Dedi

I have done research with the first two people. One has supervised an independent biology research project (no other classes until this fall). The other I have done psychology research and taken classes with. Unless you think that I should have letters of rec from the two people I described above and not choose one of the people that I just described in this post to write a letter? I really want to keep the one that has supervised my project because she is in the STEM field (biology) and can attest to my ability to carry out independent research. The POI can attest my ability to research in a team and how attainable my project ideas are. The person I've only taken classes with can attest my character (development) and how well I will do in graduate classes (especially in neuroscience). The last person, whom I've taken classes and done research with, happens to be my advisor. However, I don't know if his contribution would add anything to what the other three people would say. He certainly has a role in letters of rec for the universities I'm applying to because my POI would not be involved in those.

Awesome! Also, take you time in writing it. I'm in no rush.

I've got a few holes too, but I fill those in as I go along. I just dedicate some space for each thing. Being able to put your research interests on paper is a significant step, in my opinion. I outlined that first, then reflected on research experiences and how they helped me prepare for graduate school.

Here are some things I've learned about contacting POIs forr the first time: Of course, you want to first introduce yourself, but in a very brief manner (e.g., Hello, my name is Dedi and I am an undergraduate student at X university). Explain why you are writing to them (e.g., I am writing to you because I am interested in your research). Explain your research interests (very briefly) and how this professor's interests overlap yours. Finally, ask them if they are taking in graduate students for the 2015-2016 year. Some professors want you to send a CV with the email (I've seen that with a couple professors). Do follow their directions. As for when, I've been contacting POIs since my second year of undergrad. I don't recommend it. Even third year is still a grey area to most professors (but I've established a couple good professional relationships during that time, even if they didn't know if they were going to be accepting students). I haven't had as much luck going into my fourth year.

I have. I've been tailoring each SOP to the corresponding application. A common procedure is to "just write" with no limits in mind and then prune to keep it within the word limits. I did an outline of what I wanted to write about and wrote a small paragraph for each thing. I pruned when necessary.

I don't think so, in my opinion. I was excited to write my drafts of my SOPs and I've spent hours working on them before sending them to someone else to get advice. It's great that you have such vigor to write something that will be meaningful to you (and hopefully the adcom!). Just remember that many SOPs have a page limit (usually two pages, but I've seen a limit of one page).

I'm looking for opinions on this: So, I'm trying to decide between two people to write my third letter of rec for Fulbright Canada's STEM program. One knows me quite well (~3 years), I've taken his classes but never did research with him (which is an important factor in this program). The other is my POI at my top choice university (he offered to write a letter for me) whom I have done research with this summer, but haven't taken his classes and he has known me for a shorter period of time (~9 months). I feel that both have equal merit, especially since right now the latter knows my research interests a lot better than the former person. Also, it might be a bonus point in the committee's eyes to have a letter of rec from a professor who I would like to work with in graduate school because he can better determine my potential in his lab. I'm emailing the former person for his insight, but I'm wondering if anyone here has had a similar situation?

I would agree. One professor I contacted was very receptive and helped me write better emails to send out to other professors. Again, I don't endorse most things I do (I sent out my first emails to professors in sophomore/second year). However, don't be afraid to establish a professional relationship with other professors, within and outside of your university. I know it's easier said than done at some schools, where some people never see a professor during their whole undergraduate career...

It depends on the circumstances. I asked for a rec letter from a professor that I got an Incomplete from and later got an A in the course. The reason I got an Incomplete was because the course was an Independent research project and it took longer than than a semester to finish everything. If you just didn't do the work until the very end, that might say something different.

I agree with what Vene said. Research experience, LORs and your SOP are going to be your deciding factors. Low GRE scores will hurt, but high GRE scores will not help you get into a program. Your TA experience might be useful in getting a strong LOR, but that's about it. Since you aren't doing any active experimentation, I assume that a publication is out of the question. Is there a reason why you're looking at UC schools only? What are your research interests?

I'm a little suspicious about your SOP. Last time I saw an SOP that changed font in the middle of it I was suspicious too, but didn't think much of it. Turns out the person basically copied and pasted lines from a SOP example from a website. Please don't do that. If you make it as obvious as this (with the font change in the middle of the SOP), the adcom will know and will throw out your app. Simple as that. Edit: The SOP itself gives me more of a rehash of your CV than reflecting on what you've done. It's impersonal.

That's a good idea. It will also let me evaluate and reflect what I like about this school in particular. You're probably right. I haven't stopped my search to find some other good programs (though the ones I've found are all over the world: UK, Sweden, Switzerland, South Africa...). It's no big secret which school that I'm talking about (it's in my signature). Funding is going to be a little tough because I'm technically considered an international student. NSF is out, I can't apply for NIH until my second year into my program, many Canadian government grants are for Canadian citizens only. I've found a few options, however, and I'm going to try my best to receive one of those. I think I will try and find 2-3 more programs that I'm interested in, just as a back up. Thanks for the advice, everyone!

I also come from a small, relatively unknown, private liberal arts university. My philosophy (though it may not be the opinion of the adcom of some schools) is that it doesn't matter where you go. What you do with what you have matters a lot more. For example, since I'm going into a research based program, I'm doing all that I can to gain research skills and do some independent research projects before I apply. In some cases, I need connections from professors in order to receive those opportunities. I'm not sure what the requirements are for admission in accounting and what are bonus points (e.g., internships?), however, so I'm not too helpful in the specifics. But I hope you can apply what I've said over to your situation.

I'm applying to University of Toronto's psych program. As U of T goes, the requirements aren't too far of a reach (3.7 GPA for final two years, 60th percentile or higher on GRE) for the psychology program. However, this is experimental psych, not clinical. I've heard that clinical at U of T is highly competitive, according to the results profile. As for stats: I have 3.51/4 GPA (upward trend). I had a GPA of 3.77 for my 3rd year and I expect that it won't plummet during my 4th year. I have one poster at a national conference (single-author), one poster at a local conference (2nd author; would be first author if I could attend), one oral presentation at a regional conference (single-author), several posters + an oral presentation at my university's conference. Finally, I have a manuscript in progress (would be first author if accepted) for an undergraduate journal (BIOS). I have worked on several research projects in psych and bio. I've done an independent research project for biology and made a large contribution with another project involving probability learning in rats. I'm also planning to do projects in my 4th year, including a course research project, continuing my independent research project, continuing a classroom research project and hopefully submit a manuscript for at least a couple of the projects (but it would be during the summer after graduation). Finally, this summer I am working in my POI's lab at U of T and I am learning a lot about the work I want to do. I have not taken the GREs yet, but my last practice test was 160Q/155V which is on the edge of my goal scores. I take the GRE in mid-August. I don't know if that helps or not...

This. Being straightfoward is fine if you and the professor have a mutual relationship, but it sounds like you're picking and choosing LORs. That might give a sour first impression.

Anyone want to create the official topic for Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results for biology? It was up really early last year, so...

To those that have taken the GRE: how did you prepare for the Analytical Writing Section? I know I'm supposed to give specific details, but I look at these statements and I get so overwhelmed with questions like "what if my example is not accurate?" or, worse, "what if I plagiarize by not citing?" (I've been taught that paraphrasing without citing is still plagiarizing. Obviously I'm not going to remember citations either...). I know I can articulate things in my field, give examples, and cite those examples. But when I'm given an argument like, "Movie stars and sports players should be ideal role models" and I don't care about sports or what the heck movie stars are doing (thereby lacking any specific examples from not reading those specific news stories), how am I supposed to give a convincing essay supporting or arguing against the statement? By the way, I didn't make that prompt up. It was in the practice test I just took. Now that my practice Quantitative and Verbal are within an acceptable range (I got 160Q/155V on the last practice test), I'm more worried about the AWA score.

This is a different university than where I'm going for undergrad. Unfortunately, I had to close one of my options down just now because I misunderstood the research interests of a professor. They simply won't overlap with mine, so.. I've got the school I'm working in now, Columbia (which is pretty high reaching in my opinion), and maybe go to a master's program at Edinburgh (though it is expensive for international students and they don't provide much funding) and try again for a PhD at my top choice a year later. And yes, I'll make sure I meet the requirements. The only thing that may make things a little complex is the GRE, which I take in August. I'm sure the GPA requirement (3.7 in the last two years) will be met, with the way my grades are trending now. Thanks for the advice, guys!

I guess it's not that I wouldn't like working at University Y, it's that it's unknown that I would like working at University Y. I am sure that I would like to work at University X. The other schools are a gamble.

So, I've been doing a research volunteer/internship thing at a university where I want to go to for grad school for the summer. At the time this University was my only choice, but now I have found a few more choices. Trouble is, I love working here. The grad students and PI are very nice to me, and I really feel like I'm a part of something with the other undergraduates. I'm doing a lot of hands-on work instead of just doing literature searches or something of the sort. I can't imagine going to another grad school. I'm happy here. So, what do I do? Do I put all my eggs in one basket and try to get into one school, even if it takes a couple tries? (I'm not going anywhere too prestigious and I'll reconsider my options if I don't get in the second time around). Or do I apply to other schools knowing that I probably wouldn't go to them even if I do get accepted? I don't want to go to grad school for the sake of going to grad school. I want to go somewhere where I'm going to love what I do for the next 4-5 years. I don't know. It feels like the norm to apply to 8-10 schools. Is it a bad idea to focus my energy on one school?

I think I'm at a point where I can share my SOP to someone else. I have two right now. One (psych) has more content than the other (bio), but they are essentially alike. I would share the psych SOP and make changes to the bio SOP if needed. I'm also willing to swap SOPs.

This actually makes me feel a bit better. My problem is that I like structure, and when my structured schedule gets toppled over I feel a bit lost. I realize that I need to be more flexible. When you talk about cooking, keeping touch with friends/family from back home, doing errands, and sleep, I realize now that research hasn't taken over my life. Rather, it has become integrated with school and I'm still free to have some "me time." Right now, I just have too much "me time" simply because I'm not taking any courses right now. You're probably right; undergrad might be more time consuming than graduate school. Last semester I took 5 courses and had 4 different research projects going on. I didn't come out too shabby (With a 3.57 GPA that semester) and I didn't feel too burned out. That was my busiest semester and yet I still stuck by the schedule of going to bed by 10-11 pm. TL;DR: I'm probably not overwhelmed by research but rather the opposite. I'll continue to find things to do and maybe discover a hobby or two.

I actually struggle with that as an undergrad. You mean it actually gets worse? Right now, I'm in an unfamiliar place. Basically the only friends I have are other undergrad researchers. If I'm not helping with research I pretty much sleep the whole day (As I've found today) and get depressed. I love to research and help others with research, but I feel that it's taken over my life. Now I get Monday and Tuesday off each week and I don't like it, cause that makes the miserable weekend get prolonged. I want to explore the city during the weekends, but what the heck am I going to do on a weekday?

I feel that with that kind of GPA, you need to separate yourself as much as possible away from it. I would recommend: Improving the GPA as much as possible. Do you have any research experience? If not, find a way to get some. Work as a research assistant after you graduate for a few years. The adcom doesn't take GPA into account as much after you start working in the real world for years. Do well on the GRE, when you do take it. Anyone else have any other suggestions? I had severe depression in high school and my first year of undergrad (currently in remission). I know how frustrating it can be. Good luck on your applications, though!