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From the winning proposals that I have seen, there doesn't seem to be a pattern that is required. I've seen proposals without titles of keywords; ones with titles but no keywords. Ones with and without other breakdowns like AIM 1, BACKGROUND, etc. Whatever looks good for you is what matters. If you have enough space to make it more aesthetically pleasing, then why not?

I'm in the same boat; especially bad as it's a PI with whom I obtained a publication. Might affect my NSF GRFP application, but hopefully I'll have another month to track them down before the Dec 1 application deadlines.

My SOP reviewers always recommend to keep everything in a positive light, whether it was adversity, a grade, or even not being accepted into school. Personally, I would appreciate your line, but not all readers may be as open. But, yes, you should absolutely mention how those last two years have impacted you, and prepared you for the rigors of graduate school.

Here's a recent link under the application's forum. I've been looking for answers to this as well.

I did the latter, in that I gave them a generic draft (which wasn't specific to any school) so they would get the gist of what I will write. I did note that I would tailor the generic draft for each school. As long as your main draft includes all the information your recommenders need to write their letters, you should be okay. Alternatively, you could also give each writer a list of points you'd like them to cover.

I see. Interfolio just looks so convenient. I went ahead and asked how my PIs wanted to do it; but I also offered to just bombard them with all the recommendation links on a certain day in November so that they don't have to search their inboxes for each one. Vitae sounds awesome, even though it doesn't seem to be made for graduate school apps.

I am applying to about 12 schools + 5 fellowships, so I want to make it as easy on my professors and LoR writers. Has anyone had good experiences with Interfolio, or any other service that handles the LoRs and part of your application?

Haha, that's going to look so awkward. I took the honors calculus series and did well, probably A-/B+ across them, but I retroactively had the grades removed because I was 1) sick at the time and my diagnosis came later and 2) I didn't need the grades nor the credits. I did do the physics series and Orgo, so hopefully I'll be alright, haha. I did 5 years as I transferred schools (also part of the credit problem). Pretty sure my SOP will be about my two main experiences, and the fit for graduate school. The list of schools is long, but within that list I have my reaches, and then ones that I think should be safer. I'd be willing to go to any of them because I specifically picked locations I could live in and thrive. Thanks for the confidence boost, home girl As for your stats: You appear to be super competitive, considering that you already completed two very prestigious summer programs, and have posters and publications to boot. All of those scholarships are indicative of your writing prowess, and I believe admissions committees will probably weigh that heavily as they can imagine you being able to snag some fellowships as well. The graduate classes are definitely going to be in your favor as that shows you are comfortable with graduate level material. Basically, I don't see any glaring problems standing out. It's great that you have very strong rec letter writers. Though, I'd bet their letters are more strong if you apply into a similar field or program. If you go into something else, then their prestige might not matter as much. I can see we have a similar list of schools; I can see your letters being tailored to each institution so that definitely gives you a leg up. Wishing you the best!

If anyone has a chance to look over my profile on the first page and critique it (especially on stats), I'd greatly appreciate it <3

Some graduate programs are very open and the program heads are quite accessible. When one is interviewing with such individuals, I figured it'd be a waste of time to ask things like "what is student life like?" or "what is the GPA cut off?" when those things could be found on a program's website. That being said, what types of advanced questions would you ask a director/dean/head of a program? I'll start: What resources does the program have to support students looking at non-academic paths? Are there any internal fellowships, and what are their requirements?

All true points. Yet, for the schools that do publish their admitted score ranges, somehow people still get in with scores in the upper 140s, reminding us that admissions is more holistic than we think.

I've heard mixed reviews about that. That some adcoms do care that you score at or above a 4.5 because graduate students are expected to read and write well. The test, of course, is but a fragment of anyone's total output as a writer, but at the end of the day, even though GREs are subjective and do not correlate with much graduate success, some schools might at least want to see a threshold score. I'm pretty sure that logic applies to all aspects of the GRE.

Lol, what are you talking about? Your stats are amazing, and you're in the 95th+ percentile! You got this, especially with your experience!

Undergrad Institution: Top 10, Ivy Major(s): Neuroscience Minor(s): None GPA in Major: 3.83 Overall GPA: 3.66 Position in Class: Unknown Type of Student: Domestic, white/Hispanic male GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 78% V: 95% W: 5.5 Not sure if I should retake; have gotten mixed signals about the quantitative portion. Research Experience: Summer 2011 & 2012: State University summer research programs funded by the NIH. Neurosurgery related. Two poster presentations, one middle-author publication. Fall 2011 - Present: Undergraduate research at my university, completed 3 senior's theses. Neuroscience related. One poster presentation, one national conference (ABRCMS). Unfortunately no papers to date as my results were either negative, or might be part of a future manuscript. I am also currently serving as the Lab Manager, and the laboratory moved to another state so it took about half a year to get everything up and running. In summary: three summers (40-50h/week for 8-12 weeks), 5/6 semesters of undergraduate research (20h/week for 14 weeks). One of my classes involved a clinical research project, but I'm not sure how to include that. I also have previous summers where I volunteered/interned in a psychology and a aquaculture laboratory, but I don't think that's pertinent for graduate school. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list multiple semesters (but not every semester) Magna Cum Laude Senior Award for positive impact on the community Two summer research funding opportunities Psychology & Neuroscience honor societies Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Bioethics Journal assistant editor Neuroscience honor society Health-related LGBTQA empowerment club The other's aren't as relevant, but I was president of my fraternity and a campus organization I helped found, and an elected student government representative. Hopefully that shows some initiative on my part. Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: The context of my Lab Manager position is being framed in a positive light by my PI, helping to explain beneficial skills that I learned, and my productivity, in the face of no publications and the fact that I had to move and re-establish the lab in another location. I.E. I'm ready for graduate school. Special Bonus Points: Took a graduate level Stem Cell biology course while working; did it Pass/Fail but technically got an A+. My LoR writers are recommending me to their colleagues at some schools, mostly to look out for my application and bestow some additional consideration (on paper I might not look that good due to transferring schools, some withdrawn classes due to medical hardship, etc.) Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I transferred colleges, so I'm only reporting my degree-granting institution's grades because it's going to be a nightmare to calculate it myself, converting between different credit hours, for each school I apply to (as they have their own means of calculating these things). Also unsure whether minority and low-SES status matters. Applying to Where: I'm applying to a few departments where that is allowed. But, specifically, I'm aiming at Stem Cell Biology/Regenerative Medicine programs, otherwise Cell and Molecular biology where applicable, and Neuroscience programs. I'm trying to refrain from adding more schools, but the list thus far is as follows: Baylor College of Medicine Duke Harvard MIT Rockerfeller Stanford UC Berkeley UC San Francisco University of Michigan University of Washington University of Wisconsin - Madison Yale P.S. If anybody wants to trade SOPs for critique and editing, shoot me a message

The 2016 application period is right around the corner. So use the following templates to enter your information, before and after you obtain your results, and remember to submit your results at the end of the cycle for posterity and to help the next cohort of applicants HERE. You can find the and threads by clicking on the year. Undergrad Institution: (School or type of school, such as big state, lib arts, ivy, technical, foreign (what country?)... Overall Reputation in Biology?) Major(s): Minor(s): GPA in Major: Overall GPA: Position in Class: (No numbers needed, but are you top? near top? average? struggling?) Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?) GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: V: W: B: TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this) Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...) Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?) Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...) Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...) Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Applying to Where: School - Department - Research Interest School - Department - Research Interest School - Department - Research Interest

Arg, shame about the fellowships; I was looking forward to applying to the DoD one. Going to have to hope that everything processes fast, haha.

Just gotta say, really appreciate the in-depth information, @person5811 <3

I was wondering if anybody knows whether US Permanent Residents are treated the same or differently in graduate school admissions compared to US Citizens. Last time I checked, I read that a lot of training grants are for US Citizens, but I wasn't sure if that rolled over to Permanent Residents, too. I ask because I'm eligible to become a US Citizen in August, but according to the USCIS application wait times, there is a back log a year long, so I might not even be a citizen until after decisions come out for graduate schools in March 2016. I actually took a year off between undergraduate and grad school to not only get more research experience, but to also draw out the time so that I could be a citizen before applying (which would have happened if it was automatic, but it's not, and there's that backlog).

It's probably easier to just look at your school's internal class assessment module. Most schools have a teacher/class assessment at the end of the semester; some department or organization usually compiles them and makes a report, or makes it accessible somewhere.

Thanks so much for that detailed explanation. It makes much more sense now.

Congratulations!!!! So happy and excited for you! Oh, wowza. I'm applying to SCBRM next year. I knew it was a relatively new program, BUT DAMN. Those admissions statistics are rough. Wishing you the best with that. Out of curiosity, since you can indicate 3 different programs at Stanford, did you get waitlisted for the other two, or how does the biosciences umbrella actually work.

This might echo the point that one should always be on their A game during interviews, not knowing which category they actually stand in. Therefore, one should always assume they're in the worst category, and need to perform well to get that admission letter.

Well, I'm not actually sure if it does or it doesn't, but I'm also wondering about what decides what degree one is conferred.. That's why I asked my question. I guess since purely academic prospects are no longer guaranteed, one might want to be able to sell their education to different career avenues. Therefore, knowing whether, for instance, someone in a stem cell laboratory can get a PhD in Stem Cell Biology vs. PhD in Biology when they are in an umbrella program is something I'm curious to know.

I've been wondering about what happens to grad students that, at least for the biomedical sciences, join a lab that might be a bit removed from their PhD program. For instance, a bunch of schools that have umbrella programs have faculty associated with the program from across the spectrum (from hardcore bio, to psychology, to engineering). So, if a person from a bio umbrella program joins a tissue engineering lab, for example, and their PhD dissertation is on that topic, is their PhD still in Biology, or would it be engineering? I'm curious because even though I'm looking at umbrella programs, I sure would like the opportunity to rotate in a laboratory that might complement my undergraduate studies with something more translational, or even applied (the engineering part). Hence, I wanted to know what people in such a situation end up graduating with; I'd also be curious to know how often people apply to Bio PhD programs to get into engineering based labs (most engineering PhD programs don't allow non-engineering undergrad majors to apply).

Hmm, that's a good point. I've always been slightly poor at taking multiple choice exams, but all my writing, seminar, and presentation classes were much better in terms of grades, so I think I could ask a professor from one of the aforementioned classes to maybe highlight that disparity. Good thinking, and point taken. Right, I wouldn't be tactless about it. Since I already have them committed, I'd just need to give them my SOP and C.V. and simply ask them, out of curiosity, what their policies were: like if they'd be willing to let me read the letter after admission decisions, if they'd be willing to address certain things, etc. I guess if every letter says you're good, and then expounds a different reason for why, that might be nice. But, yes, the gap in knowing what the adcoms look for kind of prevents strategy in terms of this. That's some really good advice. One of my friends applying for the NSF GRFP didn't have any recommenders; but since he was new to the university (as a post-bacc tech), one of the professors on the floor (with a lot of clout) was asked by his PI to write him a good letter. The professor told my friend to write it for him, and then just submitted it without much of an edit since it was very generic anyway. I'd probably end up not using a template, but rather highlighting points that I'd like to be addressed, if possible. I'd include it with my CV and SOP, and maybe ask them if they'd like a draft from my position that they can edit. But, yes, my LoR writers are pretty busy so they might actually appreciate this as long as it comes off across right.