RonWeasley

re: Joint CMU-Pitt Comp Bio program - Does anyone know the difference between "enrolling" through CMU or through Pitt? Seems like PhD is awarded by one or the other based on thesis advisor? But is the option offered, or is admission based on just one or the other? My son (not on this forum) is looking for input. He was contacted by Pitt professor based on his statement of interest (they said)? Or are there different criteria? Does anyone have any thoughts? Thanks in advance.

Hi everyone, I have been lurking this forum for a couple weeks and wish everyone good luck with their applications, interviews and careers! I noticed that not many of you have applied to UCLA for bio-related fields. Does anyone know about their program in CompBio/Bioinformatics? My son was offered an interview in Feb, and I noticed a few others have as well. I know that UCSD, UCSF and Berkeley are good in this field (and UCSC?). Any thoughts on how UCLA compares? He's still waiting to hear on the other schools to which he applied. (Seems like Princeton interview offers are out, so we suspect - as we thought - he's probably not in the mix there.) Also wondering (and apologize if this has been covered elsewhere) - would anyone recommend a masters first to get additional research experience and perhaps refine a statement of interest? He's applying straight out of undergrad and has therefore had limited research experience (about 1 1/2 year in one lab plus a summer in another). Grades are ok, not great, but at a know grade-deflated school... but great GRE scores. Has several areas in which he's interested. Problem is that he hasn't found many programs with terminal masters in comp bio (CMU, Michigan I think, UCSC, Georgetown?). Thanks for any insights you can provide. He's asking us for advice, but we don't know the PhD route...