shorty06

Hey theapplicant, thanks and I heard the official word from the department on Tuesday. Best of luck!

Yes, he told me he got word from the department of my acceptance. I'm guessing the department itself will be sending out notifications shortly.

I was on their last interview weekend and heard from a professor today. Nothing from the department itself yet so maybe there's still time.

Hey bme_bme, I didn't apply to bioe programs b/c I am more interested in the "life" aspect of bme and therefore think that biomedical sciences programs will be a better fit for me in the future. I heard from most schools in late December, early January though.

I agree that there are negative situations at all schools. However, it's hard to consider a school when all people you talk to and respect in the field say negative things about a school. When there are so many great schools out there, I can't see myself experiencing a potentially huge loss by excluding just one. After all, learn from the experience of others, right? That being said, I agree that people should investigate and get multiple sources of experience. By no means was I trying to imply that my word is gospel... just that reputation should not be the only consideration that goes into such a large decision.

This is one reason I didn't apply there. The lab tech in my lab's project got cut while she was a grad student there. Result: no PhD for no good reason. Also, (comparatively) very few faculty members have tenure there, so your mentor may not be there for the entire time that you will. Also, I've heard that the attitude towards women there in science is a bit hostile... still. The bottom line: It might be great for hyper-competitive people or if you get lucky, but I think happiness is worth more to me than reputation. Also, there are plenty of other great schools out there.

Haha... I always get: "so do you still research flies?" I must say, it's more on target than saying "oh so and so studied X language," but sort of makes me want to bang my head against a wall nonetheless. the tool is not the subject of interest.

That's basically what my PI said (who's been in the department for like 20 years). She said the very top programs (like... top 3-5) probably actually use it as part of the admissions process, but the vast majority are using it to show off their department. They (adcom) actually call it recruitment weekend. I'm sure it varies by field, but based on your name I'm guessing we're in the same field. She said she can only remember one person who interviewed at my school (U Washington) and didn't get in... 4.0 student from MIT w/ excellent research experience but couldn't make eye contact to save his life and completely and utterly lacked social skills.

Hooray McNair! $75 GRE (fee reduction) $0 GRE Prep class offered by McNair $75 Application fee (other 10 schools granted fee waiver) $140 additional score reports $117 transcripts $20 GRE study book $15 GRE flashcards $20 admissions essay book $462 What I would have paid w/o McNair: Probably wouldn't have taken the GRE prep class... but something to consider $747 more in app fees $1209

I found a typo on my CV on a publication title (good God... you'd think I could get that right), but so far I've gotten two interviews and no rejections so I don't think it's that big of a deal. Granted, I submitted CVs in supplementary materials or whatever.

Half price is still $75. If I had the same financial situation as when I came into undergrad, this still would have been prohibitive. Also, the fee reduction voucher took 4 weeks to get, after which you could call and schedule your appointment. Because the test centers fill quickly, this requires a lot of careful planning. They seriously need to revamp their program for the underprivileged. I think in general, the GRE is helpful. I'm glad my performance from a large public university, which curves most classes to a 2.8, can be compared to, say, an Ivy League with massive grade inflation by another means than GPA. I will admit that it is probably a better measure of how you perform under stress than anything else, but isn't this still a good number for adcom's to keep in mind? You are a candidate for a stressful program after all.

I'm a bioengineering major at U of Washington and definitely understand how annoying pre-med classes are. Unfortunately, almost everyone applying to big name schools coming from a bioe background has also had to take those classes. That being said, GPA is only one factor in an application. Research experience is critical in the field, so if you can demonstrate a strong background, you shouldn't self-select out. I've also heard that when screening applicants, some top programs set a lower limit to EITHER GRE scores or GPA for consideration. Hope that helps!