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maybethisyear

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  • Location
    NYC
  • Application Season
    2015 Fall
  • Program
    Biology

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  1. I've found myself in a position where I have the opportunity to essentially write my own LoR. My recommender is someone who does not speak/write English as his primary language. He reads and understand it well enough, though. He has provided me with his 'skeleton' version riddled with grammatical errors for me to edit. It's just over a page in length, but I'd like to get it closer to two pages and provide some more details. He's someone I work with and get along with really well, and I'm sure he won't mind at all (I've edited/improved recommendations he's written for other people before.) I guess my question is how do I proceed? Any not-so-obvious pitfalls I should avoid?
  2. Thanks for the feedback. I know the master's GPA isn't spectacular. From my previous reply: "As for the GPA, the masters courses are essentially 2/3 of the total courses required for the Ph.D program--the exact same courses. The point is being able to show them that I can handle that level of work and maintain a GPA above what they ask for Ph.D students (3.0+)" Not sure if this makes it a little better, but I hope so. Unfortunately, the master's was not thesis-based. Since there's no salary for a master's, I need to work in order to pay the tuition and didn't really have time to spend in the lab, so I went the course-based route. The abstract / conference presentation is from my job, unrelated to the master's. There's definitely a paper that will come out of it, but it's still in extremely early stages (manuscript now starting to be written), and I'm not sure it's even relevant to mention. I also have an aknowledgement in a publication (but this doesn't seem all that useful either.) My response regarding the GRE: "no, I do not think I could do a whole lot better. I might improve verbal a bit, but quant would suffer more than the verbal improvement. The master's program and the lab research don't really require anything more than basic algebra. I feel I'm too out of practice to even match what I got in Quant before." Of course it doesn't hurt to retake it, and I most likely will. But I really need to seriously consider the merit of my application with the low scores as they are. As for drive / desire. I don't think I've taken criticism poorly--I've taken rejection poorly, and for legitimate reasons, like the availability of relevant recommendation providers as mentioned previously. "what do you think your comps/quals/defense or peer-review for pubs is going to be like?" I'm sure these are tough, but not sure if it's an entirely fair comparison to getting into grad school in the first place. When you're in, you expect those things and it's all open to discussion. But acceptance and rejection are black and white and not open to discussion or appeal. Responding to peer reviewers or adding a few more figures to your paper isn't exactly the same thing as a three-year delay between grad school applications and exhausting more and more of your resources each time.
  3. Sorry about your rejection. I think you misunderstand when I say "I don't want to want it." Of course I want to get in. The last 3 years of my life has been dedicated to trying to improve and to try again. Sure maybe you were able to handle the crushing defeat a bit better than I did. But it's not as easy for everyone to regroup and apply again without it possibly affecting other areas of their lives, so the re-application process can vary immensely. Seeking jobs in the intermittent time between applications would have exhausted recommendation / reference resources. (This is an example of how the experience would be different for some people. It might be absolutely necessary to get a salary.) Eventually professors will get sick of your pestering. The program didn't officially tell me I need to retake. It was sort of 'inside-info' that it wasn't high enough. And no, I do not think I could do a whole lot better. I might improve verbal a bit, but quant would suffer more than the verbal improvement. The master's program and the lab research don't really require anything more than basic algebra. I feel I'm too out of practice to even match what I got in Quant before. The difference between applying to one program and ten is how much I have to bug people to write recommendations, which is already a delicate situation (see above.) And to be honest, it seems like you're downplaying the value of strong recommendations, or maybe I wasn't clear as to how weak they probably were. My focus is on quality, not quantity. I played the quantity game the first time around (if 8 programs count as quantity.) Additionally, it's really not a 1:1 ratio in terms of investment/reward. I hope you're not submitting the same personal statement to every program--it needs to be tailored to each one, including knowledge of what type of research is going on at each and who you might be interested in working with (probably not required for all programs.) As for the GPA, the masters courses are essentially 2/3 of the total courses required for the Ph.D program--the exact same courses. The point is being able to show them that I can handle that level of work and maintain a GPA above what they ask for Ph.D students (3.0+) "I keep wandering if I was edged out by some twerp who only applied on a whim, and accepted the offer because why not?, and a year from now he, or she, is not going to be interested anymore." So essentially you're saying that if you're not sure you want it, you shouldn't accept? What's the alternative to accepting and deciding a year later that you don't want to do it? Not accepting then applying again if you realize you do want it? This is kind of a bitter attitude. I don't have stats to quote you, but I get the feeling that the large majority of people who start grad school, end up finishing it, and I highly doubt that they all enter with 100% conviction that they want to do it. You can't really blame people for keeping their options open. Valid for 5 years according to the program I'm interested in. It sounds like you haven't really experienced what the job market is like for Bio degrees. I do not see it as prolonging the wait for career searching. It's preparation for a better career and also gaining sense of accomplishment--the latter is more important to some than others, which is one of the main reasons I want to do it. Lots of people go to grad school simply because they feel like it's the next logical step and they finish just fine. The people who whine about it and drop out are a loud minority on the internet. Thanks for this. I kind of tried to explain the same thing above, but not as eloquently.
  4. In 2011, I applied to 6-7 Ph.D. programs (Biology.) Not even a single interview. It was devastating. I remained composed enough to do a master's, and I'm re-applying now to just one program (the least competitive one--at my school) for next year. I was told by one of the professors who was helping me that I most likely didn't get in before due to my GRE and that they decided to not interview anyone below a cut-off point, but otherwise my application was fine. I'm not sure how true this was since they state that there is no minimum GRE score they're looking for. Who knows? That might be BS, or the professor just told me this since it would be not as bad as saying my grades were shit or I didn't have enough experience. I dunno. I'm only applying to one program now because I couldn't stand multiple rejections again. At least with one, it's not that much effort in applying, so if I don't get in it wouldn't have been a HUGE waste of time on applications. I honestly do not think I can do better with the GRE, so I'm applying with the same scores but with hopefully a better overall application. For comparison: 2011 Bachelor's, 3.2 GPA ~1 year of relevant lab experience 430 Verbal, 610 Quant, 4 Writing 3 (weak) recommendation letters --I now realize that this was probably a big problem. The recommenders didn't really know me that well, and most likely wrote very general things 2014 Bachelor's, 3.2 GPA Master's, 3.4 GPA ~2 years of relevant lab experience Scientific conference presentation / authorship on an abstract 430 Verbal, 610 Quant, 4 Writing 2 very strong / detailed recommendations from people who know my work / academic abilities well, and probably 1 weak-ish one. Better personal statement, IMO. More focused / coherent with more clearly definied goals I don't want to want it, because I dunno how I could handle a rejection again. What do you guys think? Is this enough improvement over three years to warrant an offer?
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