Chrissymisha

I actually never finished my application. I was exhausted after 11 applications, so I put it off, and then just never went back to it. At this point I probably couldn't even go if I got the interview, so the joke will be on me if my interviews don't go very well. For me I considered it a safety only because I've basically done the first year and half of the program because the PhD and MS programs are so similar. For an outsider I would say it's probably mid-tier. The admissions committee is really good at looking at the whole package and not focusing on GPA/GRE scores so much, but they're accepting half as many people as they did when I joined because of funding. It also depends on which track you plan on going into. Some are more competitive than others.

I think they meant UTSA which is separate from UTHSCSA which from your signature is the one I think you applied to (could be wrong). I go to UTHSCSA and I don't think they've had their first interview weekend since the deadline hasn't technically passed yet. And I don't remember being asked to participate, but I could be wrong. I know they have a weekend Feb 5-7 because a friend of mine is going. I'm not sure if there is a January one.

I think a lot of the anxiety and confusion regarding interview weekends could be solved simply by the universities explicitly stating when their interview weekends are going to be on their websites/applications. I knew that the only Brown-NIH interview weekend was the third week in February, so I held off committing to that weekend for another school until I heard from them. It actually made my decision process easier. Apparently some interview weekends aren't set in stone and change from year to year at certain schools, so I get not saying when the weekends are in that case (though this could be solved by simply making the decision earlier; it's the same process every year), but for some universities especially with some of the more prestigious schools, we know from the results search what their weekends are and they don't change. Why not just say from the beginning what that weekend is? I knew that when I applied to 11 programs that if I received 4+ invites that there were going to be conflicts. There are only so many weekends after all. I have managed to work it out so that I've only had to decline one interview, but because I didn't know what everyone's weekends were it was an interview that I had softly committed to early on, and I felt really bad about then declining. In the end, it puts unnecessary pressure on us which could easily be dealt with if they were just more upfront about the interviews.

Congrats to the Columbia invites. I'm really hoping that they'll still be sending out invites tomorrow. Though I have no idea how I'd even get to visit since I've already committed to UPenn and Emory for those weekends.

Heard from Georgetown today. I think it was an official invite, but I don't think they have confirmed their interview dates. Unfortunately all three they gave me conflict with other interviews. Most likely I'll have to decline UVA's interview since Georgetown is more of a priority, but I worry about getting rid of my safety school, and I was really looking forward to the visit.

I mean I wouldn't count out getting an invite outside of office hours, but I definitely stop compulsively checking my email after 5. I might go insane otherwise.

I think it's highly unlikely. The latest I've heard from a program was around 4pm, but keep in mind that different time zones will affect that. So a west coast school might send after 6 your time while 6 will come earlier for east coast schools.

I had to take a break from this site because it was stressing me out, but at this point if I don't get anymore interviews I'll still be happy. Congrats to everyone on the interview invites. I think this has been a busy week for all of us. For anyone who is curious I received a call from UVA on the 12th, and one from Emory on the 16th, and then today I received an email invite from the Brown-NIH graduate partnership program and Baylor IBMS. What's weird is I don't think Baylor has my last LOR (the deadline is Jan. 1st), but I guess it didn't matter. Unfortunately both weekends conflict with UPenn or Brown-NIH, so unless I'm able to arrange something, I don't think I'll be able to go. At this point I'm really only waiting to hear from Columbia, Weill Cornell, and maybe UNC-Chapel Hill or Georgetown, but Chapel Hill has already sent out some, so I'm not terribly optimistic for them. Any idea when I might hear from the other three? I'm nervous about confirming interviews before I hear from them.

Just to further drive this point. There is usually a period when you join a program (a few weeks typically) where you are supposed to be setting up your rotation schedule. At this point, you'd be able to meet with as many professors as you wish, so you're definitely not losing a chance with them. Right now getting accepted is what's important. Also good luck to everyone, hopefully we'll all hear some good news this week! I'm going back to refreshing my email every ten minutes.

Or at least let the next two weeks pass by quickly, so I can continue panicking at home while I'm on vacation. At least there will be more distractions!

Also just got an invite to UPenn Neuro! I'm so excited. I was starting to feel kind of depressed that others had started to get invites, but at least I have one now! Good luck everyone!

Also just got an invite to UPenn Neuro! I'm so excited. I was starting to feel kind of depressed that others had started to get invites, but at least I have one now! Good luck everyone

There are a good many programs that have Dec. 15th deadlines. Out of the one's that I've done: Northwestern-DCP has a Dec. 15th deadline, Baylor College of Medicine is Jan 1st and UT Health Science Center at San Antonio is Jan 15th. I think UTHealth in Houston may be late as well. The good thing about most Texas schools is that there isn't usually an application fee.

Go to your profile, then Edit Profile, and then a Signature link will be on the left hand side.

I don't disagree, and I worked really hard to save up so that the financial aspect wouldn't be a factor. I also lost time that I had planned on working on my apps due to a family emergency and then getting sick myself. I ended up losing about a week and a half at the beginning of November, so had things gone more according to plan, it might not have been so bad. Of course I still don't know how this is going to work out, so my opinion is only worth so much at this point, but I will say that I wouldn't apply to 10+ programs just for the sake of increasing your chances by applying to as many as possible. I actually had about 4-5 other programs I was looking at, but I limited myself to the 12 I really liked based on research fit, location, etc. and dismissed the ones I was only casually interested in.

Yay I was hoping someone would start this. My interest is in Neurodegeneration specifically Parkinson's/ALS but because I come from a heavily Cell/Molecular background I would be interested in getting any neuroscience training at all. I'm worried that never taking an actual neuroscience class is going to hurt me though, so any program where I can list a CMB specialization if I don't get accepted into the neuro program I will. Undergrad Institution: Small state school Major: Biology Minor: Chemistry GPA in major: 3.97 Overall GPA: 3.98 Position in Class: Top 1-5%? Graduated summa cum laude but I don't think my school does any sort of ranking. Graduate Institution: UT Health Science Center at San Antonio Degree: M.S. in Cell and Structural Biology (still attending/will finish in May hopefully) GPA: 4.0 Type of Student: Female, minority (Hispanic) GRE Scores Q: 162 (83%) V: 163 (92%) A: 5.5 (98%) B: 770 (78%) Didn't report this to anyone. I figured a mediocre score would make my call my high GPA into question. Research Experience: 1 year in undergrad doing basic molecular biology techniques: WB, cell culture, etc. Co-author on poster at institutional presentation. Will get a pretty good LOR though from PI. During summer in between undergrad and masters I worked as a research assistant in the same lab. By the time I finish my masters I will have an additional 3 years of experience again in a cell/molecular biology lab doing some more advanced techniques. 2 posters at departmental retreats. One LOR from my PI, additional one from a committee member/student adviser. All should be pretty good. Publications: one review as middle author published, one review as primary author accepted for publication. One manuscript where I'm sixth author (last out of students, but hey it's something) just submitted for publication. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Departmental scholarships in undergrad and graduate school. I also successfully applied for an NIH diversity supplement to my PI's R01 grant. I'm hoping this is helpful and shows that I can write successful grants and also that it is possible for me to get this again. Pertinent Jobs: Undergraduate Research Assistant, Graduate Research Assistant (Yay for masters students getting funding!), Tutor at a Science Center and privately for molecular biology. Applying to: Weill Cornell-neuroscience or Allied UPenn-neuro Baylor College of Medicine- Neuro or MCB UTSW UTHSCSA (this one is practically a guaranteed acceptance) Columbia- Neurobiology and Behavior Northwestern- DGP Georgetown University- Interdisciplinary Program in Neuroscience UNC-Chapel Hill University of Virginia Emory Brown-NIH For any future applicant lurking through this thread: seriously consider if you want to apply to 10+ programs. I still have 3 left to do, and I'm exhausted. I've spent a small fortune, and I'm worried that I haven't given each application the necessary amount of time. That said I would be really happy at all of these schools even my so called "safety" ones, so as long as I'm accepted into one I'll be happy. I am worried that there are too many "reach" schools that I have no business applying to and that I maybe passed on applying to a good school I could get into. It's just so difficult to judge how competitive someone is.

As an update, If I'm reading the e-mail correctly, I think that my updated CV will be considered since I sent it to the head of admissions and she was given permission to include it in the review, but they are unable to fix it online (which I don't care about as long as they get to see it). I think it helped that the deadline hadn't passed yet, so it was just a case of my procrastination not kicking in for that one. Like I said, give it a shot, but you might have to talk to a few people.

I'm in the same situation. I only found out about the manuscript submission after I had already submitted a few applications including one of my top choices. I emailed the contact person for the program, but I've been passed around from the graduate school to the recruiter for my specific program. Apparently it's really difficult to make changes to the online form once submitted, but I sent my updated CV so hopefully someone will eventually agree to print it out and slip it in. I would go ahead and give it a shot. It can't hurt, and you might get lucky.

I hate 500 word limits. I have had a few for schools I'm really interested in, and I ended up hating my statement by the end of it. My long 2-3 page essay is about 1800 words, and cutting it down was horrible. I think I sounded like a robot by the end of it, and I hate that I'm going to be judged based on 500 words. Maybe the word count is indicative of how important the program thinks the essay is so the 500 word ones won't hurt me too badly. I'm pretty sure the deadline means 11:59pm tonight. A few programs have explicitly said this, so I assume it's the case for everyone else. So I guess we have to wait a few more hours, and that's assuming they start reviewing them immediately. I'm not going to really start refreshing my e-mail every minute until next week I think. I still have a few later deadline applications to finish anyways.

Same here! All Dec. 1st are done, but I also have UNC on the 2nd, one on the 3rd, and then Dec. 15th, Jan 1st, and Jan. 15th applications. I feel like I'm running out of steam here, but I'm only just over halfway done. Hopefully I can finish up this week with all of them. I'm sick of having them over my head. At least after everything is submitted the hard part will be over, and we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

I agree that your GPA is not enough to keep you out of a PhD program, but I don't know what your other stats are, and again it might be too late to try for a PhD program. That said, does the program require professor support (rare for master's)? If not, then I don't see why it would affect your chances. There are other professors. To play devil's advocate, having gone through a master's program as a prelude to a PhD program I disagree with the idea that for those that want to eventually get a PhD, a master's is a waste. There are two disadvantages to a master's. The first and biggest is funding. There are very few funded masters (though it is possible to get funding once in a program; I did but it was very recent). If your financial situation can't support that or you don't want to take out loans, then yeah you probably shouldn't get a masters. There's also the time commitment. For a thesis master's you're looking usually at closer to 3 years than 2, but that's three years more experience. Basically only consider a thesis master's (non-thesis isn't worth the money) if you can stomach the finances. It is a really great way to get experience and not just the research experience you'd get working as a tech. You get to be a graduate student with all the (favorite expletive) that entails without the funding. If you can get through that and still want a PhD, then you're going to be fine. Basically you get out of a master's what you put into it. I made it a trial PhD and got 3 publications and NIH funding on my CV for PhD applications. Also I narrowed down my research interests, and I'm now applying to PhD programs in a completely different field. I would have been stuck in a field I hated if I hadn't had that experience. Side note: don't worry so much about the exact area of research for a master's. The experience you gain is more important. Just make sure it's in the ballpark so you learn useful techniques, procedures, etc. for your PhD program.

I think most apps have "reminder emails" that you can send just as a heads-up. If they've committed to submitting before the deadline, then they should come through eventually. For my master's I had one professor wait until past 11:00 pm the night of the deadline. Nearly gave me a heart attack, and then I went and asked him for recommendations again this time around. He's the last to submit again, but we've been communicating about it, so I'm not worried. If they agreed to write the letter, then they want you to succeed. Just send a little reminder. They're busy, and it's a holiday weekend. It might have slipped their mind, or they're planning on submitting them on Monday.

I think since they will be able to distinguish between the subscores, that submitting your subject test scores may help combat any worry over the Cs you have in biochemistry and cell biology since you do very well on that sub score.

I haven't even finished my applications, but it's already started. I missed a phone call yesterday from Maryland, and was nearly panicking before I remembered I didn't apply to any Maryland schools. I guess I'm going to have to bury myself in lab work to get through this.

In biology I think it depends on the type of research that you are doing. I worked in a cell biology lab, and you had to at least be in the cell biology class to join the lab which meant I couldn't join until my senior year because that class had so many prereqs (intro bio and chem, plus full year of organic). On the other hand I could have joined a botany lab my junior year because I took that class earlier. I will say that I have learned much more in my lab than in lecture (exponentially so while I've been in grad school), but I needed the foundation first. I'm not saying a freshman or sophomore wouldn't learn anything from doing undergraduate research because they absolutely will. I've taught high school students the basics, and they've done fine, but I don't think they would necessarily be ready for their own project or at least not one they had to design on their own. To be fair, I don't think most seniors are either. That's something I've learned how to do in grad school in the pass two and a half years.