Serric

Truth be told, I would stay at Berkeley. From what I've heard, although 'name' of the institution helps more in industry, in academia it's who you did your doctorate under. You already have what most people spend their entire first years in PhD programs trying to find (and lots of people end up less than happy), an academic support network, and a lab you actually seem to enjoy. The fact that Berkeley is "only" 25 is pretty much irrelevant if you did your doctorate under the preeminent researcher in your field.

I would e-mail and ask if they're accepting graduate students before I dropped the money on an application fee. My rule of thumb was to make sure there were at least three professors I was interested in working with, and I made it a point to e-mail them before applying. On the other hand, you never know. One of my friends applied here at UMich to work with a specific professor; the professor wasn't accepting students, but my friend convinced him to take him on.

I'd agree most strongly with rising_star. I don't think reading a few papers is a necessity for e-mailing a prospective PI; it's nice for your own knowledge, but I never said, "I read such-and-such and want to be part of your lab." What I did do, however, was identify a minimum of two or three PIs at schools I was interested in. I then sent them an e-mail that said, essentially, "I'm interested in your work, I've done (insert related work) in the past, and--as I'm an applicant for this cycle--I was wondering if you're currently accepting graduate students." After I applied, I then referenced these professors in my statement of purpose to give the sense of continued interest in the program. Long story short: don't go through the department, e-mail directly if you're interested in. You'll likely get mostly one-line responses, but you'll occasionally get a really helpful response (a PI in my current program, for example, wrote a two-paragraph rundown of his colleague's research interests I might be interested in).

Overall, I'd have to say my experience this application season was pretty good. The biggest problem, of course, was the stress. No numerical part of my application, with the exception of my GRE, was above the average. I didn't realize how much weight was given to the letters of recommendation/statement of purpose, and so discounted their importance in my mind. I spent five and a half years in undergraduate (switched majors from English to cell/molecular biology three years in), and REALLY didn't want to spend another year trying to figure out what to do and go through the whole thing all over again. So I started early. I looked through as many grad schools as I could find and narrowed my list down to ten, made sure I knew exactly why I wanted to go to each of them, researched faculty, revised my statement of purpose at least a dozen times, networked as much as possible, and ended up getting interviews to half the schools I applied to. At the end of the day, I ended up with a fully-funded acceptance (with a fellowship) into my top choice; which (thankfully for my stress!) was also the school that gave me my first interview and my first acceptance.

I'm both a first-generation college student (I'm actually the first person in my family to have earned a four-year degree) and a first-generation Ph.D. student (I'll be starting at UM Ann Arbor this coming Summer). For me, I suppose, the idea of a PhD is both exciting and scary. Scary because it's something I've never done before, I know it's going to require a massive time commitment, and partially because I know it's going to require picking up a bunch of complex skills on the fly. It's also exciting; both for those same reasons and because, well, I love learning and I always have. As for preparation...I'm really just looking at the PhD program as another 'step' upwards. My mom is about as far from academic as it's possible to be. My dad is brilliant with history, but never cared for science/math while he was in school, so I've been on my own since algebra in the seventh grade. I dealt with the practical matters of high school, college applications, college, and grad school applications with no input from family; I'll be able to deal with graduate school in a similar fashion. My family, however, does provide a huge social network. Although I've already experienced that sort of distance between most members of my family in describing what I do in school and in the lab, my father, mother, and stepmother are all very supportive of what I want to do. My dad is really starting to get into Carl Sagan and science-y stuff in general, so--although he doesn't understand everything--he enjoys learning about it and my descriptions of it.

I think it's a perfectly valid reason to give location as one of the (but not THE) reasons you'd want to attend their program. Several schools I interviewed at made it a point to mention the area and climate in a positive light (Duke, I recall, pushed this fairly hard; although it may have been due to the fact that it was snowing, and that's not normal) and an overview of the city was par for the course everywhere I attended. Make sure you can explain why the program's a good fit for you academically--preferred faculty, academic fit, facilities, possibilities for collaboration/other details specific to the program--but it doesn't hurt to say, "...and the area's a nice fit as well!"

Agreed. I know for a fact I was rejected at UC Berkeley, Johns Hopkins, and Columbia (interview dates are past for JHU, and I phoned the offices for UCB and Columbia), but I have yet to hear any sort of rejection from them. Sort of frustrating to put so much time, effort, and money into applying, then not even warrant common courtesy.

I wouldn't freak out. Take my advice with a grain of salt (since I have no bearing on admissions processes/etc), but I think that it generally helps your application. I think the only way it could really hurt you is if you applied to a school and made it quite clear you were interested in only working with a single professor (which is a risk if they're not taking on students, but is also a risk considering you may not get along personally). Something to this effect was mentioned in a post about applications and interviews a few weeks (months?) back. Personally, it never hurt me. All the schools I applied to required me to list my research interests, and--in addition to listing them--I'd list faculty that represented those interests as well. For example, something along the lines of, "My research interests are X, Y, and Z. Ideally, I'd be able to pursue these interests at the University of Blank due to the concentration of faculty in these areas. Dr. A's work, for example, takes a unique approach to X...etc" It didn't hurt me at all, and several professors during my interviews mentioned that--though I'd mentioned them in my statement of purpose--they thought I might also want to look into other professors that I might have overlooked. In a nutshell, relax: they're not going to reject you because you dared to mention work by professors who weren't them

For me, I define 'fit' in several ways: how well does the university's research interests align with your own? How many professors are doing research you'd be interested in? What parts of the program do you think you'd enjoy taking part in (dual-degree/certificate programs, public outreaches, etc)? How does the area/geography/city/climate appeal to you? All these can be factors in determining fit for me. In a nutshell, I guess it's really, "Could I be happy here--both academically and personally--for five or more years?"

I figure that, since we've all been stressing out so long about applications and acceptances, it's going to be a little difficult coming down off of that adrenaline high. So, I made this thread to complain/rant/etc. about stuff that comes after! For example, moving. Cross-country moves (I'll be going from San Francisco, CA to Ann Arbor, MI) are a pain in the BUTT.

I'm a heavy metal drummer: it gives me exercise, lets me work out aggression while making music, and looks impressive when done properly. Plus it uses up a good chunk of my attention keeping me constantly focused on keeping a beat. I also play video games (Mass Effect 2 is currently sucking up a good chunk of time), read books (just finished up "The Golden Compass," and am going to head into "The Subtle Knife" soon), read webcomics (way too many to list, although--funnily enough--I hate PhDComics), write (short stories/poetry/graphic novel scripts), and watch documentaries (my girlfriend got me Carl Sagan's "Cosmos" for Christmas, and I'm getting her "The Life" collection w'/ David Attenborough, so we'll be busy on that front for quite some time).

Relax, you're in I felt the same way when I got a call from the professor informing me of my acceptance, and fretted until the e-mail arrived...but relax. You got it!

After talking it over with the girlfriend a month ago, and after my rejections from both my California schools/my acceptance into my top choice of Michigan, my situation has gone from bad to good: she offered to move with me and try to do her vet medicine degree at Michigan State University. I'm buying her David Attenborough's "The Life" collection as my way of saying thank you. She deserves it.

Without question, the wait. Everything else was a pain in the butt, but it was something that helped keep my mind off things and it was under my control: the interminable wait for that first e-mail notifying me of an interview is something I hope I never have to deal with again.

"Square Nothing" by In Flames. Seemed like a good way to kick out the nagging doubts before my first acceptance today "Spent some quality time with the demon of mine: I said, 'I like the way you struggled but you KNOW I'm here to win.' "

One of my favorite artists is a deceased J-pop singer named Hide (pronounced "Hee Deh"). He has some great songs (such as Ever Free), and this one, Misery. I translated it a while back just for the hell of it, but I figure this is a good song for those who are a bit depressed in the middle of admissions right now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEESkC2l8rc Hallelujah, the miserable, do you wanna show me how low and low? Hallelujah, the miserable, do you wanna show me how low and low, say hallelujah; Your pain happily unfolds its wings and dances down, the daylight taking your wounds and, gently, opens them; Hallelujah, the miserable, if you can hear the stars cry... hallelujah, the miserable, they're only tiny things, say hallelujah; If you sink into the darkness of night, you'll forget your shaking feelings, your swaying dreams, the small violences Count the falling stars, and you'll be tired of crying, as the blue moon smiles and closes your wounds. Stay free my misery, and I'll gather the falling sadness in my arms Kiss your misery, and I'll dance, until I can take everything as it is Stay free my misery, stay free my misery Stay free my misery Stay free my misery, if this exploding pain is only a passing wind Stay free my misery, then let's wait for a sunny day with rain, and I'll take your tears. If you say you're sad, it's the color of the sky and you'll cry over your inability to reach But the dreams that surround your small body will swallow the pain and you'll be radiant. Stay free my misery, if you reach your hands out you can feel it Stay free my misery; the love, the pain, you can take it all Stay free my misery, and I'll gather the falling sadness in my arms Kiss your misery, and I'll dance, until you can take it all Take in everything...and under this sky, you'll smile. Hallelujah, the miserable, I wanna show you how low and low, Hallelujah, the miserable, do you wanna show me how low and low? Hallelujah, the miserable, I wanna show you how low and low, Hallelujah, the miserable, do you wanna show me how low and low? Say hallelujah.

Well, if it's any consolation, competition to UC schools was a bear this year. Partly due to the omnipresent recession, partly due to the fact that the UC system is hemorrhaging money and raising fees like crazy to try and make up the deficit, partly due to a large applicant pool towards neuroscience this year. As someone who's dealt with the crap from the CSU system (and I can't imagine UC's much better), I'd say it might be a blessing in disguise. Then again, I've lived here my whole life and grad school's a whole different animal than undergrad, so take my advice with a grain of salt

I'm pretty sure UC Berkeley's a no-go. I called them last Friday and inquired about interview invitations, and they said that they'd send them out by the middle of this week. Someone over on College Confidential mentioned that he'd contacted them today, and they confirmed that all interview invitations had already been sent out.

The lab I currently work in has C. elegans as our model organism (we do genetics that relate to neuronal growth and tiling). I generally get responses such as, "Why study a worm?", but every so often someone asks, "So, wait, why do you guys just play with worms??"

I'll most likely celebrate by phoning my parents and girlfriend, letting them know the good news, and will then spend the next couple hours drumming myself into exhaustion. First song I'll play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaSkHWadAZo (caution: some NSFW language)

I think something helpful that I did was to find some little detail about the program and incorporate it into my statement of purpose. It showed that I'd not only researched the program and knew what I was getting into, but often it was about funding--an example would be additional grants offered through the university for your program (such as I believe the CiRM grant at UC Berkeley), factoids about the university that are relevant to your interests (such as Minnesota declaring that it would become one of the top research universities in the country, and its rankings rising quickly after that), etc.

Best thing to do is to go to the "Results" page, look up the schools/programs you're looking for, and see when international students have been invited. Regardless, I wouldn't stress out just yet. International student applications are (generally) reviewed later; and, while more competitive than domestics, silence right now doesn't mean rejection. Look at how many people (even domestics) are still waiting to hear something back.

Meh; some people are getting a little tense, and that's understandable. There's always going to be a few bad eggs, but--compared to most of the forums I've visited in my time on the internet--this place is a VERY welcome reprieve. I don't notice much of a change from earlier in the year to now (at least in terms of interpersonal reactions), but hey; if this is 'the air being thick', I'd happily take it over most forums that implode with drama.

The dual degree's part of it, but it's a mix of a lot of factors. In no particular order: the research being done is spot-on with my interests, the strong collaboration between labs (turns out that one lab I was interested in actually collaborates with two others I was interested in) and lack of cut-throat competition; I liked their attention to detail on just the 'little' things for people (such as the new biomedical sciences building having faculty spatially arranged according to research interests), all the grad students I spoke to were honest with me (but still were enthusiastic about their program), the area was both friendly and gorgeous (I actually like cold weather, so that's a bonus for me), the dual degrees, the opportunities for teaching I'd have while there, and the hospital on-campus helping immensely with translational research. Yeah, most of that could be attributed to attending what was effectively a recruitment weekend...but still. I'm DEFINITELY interested in getting to know the program better. January 28th can't come soon enough. PS: If you ever feel like chatting, let me know. My name on Yahoo and AIM is 'Enresshou' (although I'm invisible a lot of the time on Yahoo).

I wholeheartedly agree with the public policy idea, and I'm almost certainly going to go for that if I'm admitted to PIBS. My two goals after earning a Ph.D. are to do research and to do the public education of science (with a heaping helping of inspiration from Carl Sagan), and I was thrilled when she recommended me this program due both to the policy-making aspects of it and the ties that they have to local schools in Detroit.