Chimeric Phoenix
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Posts posted by Chimeric Phoenix
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Ferroportin,
I suggest making a positive spin on it. I had subpar grades in my undergrad and I addressed it in my SOP but did not dwell on it. You don't want it to take up more then a small paragraph, and if you can explain what you learned, took away from the negative experience it makes your SOP stronger. Also if you can get one of your LOR writers to address it in a letter that will help a lot as well. My current PI is going to address my low undergrad grades and how I have completely turned that around for my MS. Another faculty members opinion always holds a lot of weight.
Hope this helps!
I would second her response. Address the subpar grades in a positive light by explaining how you grew from the experience or whatever spin you like, and then get back to why you're such a great applicant. Your more recent grades and GRE are both outstanding. I don't think you need to spend more than a few sentences letting them know those first couple years were an outlier.
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Undergrad Institution: small liberal arts school for bachelor's & top ten research school for MPH
Major(s): biology undergraduate & epidemiology graduate
GPA in Major: 3.8
Overall GPA: 3.7
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 163
V: 165
W: 4.5
Are there any other places you would suggest? How competitive do you think I am for these programs?
I don't know what field you're interested in, but you will have a competitive application at any program. I'd say apply to any school that interests you. You're probably going to have a fun interview season =)
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If you have a strong application outside of your undergrad GPA (research experience, publications, presentation, GRE) it might be worth waiting awhile to take some graduate level courses before applying. I don't know your personal situation, but it's worth remembering that a PhD is a 5 year program (or so we're told lol) and the career path is highly competitive. You may not want to settle for a tier 3 program when you could wait a bit and get into a school like U of Chicago.
On the other hand, if you don't have a stellar GRE, a good reason that your UGPA was low, and a plan to make sure your grad GPA is much higher, you might not want to waste your time and money delaying a PhD application.
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As an international applicant, you might not be in a great position for the top tier schools; however, I think that you have a decently strong application considering your publication.
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On 7/21/2015 at 6:51 AM, biochemgirl67 said:
I know. I don't look forward to it and honestly I'm 95% sure I'll get in, let alone get an interview. I don't look forward to going to the interview and wasting an entire weekend. I guess I've kept it on there because I've been confused by conflicting opinions. Graduate students from my home institution are on the team of "why wouldn't you apply to UTK because it's a good enough school and you know you'll get in?" I've also been told by the grad students there that the top schools look for at least 5 publications and a GPA near 4.0, neither of which I have. I can't decide if they are bitter about ending up at ISU (where the biochem grad program isn't very strong) or if they actually know what they're talking about. People here at Harvard are on the team of "Well you're an Amgen scholar and you can go anywhere so why would you waste your time at UTK if they don't have a high caliber of research?" It's two opposite worldviews and with my nervousness over applying to high end schools (which I've never done before), I talk myself down to the point of wondering if I don't get in anywhere else, what will I do? I say now I'll do a postbacc but what if I want to go to grad school right off? I simply get scared and then keep it on the list when I consider the possibility of going no where else and then of having my REU PI be insulted.
Some PIs can get very prickly about not applying to their school. I wouldn't necessarily say you shouldn't apply to a safety school or just apply to appease that PI. However, you don't have to accept the interview and if you get interviews at any of those other schools you should probably decline. Nobody is looking for 5 publications. I interviewed at UDub Immunology a few years back, and most people had 0 publications. I also know people with interviews at Stanford, Princeton, Harvard, and UCSF. Most of them had stats similar to yours.
TL;DR keep the safety school, but decline the interview if you have a bunch of others from schools you like. If you don't have an acceptance offer before UofT interview weekend, it's not rude to still attend and just decline UofT acceptance later. These schools have a wait list for a reason.
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I think it's worth applying, but I do believe she is definitely on the outside chance of getting in if the Nature paper isn't published by the time she submits her application. Even with the Nature publication those are very difficult schools to get into, and her GPA is going to be probably .6 to .7 below the average accepted student.
Having said that, you'll never know if you don't try. Not to mention, if she is really dedicated to getting in this is only 1 application cycle. If that paper gets published and she spends the next year taking graduate courses wherever you end up, she shouldn't have any trouble finding a good school.
Final two thoughts: 1) She needs to ace the GRE. If she thinks she can do well on the subject test, that could help (or hurt if she does poorly). 2) Why hasn't she considered Johns Hopkins? (Andrea Cox, Bob Siliciano, Stuart Ray, Joel Blankson) [shameless plug]
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If you use google maps it gives the area. That's pretty close to inner harbor and a good neighborhood. Those apartments are pretty expensive though, unless you've got a roommate in mind or SPH pays better than SOM lol
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If anybody attending the Johns Hopkins Immunology interview weekend has any questions feel free to send me a PM
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I had only a 3.25 undergrad GPA but I have a 4.0 MS GPA, great LORs, lots of research, solid GRE scores, etc. You can see how my application season is going in my signature. I applied to 10 schools. Of the 10, 8 do interviews. I was invited to 6 of the 8 interviews. Of the 2 that don't interview, I have been accepted to 1 so far.
Basically, if your undergrad GPA is only negative in your application then you should be fine as long as it meets the requirements of the overall grad school (which is usually 3.0). If you're a bit below that then it gets harder but is still possible. I think that my MS gpa and high gre scores show the programs that I can handle the course work. Im convinced that my LORs have been the major selling point of my application. I say this because I have formed strong connections with professors in my department and I recently received an email from a POI which actually mentioned that I come very highly recommended.
Apply for the schools that are the best research fit and if your application is solid other than the undergrad GPA then I'm sure you'll do fine.
I pretty much had the same experience when I applied last year.
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Another option is to just apply to more schools this cycle. I had a friend that went 0/4 for their first round of applications. They then applied to a few more schools whose deadline hadn't passed and they ended up getting into a pretty good school.
I had a pretty bad UGrad GPA as well (my stats are in my sig) and I will echo the advice about getting an MS. I ended up paying for only 1 semester of school for mine, and getting a scholarship or TAship for the rest. Total extra loans was about 15 - 20k for living expenses.
I have no idea why people are saying a MS is useless. It is absolutely useful. You would enter the job market with 3+ years of experience and a MS as opposed to a BS. You'd go from 30-40k/yr to 50-60k/yr just like that. Your UGrad is going to make getting into a MS more difficult, but from my experience you DO NOT need to do your MS at a top tier research university to get into a top tier PhD program. You will need to do a thesis option to prove that you can do research/teach/study all at the same time.
TL;DR
Apply to more PhD programs right now or
Get your MS. Apply again, this time to a better spread of schools. If you're in the same place 2 years from now, it might be time to reconsider your career goals.
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Hi everyone. I'm super new here and I know I'm late to the game, but I thought I'd post my info. If anyone has any idea what my chances at some of these schools might be, I'd really appreciate it, or any other advice for that matter. I feel like I'm just shooting in the dark (that's why I'm applying so many places!). Thank you!!
Will probably apply (deadlines coming up):
UC Irvine- Mathematical, Computational, and Systems Bio
UC San Diego- Bioinformatics and Systems Bio
Dartmouth- QBS
USC- Computational Bio and Bioinformatics
Albert Einstein
UCLA - Biomathematics (one of my professors/recommenders/research mentors went here so that should help)
Brown- CCMB (still not sure about this one, but leaning yes. One of my professors/recommenders is friends with one of the core faculty at this program, but I don't know if that will help or not.)
I haven't heard about an interview from UNC or UPenn like some of you have. Congrats to those who have though!
Hey there, I would think you have a very strong application. You're planning to apply to a LOT of schools. I would suggest looking at all of the additional schools you're planning to apply to and making sure that there are at least 2-3 faculty with whom you'd like to work.
Good Luck! (but I doubt you'll need it) =)
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I tried to make it clear that the numbers I gave referred to the number of students who accepted their offers. In my opinion, a fairly liberal estimate of the number of offers given out is twice the number of students who accepted their offers.
From personal experience (clearly not statistical significance) the overwhelming majority of people who I interviewed with got acceptances where they interviewed. I've also been told by faculty who are part of the admissions process that it's mostly about making sure someone is going to fit in. Of course that's coming from an extremely small sample size, compared to the number and types of programs that exist.
I would still say very confidently that the interview process is more about you deciding if you like them. Obviously you should know your research, be professional etc. etc. but you should seriously try to enjoy the process as much as you can. You're not going to get another chance to fly around the country and get wined and dined for awhile.
Note on WUSTL: At least for immunology, they really seemed to have had some history of students wanting to attend schools on the coasts. So, they probably have a lot of invites/admissions to make up for location. Especially considering that many of the people I met there had interviews at Harvard/UCSF/Stanford. Once you start the interview circuit you see a lot of the same people at different schools.
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I've heard that it's very program specific. Some programs see the interview as more of a formality and some take it seriously.
It is program-specific, but the majority of programs offer admission to most of the interviewees. It costs them quite a bit of money to fly each person out, put them in a hotel, and feed them for 2-3 days. In most cases, they're checking to make sure you're not crazy. You also have to think about the fact that they have to offer admission to more people than they can accommodate since most interviewees will have multiple offers to choose from.
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I just realized I didn't mention that I am a 1st gen college grad anywhere in my SOP or any apps. Is that a mistake?
Probably would've been good, but no sense in worrying about it now
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I think you'll have a terrific shot at all of these programs, and would encourage you to apply to some higher tier ones too! If you're interested and match well with some Ivys/UC schools, why not, right?
I would agree. Your application should be competitive wherever you apply. Research experience is not about learning techniques so much as it is about learning the process of research. Even still, you've got plenty of the basics and you'll learn whatever else you need for your project when the time comes.
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I know that this isn't exactly the format but I figure this is the best topic to ask.
My major is Chemistry but I'm really really interested in neuroscience research. I didn't figure that out until my senior year. This is my gap year and I'm applying to Neuroscience PhD programs.
I went to a large private college for chemistry
overall gpa: 3.60
Major gpa: 3.59
Gre V: 165
Gre Q: 166
AW :5
Waiting for chemistry gre results.
I did 2 years of research in an organometalllic chemistry lab at my college where I also won a small research Grant, had my abstracts published and presented at a conference held at my school.
In my gap year, I'm interning at a pediatric oncology lab at a pretty prestigious med school. I wanted to learn more bio skills. I'm also auditing some neuroscience classes at that school.
Is this enough for a decent application? The research that I'm interested in doing is Chemistry related but it falls mainly under neuro.
I think that you've got a competitive application. Your GPA might be a little low for some of the top schools, but I don't think there's anywhere that is absolutely out of your reach.
Good Luck!
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If your senior thesis is due the end of the Spring Semester your Senior year, I don't think you need to be in a crazy rush to get started a month or two earlier. It always helps to do something that interests you, but like Vene said it really doesn't matter much at this point. Depth of research will be more important. If you're shadowing somebody doing really cool research or designing your own very boring research experiments most adcoms will be more impressed with the latter. When you have interviews, they'll want to know if you understand the process of science. You'll be much better at articulating the depth of your understanding if you've had personal experience.
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On 9/24/2014 at 2:14 AM, grumpy said:
Need advice of international admissions; I suspect the admissions process is more stringent than domestic ones ?
Undergrad Institution: Some university in singapore
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): -
GPA in Major: no idea
Overall GPA: 4.62/5 (so far, I don't know how it converts to the 4.0 scale, but it's a first class honours)
Position in Class: No idea, but the bell curve peaks at about the 3.8 range
Type of Student: International, female
GRE Scores
Q: 166
V: 163
W: waiting
B: haven't taken yet
Research Experience (total will have about 2.5 years):
- summer research internships every summer (one in Imperial in UK)
- two undergrad research projects
- doing my final year project now
- public health project that (hopefully) will get published
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
- Dean's Lists
- Undergrad scholarship from prestigious research institution (I think it's sorta known around the world)
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
- None, really
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
- undergrad research
- part of some special science programme in school (35/~200 people)
- accelerated to complete my degree in three years instead of four (which pretty much no one does)
Special Bonus Points:
- LOR: current PI has two labs, the other one is in Harvard
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
- terrible grades for one particular molecular biology module?
- I've contacted some PIs and they're not against having me in their lab?
Applying to Where:
Harvard BBS
Rockefeller
CSHL
JHU
MIT
WUSTL?
It's a small pool of schools, but I can't afford any more as an international student ? Any other international students who might have advice?
The program you plan on applying to is important. I know that the Immunology program here is funded through the NIH, so we have an international student this year that brought their own funding. You should definitely make sure that the programs on your list have funding for international students.
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I think another important factor to consider is the length of the SOP. If you have 1 page to talk about all of your accomplishments, what makes you a good student, and why you want to attend that school, you may not have space to mention 1 grade.
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There are pros and cons to every school, but in general more prestigious schools tend to have more money to spend. That can be nice if your research requires expensive equipment, or if you want to have some of the big names in your field give a talk. There are going to be great professors and not-so-great professors at every school, same with the students.
In the end, nobody will care where you did your PhD after you do a post-doc. Just like nobody will care where you did your post-doc after you get your first job. It's all about getting to the next level and every school expects you to be the driving force for your success.
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Undergrad Institution: University of Southern Maine
Major(s): Biochemistry
Minor(s): Biology
GPA in Major: 3.4 in Biology and Chemistry, 3.7 in overall sciences (Physics helps me there a lot)
Overall GPA: 3.6
Position in Class: Not sure
Type of Student: domestic, white female
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 156 (64%)
V: 156 (71%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
Biochem: Taking 9/27, hoping to redeem myself with this. General GRE wasn't too hot.
Research Experience: From undergraduate I have a cumulative of 2 years experience in 3 different labs (6mo, 3mo, and 15mo) in mol bio/biochem/biotech labs. From the 15mo research I recently had a paper accepted to Chembiochem (I think its like a 3 on impact scale). I did summer (3mo) research in a biochem lab with a focus on cancer. I just started a year long research job at UC Denver. By the time grad school starts (fingers crossed) - 3.25 years experience, all in academic settings.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Scholarship from my first college (I transferred after 2 years), Dean's list scattered here and there, best undergrad/overall poster at a regional conference, life science award from cardno entrix, chemistry community award from my undergrad institution for my work in clubs spreading chemistry knowledge/love.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Chemistry Club (secretary), Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (Student club VP, Regional chapter board member), Tutor in chemistry (general, analytical, biochemistry), TA of organic lab (1 semester), biochem lab (1 semester), general chemistry recitation (2 semesters).
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: One of my recommenders went to grad school at Rockefeller, and did his postdoc at Harvard. Not sure how much this will help, but I am looking to go into the same field as he is in so maybe I'll end up interviewing with someone who knows him
. Regardless, all of my LOR are strong.Special Bonus Points: I've presented 8 posters, one oral, at two national conferences, several other regional. My lab experience covers mol bio/biochem well - I have experience in cloning (in every lab I've worked in), loads of mol bio techniques, EM/DIC/Fluorescence microscopy, etc etc.
Applying to Where:
All Ph.D programs
MIT - Biology
Harvard - MCB
UPenn - Biochemistry & Biophysics
Rockefeller - Chemical Biology
UC Denver - Biomedical Science Program
Berkeley - Chemical Biology
Uni Washington - MCB
I realized I'm shooting high, but I decided to say the hell with safeties.. I don't want to settle. If I don't get in, my plan is to move back to the east coast, get a research job in Boston, and try again next year. Hoping to destroy the biochem gre next weekend
!Good luck this year. Since you've already stated that you're willing to try again if things don't work out, my only advice would be to focus on your GRE/GPA. Your research experience is definitely the strength of your application. Acing some graduate level courses and shoring up your general GRE would put you right in the mix with the other applicants.
Having said all that, you could get 5 acceptances this year lol
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I was in a similar position, but with not too terrible of a loan situation. I ended up only paying for 1 semester of my MS and taking out minimal loans to live off. If you check the mega-thread you'll find someone else that found some funded MS programs.
If you do your best on the GRE now, and then devote yourself to your classes when you take them you'll be in the best position possible.
Good Luck!
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Have you checked the cut-off for the GRE in these places? Your GRE score, while not terrible, may prevent you from getting into the UC schools. If your heart is set for California, you may want to consider retaking it.
Otherwise your application seems strong enough. I think your next steps would be to write a killer statement, maybe retake the GRE, and think about who would write your recommendation letters.
I have to agree, UC schools can be pretty tough to get into. The GRE is definitely your achilles heel. You still have time to get a good deal of studying done before retaking the GRE if you're only working full-time. Add 7-10 points to those scores and you'll be golden =)
2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results
in Biology
Posted
Haven't really been keeping up with this year's application cycle, but anyone interviewing at Johns Hopkins SOM feel free to message me with any questions. I'm a 2nd year Immunology student, I'm done with qualifying exams and into my thesis research (more or less).