username1824
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Posts posted by username1824
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The people who call admissions offices and let us know when decisions can be expected are the heroes of this thread
. I'm too shy to do it haha.- rexzeppelin, Leuco, NeuroGirl042 and 1 other
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I got an interview with UChicago Molecular Biosciences today via email!
It's at the same time as the UNC interview though, so I'm not sure which one I should go to.
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I know their website says that if you don't hear from them by January 15, you should expect a rejection letter, and there was only one person on the survey who said they get on interview from Harvard, so I'm skeptical for now. But if it's true then congrats to that person!
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I submitted my app November 8, but all my letters didn't come in until November 26.
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Invitation to UNC-Chapel Hill BBSP program via email!
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Received an invite to Baylor College of Medicine Biochem and Molecular program by email! I didn't expect to receive anything for another month or so!
- biotechie, mop and Monochrome Spring
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I wrote 1 paragraph (4-6 sentences) per research project I did and I included all of them (I have about the same as you). I used about 2-3 sentences to describe the project and the rest of the paragraph to attempt to weave the project into my narrative which was meant to answer the question "Why am I interested in graduate work and why would I succeed". I decided to treat each project as a chapter in my "career" and discussed why I chose to take on each project as well as what I learned from each project. I think this second part might be more important than what you actually did!
When talking about the specific research project though, I tried to use specialized words in a way that would tell an expert exactly what I did but also give a non-expert a general idea of what I did. For example, I might have written something like "We divided up the [Population X]'s phase space into x,y,z cells and used the SWIFT numerical integrator to determine residence lifetimes of [Population X] test particles in each cell. From these results, we computed a [blah] model." I hope that a Physics/Astronomy prof would understand that my project was a computational one to compute the distribution of Population X in space. They might not know what SWIFT is, but I hope it would be clear what it does, in general. An expert in the field would know that I have specific experience with that software and that I would be able to use it on other projects.
Overall, I had an intro paragraph, then one paragraph per project, then one longer paragraph about why School X, and a conclusion paragraph that says the almost obligatory desire to be a PI etc. etc. I opted to spend maybe 50% of the time on my experience (i.e. "Why pick me?"), 30% of the time answering "Why I picked them", and 20% on intro/conclusion/filler. If I had to do it again though, I would have cut back on my intro a lot!
Finally, I wouldn't mention things like awards unless they are connected to your research paragraphs e.g. you won an award for the research or you successfully applied for a grant to do your project (but definitely not a whole paragraph just for awards -- that's what the CV is for). I also would not mention teaching or anything else that can be found in your CV, unless, again, it's a significant thing you want to really highlight. The SOP is a chance to provide your own personal voice/tone to your application since almost everything else is either very formal or in a concise list form! Just my thoughts.
This post was extremely helpful. As were the others. Thanks for your help, I definitely think I have a better understanding of what my statement should be.
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Undergrad Institution: Top liberal arts school
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.71
Overall GPA: 3.78
Position in Class: Unless something catastrophic happens, I should be graduating magna cum laude, so fairly high I think
Type of Student: Hispanic male
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 168
V: 163
W: (Will update once official scores come out)
B: Haven't taken yet (may not at all)
Research Experience:-Researching at my home institution since my sophomore year. My results have been presented at a national conference (2nd author I think). Will be an author in an upcoming publication.
-Summer research at a major university (one of the schools I'm applying to). No publications. Two presentations at tiny conferences.
-Different summer research at different major university (also one of the schools I'm applying to). Possibly publication. PI is a leader in his field. Frequently publishes in Science and Nature.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
-Received a fellowship to perform summer research from my institution (hence my two summer experiences)
-Received distinction for my undergraduate writing (top 8% in my school)
-Acceptance to a selective program for students interested in science as a freshman
-Dean's List
-Chosen as a finalist for the Goldwater by my home institution (didn't win or get honorable mention though)
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:-Student tutor in analytical chemistry and genetics since junior year
Special Bonus Points:
-Hispanic
-Disabled? (I have a chronic disease that I am writing about for my statement)
-I've been told that my recommendation letters that faculty have written for me have been fantastic to read, so that's good, right?
Applying to Where: I am applying to genetics or molecular biology programs
-Harvard
-Yale
-UChicago
-UCSF
-Rockefeller
-Johns Hopkins
-Stanford
-Princeton
-UPenn
-WUSTL
-University of Washington
-UC Berkeley
-Duke
-UC San Diego/UCLA (one or the other)
-University of Wisconsin
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How much should I talk about it? I wrote a draft a few weeks ago, and it's about 1200 words long, but I only touch on my past research in a single sentence (because I wasn't sure if there would be a separate research statement or not). I do mention my future goals, my research interests, and why I'm applying to the particular program, but I also take a paragraph to explain scientific awards I've won. Is that something I should include? I've had three or four (depending on how you look at it) major research projects that I can talk at length about. I can write 20+ pages on my research I've done, so I'm really not sure how to concisely summarize these major projects. What should I mention? When I thought there was a separate research statement, I was planning on writing about the questions I was hoping to solve, how I tackled them, the results I found and any problems I faced. Is this the general gist of what I should touch on? Should I mention all the techniques I used? For example, should I say "I expressed a particular protein in a bacterial clone, incubated the protein with enzyme in a buffered solution, took aliquots of the reaction mixture over set time intervals, and ran a Western blot to determine levels of the protein that remained," or should I just say "I determined that protein X was digested by enzyme Y." Is there anything else I need to know about the personal statement?
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The schools I'm applying for haven't opened applications for, so I'm not sure what they are looking for, but I was wondering if there is a separate Statement of Research thing, or if I'm supposed to describe my past research in the Statement of Purpose. Any information would be very helpful.
if you get an interview..
in Biology
Posted
If I understand your question, yes if they offer you an interview, they believe your application is potentially good enough to earn acceptance to their program. If they didn't think your application was good enough, they wouldn't spend money flying you out and paying for your meals.