bsharpe269

I would go to Northwestern, no question. I wouldn't worry about ranking that much. Both of these schools have great reputations so you arent comparing harvard to some school no one has heard of. Keep in mind that your advisor/grad research aren't just going to affect the next 5 years of your life, they will have a hufe effect on your career. If you don't get training in the area of interest now, you won't be competitive for post docs in that area. It sounds like you will be happier at Northwestern. Sure, it would be great to live in California but you could always head that direction for your postdoc or a job later if you really want to live there.

Are there other people at northwestern doing research in your area? How many people at USCD are doing what you want to do?

This isnt a competition... this is an advice forum. I am pretty sure that the OP wanted multiple opinions, not just yours. Getting into "Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc" really doesnt mean much... in my subfield those are some of the easier programs to get into because they don't have most of the top professors. To the OP, you don't need to work with 2 different people to be competitive, you just need to convince the programs that you will be a top researcher. If you work only in 1 lab, that is not a problem at all! In that case, you would want an amazing letter from that 1 PI. A good wont cut it here, you need the professor to say that you are one of the top students that he has worked with. Then you'd want your other letters to come from professors who know that you will make a good researcher as well, based on their interactions for you. For example, one of my additonal letters will come from a professor who taught me one semester and I got the top grade in his class. He does research in a different but similar area to me so I spoken with him about his research multiple times and asked for advice on articles to read to get a better understanding of his area. Even though I didn't work for him, he can comment on my interest in research and future success. These sorts of letters are great too, as long as you have at least one from a PI. If you do go for the second research opportunity, then that is fine too! Keep in mind though that burning bridges with your current PI would be absolutely detrimental to your application. If you think that he is fine with you experiencing something else though then great! Either way, learning more through research should be your goal right now and it sounds like you will do that either way this summer.

Keep in mind that although they probably won't hold a grudge, they may. These are people that you will see at conferences and stuff. If I were to accept A then I would probably stick with it.

I would go talk to the professor and explain that you are really excited to help but have been sending emails and haven't been given any guidance on what to do. You could ask if there is another project you can work on or if you would be better off joining a different lab that needs more help now

Exactly! During my first meeting with my PI, he was like "as far as room in lab, yes we always welcome more help but as far as pay, I don't have much extra right now." I responded that I was interested in the learning opportunity and was willing to work as a volunteer. After the first few months where I really proved that I was committed and serious, he has gone out of his way to nominate me for fellowships, recommend me for department money, etc. He is pushing to to present at conferences and will be paying me himself this summer. If you show dedication as a volunteer then a good professor will make sure you are adequately compensated even if he is low on money and that means helping you apply for fellowships or other money.

Well I don't know much about these schools but from someone who is currently in a bioinformatics masters, I can tell you that the programming/database/statistics skills are what companies care about. Companies will hire you based on your ability to program. Definitely go somewhere where toy will take a programming class a semester at least and a database course or two and 2 courses in statistics. A class in next gen sequencing is also good.

What is the research opportunity at the other institute? Do you already have something lined up?

For those people saying that if a relationship is meant to be then it it will be so screw compromising... thats not how life works. Do you think that if a phd program is meant to be then it will happen so you can stop actively working at it during undergrad? No... Relationships dont just magically work out for no reason. They take work, lots of it, and lots of compromise. Communication and compromise are key. It is not hard to compromise and it does not require sacrificing your dreams. I made a list of the phd programs where I could get the education I need to acheive my goals. My partner crossed off the schools that are in locations that would prevent him from acheiving his own goals. I am applying to rest of the schools... all of the schools/locations would be amazing opportunities for both me AND him. No one's dreams are sacrificed in this situation. Both partners are happy and compromise. This is how relationships work. They don't just magically come together. If you aren't willing to compromise with a partner then you have a really loney road ahead of you...

Your SOP should explain why a specific school is a great fit for you. I am sure that there will be some overlap between you SOPs for each school since you may copy some sentances or paragraphs where you summarize some details of your own research but then you need to connect your research to what is being done at those schools and this part will vary for each school. For example, have you used some methods that a professor developed or uses in your own research? Is some of the work similar to what you have done? Can you apply some of your previous skills to what is being done in the labs? You dont jsut want to insert professors names in in your SOP. For each school, you want to talk about which aspects of the research being done interest you. Even if you have a narrow research interest, this will vary from school to school because the projects the professors work on will vary. You want to talk about how the specific research being done there relates to your past reserach experience, your interests, and your future goals.

It depends in how extreme you mean... I'll be moving for my phd with my fiancé (will be husband then). If I get into my top choice but he gets an awesome job opportunity near my second or third choice then yes, I would give up the top choice so that we can both be happy. I wouldn't give up my dream of a phd completely though. There is a difference between giving everything up for your SO and compromising so that we can both live our dreams. I'll willing to do the latter.

NYU for sure

University of Arizona is a greally good school and will open lots of doors too. I would say it has a pretty comprable reputation to purdue so you arent comparing a great school with a horrible school here... they are both really good. I would go with the funding at U of Arizona for sure.

It also tells them how well you did your research on grad schools. For example, some of the schools that are really strong in my subfield are Stanford, Rice, Maryland, WashU etc. My SOP will detail my research interests so the professors who I am trying to work with in my subfield will expect me to list of the other schools strong in my area. If they ask me this and I answer Harvard, Yale, MIT, etc then this tells them that my passion in not in my research but that I am actually just going after prestige. I think your answer to the question says a lot about your reason for going to grad school.

The second masters seems like a waste of money to me and I would only recommend considering this option if 1) you have a ton of money in savings to blow 2) You get an external fellowship that will pay for your degree + living expenses. You will probably spend nearly 100k to get a 2nd masters when you could get into writing via other routes up there. With degrees in social work and writing, I don't see how you would be able to afford paying of that debt. You would probably be in a horrible financial situation for the rest of your life. I recommend you just move to new york and find a social work job there and do some freelance writing. Once you live there for a while, save up some money, and get some connections in writing, then you could consider doing a class a semester if you really feel like the MFA will benefit your career. My guess is that you education will be suffient to fufil your writing dreams without the 2nd masters though!

I would go for the masters since it's funded! Who cares that you'll put the phd off for a couple years? You'll be getting paid to do what you love!

If I understand you correctly then you are saying that you are guaranteed funding and admission to the phd program at Stanford after the MS? If so, that seems to me like an awesome option. The location is great, reputation is great, and if you like the research then that is great too.

It still is different... I am working on my MS and getting ready to apply for phds. I was able to get into my MS with a B+ average too but that is almost unheard of for phd programs. A 3.6+ is pretty much just the standard gpa of applicants so it is super competitive and really nothing like getting into master's programs.

I think you fall into the typical profile you see you on here, Good GPA and GRE. Those things probably wont be the things that get you into a grad program, the extras will. So what research, internships, etc set you apart? These are things that you probably need to sell to get yourself into a program. if you give us some more info on these things that set you apart then we can probably help more!

In our opinion, if you can get a first author paper or two then does the thesis matter for phd programs? My advisor seems to think that papers > thesis so I shouldn't worry so I was planning on the no thesis route.

I would be nervous about the NYU funding situation unless you can get more info from the school on whether you could be guaranteed funding when your NSF ended. How much do you like the research at each school?

It sounds like MIT has a better research fit for you which I consider super important

First, sex is natural. People cant control their biological feelings. They can only control whether they act on them. Second, I don't think the OP mentions dreaming and actively thinking about the person. They also say that they would "NEVER pursue this." That isn't disgusting? They are controling any feelings because they care about their SO. Also, you cant really say what your SO thinks about... you have no idea.

I doubt it matters that much. I am actually planning on going for a phd and I was even advised to go no thesis since I am already involved enough in a lab that I will definitely get 1st author pubs before applying. The downside of the thesis option is that it may end up taking longer than 2 years and you can get reserach experience without doing the thesis. I was also told that standard publications can be better than a thesis since grad schools are more likely to read them. Also, you may be better off taking the extra classes that you would get with no thesis option since med and dental schools seem to put a lot of emphasis on coursework and grades.

Well, I havent taken graduate physiology but have taken other graduate level bio classes. My tactic is to read along in the book (a bit each day, not last minute) and take detailed notes on eveything I think that I need to know as I read. If I dont think I 100% understand something that I read then I do some additional reading on it or watch youtube videos if there are those. This turns out to be a ton of notes and time consuming but worth it! Some professors give weekly quizes which forces me to also keep up with momorizing the material. If you prof doesnt do this then I recommend setting aside some time each work to memorize the notes. When test time comes I go back through all the notes and make a study guide with anything that isnt quite drilled into my head perfectly yet. By this time, I dont need all of the details in the notes because these details are in the back of mind already. I pretty much need to focus on memorizing all of the freakin terms at this point and making sure I know details of various processes. The study guide usually ends up being like 5-7ish pages long. I try to have this made a day or 2 before test time so that have to spend just memorizing every word on it. I have ended up with all A+s in bio classes with this method and material doesnt leave after the exam, I actually retain most of it!