ilovelab

Don't. No School is going to care that you went to UCB vs UCSB/UC Davis etc. Your GPA is excellent just focus on getting a good GRE score and you will be fine for grad school apps. You are already working in a lab getting research experience which is the most important piece of your application for graduate school. You can always get an RA/Lab tech position at one of these schools after you graduate. I transferred from one UC to another. Even though they were both on the quarter system I had to repeat quite a few classes since there was no transfer agreement in place. I had to repeat GE's again. Its not worth the hassle and extra money... trust me. Unless you already have the transfer agreements with your respective department at UCB don't risk it.

Does anyone know if UTSW has sent out all of their invites? I can only find two in the results thread.

Unless you stress eat!

Does anyone know if NYU Sackler is done sending interviews? I think there are 2/3 responses in the search but they are all immunology/microbio.

I know a couple of the professors on the UC Davis adcom. They haven't even looked at apps yet, the review will happen early next week. You might hear after christmas.

mcb??

Ugh.... Hopefully each track is sending out their own invites.

Well at least that is some good news. It is my top choice so hopefully we both hear from them soon.

I just checked my application. It says the same as yours but submitted Dec 1st.

I wouldn't be surprised if they were. They may have done one massive review and then are sending out the interviews in waves. The dean emailed me saying she ran out of time and I got my email like 10PM eastern so you definitely have a shot.

Does anyone know if NYU Sackler/Northwestern DGP/UTSW have released interviews yet? I haven't seen anything on the results page... but we only represent a fraction of the people applying and I haven't really seen these schools in users' signatures.

#1 Cell and Developmental Biology #2 Cancer Biology #3 Translational Science There should be multiple interview weekends.... unless they are doing a Stanford Biosciences.

1 December 2016.... There is no way deadlines for 2017 are up.

There is no way they are accepting 200 students. It was probably close to 140/150 and they assumed half would accept.

UVA BIMS Feb 16-Feb18

It depends on the program. I remember when I got accepted to Michigan PIBS they wanted a class size of like 60-70 but they interviewed over 200 of us (I think it was like 230.... there were A LOT of us at the interview). Some schools like PENN are transparent as to their post-interview acceptance rates. The PENN CAMB interviews seem more like a sanity check than a tough interview based on their numbers. For each program it fluctuates year to year based on how many total students they have/how many graduate etc.

Just got an email from UVA BIMS to interview Feb 16th-Feb18th. They are sending them in waves.

Depends on the program. Some Like UPENN CAMB have very high acceptance rates post interview. Others like Michigan PIBS is significantly lower.

For UPENN CAMB anyone know if interviews for the DSCRB concentration have gone out? Everything in the results search is cancer bio/GGR/or MVP...... maybe I'm not doomed. lol

THIS! I feel like a lot of people applying look at arbitrary rankings and the name reputation of the school and not the things that will matter in the long run.. like location/mentorship.

The US News rankings are considered unreliable by some people (myself included) because of the methodology used. There is no real difference between the top ranked med school or the 20th (for example). US news makes it seems as though there are clear differences. There isn't a big difference between the quality of the programs between #1 and #20. U Pitt has comparable science programs to Stanford. Stanford has the name recognition which is why everyone assumes its more competitive or it more prestigious to get your Phd from Stanford. I know it probably blows your mind that Pitt could be equal to Stanford in some areas, but its true. NIH funding is a decent method to determine how competitive a school/programs are, but it also has its flaws. For example, UTSW is a public school which according to NIH funding wouldn't appear to be very competitive but the programs at UTSW are just as difficult to get accepted to as U Mich/UW/UCSF/Yale etc even though it has a fraction of the NIH $$. They get a lot of private funding which is another reason they have a lot of international students.

I would consider applying to more schools just to be safe. A lot of these programs don't take very many students each year (except UCSF Tetrad). Your only concern is your lower GPA but you have more than enough research experience to make up for it. 2 of your 3 letters will be come from PI's you've done research with so that's a plus. Have you considered genetics programs at Hopkins/Michigan/Duke? If you can afford it I would apply to more schools.

Maybe I'm wrong but doesn't Bernie's proposal cover undergrad only? I don't every hear him mention graduate school. Getting a graduate degree isn't a luxury. Most people go into quite a bit of debt to get one, especially in the humanities where they don't have a lot of funding. Considering a college degree now is what high school degree was 30 years ago I wouldn't call getting a BS/BA a luxury either.

Adcoms aren't going to question why you have been a tech for 5 years. If you accomplished very little in those 5 years (no pubs/posters) than you have a reason to worry. Unless you have GPA issues or want to pursue a masters completing one prior to grad school doesn't help that much. No to mention is going to be expensive. The poster has paper/presentations out of this time as a tech so he should be good. If he can get 3 great LOR from the labs he's done research in he will be golden especially if he can get the GRE scores up.

20K at UCLA is going to be rough. If you want cheaper housing I would suggest Santa Monica. Somewhere close to Wilshire/Santa monica blvd. That way you can take the blue buses into campus. I don't remember if you can take your bike on the bus. Another alternative is "South of WIilshire" which is an area between Wishire Blvd and Santa monica Blvd. The 405 is on the left and the beverly hilton on the right. It makes a weird trapazoid shape on google maps. Apartments there used to be more affordable but who know now. I finished my undergrad 5 years ago. Are you planning on sharing a room? If so than 20K would work but the avg 1bd/1bath apartments prices are like 1300-1500 a month. Which is going to be rough with a 20K stipend.