Vidoory
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Posts posted by Vidoory
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I really struggled during the last semester as I was juggling work and demanding coursework at the same time. The result is that my average is now 1% below the average that my grad school conditional offer says I must maintain (76% instead of 77%). Do you think they'll rescind my offer based on this? All my previous years are well above this cut-off, and I also had a low 90 on my research thesis, which I really hope they weigh more than my marks in courses that had nothing to do with my degree...
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A PI I met with a few weeks ago sent me a "thank you email" letting me know that she would love to have me rotate in her lab. I've already accepted my offer to this program, but really not that interested in her research (and therefore didn't send her a follow-up letter like I did other researchers). I think she's a prominent researcher in the program though and really don't want to burn any bridges. How should I reply nicely, but still let her know that I won't be doing a rotation in her lab...? I'm so flattered that she would send such a email, that I'm seriously considering doing a rotation anyways.
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Hey,
If we receive an acceptance with absolutely no mention on funding, does that mean the school is not offering us any funding or that we should wait to hear back in a separate email about it?
I don't know what the protocol is for this and I want to make sure I don't rub people the wrong way.
All of the programs I applied to had a section on their website describing the funding situation. If you can't find anything though, I would just email to ask, that's really important information!
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Thanks for the feedback guys! Yes, I think I definitely was overthinking it and he probably just didn't feel that it was necessary to reply. I try not think too much most of the time, but just couldn't help it this time since I haven't wanted something this much in a while haha
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You may consider sending a follow up after giving it another week. You never know, something could have happened in his personal life or he could have just honestly passed over it.
Thanks for the quick reply! Do you think that would be a good idea though, because it's not really a requirement to reply to thank you emails? I just don't want to seem pushy, and since it was just an email thanking him for his time, I'm not even sure what I can say in the followup. It's not like I can thank him again....
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Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some advice and input on what this situation could mean. I was accepted into the PhD program of my choice a while ago, and went in for "interviews" with some of the PIs whose research interested me and who I wanted to do rotations with a week ago. There was this one particular PI whose research I loved, and I also thought our meeting went really great (and I mean like one of the best interviews I've ever had type thing). Even though he didn't specifically say anything about me doing a rotation in his lab, he did describe potential projects for next year. I felt great about that meeting at the time, and sent him a thank you email the day after our meeting to reiterate my interest in his research, but have not heard back from him after a week. Just to clarify, he is not a super busy PI that might just not have time to reply to emails, but only newly established. Although there are a lot of other amazing researchers in this program who I would be considered lucky to work with (most more prestigious), I can't help but feel a little depressed because I find this PI's research truly exciting, and have already read so much into the topic just for my own interests. Do some PIs just not reply to thank you notes/emails (even though I did phrase my last sentence as more of a question of whether I could do a rotation in his lab), or do you think maybe our meeting really didn't go as well as I originally thought? I have had my fair share of interviews in the past, and all of the ones I was successful at had quick replies to my emails, and even one who reached out to me without anything done on my part, that I'm feeling a little hopeless at the moment. Also, do PIs normally invite students to do a rotation in their lab at the first meeting, or is this something I should have brought up? I'd appreciate any input! Thanks!
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Hi everyone,
I'm looking for some advice and input on what this situation could mean. I was accepted into the PhD program of my choice a while ago, and went in for "interviews" with some of the PIs whose research interested me and who I wanted to do rotations with a week ago. There was this one particular PI whose research I loved, and I also thought our meeting went really great (and I mean like one of the best interviews I've ever had type thing). Even though he didn't specifically say anything about me doing a rotation in his lab, he did describe potential projects for next year. I felt great about that meeting at the time, and sent him a thank you email the day after our meeting to reiterate my interest in his research, but have not heard back from him after a week. Just to clarify, he is not a super busy PI that might just not have time to reply to emails, but only newly established. Although there are a lot of other amazing researchers in this program who I would be considered lucky to work with (most more prestigious), I can't help but feel a little depressed because I find this PI's research truly exciting, and have already read so much into the topic just for my own interests. Do some PIs just not reply to thank you notes/emails (even though I did phrase my last sentence as more of a question of whether I could do a rotation in his lab), or do you think maybe our meeting really didn't go as well as I originally thought? I have had my fair share of interviews in the past, and all of the ones I was successful at had quick replies to my emails, and even one who reached out to me without anything done on my part, that I'm feeling a little hopeless at the moment. Also, do PIs normally invite students to do a rotation in their lab at the first meeting, or is this something I should have brought up? I'd appreciate any input! Thanks!
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I had a hook in a draft of my SOP.
When I sent it for review by someone whose opinion I basically had to trust - they crossed it out and said I should open clearly and succinctly with "I am applying to the XX program at XX university in the XX emphasis." That person then also went on to take out any colorful language I had (such as "love" "excited" "passionate" etc.).
Last year when I almost applied, I had a separate SOP reviewed by an actual adcom member, at a totally different school, who basically gave the same feedback. Just get to the point. Which program, which school, which emphasis, now tell me why.
Which is all just to say, to each his/her own. Everyone seems to have different preferences. But I don't think your SOP will get trashed because it doesn't open with a hook, whereas if it fails to ever mention the above points, it could.
I think it's a pretty great opening overall - agree about adding more detail in the place mentioned previously - also though I'm not sure your Wikipedia remark really adds any value, and I'd axe it. It risks indicating (whether accurately or not) some immaturity through what could be deemed the inappropriate use of humor (this is not MY opinion upon reading it, I happen to like such sparks of levity, but just based on what I've heard others mention on this forum, also after reading the "kiss of death" article floating around here somewhere).
There is something almost underwhelming when you say the end product was like the Magic School Bus - it made me go "wait a minute, I thought s/he said high school..." That said - I don't think it's a bad example, but perhaps there is a way you can set it up beforehand so that it doesn't come across as so out of place. Sorry if that's vague. And no dis to the MSB.
Great thing is, it's clear to a total outsider. Which means it will also be clear to the adcom
Very important!Thanks
Unfortunately I've sent out most of my applications at this point to really make any changes, but I appreciate the input. I seriously considered taking out anything personal as well, but the end product was so sleep-inducing to read through I really didn't want to send it out haha. At this point all I can do is hope for the best :S
For the Magic School Bus section, there was another reason I included this which is that I am also interested in medical illustration and animation. I think it's a great way of communicating scientific ideas (beyond all the convoluted science jargons I'm embarrassed say sometimes completely passes over my head), and I'd like to incorporate it into my research. I used MSB since it was really my first attempt at illustrating science in an easy to understand manner. I brought it back near the end of my SOP and said I'd like to continue the marriage of art and science in my life, as it is what started me on this journey.
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thanks for the suggestions! That's funny though, I actually did elaborate on the sentence you mentioned (outlining the different aspects of the nervous system I found fascinating) previously, but decided to delete it since it had little to do with genetics. I guess I'll add it back!
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Hey guys,
Would someone please read over the intro section of my SOP? I've made the rest of my SOP very professional and am happy with it, but I'm still not so sure about my intro... I'd appreciate any advice!
"My intended area of specialization at XXX University is translational genetics, with a special interest towards the implementation of novel genetic biotechnology to aid human diseases. Throughout my undergraduate career, I have become increasingly captivated with the field of genetics, as well as its undeniable potential in the future of medicine.My love for biology began in high school. We were assigned the task of “publishing” an educational children’s book on a human organ system of our choice. Mine was the nervous system. It was the first time I indulged in my newfound fascination with the intricate workings of the human body, and I found myself poring, for hours on end, over different textbooks, research articles, and websites (not to mention the never openly-appreciated Wikipedia). I was in complete awe of nature’s capacity to design such a sophisticated organism; superior to anything even the best human architect can conjure. The end product of my assignment is a “Magic School Bus” storybook. It followed Ms. Frizzle’s class as they were injected into the bloodstream, crossed the blood-brain barrier, travelled through the cerebral cortex, and finally down into the spinal cord. It became the perfect beginning of my academic career in biology: an assignment of top grade, and one that is still passed to incoming students as exemplar."
Thanks!
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You can go online to check whether your scores have been sent. Go to www.ets.org/gre, sign up for an online account if you don't have one, and you should be able to access the status of your score reports there. Hope this helps!
Thanks for the reply! All it says is "Report Date" beside my schools/programs that list the date I ordered for the scores to be sent? I might be wrong about this, but does ETS not send the scores by mail, and if it does, how should I check if the scores have been received?
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The majority of my grad school applications are due tomorrow, and I'm not sure if my scores have been received? I sent in most of my scores on Nov 19th, and one on Nov 26th (I sent this one to the wrong department number during my GRE, and so ended up re-sending it rather late). All my applications ask me to self report my scores, but no where does it tell me whether the official scores have been received. Should I call up the individual schools to ask whether they have been received, or is there another way to find out?
Thanks!
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Yeah, it's also very hard to get a PGS-D award while you are still an undergraduate student. This is because you are competing with other more advanced graduate students (if you are in Canada, then you normally apply to the CGS-D/PGS-D in your 2nd year of your MSc or your first 2 years of your PhD -- i.e. after 1-3 years of grad school + research experience). So, I would not worry that you already missed the deadline for this year. Make sure you make the Oct 15 deadline next year though (You can still apply for the CGS-D while you are in a US school!!)
What do you mean "all the other students" have external funding? It's not that common--you must have very talented friends! External funding is not very common so you won't be at a disadvantage without it. Even in the US, most American students enter their first year without external funding and then a small number get one in their first year. The US system is also different -- you don't start working with a single prof immediately so most students are funded by "the department" instead of any individual prof in your first year.
Oh OK, thanks a lot for the clarification! A lot of people around me seem to have OGS or another scholarship. There was also a phD student in my lab a few months ago that had her scholarship run out (I think it was only for 3 years). Our supervisor said he would fund her even if she could not get another scholarship/fellowship, but everyone reacted like that was a really bad situation and that your PI shouldn't have to pay that much.
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If you are Canadian and you have a degree from a Canadian school, you can apply for the CGS-D when you are at an American school. You would have to turn down the CGS-D once you get it and accept the PGS-D instead though. I am currently on the 3rd year of my PGS-D at a US school. American schools are direct-to-PhD so you would apply to a CGS-D award right away and skip the -M awards.
As Canadians we are not eligible for the equivalent to the NSERC in the US (NSF). Most government fellowships are for the citizens of that country only!
Finally to your last question -- yes. My program pays $30k per year no matter what fellowships you have. NSERC PGS-D provides $21,000 CAD and the school pays me the difference based on the exchange rate (I show them my cheque stubs).
Thank you! I'm in a bit of a difficult situation then because the deadlines for CGS-D has already passed... The CGS-M and OGS deadlines are not until December and January that I didn't think to apply to scholarship until now, but does that mean I probably will not have any external fundings for next year if I attend an American university? Would that seriously hurt my chances of getting into a program? Although the previous poster said it's not bad to apply without fellowships (and I guess I can apply next year), all the grad students around me have some sort of funding coming into their programs, because from my understanding their supervisors would have to pay out otherwise. Would that not mean PI's will much prefer students with external funding?
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I have a very similar question. Being a Canadian applicant for American universities, I'm really confused about the differences between funding structures. In Canada, I think most people would apply to the major scholarships like CGS-M and OGS. However, what would be the American equivalents of this, and would I have a good chance of getting them as a Canadian? Most of these posts in this section seem to be from Canadian students...
Also, all the phD programs I am applying to guarantees a stipend, would this stipend already include any scholarship and fellowships I might be receiving? Sorry if these are really stupid questions, but I'm not too familiar with how funding works.
Thanks!
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I'd be happy to read over your statement as well, if you PM me
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Hi guys,
This question is actually about research at the undergrad level, so I realize that it doesn't really belong on the 'grad' forum, but I figured people on this forum might be able to help me (and I really need help right now!!).
So basically I'm in a really awkward position, and don't see how I can get out... I started "volunteering" in a prof's lab last year, and was suppose to help one of her grad students. Only thing is that I felt like a third wheel, and wasn't needed at all. The person I'm working with kept telling me she'll email me about the volunteer hours etc, but she never would. I would then email her politely asking if there was anything I could help with (I tried very hard not to seem pushy during this entire process), mentioning that I really appreciated this opportunity. She then told me to go into the lab multiple times (I should mention that I actually had to cancel previous plans to go into the lab, since I really wanted to make a good impression), but all she did was give me different articles to read. I don't know why she couldn't have just emailed them to me if they were that important, but I'm assuming she actually didn't need (or want) help, but had to give me something since I was an official "volunteer". This was super frustrating but dragged on for a few months... fast forward to December, I haven't heard from her in a few weeks, so decided to send her another email about what was expected of me. I got no response back.
At that point I really have just had enough of the situation, and decided to put it behind me and look for other opportunities. Now that I think back, I probably should have gone in to talk to the actual prof of the lab, but she was super busy, and whenever I went in I had to wait at least 20 minutes (sometimes more than an hour!) even when I had an appointment.
I've now been looking for other labs on campus, thinking that I can just start fresh again. What I didn't realize, and something I just found out, is that the prof has actually been talking about me to other people. I don't know exactly what she said, but something along the lines of irresponsible. I'm really horrified, both by the fact that this actually happened to me, and that she would actually be warning other profs against me... Of course, it's not all researchers on campus, but at least one that I really want to work for. I'm at a complete loss for what I should do next, and would appreciate any advice?
Will they rescind my offer?
in Decisions, Decisions
Posted
Thanks for the replies guys. I haven't received my official grades yet, and just know from my preliminary calculations that I probably didn't make the cut-off average. I'll contact the school once I receive my final marks. When I previously went to the program, they mentioned (someone else asked) that they would not automatically rescind offers, but will look at your application on a case-by-case basis. There's not much I can do now I guess.