kdougs22

Oh and my background is working in a marine bioluminescence research lab for 3 years. I already have one co-author and am working on a second paper with a PhD student that we will try to get published later this semester. I also have two summers of fieldwork experience doing coral reef field experiments in Okinawa. My GPA is average but my GREs are really high. I have also had the opportunity to make a lot of connections with researchers in the field through my experience in Japan as I was the only undergraduate student there both summers. It was basically just PhD students, post-docs, and professors besides me there.

I went to visit the schools on my own. Luckily, my parents helped me out with the costs as I wouldn't be able to afford it on my own. I just got done visiting Nova and FIU, both of which went really well.First off, although I haven't been accepted officially at Nova yet the professor who's interested in me and director of graduate admissions told me I would be accepted. It's definitely really exciting for me because they have the largest coral reef research center in the US and their program is growing rapidly. Plus, I already have a professor who wants to be my advisor and offered me a research assistantship. She's a new assistant professor and is coming from James Cook University in Australia and received about half a million in research funding the past two years, so I'm definitely really happy about it. I feel so much more relaxed now knowing I got into one of my top choices. FIU was very nice as well and apparently I will hear in the next week if I am accepted and would potentially be offered a teaching assistantship. It seemed very positive as well and the professor I was visiting seemed to like me a lot and was very interested in my research interests, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. As for VIMS, I had a phone interview with a professor and he seemed to be interested as well but he did mention that this year they are having a big applicant pool so he would have to wait until he saw all the applicants. When I first e-mailed I heard back from him about a week later with him telling me that he would contact me again in 3 weeks since he was in the process of applying for a big grant. About 3 and a half weeks later he e-mailed me to set up a phone interview time, which we did, went well, and then he basically told me about being interested and the applicant pool being big. So yeah. I know Auburn University doesn't review applications until after Feb. 1st (that is their deadline for applicants interested in assistantships), VIMS doesn't let people know until February as well if I remember correctly. Connections are definitely the best way to get a professor to really notice you. The professor at Nova I know from some field work I had the opportunity to do at a research station in Okinawa, where she also did her field work when she was working in Australia. The professor at FIU I also know through a Japanese professor I met in Okinawa and now know pretty well. The professor at Auburn is familiar with my current PI's work so that was part of the reason she was interested in me. Basically, the professors that seem to like me the best I all somehow knew through a connection. So definitely take advantage of that to the fullest!

Hey! I'm also applying to marine science programs. I just finished submitting all of my applications this past week. I contacted professors at schools beforehand whose research I was interested in and already have done interviews with most of the schools. I'm only applying to schools where the professors, whose reseach I was interested in, said they were interested in me and would be accepting students into their labs this application period. I'm definitely nervous and impatient to find out the results and it sucks we have no idea when we'll hear back. I am going to visit FIU, Nova, and Auburn this month as the professors invited me so hopefully all goes well.