bsharpe269

My current PI and other letter writers have stressed then when I tell profs that I have chosen to attend another school that you should not discuss the reasons why and should NEVER mention money as a reason. From his point of you, it could look like you are chasing after money instead of science, which he is pointing out as a problem. I think the points he makes are correct... you should be more concerned with science than money and the email that you sent to him says otherwise. He doesnt sound pissed at all. It sounds like he wants you in his lab and is trying to recruit you, while also being a good mentor and explaining that you should not make a big decision like this solely because of money. I sort of think you got yourself in trouble with that first email. You should chose your graduate school based on science and research fit. The other aspects should be secondary to the science. It sounds like you DO like the science and environment more at school A and just didnt want to say this to spare his feelings. I totally understand why you framed it to be about money but I also think that caused reaction on his end since he doesnt think this decision should be about money. I think you need to email him back, very kindly, and explain that you feel confident in your decision to attend school A since it seems all around like the perfect fit for you. I would mention that you still love his work and would be honored to work with him again in the future.

How do costs compare? CMU is top notch in CS... I don't think it will matter much that you're program isn't technically in CS. When you go to search for a job, recruiters for software development jobs will notice the CMU name either way. I doubt they will care which department your degree is from. They will just assume that you received terrific software development education.

I've been trying to make a lot of research progress while working on my MS so my typical schedule involves 20-30 hours of research a week + 3 classes a semester. I am able to get reasonable amounts of research done by scheduling it in just like I would class work. If I have a hw assignment due the following day and also have X hours of research that I want to get in then I don't give the school work higher priority just because of the deadline. If you let yourself put off the research because of class work then this can turn into a bad habit of always delaying the research.

I would take UCLA off the list. I want to be somewhere where I am heavily recruited... not somewhere where I feel unsure of whether I will even be paid for my work! I personally would choose UIUC... its an amazing school! Rice is great too though and I don't think you will go wrong with going there.

I agree with this. Go to the school that is interested in having you as a student... A school that is giving so little funding that you would need that much loans is not that interested in convincing you to come to the school. A top 25 program is still a great school! I would take that offer and reject the other.

Anyone else going to WashU this fall? I will be part of the biophysics PhD program!

I've already set up my first rotation which will start in July. Definitely email profs you are interested in!

I don't think your GPA will hold you back all that much... I got into 8 schools this cycle (including a 10 program and a top 15) with a similar GPA. I am certain that my success in admissions was almost entirely linked to my strong LORs. I know that they were terrific and PIs commented on them at every single interview. They made my application. All 3 were from PIs in academia. 2 were from research supervisors and the other was from someone I had taken a couple classes with and done some little project things with. I bet that your LORs are the problem, as others have mentioned. I think that having another very strong academic letter could really help your application.... It might be worth it to switch to a full time academic research tech job this summer or fall. Also, do you regularly read literature in your intended subfield? If you don't read a paper a day or so then I would start. It could help refine your interests which would improve your SOP. Your knowledge of your subfield would also come across when emailing PIs and interviewing (if your field does interviews). Taking a subject test could also help, especially if your major GPA is low.

Are you interested in MS or PhD? If PhD then what if your research experience?

Anyone else super disappointed over not winning the NSF? I really thought I had a shot based on positive responses from grad programs.

Didn't get it.

Yep, same.

Time is passing very slowly...

I read 1-2 papers a day at least. I am not that great about reading current stuff... whenever I come across papers that I want to read in the citations of other interesting papers, I put them in a Mendeley "to read" folder. I try to read a paper out of that folder every morning.

I doubt that the unknown name of your MS school will hold you back in PhD admissions. I went to a relatively unknown school for my MS (ranked between 100 and 200) and got an amazing education with brilliant researchers and was admitted to a couple top 10 PhD programs in my field and a lot of top 20 programs. Schools will care about what you do during your MS, not where you got it.

Based on my experience (which is pretty limited), I think that profs are looking for passion in interviews. They want people who get excited when discussing their own work and are jumping out of their skin to ask questions as the profs describe their research. My best interviews were the ones where we only made it through 1 or 2 of the slides on the ppt they had planned because the first slides sparked questions that led to awesome discussions. Acetylcholine, I think my main question for you would be: Do you regularly read literature in your subfield? When chatting with professors, are you familiar enough with the literature to make comments like: "Your results are interesting. Prof X (big name prof in the field) has written quite a bit on this subject and come to the opposite conclusion as you. What makes you think that these results mean blah blah." You should be familiar enough with your subfield to talk extensively with professors like this and get into friendly scientific debates. I read a paper a day at least and I think that this is a good standard to hold yourself to. If you don't read a few papers a week at least then you probably don't know enough to engage in good discussions. This is the most obvious possible problem I think. If you do read alot though then there must be another issue. I DO NOT think that they know which candidates they want ahead of time. I say this because I was offered an interview off the waitlist at one school (I was invited very last min... months after the other candidates) and it was a fairly competitive interview (~60% acceptance) yet I was in the first wave of offers. Once you get an interview, you have a fair shot at an offer. If you know the field and are super passionate about it (these things go together because you cant be passionate about it if you don't read a lot and know nothing about it...) then you should be set at interviews.

This might be field dependent also. I visited a top 5 school and one ranked 10-15. I didn't find the current students at the top 5 to be any more impressive that those at the 10-15... actually I was more impressed by those at the 10-15 ranked. The resources at both schools seemed equivalent, the finances of the 2 departments were similar, the profs were publishing in the same journals and placing students in similar postdoc positions. In my field, resources and placement rates across the top 20 programs are very similar. I am leaning towards accepting the 10-15 ranked program's offer. If you can visit the programs then I agree that you should try. Otherwise, I think that both are great schools and you really cant make a wrong decision with those options.

This is a good point... I am academia focused so advice given to me from professors is more related to my future academic goals. I know nothing about industry and this could matter more there.

What is your goal... research or industry? Also, what are your research interests? I was accepted to programs in various fields since my research interests can fit into biophysics, comp bio, physical biology, etc. The name on the degree matters much less then the research you do. For example, you can get a post doc in a chem eng department with a chemistry phd, if your PhD work fits with chem eng research. I think you should reflect on your research interests and see which school has the most labs that interest you. Also, what sort of jobs do the graduates gets... and are these jobs in line with your goals? The name on the degree is one of the least important things to consider.

Man this class seems to be giving you stress. Withdraw from the class! You will feel super relieved once you do. This will make no difference at all to PhD programs. They will look at trends in grades and will not obsess over small issues on your transcripts. I applied to PhD programs half way through my MS program. My MS grades were good but undergrad grades were terrible (had a couple Ds in important classes). No one brought this up at all during interviews! Instead, everyone commented on my strong letter of recommendation and essays. I interviewed at a lot of schools this year and was able to see what programs actually care about (by talking to directors/professors and also by looking at the qualities of the students chosen to interview). PhD programs want people who are passionate about their field and hardworking... not someone with a perfect transcript.

DO NOT go into debt that much for a MS. I went to my local cheap state school for my MS and did terrific this season during PhD apps. PhD programs will not care at all where you did your MS. They will only care what sort of work you did there. If you really want to get an MS then go to an in state public school. Working as a research tech for a couple years would be just as effective though. Do not make a bad decision that will effect you for the rest of your life, just so that you can attend a name brand school in the fall.

I have no idea about Oregon State specifically but there was a 2 week gap between the unoffical acceptance notification and official letter at one of my schools (and the official letter was by email). I think that a week was about normal though. Congrats on the acceptance!

I was on the younger side (23) when I started my MS and will be 25 when I start my PhD which is probably around average. I think I look at least a few years younger than I am. This has never been an issue for me at all... People have commented on my age since most of my friends are closer to 30 but no one treats me differently or assumes I am less capable. If anything, I dress less professionally than most people. I wear jeans and a normal top about half of the days and some ridiculous looking, patterned yoga pants the other half (they are so comfortable!). I truly don't care what people think about how I dress... I'm not there to look good, I'm there to do science. I'm very respected in my program. I put tons of time into my research and school work and produce terrific results. I have a reputation for being serious about my work which results in students and faculty respecting me. My point is that it doesn't matter how old you are. You will be perceived based on your attitude. If you want to be respected then do good science!

I don't at all think that Raleigh has a slow lifestyle. I am from the south. It is pretty divided depending on whether you are in a larger city or country. In places like Raleigh and Charlotte, the population is going to be made up of people from all over the country/world who relocated for job opportunities. Basically, the culture will be similar to any other city outside of the south. If you drive for an hour in any direction then you will hit cotton and corn fields. Many people in these areas have lived there their whole lives. These are the sort of areas that fit into the southern stereotypes.

The healthcare plans should definitely be a factor then... I would compare the healthcare plans at the schools. If school A has terrific health plan and offers you 30k a year while school B has mediocre healthcare and offers you 27k but you truly want to attend B then I think that bargaining is appropriate. I would just inform B of the situation and see if they would be willing to purchase the "gold" healthcare plan for you or whatever their best plan is.