ahimsa000

Congrats on the interview! I applied to the cancer bio home program and haven’t heard back:( but I saw on last year’s forum+ result page that they send out invites for cancer bio around January 14-15th, hopefully it’s the same this year, keeping my fingers crossed haha

Finally get to post to the sub-3.0 acceptance thread!
My undergrad GPA stood at 2.4 from UC Berkeley.
I was just accepted to nearly every school I applied to (I'm still on the waitlist for MIT, but they only took 5 of 25 interviewed students). These were biology/microbiology programs at Berkeley, UCSF, Caltech, UC San Diego, and Wisconsin at Madison. I was outright rejected from Stanford, but was interviewed everywhere else.
I had nearly 6 years of academic research experience after undergrad to try and make up for my GPA, where I worked in a number of labs all over the world, from NASA Ames in California to a remote field camp in Antarctica. It was letters of rec and my current PI that really helped me get through the door. GPA doesn't matter, so long as you have good people going to bat for you. If your GPA is as low as mine was, you definitely need to prove yourself in some way. 

It is a really tough situation to be in! I have been burned by being too hesitant, so now I try to get to the problem before it festers and I am really unhappy. :-/ Usually there is a way to turn things around that is much easier the sooner you bring it up... Hope it goes well :-)

I would talk to your faculty adviser and the PhD student you are working with. I would be blunt and see if you can explore some other options. 
 
Another thing I have heard A LOT is that it is really common about mid way through to start hating your thesis/dissertation. Keep in mind that someone had to think the project was worth-while in the first place to approve it. ALSO keep in mind that null-results in science are still useful and should in principle be held as just as important as positive results. You can work through the project and present it as it is. You may want to go back and read through some of the literature that got you interested in the topic and that may help you get fresh motivation and perspective.
 
When you said:
"my PI thinks I have enough data, and I disagree with her. I'm worried because I can just imagine myself presenting this at the seminar and thesis presentation next year and I will be totally uninterested because I don't see the point anymore."
 
Why do you think collecting more data would have any impact on your interest in the project? Why don't you look at what you have and see if it is useful as enough? Your PI has been through this sort of thing a few times, and does deserve some of your trust.. 
 
I would think through some of this, make a list or discussion points, then call a lab-meeting and see if you can get everyone on the same page.

Yeah, you're right. My PI just left the country and will be out for a month, so I'm going to have to talk to my direct supervisor about this. I'm going to be completely honest, I usually hesitate to confront people with these types of things and stay pretty quiet, but I'm really unhappy about this so it's about time. 
 
Ok so I think I phrased that incorrectly about the data thing. I have already worked on several different aspects of this project, and I believe that I deserve to put this in my thesis. She made it seem like I can only write about one little portion - which is really frustrating to me. It's not about the positive/negative data at all, it's just data in general that I worked really hard to generate so I feel like I need to include it. Ah, anyways, I think I'm just being too negative. Maybe this is just a mid-program crisis. 
 
I'll discuss my concerns as soon as I see my supervisor. He's pretty understanding about this kind of stuff. Thank you for letting me vent and for your advice! 
 
-SR

While I don't have any interview offers yet (most of my schools don't start reviewing applications until January), I am beginning to worry about the almost certain questions about my grades. I am really interested in how the interview went, sr41489, as well as any other interviews you had.
 
I am currently a masters student, and I've done very well in my program and am finishing up a strong thesis. I also did very well as an undergrad biology student, with an average GPA of 3.8 over the course of my program. I worked on multiple research projects plus an internship, and I received two department awards when I graduated. I also won an award for a poster at my undergrad institution's research day my senior year, as well as another last spring for a poster at a state conference. I also have several volunteer experiences, and teaching experiences through peer tutoring and a graduate assistantship at my current school. Plus I have two first-author publications in review. If you just looked at that part of my application, I look like a top candidate
 
However, if you look at my record before I was a biology major, it's a terrible mess. I changed majors several times, transferred between 4 different schools, withdrew from several semesters, failed multiple classes. It's 7 years of madness. It's not all bad. I'd go two semesters on dean's list and then tank the next two, and then repeat the process. Then there was a stretch where I got A's in half my classes and F's in the other half. It was more or less that I did exceptionally well or exceptionally bad. No mediocre grades. Then when I entered my biology program, everything turned around and I haven't had a grade less than a B since (and only got B's on rare occasions).
 
I have reasons for my past performance. They aren't all good reasons, but it isn't as if I just partied for 7 years or something like that. I worked full-time for almost the entire 10 years I was an undergrad, and there were definitely lots of times that I prioritized my job over my coursework. I had several very toxic relationships over the years that took their toll on me emotionally, physically (I was actually abused in one relationship... sorry if that's tmi), and financially. I have also long dealt with depression and social anxiety issues, which when coupled with other things going on in my life had a very adverse effect on my academic performance. My grandfather also went into hospice during one semester and died a week later, and I ultimately just withdrew from that semester.
 
I have resolved all of these issues for the most part. I got my priorities straight in relation to work and school (although now it doesn't matter because my work is at school and is very compatible with my coursework and research). I developed self-respect and gained a sense of self-worth and got away from all the losers and abusers in my life, and now I'm married to someone who doesn't treat me like a doormat. My depression was mainly triggered by my anxiety, and I've been doing well with managing it and I have a support system set up to help me when I slip up.
 
So that was long, but I know that if I get an interview, someone will ask about my sub-3.0 undergrad GPA (it ended up being a 2.8 when I summed all of the schools together). I would like suggestions on how to answer the question. I know enough to focus on how dramatically I've improved, but I'm not sure how to really explain the why. It wasn't really one specific thing... it was a combination of cruddy aspects of my life that piled on top of each other. While that is the most truthful answer, I'm not sure it's one my interviewers would like to hear.

My undergrad GPA is 2.76 and I was accepted into Brown University for my Masters today. I'm in shock, but very excited. I submitted my acceptance of the offer just a few hours ago. Very excited. 

My undergrad GPA is 2.76 and I was accepted into Brown University for my Masters today. I'm in shock, but very excited. I submitted my acceptance of the offer just a few hours ago. Very excited. 

My undergrad GPA is 2.76 and I was accepted into Brown University for my Masters today. I'm in shock, but very excited. I submitted my acceptance of the offer just a few hours ago. Very excited. 

My undergrad GPA is 2.76 and I was accepted into Brown University for my Masters today. I'm in shock, but very excited. I submitted my acceptance of the offer just a few hours ago. Very excited. 

Hi all,
 
I received an email from the program director telling us to find a thesis advisor AND research advisor...does that mean I'll be doing two separate projects while in my Masters program? I don't want to sound really dumb to my director so I'm going to ask this question on here first lol. I am interested in a few projects which is good, but I want to be focused on ONE so that I can put all my energy into that...

you will only be able to find out from them, put on your big boy pants.

My undergrad GPA is 2.76 and I was accepted into Brown University for my Masters today. I'm in shock, but very excited. I submitted my acceptance of the offer just a few hours ago. Very excited. 

I GOT INTO EASTERN VIRGINIA MEDICAL SCHOOL for my MASTERS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY! I HAD GIVEN UP JUST A FEW DAYS AGO!!!! :) :) we'll see if I get funding, but yeah I'm stoked. 

Anyone else find that their social life has gone down the shitter since they started grad school? When I got accepted into my program, I was very adament about trying to keep a non-academic friend circle while in grad school because I didn't want my whole life to be consumed by academia. Well, that didn't work, I actually find it very difficult to have non-academic friends. I don't know how to put this without sounding pretentious, so forgive me if this comes across as arrogant, but I just find that once you get to a certain intellectual level or way of thinking, talking to lay people is extremely difficult. And I'm not proud of the fact that I'm 'more intellectual' or anything, but I just find it so difficult to keep in touch with old friends. Having conversations with them is hard... we have nothing in common... and well, people say dumb shit, and I feel like I constantly have to hold myself back from correcting people in their ignorance.
 
So you might ask "why don't you just make friends with other grad students?" I really really cannot stand other grad students. There are some that I can tolerate, and a few that I can call my 'friends', but for the most part, I find this demographic to be insanely intolerable (myself included).
 
Now that I've put it all out there and made myself sound like a pretentious douche (at least I'm being honest), does anyone else have this experience? Or anyone have a completely opposite experience? 

Not to sound like a dick face, but you do sound like a pretentious douche. I was fortunate enough to have established a non-academic friend base in undergrad before starting college since I moved to the area (Miami) a year before starting school. I learned that, the farther I went in school, the more I appreciated my old friends. Some of the deepest conversations I've had since being in college were with "lay people." Lots of academics I knew didn't have much common sense. Their idea of "correcting" someone who was "wrong" was quoting some book and giving a date and author's name. I'm more impressed when someone is able to explain a deep concept in layman's terms. I always felt like I didn't truly understand a concept until I was able to explain it to my non-academic friends and have deep conversations about it over beers. There are extremely intelligent people out there who never got the proper education. They might not speak using the latest technical jargon, but they can comprehend and theorize high-level shit as well as any academics I know. Perhaps you don't really know how to talk to "normal" people. I don't know anything about you, but maybe you were someone who was always in school and was only ever friends with people who were also always in school. Maybe your real world experience is lacking. 
 
Sometimes academics are a pain in the ass to talk to. Early in my college career I became interested in poetry. It was more of something I did for fun (though I did take classes in it), since my true academic passion was linguistics and computer science. But, nonetheless, I started taking poetry classes whenever I had a free slot on my schedule. I wrote so much in a short period of time that I put together a little poetry book. Anyway, I realized that some of my greatest stuff was when I was just getting started. It just come out so natural and smooth. Then I started taking more and more classes and learning all the classic poets and the technical forms. My poems started to kinda suck. So I would take workshop classes and I would occasionally throw in one of my old poems, and the class ate that shit up. They loved it. They couldn't really put their finger on it but they loved it. I guess my point is, once I started to sound like and think like a poet, I knew I needed to quit poetry because I knew it was all downhill from there. 

Well I would stay away from having multiple excuses. In my opinion, having a few different reasons all together makes it start to sounds like you are making excuses.
 
If I were in that position, I think I would focus on the major reason: that you worked full time. You downplay this but actually a huge deal and most students work 10-20 hours a week AT MOST. Since you also say that you have an upward trend in grades, then I would work that into your reason as well. So I would say that you worked full time and had a hard time juggling everything at first but improved at this with time, as can be seen with the upward trend in grades.
 
I would not linger over all of this stuff though. If asked then I would give your reason, point out that you improved at this with time, and then move onto talking about accomplishments. This school is ovbiously interested in you or else they would not be interviewing. They are probably worried though that you will not be able to maintain the min gpa for the program (usually 3.0) so you will have to make sure they leave their intereview with you thinking that you have overcome whatever caused the bad grades and that it wont be a problem again.

I GOT INTO EASTERN VIRGINIA MEDICAL SCHOOL for my MASTERS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY! I HAD GIVEN UP JUST A FEW DAYS AGO!!!! :) :) we'll see if I get funding, but yeah I'm stoked. 

Hey guys! So as April 15th approaches, I think a lot of us are having really difficult time deciding which school we should attend. We should all consider ourselves very, very fortunate that we are given options, but it's really hard to make a decision. It was so hard for me that there were times that I even wished I had been accepted to just one school. lol
 
I already made a decision for myself and am VERY happy about it, but after I made my own decision, I found a good way to learn more about the programs and what we might be getting out of each school. I know there are a lot of people here who are in the same situation so I figured I'd share it with you guys
Go to Indeed resume page for SLPs: http://www.indeed.com/resumes/speech-language-pathologist Right below the "Find Resumes" button, you'll see "advanced search" in small letters. Click on that. In "School name," type in the school that you're considering to attend. Make sure you select Master's degree right under it. Click "Find resume"!! This will (hopefully) pull out a bunch of online resumes of the people who graduated from the school you are considering. Most people list in their resumes where exactly they worked as a graduate clinician, as well as where they have been working after graduation. In the search section you might want to select 3-5 years or 6-10 years for years of experience, in order to narrow your search (each program changes over time so it's more helpful to find resumes of those who graduated more recently). Also, if there is a particular city in which you'd like to work after graduation, you can type in the city name in the original search field to find the alumni who work there, too.
 
Of course, this method won't help you learn much about the "feel" of the school/program, and personally I found it very helpful to visit each school and talk to the current students & faculty, so I think you should visit each school in order to learn more about them. But in most cases campus visits won't tell you exactly where their graduates end up, and the method above will tell you just that. I think this method might help those who are especially career-driven. You need to keep in mind that the resumes you'll find are a small sample of their graduates, but I think it's still better than what you can find out by just talking to 2-3 people at open houses. It's worth a try if you guys are having a really hard time gathering concrete information about each program.
 
Hope this helps you guys. Good luck!!
 

I GOT INTO EASTERN VIRGINIA MEDICAL SCHOOL for my MASTERS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY! I HAD GIVEN UP JUST A FEW DAYS AGO!!!! :) :) we'll see if I get funding, but yeah I'm stoked. 

Congrats! I got accepted by JHU Biotech MS program a couple of days ago, but it seems like a part-time program. What do you think about it?

From the looks of things, I feel that Harvard Extension is your best option. 
It's the cheapest, does what you need it to do (prepare you for your Ph.D), proximity to the places you want to work, and can possibly give you connections to other Harvard scholars who can be LOR writers.
 
The cons of it don't look that bad. Cold? Sure that sucks but I feel like program is more important than whether it's cold or not (and I live in Chicago!!!) 
Presumably you'd be able to pass those three courses with a B or higher. 

I GOT INTO EASTERN VIRGINIA MEDICAL SCHOOL for my MASTERS IN BIOTECHNOLOGY! I HAD GIVEN UP JUST A FEW DAYS AGO!!!! :) :) we'll see if I get funding, but yeah I'm stoked. 

Pretty sure the joke's on you, douche face. Err_Alpha said he/she got rejected from the low-tier schools and accepted to the high-tier schools. So you're bragging that you got accepted into low-tier schools? Good for you, clown boy. 

SciencePerson is butt hurt. He couldn't even reply. Just down voted me. Probably too busy trying to decide between Harvard, Yale, Stanford, etc. Lot of good schools. If you want my advice, I'd go with etc.