying that they wanted to call me to discuss my application. I don't know what's going on.
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Well, this is delightful. I have been told in no uncertain terms by parents who don't actually understand the scientific grad school process too well that if I don't get in this time and don't manage to have either an acceptance or a job offer in hand by May, I will be homeless.
Time to go scrape the bottom of the grad school barrel and add on two more schools.
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With regard to having to bankroll one's own flights, would it be a good idea to have a thread full of programs that in fact make people do this? I'm hesitant to call it a 'name and shame', but it might be useful to know which programs do this. Also ones that don't offer things like health insurance.
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EDIT: My reading comprehension isn't working on all 6 cylinders this morning.
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I have finalized my schools.
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Thanks for everyone's insight on my stats/list of schools. I'm curious if anyone know how community college courses work into the application process? I know that most schools would disregard the courses taken at a community college, but more than half of all my college-level courses are at a community college.
Same here. As long as they are college-level, they will count.
2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results
in Biology
Posted · Edited by acetylcholine
To be honest, I don't know where I would find out how prestigious any of these programs are without making several annoying posts asking 'how prestigious is the University of X?'. Where I got my information was from the National Research Council's most recent survey of graduate programs, and that was back in... 2012, I think.