pax6pax6

Has anyone who has accepted their graduate housing offer want to help me clarify a few things? Message me here if so!

Was there any other useful info from the webinar? Did you get to see the actual rooms? I thought it was odd none of the buildings on the website had photos of the rooms themselves, but rather just generic floor plans

I'm not sure how competitive it is - but from talking to a few people on here and some current students I met while visiting for my interviews, I heard effectively unanimously good reviews with respect to location and the buildings themselves. Most people I spoke to, however, said that finding a perfectly nice place through resources like the Marketplace was an equally good idea, and might be a little cheaper.

I haven't received any information through my department yet - I was unaware there was an application portal, etc. I was going to continue waiting for a little longer to see if I get any instructions from my department. Good to know its a straightforward process though!

Hey everyone, I'll be coming to UChicago in the Biological Sciences division. I'm coming from Toronto, are there any other Canadians? It would be cool to have someone to go through the Visa process with. @Mingda I applied for graduate housing back in late February when I accepted the offer. After sending the international $200 wire transfer, it took about a week to get confirmation of my application from the program. If you haven't heard back yet, you should hear back very shortly.

I was accepted into the direct entry PhD program conditional upon maintaining an A- average in my final year.

Hi! That's super helpful! Finally I've found someone who has actually lived there! I sent a message to your inbox to ask a few more specific questions if you don't mind taking a look and helping me out. Thanks!

Hey! I am hoping to revive this thread as well! I've been accepted for graduate studies at UChicago, and am hoping to find some information about living in and around the university. I'm coming from Canada, so I feel a little intimidated by the moving process and any information would help. I have looked into the graduate housing at UChicago, and was wondering if anyone here has experience with it. It seems like a good option to me, (close to school, fair rent - at least compared to 1BDRMs in Toronto), but they don't have any photos of the rooms or anything, and it would be useful to get insight from someone who has actually lived there. Where around UChicago tends to be the most safe? What areas should be avoided? So, if anyone has advice for an international student about finding a place to stay around UChicago, or general advice about Hyde Park and the University, that would be great!

Yeah, I got the direct entry PhD acceptance that day too. Official acceptance package came today and said you needed to confirm your transcripts by a certain date, but nothing conditional upon those transcripts.

I got an e-mail interview invite from UChicago for the program in Development, Regenerative, and Stem Cell Biology!!

Has anyone here applied for entry to the MSc of PhD Molecular Genetics program at the University of Toronto? Has anyone heard any details back? A friend of mine apparently received an email today asking for their final fourth year marks before being given a decision. I heard from admissions that decisions would be made before winter break.

Undergrad Institution: University of Toronto, (Canadian Instituition, known for Biology within Canada)Major(s): BiologyMinor(s): Physiology and ImmunologyGPA in Major: ~3.8Overall GPA: ~3.78Position in Class: Probably near the top, no statistics like this available at my institution outside of the Dean's ListType of Student: International white male GRE Scores:Q: 160V: 166W: Haven't gotten score back yetB: Not taking, (missed the last date to write in Canada)Research Experience: One summer at a research hospital in Toronto doing developmental biology, which led to a poster presentation and accompanying poster prize. One year at the same research hospital in another developmental biology lab, which has a poster presentation at the end of the year. Outside of actual research projects I spent the past three years working in two different labs at my school and at the same research hospital doing work-study positions, but they weren't really research intensive but more-so just assisting in general lab duties. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: - Poster Award from independent research project at a major research hospital in Toronto - Dean's List each year of undergrad - F.M Hill Scholarship in Biology from my undergrad institutionPertinent Activities or Jobs: - Activities director of the Ontario Genomics Institute, (was responsible for organizing general interest lectures about genetics in the Toronto area) - Editor for the undergraduate microbiology journal at my universityAny Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Prior to attending my current institution, I went to a small school for the fine arts for one year, but left half way through the second semester, resulting in several zeros for final marks. This posed a problem when it came to applying to my current institution for my undergraduate, is there anyone who could speak to how this may effect my admission chances? I attended this school when I was 17, and am now 24, so I feel like it would be trivial to explain as irrelevant to my current capabilities. Still, given the amount of trouble it caused with my undergraduate admissions, I am concerned it may impact my current applications. Can anyone give insight on a situation like this? Second, for my first year and a half of undergrad, I only studied part time due to money issues. My final two years of study were full-time. How does spending time as a part time student impact your admission chances?Applying to Where: All schools for various biological science programs: Princeton University of Wisconsin Madison Scripps Yale Stanford University of Chicago University of Washington in St. Louis Harvard Columbia I know this list reads as very ambitious, but I am also applying at my home institution, (University of Toronto), and am quite certain I will be accepted, so I only wanted to apply to US schools that are notably better than my home institution. I would appreciate any feedback on my profile. Thanks!

I am applying to a few PhD programs in the biological sciences and as such, need to get a few reference letters. My problem is that in the few research positions I have had, I have never been that close with the PI in the lab. Would it be appropriate to ask the graduate student who supervised me to write the letter, and ask the PI to co-sign the letter? I could directly ask the PI, but I think that the situation I outlined would lead to a less generic assessment of my skill set. Is this a common thing to do? Any suggestions or advice would be appreciated.

I studied using the EmpowerGRE program, though I didn't find it very useful. I would recommend the program to someone who has very little to no familiarity with math, but if you have even a decent understanding of math, I couldn't see it helping all that much. I found that the time spent using the program would've been at least equally well spent just studying the official GRE guide. I did stop using the program after a month though, so my take on it isn't comprehensive. ETS Powerprep I: 162V 156Q Manhattan 1: 162V 155Q Manhattan 2: 161V 152Q Manhattan 3: 159V 155Q Manhattan 4: 161V 158Q Manhattan 5: 162V 159Q ETS Powerprep II: 161V 163Q The first practice test was taken in late August, and the most recent Powerprep was taken a few days before my real test. I took my official test yesterday: Official GRE Results: 166V 160Q My sections were: VQVQV My verbal score was much higher than any practice test. I also found the quant sections on the Manhattan tests to be significantly more difficult than the Powerprep software and the actual test.

Are there any Canadians here applying to US schools? I'd love to talk to someone in my position!