medullate
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Posts posted by medullate
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Hey guys,
How does everyone here feel about stipend negotiations? There are some threads on it in "The Bank," but I'd like a perspective from people as close as possible to my field.
Basically, program A has made me a very generous stipend offer. I prefer program B in terms of research fit, but program B made a less generous stipend offer. The difference is 3k a year for the entirety of the program, so over 6 years, it'd be close to 20k! To be fair, it's not like I would have trouble surviving on either stipend, but it would make a significant difference in terms of my quality of life above the baseline.
Is it a no-no to talk to program B about whether they could raise my stipend? If I tried and they said no, would it be really awkward / would they dislike it?
Any advice is much appreciated (:
How does the cost of living in these two places compare? Health insurance benefits? For me, personally, 3k does not go that much further over the course of the year. I think I'm going to run into this problem too
but one thing I'm really taking into consideration also is location and how happy I'd be there. -
Where is this? And which school/program?
Portland State University, general bio grad program
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Someone in the results posted: "You people who were accepted into the biology program should go somewhere else. Portland is bad when it comes to that program." I'm guessing this person frequents this forum, why do you say this about the Portland program?
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Congrats! That's pretty late to have an interview. Where else were you accepted?
Just those two places. They were two of my top, so I'm pretty happy.
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Congrats did you just apply to masters programs then?
Went ahead and applied for PhD. Congrats on your acceptance as well, fellow microbial ecologist!
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Acceptance to CU Boulder EBIO!!!!!!!!! SO EXCITED! I love this program!
Congrats! A very exciting program!
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Does the program do rotations? If it does rotations, I'd speak with both of them. If not, that's a little trickier to handle.
The program does have the option of doing rotations or else accepts students straight into a lab, but they accept few students to do rotations because of limited TAships. I'm afraid asking to do rotations would hurt my chances.
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I need some advice so I'm back on this thread. I also want to say congrats to everyone here! Even if you don't get into the schools that you wanted to, I think we should all be pretty proud of ourselves for dealing with the applications process.
Anyway, what's the etiquette for this following situation. There are two POIs at my top choice who I've talked with and I get along with. Their fields of research are slightly different but both fall along my general research interest. I have interviewed at this school recently but acceptance letters have not been sent out yet. Both of these professors have sent me emails about their interest in me as a potential student of theirs and are requesting to speak with me more. I guess I just don't really know what to do, just speak with both of them and express interest in working with them (but also mention that I'm talking to Prof X) and hope that one of them accept me into their lab? I applied for the overall program, not directly for a specific PI, but I don't want to step on any toes.
Thanks for any opinions.
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They are making decisions right now (lab nominations are going in this week). There is some pretty interesting stuff going on in the department this year, and they will likely only be accepting a few students because of funding issues it seems like.
Thank you for the quick reply
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Anyone know when CU Boulder EBIO makes decisions?
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I have another question: Do most schools interview on Fridays? I only applied to state schools and I am expecting at least one visit. Do many mid-ranked (still don't really know where the schools I applied are ranked) state schools do skype interveiws instead?
I am concerned about the Friday thing because I have one class that is Friday morning only, and I don't want to end up missing it (I live far away from absolutely everything so if I had to travel, it would take most of the day). So I may end up not taking this class.
My questions here are often a little random but I really appreciate everyone who has helped me out!
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ugh nightmare... I log onto this portal (which I didn't know I could do until today) and see that my GRE scores have not been received in Montana (I sent them in October). Just ranting here.
I wonder why this is happening? -
I second the Boulder app being difficult. I hate to say that because that program is my top choice. I was travelling for the holidays and had to find away to scan and upload the paper part of the app. Additionally one of my documents did not upload because you had to have ALL the documents uploaded at once, couldn't save and then go back. So I had to email the missing document to the graduate department. How embarrassing
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I have a question...
How does "waitlisting" work? Do most grad programs have this?
Here's a scenario that I feel like could happen to me that I keep thinking about: I apply to a school, but I am not competitive enough or the PI I am interested in has a different applicant they are taking into their lab. But months later this other applicant who the PI was going to take into their lab decides to go to a different school. All the while I have never gotten a rejection letter. Suddenly, in like late April maybe, I get an interview invite or an acceptance letter.
Does this kind of thing happen often?
One professor told me it was a good idea to keep in contact with programs or POIs down the road, because something might happen and a spot could open up.
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I'm the only undergrad at my lab right now, so I don't really know what the experience for most undergrads is like. I have a project where I do most of the work but there is a grad student who helps me with the details. The overall project design was based on previous lab projects and this specific one was designed by our whole group.
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Microarray, this is very off topic, but I see you are a microbial ecology person too! So am I. I don't know if you'd have any advice for me, but I'm having trouble deciding which programs I want to apply to at a couple of schools. I don't know if it would be better for me to apply to microbiology program or the ecology program at one school, and then at another school I am tempted to apply to the cell&molec program rather than the ecology program. Both schools have mentors I am interested in who I think would be able to advise me from either program. If you had any advice, I'd appreciate it.Has anyone gone through the interview process at Michigan State before? I am extremely nervous about the presentation that we have to give and I want to be as prepared as I can.
Also, I'm confused about the whole process. Call - invited for interview weekend, but email stated that it was a recruitment weekend. So if I got an invite does this mean I have a really good chance of getting accepted?
Also - what do people wear to interview here? I tried asking the Grad Coordinator but she won't respond to my email.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
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Weird question, but is it unheard of to apply to MS AND PhD programs? I'm primarily applying to PhD programs but I'm thinking about applying to one or two master's programs in case I am not a strong enough applicant for a PhD program. I know funding can be limited for MS students but I'm being careful about that.
Any advice or stories?
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This should be obvious, but I can't find the answer anywhere.
Also, I reported my scores to the wrong department at the schools when I reported immediately after the test. Has this happened to any of you before?
Also, if I did not use my middle name on my GRE, should I not use my middle name on my applications?
Thanks in advance
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I had a horrible experience at the testing center; our test was delayed 4 hours. So I wasn't in the greatest mood by the time I took my test. I also have an anxiety disorder that did not help.
1st practice test: I was dinking around, drinking tea, brushing my hair, etc: 154Q and 156V
2nd practice test: I actually tried: 157Q and 158V
Real exam: 154Q and 157V
Time studied: I studied probably 4 hours for Q and 2 for V. I'm a busy person. This will probably come back to haunt me, Oh well.
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1. The name of the prof/advisor/PI is not important unless he/she has an impressive name or is working on something really cutting edge. Really, what you should consider is how your SoP reads. If dropping the name fits well into your narrative, include it. If dropping the name feels out-of-place or simply unnecessary, leave it out.
2. This won't help you now, but I went to two universities for undergrad; both were definitely not research schools. Not in the slightest. But, both had biology and chemistry profs who were doing research, on campus. As for that semester-long orgo project: I would definitely include it. Did your team design its own project? If so, mention how you lent a hand in the initial research and/or design. Were you a team lead? Or just another "player" in the project. If you took initiative to lead the group in any way (but don't stretch this too far), include that. Did you even like the experience? What did it teach you about doing research?
Personally, aside from including what I mentioned above, I would write that this orgo lab project gave me a glimpse into what doing real research was like, and even though it was tough and tedious at times, I loved it. I loved it so much that I sought out an opportunity to conduct research an hour away from my home school. This shows initiative, drive, and desire.
Thanks, that helps a lot, especially your last part. It's been tough putting this together!
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I know these must have been answered before but I have a few questions about making a "statement of purpose" (microbiology grad programs)
1. When describing my previous research experience (only 1 formal experience, I am currently continuing this research at the same lab) should I name who I did research under? or just name the school?
2. I am going to a four year school that is not research oriented at all. The only lab experience previous to my current research (which I am performing at another school an hour away) I had was during lab classes, one experience was a semester-long organic chemistry group research project for which my group and I presented a poster at our school's research symposium. How (if at all) could I integrate this kind of lab experience?
Thanks for your time.
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Hello, I plan on applying to graduate schools this fall (MS or PhD??? I am not sure as of yet. I do not have a lot of research experience).
For reference I'm interested in microbial ecology, and pretty much anything and everything in that field interests me. Not only do I want to begin contacting potential advisors but I want to learn about the kinds of research going on at these schools.
My question is should I begin contacting faculty at schools I am interested in? What is the typical way to do this?
Grad. School Supplies?
in Officially Grads
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I'm entering a microbiology (more environmental than biomedical) phd program. Should I keep or sell back (~200$) my Immunology and Cellular and Molecular biology books?