Serric

Hey, LifeIsGood, That might've been me, since I did get an interview invite to UM PIBS yesterday afternoon for the weekend in late January. Also, congratulations (I'm assuming), Bryan! Let me know what interview weekend you're going to, and maybe we can meet up!

Call the PIBS department, explain the situation, and ask if that was indeed an interview invitation.

My stress wasn't so much about 'what does it say about me if I don't get into X school' (or any school, which was the real worry); but more along the lines of "not wanting to put my life on hold for another year, after five and a half years of undergrad". Now that I've got one interview invite, so I'll know that the entire process wasn't ENTIRELY in vain, I'm back to 'normal' levels of stress.

Got an interview invite to UMich PIBS today by phone, for the 1/28-1/30 interview weekend. First interview invite, and I am SO happy I can finally relax about this.

Roughly $900; including the GRE, roughly $1040. I applied to ten schools, so $160 of that was for the ETS to send my scores to the schools (I didn't end up applying to two schools that I listed). That's the part that annoyed me the most, as it's ridiculous that printing a score and mailing it could be THAT expensive (especially since most of the time they'll just dump a lot of scores on a CD and mail it to a department that requests it). Screw the ETS for nickel-and-diming potential graduate students on every little thing for an already bull-plop test.

I'm normally patient, but the waiting is taking it's toll on me; especially due to the 'false starts'. I submitted all my supplemental materials, as well as my last apps, around the middle of October to beginning of November. A few weeks later, I called every school to verify their receipt so I wasn't left scrambling at the last second. Now I'm frustrated because I keep getting e-mails from schools and thinking it's an interview invite when it's just "We have your materials, and we're reviewing your application." Today was the zenith; got a call from a number in San Francisco that's pretty close to the phone number for UCSF, picked up the phone, a woman introduced herself and asked how I was doing...then started saying how she needed the hole in her apartment wall fixed, and that we'd agreed upon a price and she could pay more for a better job, etc. Except that I'm NOT a contractor, and she wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise until I finally hung up out of frustration. I canNOT wait until the waiting process is over. Nothing frustrates me more than waiting when something's totally out of my control.

University of Rochester and WUSTL were free, as well as Drexel University.

I finished all my applications four weeks ago, and--prior to that--I was using any anxiety or stress to polish up my statement of purpose/research schools/etc. Now they're done, and I'm stuck waiting--I usually don't stress until there's nothing more I can do, so the wait is killing me. Anybody in the same boat?

I applied for the neuroscience track, but they asked something similar (and I thought they gave WAY too little space). Long story short, I listed the faculty I'd be most interested in my statement of purpose, then gave little blurbs such as, "Similar interest in stem cell transplantation," or, "Matches my interest in viral vectors," etc. I think they just want a quick reason why you chose them, nothing super in-depth.

Last 3 LOR's submitted. I am now 10/10...and now have to wait for admissions decisions with no constructive way to add to my applications. Bleh.

Something I did with my top choices that sort of says 'this is my top choice' without actually saying it was basically this: after writing out my research with, I started the section explaining my fit with, "Ideally, this would be at the University of (blank) due to..." Short, sweet, to the point, and it let them know why I was interested. Agree with the above posters that outright saying, "This is my top choice school," would do nothing--they already know you're interested, whether it's your first or last choice. Spend the time to find little things about their program you're interested in that others might have missed--a potential training grant, for example, that you could apply for; or some of their certificate programs (if they have any).

The professor writing my third and final LoR finally submitted them today; so now I'm totally done with 7/10 applications. I'm just waiting on the second professor for three schools (Wisconsin, Berkeley, and Johns Hopkins), since all of my supplemental materials have been submitted. Application deadlines: earliest is December 1st (top choice school), latest is January 1st, most are in middle December. I just wanted to get them DONE and over with.

Submitted my last application today, and now begins the interminable wait. Looking at the past couple years, I've got at least five and a half weeks until I hear anything back...

I've finished and submitted all of my applications (ten schools in total), and am now waiting for two out of my three LoR writers to submit their letters (one professor has already submitted all of them, so I'm waiting for the others :-/). Transcripts and everything are already sent out; I'm just hoping it works to my advantage from rolling admissions.

Hey, thanks for the advice TMP! I just thought I'd try Zingerman's since four or five people mentioned it earlier in the thread (and I'm a sucker for sandwiches). I'll definitely try and squeeze in everything you mentioned, and thanks for the help!

So I'll be in Ann Arbor for the Michigan PIBS Preview weekend Oct. 29th-31st. I'm gonna go see Zingerman's, but anywhere else I should go to try and get a good feel for the city?

Hey, sorry for the late reply, but I REALLY have to thank you. I read your message about the PIBS open house, found the PIBS PREVIEW weekend, applied...and am now getting a trip to Michigan to go to their PIBS PREVIEW weekend. Thanks again!!! Also, does anybody know if an invite to a program like that definitely signifies anything beyond 'we want to help you strengthen your application,' considering it's an expenses-paid trip and they arrange meetings with faculty? Well, you could always e-mail the programs and ask. Research experience (at least from the general trend I've seen on this board and College Confidential) nearly always outweighs GPA; and I'm sure Belowthree would smack you for worry about your GPA As for standing a chance at these schools, here's the link to Duke's graduate programs admissions stats: http://gradschool.duke.edu/about/stats.php. I'm not sure what program you're applying to, but the Cell/Molecular Biology umbrella program has an average GPA of 3.6. The good news is that Duke also uses a different grading system (on a 4.0 system, a B is a 3.0, a B- a 2.8, and a B+ a 3.4), and your GRE scores are all above the average they list. Plus at least one graduate student I've spoken to from there has said that Duke isn't as "number-happy" as some other schools.

I've contacted professors at nearly every university I've applied at; most have been the, "Thanks for the e-mail, we're accepting grad students, and good luck!", a couple have been, "We'll wait 'til you're accepted and then see if you fit," but a couple have been pretty helpful. I contacted one professor about the interests posted on his website, but it turned out his research interests had shifted. He gave me a rundown on the current state of his lab's research interests, said they were accepting grad students, and seemed pretty enthusiastic when I told him his new research interests were still in line with mine. Most helpful was a professor I was really interested in working with. Twenty minutes after my e-mail, I got a response from him saying that he likes to keep a small number of graduate students in his lab at any one time, so he wasn't sure if he was going to have a spot open (though he said he should). He then went on to write about two paragraphs on similar research interests to his being done at their university, the professors' specialties (since I'm interested in biomedical stuff, whether it was more of a basic science or biomedical approach) and names, and told me to ask for his cell phone number if he wasn't on campus during my interview. So, pretty stoked about that, and he's definitely my top choice at one of my top choice institutions.

It's good you're getting started on it early. The best advice I can give you is to write early and revise, revise, revise. Write it, let it sit for a few days, revise, and repeat. As for 'relating a specific area of research', even if you're not sure mention that you have an idea of what you'd like to do and why that program would be a good fit for you. Look outside the faculty for reasons to apply: for example, my primary research interests are in neural stem cell biology. A lot of the time, if there's a stem cell institute/center present, there's also further grants/training opportunities present: mentioning this shows that a) you've done your homework and presents you with potential additional funding. As for the whole 'making it exclusive to each school I apply to', I'd say the best thing to do is to have one paragraph dedicated to why you'd be a good fit at that particular school. That's what I've done, and it works remarkably well: all I really have to change are the last three sentences to the faculty at the current school, why I'd like to work with them, and any miscellaneous notes I feel would help make my application stronger.

I wouldn't worry about re-taking your GREs. Looking at the numbers for Duke and UMN, your scores are right in the average range for those matriculated. For myself: GPA: 3.3 (cumulative)/3.7 (major) GRE: 770Q/640V/4 AW 7 months research experience in each of two labs (neurobio lab and genetics lab) Applying to programs in neuroscience w'/ an emphasis in neural stem cell differentiation/transplantation/gene therapy Schools: UC Berkeley UMN Twin Cities UMI Ann Arbor PIBS UWisconsin Madison University of Rochester Albert Einstein CoM SUNY Stony Brook Columbia University Duke University WUSTL Drexel University UCincinnati Ohio UW Seattle

Although academics was my number one factor in choosing a school, I will admit geography did play a fairly important role in narrowing down the list of schools I'd look into. Although geography's not THE most important factor, I'd say that it will affect everybody to some extent. Regardless of academics, if somebody HATED snow, a program in Michigan--regardless of how attractive it may be--may prove problematic when you have to deal with 5+ years of heavy snow.

I'd chill, man. The GRE is largely used as a cutoff, not something that will "wow" admissions committees--I'd say a 740 is perfectly fine for getting you past that initial cutoff point. To quote the oft-repeated phrase, "A bad score will keep you out, but a good score won't get you in."

I'll be applying to definitely 10, most likely 11 schools. My numbers aren't terrible, but I don't feel they're stellar, so I want to give myself a good buffer.

First off, relax. Really. I don't test very well either, but I did fairly well after three weeks of studying for the GRE; it just depends in part on how much time/energy you can devote to preparing for it. I'd say taking it in October would be advisable, since it gives you a bit more of a buffer in case your scores are lost/misreported/etc., and you've got two plus months to study for it. Second, manage your time well. Look up what scores your program focuses most heavily on, and devote the bulk of your study time to that (for example, in engineering the quantitative score is the biggest focus; while a 500+ or so is okay on verbal, a 'strong' score is 770-800 quantitative; in the humanities, I'd expect it to be the opposite). Pick up a study guide (I'd recommend Barron's) or two, and hop to it. Third, RELAX. The GRE is a huge pain, no question, but it's not nearly as bad as people make it out to be. Prepare, take the practice tests in your book(s), take the practice tests on the GRE PowerPrep software (provided free of charge through Kaplan, although I'd recommend taking other practice tests first as the Powerprep tends to score more accurately, at least in my experience), and you'll do fine. The GRE, in my opinion, wasn't NEARLY as bad as the SAT was.

I would agree with everybody above in that you shouldn't put it in your Statement of Purpose. What I would probably do, however, is try to create as best a fit as you can with the schools you plan on applying to, put these strengths and connections on paper, and give them as part of the packet to the professors who will be recommending you: it should help 'target' the LoR, and might help your chances. Best of luck to you!