Neuro_Guy
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Posts posted by Neuro_Guy
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Thanks everyone for the advice and the congrats. I was worried for a min that I missed an opportunity to improve my chances so I'm relieved that this isn't an issue (aside from now being legally able to accept it if the planets align ) To jeffleung1992, fortunately no; I can't even recall if the program knows I applied for the GRFP.
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So I recently found out I got into grad school (applied for GRFP during a gap year) but I imagine it's too late to let the NSF know and have that (positively) affect my chances. Anyone have any thoughts? Good luck, only ~2 weeks of stressing left.
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Sorry for replying so late, just seeing this message. Yes it was just for my field, I don't know about the other departments.
Thanks for the info. I'll just play it safe and panic regardless...
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... Only 2 asked me about my own research at all, and one of these was the one I hadn't requested. The other 3 just talked pretty much nonstop about their own research for the full 30 - 45 minutes. Overall, the interviews were really interesting and enjoyable, and I only heard about a couple bad experiences.
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Hope this helps. This was my first interview, and it definitely taught me not to worry that much about them: most of my time was spent hearing about cool science, not being grilled!
I'm glad that you had a nice interview (but for the record I'm not straight bio and didn't apply to caltech) but to be honest I'm actually worried about a situation like this. If the interviews don't give you the opportunity to talk a lot and 'prove' yourself to the interviewer, then how can one distinguish themselves from the competition? I'm under the impression that competitive programs have pre-ranked (formally or informally) their candidates and based on when I got my interview I suspect I'm not so high up. I want the chance to talk about my work, maybe even get grilled a little (not too much, maybe like sauteed?) to prove I have what it takes. So if the interviews don't give you a chance to impress, then I - and anyone in the same shoes as me - am SOL.
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It really does depend on the school. I interviewed at two places where the interview was more of a formality, and reassurance that you matched your application. The program I chose was a competitive interview; everyone's application was good enough, but they needed to narrow the field down to a few. From talking to my fellow interviewees, Johns Hopkins was notorious for inviting way more people than they were going to take.
Do you remember if Johns Hopkins' reputation for inviting a surplus of people was specific for your field (biochem/phys) or across the board for the biomedical sciences?
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Yeah I'm wondering the same thing. I applied to the Neural Science Program but haven't heard anything regarding interview or rejection yet.
Just adding myself to the list of people wanting to know about NYU (and I'm neural science as well).
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Does anyone think it would be wise to try emailing a few more professors at this point, introducing yourself and expressing interest in their research and what not, or is this kind of late in the game to?
I advise against this for two reasons. First, because it may come off as trying to influence the admissions process, which to be honest it sort of is. And second, because a particularly grumpy prof might say "well if eal09 couldn't be bothered to e-mail me before the deadline how seriously does s/he take this? What am I, their last choice prof??" [Note: I'm not saying I agree with grumpy prof's reasoning, just saying be advised grumpy profs are out there]
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glad to hear MIT invites are rolling… does anyone know about Princeton? Have they sent out all their invites or are there more coming? (One of my letters of rec was late and I don't know whether to give up hope or not…)
Called Princeton neurosci, they are rolling admission.
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I actually talked to WUSTL today and they're sending out more invites (so I was told) - the invites sent out so far are for "sure things" i.e. students who are definitely getting admits (so congrats). But there will be more invites sent as the adcom hashes out more people. This is just what I was told, take it with a grain of salt.
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So if publishing as an undergrad is so rare, would that mean that it's viewed by adcoms as being very significant / helpful (for your app) or is it so rare that adcoms view it as a 'fluke' that doesn't really reflect on your abilities (because e.g. you joined a project at a good time, your PI was especially prolific in publishing, etc)?
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Hi everyone
So the title basically sums up my question. How common is it for an undergraduate to have a peer-reviewed publication (let's say having something submitted in review counts as well)? What about a first-author publication? And to what extent can these things help you get into grad school? I've heard conflicting things about how common it is so I wanted to ask the hivemind.
PS. for what it's worth I'm neuroscience, applying now. good luck to everyone
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This should be a no brainer. Is it reported on your transcript? Then yes, include it.
Wait, i'm confused - where else can you report classes / credit hours besides on your transcript? and even then it's not like you have a choice about what credit hours to report, i mean if it's on your transcript then it gets reported, right?
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It isn't a margin, it's the spacing. A 0.7' margin would be a huge difference. I've since changed it and it is difficult to notice a difference. Do we hear about disqualifications earlier?
I believe you do, and they'll certainly note it as a DQ vs rejection after review
Also, for line spacing how does the "before" and "after" spacing options (under "line spacing options" in word) come into play? Can they be set to 0 as long as spacing is single-spaced?
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So quick question about the 1'' margins - how are they checking this? Do they use an automated program or something? Because I set my 1'' margins using MS word but under really high magnification it looks like a few of the serifs on letters cross the 1'' boundary (admittedly by 0.0019 ''). Even writing this I know how ridiculously neurotic it sounds but still, if they use some computer to automatically check the boundaries might any excess, no matter how small, come back as a violation? Can't wait to be done...
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Is there a general consensus on including data analysis plans in the proposal? Or would you just advise to include if space, omit if not?
I included a brief bit about analysis, just to show that I have a complete plan. My advice would be to do the same but keep it short (mine is 1-2 sentences).
I remember someone posted last year or the year before saying that they were disqualified for having an "artifact" in the margin of one of their essays. For that reason I would try to avoid footers and anything that could mess with the margins. I think it would be better to just use a very brief citation format and 10 pt font like guttata suggests. Just be consistent and it shouldn't matter if it's not a standard citation format.
Edit: Meant to say "footers" rather than "footnotes"
Would that apply to headers as well? I have page headers with my name and the essay title (e.g. 'Research Proposal') on each page. Would that count as a similar type of 'artifact'?
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While we're discussing the previous research essay:
the prompt says something about going through each research experience. Are people briefly summarizing each lab/job experience in a list or just going over the broad details in a paragraph or two? I have a list of each experience and 1-2 sentences describing each one; I'm worried if I switch to a general discussion of my past experiences I won't be able to explicitly hit each one (there are several).Wondering what others are doing.
Good luck to everyone, remember you don't need to be #1, just number #1,999
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Hi everyone,
I am a post-bacc and I have a question about the proposed research essay: are we supposed to already know where we are going to grad school (or at least some options) and have developed contacts with profs there? Do I need to have a prof at my (potential) grad school help with the application and devise an actual course of research?
That seems like far too much of an imposition on someone I don't know at an institution I haven't even applied to. It also seems like a Catch-22 because I am using this to get PhD funding yet I need to already have my PhD situation squared away to apply...
Thanks in advance for the help and good luck to everyone!
Will
NSF GRFP 2013-14
in The Bank
Posted
And about changing your proposed institution (i.e. I'm not going where I indicated, but will still be working on similar enough topic) the GRFP site says you can change it but how much of a big deal is that? Simple e-mail/form to let them know your actual school or will they re-evaluate me to some degree? It's US, accredited and all that. Thanks.