bsharpe269

I have been raised in the south but am liberal and not at all religous. I completely understand your difficulty connecting with the very religous/conservative sort of people down here. Here are some of the things that have helped me: 1) Don't completely write of these people. It is easy to assume that you dont have anything in common with them but keep in mind that they have probably rarely been exposed to other ideas. Religion is everywhere down here and is just a way of life. I often find that people seem like the conservative/closed minded types but when you go to have a conversation with them, actually have doubts too or ideas on religion/philosophy and can be a lot of fun to talk to. This is true for dating too. I have been in relationships with people like this and have had wonderful relationships full of great discussion. 2) As far as meeting people goes, I actually have found that there are WAY more liberl/nonreligous people in academia than anywhere else, at least in my field (math/hard sciences). I cant see what your field is so maybe this isnt as true for of yours. Grad school is probably the best place in the south to meet liberal/not religous people. I would take advantage of this opportunity and go to as many grad events are you can. Maybe your program is especially religious but hard sciences and philosophy departments tend to have very few religous people in my experience. I would try to go coffee hours hosted by the grad school or events. The grad school at my university holds seminars on things like managing stress often. I would try to go to these things to meet people. Good luck! I have been dealing with this my whole life and understand the frustration. I will be applying to phd programs out west and up north this fall and an excited to go somewhere new.

Wow that would bother me too. Even though this was directed at you, I would try not to take it personally. For this guy to respond like this to a late application then he must seriously have something else going on unrelated to you No one gets this upset about a late application... if it was too late then most directors would just throw it out or send a stardard rejection. I am sorry that whatever this dude has going on was taken out on you. I would let it go, recognize your success, and not consider this program any longer. I would not want to attend a school where the director speaks to students like this. Best of luck in finding a program in your desired location with people who treat their students with respect!

This all depends on your PI and department but of course you can take breaks! You should be taking breaks! I can work from anywhere so when I dont have classes, I only go to campus a couple days a week for research meetings. Other than that, I work from home. If I want to visit family then I take my work with me. I guess I very rarely "take a weekend off" in the sense that I dont work at all... like in the past year I think I have done that once since I was skiing all weekend. Usually, I just take work with me wherever I want to go. For classes, I have never heard of professors changing your grade because of illness. I have only ever missed a couple classes because I respect my professors and want to be in class. Plenty of people miss class regularly. You want your professors to consider you among their top students though and coming to class is important in earning that reputation. If I am sick though or completely bogged down with work then sure, I will miss the occassional class.

Thanks guys. To clarify, I will be the first author on the papers and they were my ideas. I came up with the ideas and then pursued them. They will be coauthored in the sense that my advisor will be listed as the second author but no one else will be on them.

I took linear algebra after multivariable. Really, if you have a good understanding of derivatives and integrals then you will be in good shape.

Do you mean tuition only, no stipend? This is for a master's? Well I would work out the hours... if tuition is 5k/semester and the semester is 15 weeks long then you would be making around $17 an hour. You would have to work this out for your specific tuition cost of course. Given your credentials, can you make more than that in another position? If so, then I think you should get one of those positions instead. If not, then I would accept it. I am working on my masters and work 20-30 hours a week as part of my assistantship. This amount keeps me very busy but is definitely doable and worth the money.

Those are decent scores. Do you know the averages of the departments that youre applying to? My guess is that those scores fall into the 'wont hurt you or help you' range. If the rest of your application is suitable for a top 15 program then I wouldnt worry about those scores at all.

Ehh I would let this go. I get why it's frustrating and unethical but do you really want to get caught up in all of this department drama? If the Professor has an issue with it then he can report it.

Those grades are aboslutely fine. Youre fit and research experience are going to matter alot more than a B+ vs A- in one class.

Hmm thanks everyone.... some great, different perspectives to consider. I definitely think that I will learn a ton by doing a thesis. At the same time I will give up learning some things that I could have from other projects. It seems like this is coming down to breadth vs depth. If anyone else has opinions, Id love to hear them. I will be considering all of these things and discussing this with my advisor next week.

My undergrad stats are pretty similiar to yours. I had a 3.3 overall GPA but only 2.9 science GPA. I did have a lot of research including a large project at my home institution, an REU at a great school, and some other smaller things. I went the MS before PhD route and will be applying for PhD programs in the fall. recommend this route for you as well. If you play it smart with money by working part time (i managed to score a research job after making straight As first semester and volunteering in a lab for a while) then it doesnt have to put you into too much debt. I am taking out 20k total for mine. Sure, It is a decent amount of money but not horrible and worth it, in my opinion. I did take the cheap route and go to the small state school near family so that I could live with them for free. Again, to me this was worth it to get my MS. Youre going to have to change your work ethic for your MS which im sure you already know and work really hard for perfect grades to couteract the undergrad ones. I changed my work ethic around for MS and I had the highest grade in all of my classes this semester and have had teachers approach me, offering to write my LORs. Managing this plus research pretty much has me working from the time I wake until I go to bed but I am hopeful that I will good luck with phd acceptances in the fall. My PI has high hopes for me and believes that I will end up with some great acceptances. I hope he's right! I think that you go back for your MS and work your butt off for a couple years then you can get into great phd programs.

No I didnt do an honors thesis. I did do lots of research through including 1.5 years on a biomath project (conference paper and presentation from that), an REU at a top 25 school, 1 year of bioengineering lab work, and 5 years of bio lab tech work. I can definitely do the thesis on one of the porjects I have been working on. I would probably just have to stop doing the additional projects, which I am learning a ton from, and focus in on a single project.

Hi guys, Any help with this decision? I cant decide if I should do the thesis or nonthesis MS option. I am half way through my MS and I will be applying to phd programs in the fall. The only positive I see to doing the thesis is that phd programs might want to see it? I feel like there are many more negatives. I am very involved with a lab and have been able to work on a couple different interesting projects. I will have the opportunity this summer to help reprogram a pretty big model used by my PI which will be great experience and help me learn alot more about the model in the process. I have already done one small presentation and am hoping to publish one of my projects by the fall. I feel like the non thesis MS option lets me learn about multiple areas and do multiple interesting projects (which will be published) and the thesis option would force me to drop all of the interesting research that I am doing which would result in less publications and presentations, to focus on a single topic. What would you do?

There is no difference between Personal Statement and Statement of Purpose. I'm sure that your SOPs will overlap at each school but they probably wont be exactly the same. You like each school that you are applying to for different reasons, would do potentially different projects at each school, and like different professors so your SOP should differ for each program. I am sure that you will have a couple paragraphs describing your background and interests and for that, I think that it is perfectly fine to use the exact same paragraphs for every school.

Hi guys, Sorry this is long... any advice is majorly appericated though. For my particular situation, how beneficial would the biochem subject test be? I plan on applying to biophysics/computational bio/biochem phd programs in the fall (my research area is really interdisciplanary so the appropriate department varys depending on school). I have a relatively specific research interest (biochem related obviously) that I know tons about and do research in now. I am only applying to the schools that are perfect fits. While reading this, keep in mind that I had untreated ADD during undergrad and now control it. I plan on having an LOR writer mention that I had a medical issue during undergrad that doesnt reflect my phd abilities. Here is my situation: Undergrad: Mathematics Decent state school: 3.3 overal GPA but only 2.9 science GPA (upward trend). Good research experience: 1) biomath REU at top 25 school (dont ask me how I got into that...) 2) 1.5 of biomath research at home institution which resulted in a conference paper and poster for undergrad school symposium 3) Also lab tech experience in a bioengineering lab (1 year) and bio animal facility (5 years). Masters: Bioinformatics My local state school, probably unknown but decent reputation. GPA: 4.0. Great research experience: My PI will be one of my LOR writers and I have already read one of his letters for me... it basically says I am one of the best students he has had. My other LORs should be great. One of the professors offered to write it without my asking. I had the highest grade in the class (of 20+ ppl) in both classes for these professors and disucussed research regularly outside of class. Basically, I have gone from being average/below average in undergrad to having the highest grade in every single one of my classes. Since my undergrad grades in some of my foundation courses are Cs, I wonder if the biochem subject test might greatly help my application in confirming that I have mastered that material now that my medical situation has been handled. It will require tons of studying for me this summer to ace it though, which could otherwise be speant on more research and reading lots of publications in my phd research area. What would you do?

haha I always stress out the entire last week of the semester and count down minutes until the last final is over. Then without fail, I always walk out of the final, towards my car, thinking to myself "what the hell do I do know?" At this point, I am always in such crazy study mode that I end up going home and spending the entire day reading articles or doing research. It takes a few days for me to to be able to watch a TV show again or read for pleasure without feeling guilty.

This is very well said. Also, it's not always true that phd pays more than MS. In my field, a masters and job in industry pays around the same as I'll probably make after I finish both my phd and postdoc(s). These industry jobs also have higher long term earning potential. I think that In many fields, getting into academia pays no where the same a a masters and industry job would. I am in bioinformatics so there are great BS and MS opportunities in drug companies. This would also be true of fields like engineering or CS. So even if people find it annoying to hear, of course I'm not getting a phd for money! If I wanted money id be out the door with my ms with a well paying bioinformatics programmer or database job.

I dont know the answer your specific questions really but my advice is seriously to not stress it. The first time I took the GRE a few years ago, I was stressed just like you are and messed up majorly. I took it a month later and did so much better by just calming myself down and not worrying about it. You have done all of the studying you can really at this point. My advice to get a great workout in or watch your favorite movie or do whatever you find calming and just do the best you can. You can retake it as many times as you want now so there is no reason to stress... if you mess up then you can retake it next month.

I havent taken my actual test yet but by my practice test score, magoosh seems to be working well. ETS powerprep1 (in January): 154V, 163Q ETS powerprep2 (1 week ago): 161V, 169Q One of the biggest things that has helped me is actually their free vocab app. I do the flashcards when I am waiting at an appt or walking to my car etc. The math is also helpful because it is a bit harder than what actually seems to come up on the real test so it makes the real test feel a bit easier.

Hi everyone, I know there are tons of people on this forum who applied for NSF last year. There are of course tons of online resources, offering all sort of advice. Since there are so many people on here who just went though the process though, I was wondering if you have any specific advice for those applying in the fall? Thanks!

What is your research interest? I am in a bioinformatics MS now and applying for biophyics/comp bio phd programs. My interests are structural though, not genomics related.

I also find that babysitting can be great money, especially if you can get jobs in the evening when kids are asleep. The hourly rate isn't anywhere close to tutoring but if you charge around $12 an hour (this would vary depending in where you live) then you can easily make $60 in an evening. I usually take date night sort of jobs and I end up working for an hour and then the baby goes to bed and I get paid to study all evening.

To those you have already applied and seen typical phd applications, what gpa is usually asked for? Do they ask for uGPA, major GPA, master's GPA, or do they ask for what your gpa would be for masters and undergrad combined? Obviously they see all of this different info from your transcript but I am just wondering what numbers are usually requested. My uGPA is only a 3.3 but my masters GPA is a 4.0 and it you combine all of the credit hours then it works out to around 170 hours total (graded hours) with a GPA of 3.51. This number obviously looks a lot better than a 3.3 so I would rather the 3.51 be the number that stands out. So which of these numbers would be specifically asked for on a graudate school application? Or would they ask for multiple? Or does it vary? Thanks!

I feel like its boarderline... could be an issue, could be fine. Memorizing magoosh's "common words" (via their app) helped me raise my score alot. I recommend spending a month memorizing vocab and retaking. Also, did you study for the writing? I found reading examples of perfect essays really helpful. You can see exactly what they are looking for.

I do agree with you that it isnt my classmates job to help me learn. I am really commenting on the fact that others have said that its ok for phd students to not have passion and that to expect that is naive and elitest. I feel like most phd departments admit students who they think are passionate and do expect it. From the department's perspective, I think they would want a class of highly motivated students, who are engaged in the lectures and research, since this will create the best learning environment. I think it makes sense that passion would be one of the criteria used in admission among other things like potential, intelligence, etc. I am definitely not trying to judge students who work hard and get Bs! I just feel frustration with those who dont come to class or care at all, text me to try to get hw help, and then get 80s bc they went out drinking during finals. I am sure that the only reason that I feel so annoyed about this is because it is really ALL around me at my school. Like bakalamba, I am looking forward to leaving after my MS and hopefully finding a more motivated, stimulating learning environment. I dont want to be considered the annoying one in class any more for actually enjoying the material and wanting to discuss it!