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elanorci

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Posts posted by elanorci

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    Just now, pasteltomato said:

    Does anyone know if our schools/PIs are informed that we won the award? I remember entering my program director's email address in the application but I don't know if NSF will email them directly. 

    I don't know, but if I got it, I was going to forward the email to my advisor myself with a happy gif at the top :P You should defniitely let them know!! 

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    7 minutes ago, sqxz said:

    I can hardly believe it, but I got it! I don't know how I'm going to sleep now...

    Congrats sqxz!!! I remember you from the bio forums during my application cycle :D:D I'm so glad this worked out for you.

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    I didn't even set an alarm or anything but woke up randomly a couple minutes ago, ha! 

    No award, got HM. VG/VG, VG/E. (Not sure why I didn't get more than two reviews -- anyone know how this is decided?) 

    I was really annoyed at first, largely since I think the comments are so dumb and unhelpful -- 2/3 of my VG ratings had only seemingly really positive comments ("X Y Z is really great!") and no apparent downsides. But after just a couple of minutes, I'm pretty over it. Gotta roll with the punches, right? And anyway, I definitely met people here who deserve it more and will benefit more. 

    Congrats to all who got it. (:

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    6 minutes ago, Pink Fuzzy Bunny said:

    I'm a little sad that they aren't coming out until 6 instead of 3... I was hoping for a late-night tinychat session or something so we could wait together, but I'm sure most people won't be staying up until 6!

    I'd still be up for a chat session! I won't be up til 6, but I usually go to bed around 1 ET, so I'm game until then. I've already started drinking an IPA or two - it'd be nice to chill and commiserate with people in the same boat (: 

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, FaultyPowers said:

    For what it's worth on the "Received" vs. "Reviewed" status change, I shopped it around the Anthropology forum and so far I've had one response, from a previous winner, who said that his/her status did NOT change before their award was announced.

    Awesome, thanks for investigating :)

     

    15 minutes ago, jh689 said:

    Hops are a sleep aid, so go IPA. 

    Thank you for telling me this. How convenient -- I just bought some harpoon IPA this weekend...! 

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    Glad to see the consensus is that the received/reviewed thing is bunk. (Though I can't believe reddit would lie to me! So betrayed! /s) 

    Who knows if it'll come out tonight, but I def can't stay up until 6 am... 3 was pushing it, but this is past my limit! Good luck to everyone, especially those of you with enough resolve to stay up waiting for it. :)

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    Also, do we think that the changing of some people's application status from 'received' to 'reviewed' is indicative of winning? I'd be interested to know, as if so there will be a way for people in future years to tell reasonably far in advance...! 

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, Tahlain said:

    AH!!!

    NSF.JPG

    Also, a separate one on the GRFP page.

    Capture.JPG

    But this maintenance is until 6 am -- doesn't the maintenance that precedes the award decisions usually only go until 3? 

    The plot thickens...... 

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    2 hours ago, pterosaur said:

    Not NSF, but I just got a call that I got the DOE CSGF. I'm absolutely in shock. I didn't expect to hear back this early, let alone hear that I got it! Definitely reduces the stress for waiting on the GRFP. :P

    Congrats pterosaur!!!! :D:D

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    Ugh, I just got rejected from something else I applied for (non-academic, but still, I really wanted it) that I was waiting to hear about and am really bummed. Like most of you I just want all the waiting to finally be over ): 

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    avidman, I know of several labs where there are two or more people who won the GRFP. I wouldn't worry. And, as everyone's said, probably the people deciding aren't even aware! :)

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Dibenzofulvene said:

    I had a dream last night/this morning that NSF was updating fastlane with hashtags leading up to the reveal. Very strange. 

    Can't wait to stayup with you all on reveal night!

    excited for this. i will also def be drinking a bit... 

    we should start an IRC chat or something -- would anyone else be down?

    NSF GRFP 2016

    in The Bank

    Posted

    Wow, I haven't been on this site in a while...!

    Logging back in to join everyone for the wait. I'm a second year grad student (haven't really posted on gradcafe since I was applying...!) but first time GRFP applicant. 

    Just wanted to say good luck to everyone. Let's try to keep our minds off of it during the wait. I'm heading to the beach tomorrow - pretty excited for the vacation and the distraction!

    2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted · Edited by elanorci

    Ho boy. I plan on emailing potential PIs this week.

     

    Undergrad Institution: Very large state school; Known for medical research

    Major(s): Biomedical Engineering

    Minor(s): Potentially Neuroscience?

    GPA in Major: 3.93

    Overall GPA: 3.97

    Position in Class: At least in the top 1/5th of my BME class

    Type of Student: Domestic female

    GRE Scores (revised):

    Q: 169 (97%)

    V: 165 (95%)

    W: 5.5 (98%)

    B: N/A

    Research Experience:

    -Summer research at my school; analysis of miRNA expression in prostate cancer patients; got a poster out of it (presented twice, both just at different symposiums within my school); will hopefully have a paper under review by the time apps go in (co-first/second author)

     

    -(technically ~1-1.5 years) Volunteer in an injury biomechanics research lab within my school; helped instrument cadavers for impact testing, cleaned tools, prepared instruments, etc.

     

    -(ongoing) 5 months of volunteering in a motor neuron disease lab at my school; work with mouse models, PCR, cryostat sectioning, etc.

    Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Merit-based scholarships?

    Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Anatomy TA and (one-time) calculus tutor

    Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: ?

    Special Bonus Points: I'm a lady. Does that help at all?

    Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Various campus involvement: leadership roles in students organizations (BMES and AEMB, the BME honorary)

    Applying to Where:

    All programs will be Neuroscience PhD programs. Interests include adult neurogenesis, stem cells, Alzheimer's/Parkinson's, depression, and anxiety

     

    Current list (in order of interest, probably needs to be cut down):

     

    Harvard University

    Columbia University

    University of Washington

    UC San Francisco

    Stanford University

    University of Wisconsin

    UC Irvine

    Northwestern University

    Rockefeller University

    Johns Hopkins University

    Wake Forest University

    University of Rochester

     

     

    My big question is: Do I have too many top tier schools? I'm incredibly nervous about applying to too many "reach" schools and getting in to none...

     

    Of course every case/year/school/etc is different, but FWIW you have slightly better background/stats than I did (different field, but yeah) and I fared well. As long as you have one safety that you'd be happy attending just in case something goes terribly awry, I think you'll be totally fine and wouldn't change your list. 

    Advice on what programs to apply to

    in Biology

    Posted · Edited by elanorci

    It sounds like your interests could fall into programs nominally called things like: Quantitative Biology, Computational Biology, Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics, Biophysics, and probably some other stuff. I would recommend judging which programs you want to apply to based not on the name of the program but on the work being done by faculty within it; titles don't mean a ton. 

     

    I was in a similar situation to you: I was interested in moving more toward computational/quantitative things but my major was in traditional biology, as as a lot of my research background. Check out my signature for some of the programs that I applied to. In particular, I could recommend Baylor SCBMB, Princeton QCB, and Harvard Biophysics. It's also totally fine to apply to a mix of "Biology" and more quantitative-sounding programs, which is what I did; programs like MIT/Caltech Biology are so broad that almost anything falls under their purview. 

     

    (Note on "Biophysics": there's not really a consistent meaning to this term across schools. At some places, it's things like protein folding, membrane dynamics, NMR, etc, but at other places (like Harvard) it basically just means 'anything quantitative or computational.' Again, I would look at anything that seems even remotely related, and then narrow them down based on what faculty are in the program and what research they're doing. Don't let names put you off.) 

     

    Best of luck! You're getting an early start on this, which is great :D

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