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sqxz

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Everything posted by sqxz

  1. Gael GarcĂ­a Bernal was in Letters to Juliet with Amanda Seyfried Amanda Seyfried was in Mamma Mia! with Colin Firth Colin Firth was in What a Girl Wants with Amanda Bynes Amanda Bynes was in Hairspray with John Travolta John Travolta was in Pulp Fiction with Uma Thurman Cher, Peter Jackson
  2. I haven't heard anything yet. Last Wednesday, the coordinator said that there had to be an official meeting with the graduate school before decisions were sent and that QCB's meeting wasn't until this week. She said she expected decisions to be sent out "in the next week or so," so I was expecting to hear back on Thursday or Friday... Guess we just have to be patient.
  3. Debra Messing was in Along Came Polly with Ben Stiller Ben Stiller was in Meet the Parents with Robert De Niro Robert De Niro was in Stardust with Michelle Pfeiffer Michelle Pfeiffer was in Hairspray with Queen Latifah Queen Latifah was in Bringing Down the House with Steve Martin Idina Menzel, Jerry Seinfeld
  4. Well, I can't say I've really looked at years past, but I'd be surprised if the numbers were really that different. I will say that I don't see many people talking about rejections over on the biology forum, but I think most people probably use forums like this to do that.
  5. It sucks so bad! Especially when it's your dream school and you foolishly let yourself get your heart set on it when you know the post-interview acceptance rate is only 50%. And then, after you get the decision, you follow up with a PI you had a great conversation with and he says he was looking forward to having you rotate in his lab in the fall. So you know you were this close, but your best just wasn't enough... I'm so grateful that I have other great offers that I can get myself excited about, otherwise I'd be so devastated right now. Life goes on, and I'd like to think it just wasn't meant to be, but, yeah, this is definitely the low point of this whole process. :/
  6. Just so everyone knows, it sucks even more when you follow up with the PI you had the best interview with and they say they had been looking forward to having you rotate in their lab in the fall... I guess it just goes to show that it was competition and not being bad in person that got me rejected. I just hope I don't forever wonder what I could have done differently to give me the edge over someone else who got in. :/ This just sucks so much.
  7. Getting rejected post-interview sucks. I know it's a very competitive process, but I can't help but feel like they're saying, "Yeah, you looked great on paper, but, in person...man, you were not at all what we were looking for! Really dodged a bullet with you!" Also, I'm so mad at myself for getting so excited for a school when I knew only 50% of the people who interview actually get in. I tried so hard not to get my heart set, but I couldn't help myself! That school was perfect in so many ways! But, there's nothing I can do now, so there's no use dwelling on it. Just have to be extra grateful for the offers I do have and have to get myself just as excited about one of those offers!
  8. Jennifer Connelly was in He's Just Not That Into You with Bradley Cooper Bradley Cooper was in American Hustle with Robert De Niro Robert De Niro was in The Family with Michelle Pfeiffer Michelle Pfeiffer was in Hairspray with John Travolta Steve Martin, Debra Messing
  9. Catherine Keener was in Into the Wild with Vince Vaughn Vince Vaughn was in Anchorman with Will Ferrell Will Ferrell was in Bewitched with Nicole Kidman Nicole Kidman was in Australia with Hugh Jackman Hugh Jackman was in Les Misérables with Amanda Seyfried Amanda Seyfried was in Dear John with Channing Tatum Channing Tatum was in Step Up with Rachel Griffiths Maggie Smith, Owen Wilson
  10. Yul Brynner was in The Ten Commandments with Charlton Heston Charlton Heston was in Hercules with Danny DeVito Danny DeVito was in Big Fish with Ewan McGregor Ewan McGregor was in Moulin Rouge! with Nicole Kidman Nicole Kidman was in Bewitched with Michael Caine Michael Caine was in Batman Begins with Christian Bale Christian Bale was in American Hustle with Jennifer Lawrence Taylor Swift, Hugh Jackman
  11. Congratulations! I'm so jealous...the wait for a decision is killing me!
  12. There are multiple PIs doing exactly what I want to do in graduate school. The courses in the curriculum all sound extremely interesting. I was extremely impressed by the faculty, current students, and other applicants when I was interviewed. I have visited a total of five institutions so far, and my top choice is one of two places where I felt this way. The location is ideal, for many reasons. (Though, it is also quite expensive.) I really hit it off with a potential thesis advisor when I interviewed. My top choice is pretty prestigious. My top choice is very different from my undergraduate institution. I love my undergraduate institution, but I think it would be a nice change of pace to try someplace new.
  13. You're very welcome. I definitely think research fit is the most important factor in determining where to apply/attend, even if that means applying to programs where there is only one PI you want to work for. I think you just have to be realistic about the difficulties associated with doing this, and maybe line up some backups if things don't work out exactly the way you'd like.
  14. I have looked into this. Unfortunately, TA, RA, and GA stipends, scholarships, and fellowships all count as taxable income, which means we have to pay federal and state income taxes. How much this amounts to depends primarily on how much your stipend is and which state you live in. The IRS has an online calculator which can be used to roughly estimate how much federal income tax you can expect to pay <http://www.irs.gov/Individuals/IRS-Withholding-Calculator>. Most states will supply a similar calculator if you do some digging. Alternatively, you can use this tool <http://www.tax-rates.org/income-tax-calculator/embed/?ref=siteembed>, but it is not nearly as accurate as an official state calculator would be. While we are taking classes, it looks like we are exempt from paying FICA taxes, which fund social security and medicare. It appears this exemption goes away once we are engaged in full-time research, though. The FICA tax appears to be a flat tax of 7.65% of total wages earned. If you are paid weekly/biweekly/monthly (i.e., using paychecks), these taxes will be deducted automatically from your salary. Once a year, you have to file a tax return, and you will either have to pay more taxes if enough money was not automatically deducted from your salary throughout the year, or you will receive a refund if too much money was deducted. If you are not paid via paycheck, this process will be slightly different, but it will likely not affect how much you have to pay in taxes. As far as I know, the tax rules are the same for international students, though some of the details might be slightly different.
  15. Q: Will I get into UCSF? A: AS I SEE IT YES Q Will I choose to go to UCSF? A: SIGNS POINT TO YES Q: Will the PIs I want to work for at UCSF have openings in the fall? A: YES Q: If I go to UCSF, will I live happily ever after? A: YOU MAY RELY ON IT Well, that certainly settles my future!
  16. Vanessa Redgrave was in Mission: Impossible with Tom Cruise Tom Cruise was in A Few Good Men with Jack Nicholson Jack Nicholson was in The Bucket List with Morgan Freeman Morgan Freeman was in The Dark Knight with William Fichtner William Fichtner was in Ultraviolet with Milla Jovovich Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale
  17. "Rejected b/c they already reached their minority student quota. Also, I don't meet the demographics of the program. I'm not white or rich enough. Look at program site if you doubt me." I find this particularly amusing because I applied to the same school (not the same program), and the prompt for one of the essays I had to write was the following: The University of X is committed to a diverse and inclusive graduate student population. Diversity refers to the variety of experiences and perspectives that arise from differences in race, culture, religion, mental or physical capabilities, heritage, age, gender, sexual orientation, and other characteristics. The University of X values diversity because it enhances the educational experience, the workplace, and services to the public provided by this campus. Discuss how your personal background informs your decision to pursue a graduate degree. Please include any educational, cultural, economic, family or social experiences, challenges, or opportunities relevant to your academic journey.
  18. When people talk about programs being long shots, they generally mean that they expect their application will be outshined by the applications of others who they expect will apply to the program. When they talk about safety schools, they generally expect that their application will outshine those of the other applicants. This is a judgement call based on perceived weaknesses and strengths in their own application. It is generally measured by the individual program rankings/reputations and research here on GradCafe into who got in where in past years. The bottom line is that no one is going to be able to tell you whether particular programs are long shots or sure bets for you...this is a subjective judgement call you'll have to make on your own. Having said that, I think you should know that any top 30 program is going to be very competitive. Maybe not as much as the top 5, but still very competitive. For this reason, I think it is wise to apply to more programs rather than few, so long as you can reasonably see yourself attending each program you apply to. Further, if there's only one professor at each school that you really want to work with, it will be even more to your advantage to apply to a large number of programs. You should know that getting into a school is really only half the battle...getting into a lab you want to work in is the other (and, arguably, more important) half. Most professors do not have the funding to take new students every year, and, even if they did, they would be overextending themselves if they took too many students. "Famous" professors will likely have many students who want to work with them, so it will likely be even harder to secure a position for yourself in their labs. Unfortunately, this is not something you can plan for when choosing which programs to apply to. Even at this point in the year, I have been advised that many professors will not know if they will be taking students in the fall. (I haven't yet asked any professors this question myself because I have chosen to wait to do so until after I receive admission decisions. Accordingly, I can't say for sure whether this advice is true or not, but I suspect it is.) So far, I've basically been saying, "more is better," but you should be aware that there are (obviously) downsides to applying to more programs. Besides the time and cost it takes to apply to more programs, you can run into problems when it comes time to interview. There are only so many weeks in the interview season, and if you are offered interviews at too many places, you will likely have to turn some of them down. This would be made easier if you got all your interview invitations on the same day, but you don't...they trickle in over several months. Having to decide which interviews to accept and whether you can buy more time while you wait for other offers to come in can be really stressful. It's a good problem to have, but it is a problem, nonetheless. The other problem with committing to a large number of interviews is that they take a lot of time. Whether you are an undergraduate, Masters student, or employee, accepting many interviews can be hugely disruptive to your normal schedule. This is something you will have to consider when it comes time to interview. So, what is the best number of schools to apply to? This is obviously something you will have to decide for yourself, but I will say that I have been quite pleased with eight. In the eight programs, there is enough variety to accommodate my changing perspective as I go through the application process, and I have not been forced to turn down any interviews due to scheduling conflicts. I will say that it seems quite common to apply to more than ten schools when applying to experimental biology programs. However, some of the more computational professors have been surprised that I applied to so many programs when I only applied to eight. This doesn't really mean anything, but that's been my experience, for what it's worth. Good luck in the next cycle! Hope this has been helpful!
  19. Did you see my earlier post (attached below)? No decisions are going out from Princeton QCB before next week.
  20. Brittany Snow was in Hairspray with Michelle Pfeiffer Michelle Pfeiffer was in The Family with Robert De Niro Robert De Niro was in American Hustle with Christian Bale Christian Bale was in Batman Begins with Michael Caine Michael Caine was in Miss Congeniality with Sandra Bullock Sandra Bullock was in Gravity with George Clooney George Clooney was in Ocean's Eleven with Brad Pitt Brad Pitt was in 12 Years a Slave with Lupita Nyong'o Quentin Tarantino, Dakota Fanning
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