devneuro18

I would say its pretty uncommon. In my class of 21, I think there's 1 or 2 at most with first author publications. That said, having a first author publication along with a solid letter can be really helpful if you have some kinda blemish on your app (GPA, etc).

Hey All, Congrats on acceptances and such thus far! I'm a current student at Weill Cornell (BCMB specifically). If anyone has questions about Weill or my experiences after 1 year, feel free to PM or ask here.

Hey Everyone, I'm a current student in the BCMB program. PM or post here with any questions you guys have as you make your decisions.

Two more questions for the group, thanks in advance! 1. If I have a hiccup in the my academic record in terms of low grades for a semester. Basically, in undergrad my grades were F: great, S: good, J: terrible, S: great (fresh, soph, etc). One of my letter writers will speak about this time, and will touch on how I overcame it with help from the lab/him. For graduate school applications, there was usually a field where you could discuss any anomalies. I mentioned this briefly, but always talked about what I learned from the experience and how it has made me far more resilient. I took 2 years after undergrad to do some coursework and published 2 first author papers to prove myself a bit before grad school. (Papers weren't even published for grad school apps, they were published recently). Should this be mentioned anywhere in the application? 2. One of the ways I helped remedy that terrible academic performance was by taking some coursework during my "time off". How does this factor into my eligibility? To be clear, I took undergraduate coursework, this was not graduate coursework. Thanks!

Hi everyone, I'm a first year graduate student in Biology who will be applying for the GRFP. Quick question, my program does rotations first year, so I will be in a rotation lab from mid September until the end of the year. Should I include a letter from this PI in my application? As a point of note, I was planning on using my letters from graduate school applications: 1. PI from 2 year post-graduate research lab, have 1 published co-first author paper here. I also have 1 sole author manuscript under review 2. PI from 3 years of undergraduate research. 3. Professor from class in undergrad where I did really well, and have helped the PI with some mentorship stuff post-graduation I guess I could replace #3 with my rotation PI. Second question, in terms of proposal is it smarter to: 1. Talk about a project from letter writer #1's lab (2 years of research post-grad). I have worked in this field for a few years so I would have more credibility. Problem here is that I will definitely not continue this work in grad school. (this proposal would be about mechanisms of stomach development, left-right patterning, etc) 2. Talk about a new project from my rotation. I would have less credibility, and since it is a slightly new field I'm not sure if my proposal would be as polished. (this proposal would be about novel hpRNA's and other non-coding RNA's identified in my rotation lab and their specific phenotypes with neural development) I realize both proposals are broad, they will be more feasible when I start narrowing it down and writing. Thanks!

I would definitely recommend Papers, it's a great way to organize any papers that you have. I've head the iPad and iPhone apps are pretty great too. You can also highlight and take notes within the papers, so it's mostly meant as an archive. I have no direct experience with the Windows app, but it does exist. It also has a citation tool built in that works similarly to Endnote, but my institution has an Endnote license and Papers makes it easy to export your library to Endnote for citation purposes. I find that Endnote handles citations better, for example if you downloaded a paper while it was an early/web release, Endnote is smart enough to find the journal/page specific information that you need when citing it.

I agree with what was said above, however if you are not interested in Ecology and the work you are doing in the current lab you should jump ship. You have no idea if you will actually like developmental biology/cancer work and if you have the option of atleast understanding the pertinent work/questions from the field. Supportive mentors and lab environment are great but its good to take risks and explore when things are less critical.

As far as I know, for most bio programs the stipend is established at the department level and most schools won't deviate away from it. An anecdote about Harvard specifically is that the grad student in my lab (BBS) was doing some teaching which paid her a small amount and the graduate school adjusted her stipend to be equal. I'd say since you would rather live at option B, and it is a better research fit, just go there. Not sure what the stipend is, but I know tons of grad students in Boston and they can definitely live and enjoy themselves on the stipends.

I completely agree, unless you are fully committed to attending the 4 schools you applied to, doing a masters is not worth your time, money and energy. Especially considering that most PhD programs will make you repeat the coursework regardless of having a masters. As Obaka mentioned, take this year to really work on your app, write a really good SOP explaining what you have done and why you want a PhD. A PhD is a long commitment, with very little upside, and the SOP is where you can convey that you understand the risks and know what you're getting yourself into (being a year older will help with this too). You should contact the schools where you applied/interviewed and figure out your weaknesses and try to make those better. You seem to have a lot of research experience, but in my mind research > coursework, especially since your GPA is > 3.5. I would maybe find a lab so you can get another/better LOR and possibly get a paper (a paper/great letter can be a game changer). You should also apply to a lot more schools, not sure where you applied but 4 is a small number regardless. I don't know your situation and if you're geographically limited, but apply to a LOT more schools. Applying to more schools will be an insignificant expense compared to the cost of a masters degree.

So, your name was listed as an author on this paper? Having a paper regardless of where it is published or where your name is listed can definitely help you with admissions. If you are looking for research experience, you could look for a lab technician position in a lab. Try to find a position where you will be working on research directly rather than one where you're primarily managing a colony or making reagents, etc.

Congrats on deciding, any insight into what sealed the deal at Weill for you. I'm leaning towards Weill as well.

Curious to hear your thoughts of why GSK vs Weill? I was accepted by GSK and Weill (found out today), as well.

Acceptance via email from Weill/SKI BCMB program, looks like a generic email sent to everyone. I will likely end up accepting their offer. Glad to be done with this process, best of luck to everyone else!

Congrats!

Just got into Duke DSCB! So relieved to know that I'm going somewhere. Best of luck to everyone that is still waiting, I'm sure that good news is just around the corner