Bryan

What are you guys doing about the schools that have accepted you? Are you ignoring them until you hear back?

The PI with whom I work with now explicitly told me that when I have an admissions result in hand and I'm waiting for more schools, tell the other schools so they can at least hurry up or maybe even realize you're more competitive than they originally thought.

Whatever you put on your application is fair game. Just be ready to talk about your experiences. Other than that... the questions are pretty random. I'm so used to telling people what I do in my lab, that all I did was create a more interactive and thorough way of telling it to the professors - usually I tried to incorporate pictures to show that I'm good at demonstrating things. But yeah, it's really random.

To future applicants - or to those who want to look back with regret - I think the only book worth buying for graduate SOP statements is Donald Ashner's Graduate Admissions Essays: Writing your way into the grad school of your choice. It was impossible to find in bookstores, but you can easily find it on amazon.

I'm planning on wearing a blazer with a puffy winter jacket on top and a scarf, some gloves, and a beanie. My plan is to just move as fast as possible to wherever I need to be. I'm hoping it's not super freezing there. When it comes to cold weather, fashion goes out the window for me. I also don't own snow boots, so I can't give you an opinion there... I take it you're female and talking about those Ugg things, or are you just really well equipped for snowy weather?

I was snooping around collegeconfidential and noticed that you said Mich was your first choice. Is the dual degree your primary reason?

I was thinking about these dual degree programs too...although I was looking at the MBA and JD ones (although merely out of curiosity than true interest). I work for the government now through an internship program. I think a public policy degree on top of a PhD would actually be really helpful. I've noticed that a lot of doctors have a hard time getting out of technical offices and into the more regulatory ones. Although, it's possible that most of them just enjoy their jobs more than I give them credit.

@tellmealready Have you gotten any information back from them yet? So far all I have is my trip itinerary. By the way, which concentration were you looking at?

Of course. Also the fact that some schools are notorious grade inflaters and others are deflaters. I'm sure when it comes to admissions decisions the adcomms take this in their assessment. However, a lot of people just do a general apples to apples comparison of GPAs...it makes it feel like a movie star rating where people look at the stars without reading the review. For instance, the EPA has an engineering internship. In order to be elligible, you need to have a GPA of 3.7 or something ridiculous. Or in order to be a GS-7 instead of a GS-4 with the agency, one needs to have scholastic achievement. This is completely determined on if your GPA is above a 3.0. It doesn't matter what school, or what your grades mean, it just is what it is. I think the non-academic reviewers of one's GPA are a little more stringent even though they don't try to be.

On the other hand, the typical grading system (at least in my school) which utilizes the A, A-, B+, B, etc... system tends to have a huge divide between 3.7 and 3.2. I noticed that when I applied to Duke, they ask you to calculate your GPA based on their own grading system (Which I didn't realize until after I submitted my transcript and application). They had it shifted so that the + grades were at N.5. ...Needless to say I was envious...

I'm curious, has anyone else received any information through their application website? I compulsively check this along with a group of other things I watch, and I'm curious to know if it's even worth my time to check. Do they ever put anything up on there aside from a receipt notification of your materials (albeit very later)? What kind of information do they put up there? Is this entire purpose of the site to tell you that you were rejected a month after decision time?

I'm considering disabling the F5 button on my keyboard as well as getting rid of any refresh abilities on my webbrowser. I have a habit of constantly pressing it until something new pops up....reminds me of getting into undergrad when I was waiting to get my results.

To give you an example, I believe Michigan's PIBS as well as JHU PMS (Hah) both pay their grad students off of a large training grant (I know JHU has a big NIH grant just for grad students...at least that's what their website makes it sound like) and doesn't require anyone to TA (I don't know about RA). Here is an exact quote from Mich's Immunology handbook they sent me a week ago:

The GF will be transferring to wherever I end up. However, the ideal situation would involve me going to school where she already is.

I'll probably run around hyperactive-ly outside for a few minutes, then immediately start obsessing about the programs I got in to.