rexzeppelin

Over the Rainbow as sung by Israel "IZ" Kamakawiwoʻole: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1bFr2SWP1I
 
This is probably the most carefree song I have on my computer, and I listen to it any time I am having an awful day. The accompaniment is a simple ukelele, and his voice is smooth and gentle. It makes me happy.

The Section Quartet!  I'm also gonna go SUPER NERDY on y'all and say- a bath, wine, Shostakovitch's 5th Symphony - perfection!
But then, I'm very much a classical music nerd (and a proud one!). :-)

From my homesick heart to yours: The Ashokan Farewell.

UW IMMUNOLOGY INVITE!

This, 100%. Only difference is I knew exactly what I wanted to do, and during school I was swamped with extracurriculars, research jobs, and my honors thesis. However, I still found myself pressed for time with another year. The work experience though, is extremely helpful and helped me realize that I really love school and want to dedicate the insane amount of years it takes to get a PhD. Student loan repayments suck, but it's helped with money management which is something that will be needed when going through graduate school. Luckily, I found a job in academia so they are very supportive of me having interviews and working on applications.
 
Another interesting part of taking a year off: I thought I'd settle into the working world and wouldn't want to get out of that comfort zone. However, in my research job I find that working with these populations I have a LOT of questions of my own and get frsutrated that I can't do that much with my bachelor's degree. So in a weird twist, it has motivated me to go back that much more because I realize just how much I need  PhD to really do the research I want to do. It's pretty reassuring to have that happen, as it solidifies the decision to go back. But this poster above lays out the pros/cons really well.

Working in a clinical lab right now for big pharma almost feels like being on an assembly line, there is absolutely zero tolerance for initiative or creativity on the part of the lab scientist since everything has to conform to rigorously standardized SOPs. We even have to read SOPs on how to read SOPs!!! I guess that's just what producing clinical data requires. I know this isn't representative of all industry research but it's definitely a stark contrast to the creative environment of the research I did as an undergrad. 
 
That said I agree with you Dirty that I'm glad I got to experience both sides before starting a PhD, as they are completely different animals. 
 
Oh and don't worry about an errant Orgo grade. I was concerned my C+ in orgo would shut doors for me (and it still might), but it hasn't affected me so far.
 

Nice..I currently work at Roche. I definitely agree that acadamia and industry is pretty different. 

I just wanted to mention that in graduate schools, I don't think any school is anywhere near 90% enrollment of accepted students. The Yale BBS umbrella program is something like 1/3. Other factors like fit and potential advisors are too important for "top" schools to get such high enrollment numbers, I think. You may interview at the #1 through 5 ranked schools, but find your potential advisor at the #10 school is too good to turn down. I think that probably keeps people from automatically accepting an acceptance from a "top" school.

I don't think publications matter all that much in admissions for PhD programs. You are doing the PhD to focus on a particular topic and out of that work is where the beginning of your career's publication record will be. I had none and had no trouble getting into several excellent programs. Certainly there is the occasional student who has had a stellar undergrad/master's career and has a publication that is very much their own body of work, but every time I mentioned in my interviews feeling inadequate because I had nothing to "show for" three years of undergraduate research, I was told it wasn't very important and that there isn't much of a difference between having a third-author paper and having no paper at all. A pattern of dedication to laboratory work is important, but the experience of the work and understanding what you're getting yourself into is far more important than a product out of it, in my opinion.

So while I am waiting for an e-mail from my first grad school I made this!! Scungilli a la Sorrentina! Can I add this to my application? lol

Harvard BBS is sending them out in waves, right?  Right?

I got 54th percentile on the biochem GRE and sent it to every school. UT Southwestern still gave me an interview...if this helps even one person that is unnecessarily freaking out over the subject gre, it'd be worth it.

Imagine where we all might be in 30 years, huddled around dimly lit tables in nameless departmental basements, snow piling up outside as night falls, slurping coffee while poring over stacks of applications for a fresh crop of students, laughing at bad essays and remarking to your colleagues about how you could never get in nowadays. 
 
Happy holidays guys! 

Imagine where we all might be in 30 years, huddled around dimly lit tables in nameless departmental basements, snow piling up outside as night falls, slurping coffee while poring over stacks of applications for a fresh crop of students, laughing at bad essays and remarking to your colleagues about how you could never get in nowadays. 
 
Happy holidays guys! 

Imagine where we all might be in 30 years, huddled around dimly lit tables in nameless departmental basements, snow piling up outside as night falls, slurping coffee while poring over stacks of applications for a fresh crop of students, laughing at bad essays and remarking to your colleagues about how you could never get in nowadays. 
 
Happy holidays guys! 

Here is another interesting piece (just read the executive summary unless you have a ton of time). It is a survey of postdocs in Canada and part of it addresses the same issue--postdocs are getting longer and the instability of the job is driving people away! http://www.mitacs.ca/sites/default/files/caps-mitacs_postdoc_report-full_oct22013-final.pdf
 
I don't think it's fair to say that "they chose to leave academia/research so don't feel bad for them". I think the system is set up so that many talented people don't really have a choice. In some cases, the opportunities are not there / too much competition. Or, there may be other personal/health constraints, such as geographic ones. Sure, you can argue that these are one's "choice" and that if you were "dedicated" you would be willing to work in middle of nowhere to continue doing science. I don't agree though and I think it is sad that instead of getting the best people getting jobs in academia, it becomes more of a matter of who is willing to work more hours or put up with crappy postdoc conditions etc. It seems to me that I might have to choose between a non-academic career where I can have a stable income to support a new family near my parents, or an academic career without the right economic and social support to start a family the way I want. So, I feel that for many people who want other things in their life besides research work, we/they may have no choice but to leave academia.
 
On the other hand, I don't think it's fair to feel sorry for those who leave either. Even if they didn't want to leave, they may be happier in their new careers. Also, that attitude implies that if you are PhD not working in research in your field, you are automatically a failure. I do think that one main goal of the PhD is to train a person to do independent, original research, but that training can also impart a lot of other useful skills that you can use in other careers too. I believe that PhD programs should encourage and support their students who might want to pursue other careers after graduation. Departments that truly believe all of their PhD graduates will get tenure tracked positions are either deluded or buying into the "Ponzi scheme". It is a reality that the tenure track position "market" can't support all the PhD generated each year, so I think graduate programs should try to help their students succeed in whatever career path they choose after graduation!

Imagine where we all might be in 30 years, huddled around dimly lit tables in nameless departmental basements, snow piling up outside as night falls, slurping coffee while poring over stacks of applications for a fresh crop of students, laughing at bad essays and remarking to your colleagues about how you could never get in nowadays. 
 
Happy holidays guys! 

Imagine where we all might be in 30 years, huddled around dimly lit tables in nameless departmental basements, snow piling up outside as night falls, slurping coffee while poring over stacks of applications for a fresh crop of students, laughing at bad essays and remarking to your colleagues about how you could never get in nowadays. 
 
Happy holidays guys! 

Imagine where we all might be in 30 years, huddled around dimly lit tables in nameless departmental basements, snow piling up outside as night falls, slurping coffee while poring over stacks of applications for a fresh crop of students, laughing at bad essays and remarking to your colleagues about how you could never get in nowadays. 
 
Happy holidays guys! 

Imagine where we all might be in 30 years, huddled around dimly lit tables in nameless departmental basements, snow piling up outside as night falls, slurping coffee while poring over stacks of applications for a fresh crop of students, laughing at bad essays and remarking to your colleagues about how you could never get in nowadays. 
 
Happy holidays guys! 

Imagine where we all might be in 30 years, huddled around dimly lit tables in nameless departmental basements, snow piling up outside as night falls, slurping coffee while poring over stacks of applications for a fresh crop of students, laughing at bad essays and remarking to your colleagues about how you could never get in nowadays. 
 
Happy holidays guys! 

Yeah. Usually schools have a pretty fancy system set up where they use a device specifically tailored to crunch numbers. I believe it's called a 'Calculator.' Although, it's likely only the Ivys have such an advanced device.

For the love of tiny little cuttlefish, everybody:  please post your scores when you post your admissions decisions on the survey.  It helps people.

ilikeargyle, WashU is going to be a tough one, and so are the Ivy Leagues. Those are incredibly competitive (yes, most programs are, but those are cut-throat). Your grade profile/GREs look very similar to what mine were. I applied to WashU (who said they had close to 1000 applicants) and didn't make the cut. I also applied to UW for Immunology. They had hundreds of applications for 2 spots, as did the MCB program, so be careful, there; I know UW does do a cutoff before they look at applications. I think you'd stand a good chance at some of the others, including UT Houston and Baylor.
 
Probably the best thing for all of you to do right now is take some time to NOT think about the name of the school. It is debatable how important rank really is, but make sure you're not picking a school just for that. Before you do applications, go through the professor profiles for each school. Look up their recent publications because odds are what is on the school website isn't updated. Make sure there are multiple professors you could see yourself working under. This is important... don't go somewhere where you find out nobody is doing what you want to do.
 
Also check out where their students end up and how long it takes them to graduate. How do classes and qualifying exams work, and how do you feel about that? For example, Baylor's IMBS program has 10 months of classes and rotations, then qualifying exams, and you're in candidacy by your second year while UF's Interdisciplinary program spaces classes out over two years and then you do qualifying exams... I know that for myself, after completing a Master's, I felt like I wanted to limit the time I spent in classes.
 
The last part you might only be able to determine at interviews, but feel out the environment of the students. Are they constantly competing with each other for everything and are looking over their shoulders? Or do they have a friendly competition with a camaraderie that allows them to have fun and help each other out?

I don't have regret about where I chose to go to undergrad.  Sometimes I wonder what life would have been like if I hadn't been a first-generation college student and I had known about financial aid - I was an outstanding black student from a financially disadvantaged family, and probably could've gotten heaps of need-based money to attend an elite university or liberal arts college.  I went to a very good SLAC on a merit scholarship instead.  So I wonder sometimes whether I would be taken differently if I had went somewhere more prestigious or well-known - even for something mundane as not having to explain my college to people every time they ask me where I went to undergrad ("I went to X College...it's a small liberal arts college in Y City.  No, it's a women's college..." vs. "I went to Wellesley.")
 
But then I realize that I wouldn't be the me that I am today without having gone to my SLAC, and I like the me I am.  I got a lot of very valuable experiences at my undergrad.  It changed who I am as a person in a very positive way and gave me values that I am proud of.  Plus I need to expend energy on looking forward, as I complete my dissertation and prepare for the next phases of my professional career.  So I don't spend a lot of time dwelling on it.
 
At some point you realize - the things in the past you can't change.  Whether that's your GPA or your GRE scores or that nonmajor class you failed because you skipped one too many times, the fact that you started doing research in your senior year instead of junior, or just something as basic as where you chose to go to undergrad.  You made the best choice for yourself at the time with the available information that you had.  Hindsight is always much clearer than foresight, but when you were 18, you had no way of knowing that you would lose interest in that field.  And I'm sure that you're none worse for the wear for it - is it negatively impacting where you are now?  You seem to be well-adjusted, with lots of friends and experiences to enjoy.
 
Lastly,
 
 
You do not know this, because there is literally no way to know this. You cannot go back and time and do a counterfactual experiment - go to the other college as the you you were when you were 17 or 18, and do it all over.  You don't know that you would've found more fulfillment, been better prepared to grad school, or saved time.  Perhaps you would've majored in something close to your old field, decided you hated it and entered a corporate position.  Perhaps your more ambitious friends at the other places would've peer pressured you into trying pre-med or pre-law.  Perhaps you would've struggled and failed a few classes and had to do what you're doing now anyway.  You never know what your outcome would've been had you done things differently.  We as humans just like to imagine that if we selected the other option that things would've been better, but there's simply zero ways of knowing that.
 
Focus on you now, and being the best you that you can be.  Reflect on the experiences at your undergrad that made you who you are.  And if there is somewhere that you want to go and you need extra tools or experiences to get there, figure out how to earn those.