jmillar

Some programs are starting to get rid of the GRE requirement: http://www.sciencemag.org/careers/2017/08/biomedical-phd-program-major-research-university-drops-gre-requirement-admission https://mobile.twitter.com/crlberkeley/status/902315854670422016 https://mobile.twitter.com/dnatarheel/status/902712261764141056

I did receive an NSF GRFP, which is how I am funding part of my program. The rest is funded through an in house fellowship program at UM. What I meant was I applied to PhD programs outside of strictly Epidemiology to make sure I would not loose eligibility. I still have ties to the Epidemiology department, but my actual department is Bioinformatics. I also made sure my research is more based on evolution, rather than health related outcomes. The interdisciplinary angle will work if you can think of another area other than Epidemiology to be part of that interdisciplinary work. The NSF wording was changed in 2012 to heavily discourage Epidemiology work.

Make sure your area of study is eligible. Any research public health related is usually turned down as they want you to apply to NIH instead. I purposely stayed away from Epidemiology programs for this reason: "Individuals are not eligible to apply if they will conduct biomedical research for which the goals are directly health-related, such as etiology, diagnosis or treatment of physical or mental disease, abnormality, or malfunction in humans and other animals. Research activities using animal models of disease, for developing or testing of drugs or other procedures for treatment of disease, and statistical modeling for which the purpose is diagnosis or epidemiology also are not eligible for support." https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16588/nsf16588.htm

Nothing is official yet, but NSF has mentioned that would be one of the costcutting measures if their budget is reduced by 11%. http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/06/nsf-offers-arm-s-length-defense-trump-s-2018-request http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2017/05/how-nsf-cut-11-its-budget

Has anyone who received a Munger contract received their apartment number? Move in is a month away and it would be good to know my shipping address.

Awesome! Thanks for the update!

Headed there in the fall for the Program in Biomedical Research.

Has anyone heard from Munger so far?

I sent in my housing application to Munger about a month ago. I really hope I can get a spot!

https://www.researchgate.net

I would eventually like to work the CDC/government route. With many jobs I'm looking at, MS is entry level and to move up you need a PhD. I've talked to several people that went in with MS degrees and said they regretted not getting a PhD before as there was no time to do it now.

This is very true. Also where your advisor is in their professional career is another factor. Newer professors in my field are expected to publish like crazy. I'm just finishing up my Masters and have 10 papers (6 primary/co-primary) and 3 in submission. Starting a new PhD program in the fall and it will be interesting to see how things change.

There are some small research grants like Sigma Xi Grant in Aid of Research that is based only on your research proposal, but this is not a fellowship. Without knowing your exact discipline, it is hard to know what type of grants can be recommended. The closest I can think of right now is the American Heart Association Pre-Doctoral Fellowship: https://professional.heart.org/professional/ResearchPrograms/ApplicationInformation/UCM_443316_Predoctoral-Fellowship.jsp From what I've seen, the fellowships that are more tailored to your research, and not just about funding the person, are more discipline specific.

There are some student coop housing options that allow pets: http://www.icc.coop/index.php

I was thinking about some of the graduate housing options for the first year, at least until I get a better feel for the area.