person5811

I am re-posting for future applicants. Good luck ~ Undergrad Institution: State School (Ranked ~150 in US News and World Report). Majors: Biology, Psychology (Will graduate in May). GPA in Major: Biology 3.94, Psychology 4.0. Overall GPA: 3.85. Position in Class: Top ~2%. Type of Student: Domestic, female, hispanic. GRE Scores (revised version): Q: 155 (~60%). V: 157 (~70%). W: 4.5 (~80%). Research Experience: ~3.5 years, 3 different labs. No pubs. 12 poster presentations/talks. #asked for a letter of rec. from each research advisor - Virology research at my home institution. ~1.5 years. ~20 hrs/week - Neuroscience research at top 10 institution. ~ 1 year. ~40 hrs/week - RNA biology research at research institute. ~ 1 year. ~30 hrs/week. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2 presentation awards. 13 scholarships. 5 honor societies. 3 research internships. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA'd for 1 semester in psychology. Tutored informally throughout college. #I don't really think this matters for the type of programs I applied to. Special Bonus Points: 1 fairly well-known recommender. Very broad research interests, but basic research for sure and fairly interested in chromatin/RNA/gene expression regulation. Applied: 1. UT Southwestern - Genetics and Development Track (Submitted: Nov. 12) 2. NYU - Sackler: Genome Integrity (Submitted: Nov. 14) 3. UCLA - Biosciences: Gene Regulation Home Area (Submitted: Nov. 16) 4. Harvard - BBS (Submitted: Nov. 17) 5. Rockefeller (Submitted: Nov. 21) 6. UC Berkeley - MCB (Submitted: Nov. 23) 7. UCSF - Tetrad (Submitted: Nov. 24) 8. Stanford Biosciences - Biology Track (Submitted: Nov. 26) 9. MIT - Biology (Submitted: Nov. 27) 10. Harvard - MCO (Submitted: Nov. 28) 11. UCSD - Biological Sciences with Salk (Submitted: Nov. 28) 12. UCI - CMB (Submitted: Nov. 29) 13. MIT - BCS (Submitted: Nov. 30) ~ Interview Invites: 1. UT Southwestern - Genetics and Development Track (Invited: Dec. 4) 2. UCLA - Biosciences: Gene Regulation Home Area (Invited: Dec. 6) 3. UCSF - Tetrad (Invited: Dec. 17) 4. Harvard - MCO (Invited: Dec. 19) 5. UCI - CMB (Invited: Dec. 19) 6. Harvard - BBS (Invited: Dec. 19) 7. UC Berkeley - MCB (Invited: Dec. 19) 8. MIT - BCS (Invited: Dec. 23) 9. NYU - Sackler: Genome Integrity (Invited: Dec. 24) 10. MIT - Biology (Invited: Jan. 9) 11. Stanford Biosciences - Biology Track (Invited: Jan. 9) 12. Rockefeller (Invited: Jan. 14) Interviewed: 1. NYU - Sackler: Genome Integrity (Weekend: Jan 22-23) 2. UCSF - Tetrad (Weekend: Jan 29-31) 3. UC Berkeley - MCB (Weekend: Feb 1-3) 4. Harvard - MCO (Weekend: Feb 4-7) 5. MIT - Biology (Weekend: Feb 7-10) 6. Harvard - BBS (Weekend: Feb 12-15) 7. MIT - BCS (Weekend: Feb 26-27) 8. Rockefeller (Weekend: Mar 1-2) #not an official interview weekend, but they were really nice about working around my schedule 9. Stanford Biosciences - Biology Track (Weekend: Mar 4-7) 10. UT Southwestern - Genetics and Development Track (Weekend: Mar 12-14) Accepted: 1. UCSF - Tetrad (Notified: Feb. 4) 2. UC Berkeley - MCB (Notified: Feb. 5) 3. NYU - Sackler: Genome Integrity (Notified: Feb. 6) 4. MIT - Biology (Notified: Feb. 12) 5. Harvard - MCO (Notified: Feb. 18) 6. Harvard - BBS (Notified: Feb. 24) 7. Rockefeller (Notified: Mar. 3) 8. MIT - BCS (Notified: Mar. 6) 9. Stanford Biosciences - Biology Track (Notified: Mar. 13) 10. UT Southwestern - Genetics and Development Track (Notified: Mar. 16) Rejected: 1. UCSD - Biological Sciences with Salk (No Interview) #In retrospect, I think I should have applied to BMS, it's a larger program and they invite more people to interview, but oh well. Attending: MIT Biology. #I mentioned it in a previous post, but basically just everything I was looking for. Reasons for attending: Students look happy, legitimately happy. Incoming class of ~30, just the right size (IMO). The faculty seem very supportive of students (>90% of students graduate, also you can defer if something comes up). Quality research. Excellent training. No rotations first semester, just classes. Nobel laureate teaches graduate level genetics (yup!). Short rotations (1 month). Funding guaranteed for as long as it takes for you to graduate. 35K stipend + health insurance + waived tuition. Boston is a great place to live. Additional Info/ Tips: - I did not contact any faculty beforehand. I think this is encouraged at Stanford (they ask you if you did as part of the application), but I don't think it's necessary elsewhere. - It's good to check if programs received all application materials (I called the admissions office, and also tried to submit at least a few days before app deadline). - Ask your recommenders at least 1 month in advance (that's polite and also great because your application will be complete as soon as you click the submit button). - There are application fee-waivers available (if you don't have the money to apply, ask if you can get one before you give up). - UT Southwestern does not charge you to apply (and also great program, I was very impressed). - Apparently Texas has special Texas funding for science. This is good for internationals, and that's why Baylor and UT Southwestern can accept ~30% internationals. - Don't be nervous, interviews are a lot of fun! - Oh, and had I not gone to MIT Biology, I would have probably chosen Harvard MCO, Berkeley, Rockefeller, Stanford, and UT Southwestern in that order. Those were my favorites, in case you were wondering.

I'm pretty sure this is largely dependent on the school, but I think for the most part everyone being interviewed has a pretty good chance of being accepted (your paper app will get you an interview, your interview itself will get you an acceptance). For example, at UCSF Tetrad none of the faculty that interviewed me (6) had read my application before I met them. I'm not sure if this was planned or not, but a student said that they do this because they don't want to be biased before meeting you, the interviews literally and solely determined if you got in or not at that program. I've also heard (from faculty) that they can tell if a student is good or not (aka if they are going be accepted or not) within 5 mins of talking to them one-on-one (this is kind of going back to a post someone made about people making decisions mid-way through an interview weekend, yes it happens but not because of your paper app, because of your ability to talk about research....aka explain yours clearly including why you did what you did, not only what you did....and be able to ask good questions when presented with a new research question, theirs....and also look interested/excited about the whole thing). Oh, and also the school you come from does not matter as much as people think. I come from a pretty low-tiered institution (ranked around 140) and got accepted to programs that people from top 10 universities didn't get accepted to. It doesn't matter where you go to school, it matters how much you know. If you want to learn, you will find a way and if you do not, it doesn't matter if you went to the fanciest school, it will be pretty evident when you're talking to people. Oh, and also everyone you talk to will have a say on whether you get in or not, not just adcoms (I'm pretty sure they play a much more significant role in determining if you get an interview than they do in getting you in).

The thing that I loved about MIT, and the feeling that I was left with after my interview, is that everyone that works there really loves and is proud of their institution. And they really care. They care about doing great science, they care about training great scientists, about communicating their science to others and making the world a better place. Man, it's just a place filled with smart, driven, eloquent and NICE people. And I went to some of these other schools and they asked me what other schools I was considering and I said MIT and like four different professors at different places said "I can't say anything bad about MIT" (because it's such an incredible place!). And I had this gut feeling right after my interview of wow, I can't believe I could go to a place like this, this is it! But I am not going to lie, the 37K stipend at Rockefeller (plus 2K for supplies every year) and the possibility to live in New York made me confused for a little, and Harvard MCO with their incredibly smart students and their very selective acceptance rate made me want to go there for a little, and Stanford with their incredibly nice professors, same thing....but I heard this talk today by a professor at MIT and this is the most humble man I have ever met who has done incredible research, and who trained as a PhD student at MIT and who just made me reaffirm my belief people at MIT really care about making a difference (and all the other nice things I said at the beginning). I should also add that I had SO MUCH FUN during my recruitment weekend, the students are also fun and normal people who drink and act silly sometimes. And I love the Boston area as a place to live (big, but not too big) with tons of academic institutions and biotech companies. Also 35K is a perfectly reasonable stipend to live off of (I know several people who live there and they have no complaints, they even save money). And because of all of those reasons I just could not picture myself going to any other school, but of course everyone is looking for different things in graduate school, so I understand why people have chosen to go to other programs. Oh and I should also mention that I really like the size of the program (~30 people per class) and the structure of the program (the only place that does only classes the first semester, no rotations). I think having a lot of people working on diverse projects makes for an exciting grad school experience (also, you can get a lot of feedback from them and bounce of ideas, etc) and the structure of the program I feel like allows for students to concentrate on making sure they know the most basic concepts in biology to succeed in many different fields and be able to talk to a variety of scientists in the future. Oh, and lastly MIT does a lot of outreach (in many different ways, they go to high schools, bring people from high schools and different universities, and they make these free online courses open to everyone in the WORLD) and I feel like we are so incredibly lucky to have all of these amazing resources available to us as graduate students that we should share some of that good fortune with others.... Ok ok enough about MIT, but OMG I'm going to MIT!!!!

Officially going to MIT Biology, most amazing place in the world!!!!!! :-) :] :3 :c) :> =] 8) =) :} :^) :っ) ＼(~o~)／ ＼(^o^)／ ＼(-o-)／ ヽ(^。^)ノ ヽ(^o^)丿 (*^0^*)(✿◠‿◠) d(*⌒▽⌒*)b ♪┏(・o･)┛♪┗ ( ･o･) ┓♪┏ ( ) ┛♪┗ (･o･ ) ┓♪

There are tons of terminal master's programs in the US although you might not find one in neuroscience. You could go for one in biology or psychology (or chemistry or physiology or...). I'd recommend biology over psychology, and it really doesn't have to be in a good school, just make sure research is a requirement in the program (if this is the case maybe you'd have to contact advisors beforehand). I think there are a few ways for it to be less expensive but to be honest I am not sure what they are (maybe teaching assistantships or research ones, but I'm pretty sure those would not cover everything). The reality though is that if you don't have good grades or good research experience it would be impossible (who knows maybe not) to get into a PhD program (like any school at all). So, yes, absolutely look into a master's I would say and do it soon because most deadlines are either about to come or have passed (to start in the Fall).

What did people think of Stanford in general? And of Biology if that was your home program?

I interviewed for the Biology home program. I got a phone call from a professor a few hours ago. She said I will get an official email in a couple of days. I'm not sure if they have contacted everyone that got in yet. Good luck!

I don't want to be a downer, but have you considered that your relationship might end up not working out, regardless of whether you live in the same city or not? Here's what I'm thinking. People that are married end up getting a divorce like 50% of the time (and the percentage of non-marriage relationships that fail must be higher than that). On the other hand, really good PhD programs have something like a 90+% success/completion/attrition rate (that's what they told us at MIT and Harvard). So, I think it is reasonable to say that there is a pretty considerable chance things won't work out between you guys (regardless of where you live) aka failure, but a pretty high chance you will complete a PhD in your dream school aka success. So, just based on these silly stats, I think going to your dream school is the one with the highest likelihood of ending in success.

Here's what I would say. Dear Dr. [Last name of the professor], Thank you so much for taking the time to email me. I had a great time during my interview weekend, and I am excited about the possibility to join the [name of the program] program. I am really flattered by your interest in having me as a student, however, while I think your current research is interesting and in line with my previous research experience, I was hoping to try something new during grad school and work on [new research question]. I would of course consider rotating in your lab, but I do not feel comfortable making any further commitment. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Have a nice rest of your day! Regards, [Your name]

Hello. I think out of this you do NOT AT ALL need teaching experience. Practically no one I met in any of my interviews has any, and it has not come up at all in any of my interviews. I'd say work on getting more research experience. That is the one single most important thing I think adcoms are interested in knowing you have, because that's what you're signing up to do for 5-7 years and they don't want you to be like "oh, actually, I don't think I like this that much." I'm not sure if some of your letters are from US faculty, but I think having one could help you. I only submitted 3 letters to all my schools, and heard that faculty usually don't look at the 4th or 5th (because of time constraints). So pick the ones that you think can speak better about your potential to do science, and only send those. Also, private schools have more money for internationals than public schools (Harvard, MIT, Rockefeller for sure). I'm not sure if UT Southwestern is considered a public school or not, but it does not charge an application fee for applying and usually takes ~30% international students for their incoming class. They also don't care that much about GRE scores (according to faculty I've talked to). I've also heard good things about Baylor. And of the school I've been to, NYU seemed to be welcoming of international students as well. Oh I should mention that I applied to cell molecular bio/ biomedical sciences programs, this might not apply to ecology or programs of the like.

Mmm, I don't know much about most of the programs you applied to, but I think you should start considering other options, since it's fairly late in the interview season. I know Rockefeller has really high GPA standards (no one below a 3.8 has gotten an interview there that I personally know of, if anyone does, then please let us know), so I would not advise reapplying next year (but it's your $50, so do what you think is best for you). I think Princeton also has pretty high GPA standards (I only know my friend that has a 4.0 that got in), so that's something to consider. I think only applying to 2 PREP programs might be a little risky, so maybe try looking elsewhere? You only have to stay there for a little period of time, this will get you to where you want to be, but it doesn't have to be where you want to be for grad school. Also, I'm not sure where I saw that you have like 1 year of research experience, and I actually don't think that is so bad, also if you didn't lead that project I think that's fine too, as long as you understand the rationale behind what you were doing (I mean you are applying to graduate school to become, eventually an independent scientist....you just need to show that you have potential as an applicant, not try to make the claim that you already are because that would probably be false and incredibly arrogant). And to further this point, this one other person I know got really good interviews (Cal Tech, Yale, John's Hopkins, Berkeley and others) with two summers of research experience (both, under a post-doc or grad student....now, he does have a 4.0 and close to 90% in all sections of the general GRE, but still). Ok, I hope some of that helps.

I think your GPA is a little low. I've heard in those cases you can either do a master's (and do really well, like 4.0 well) or take the subject GRE (in bio probably, and score really high >80%) to compensate. The master's would have to be research based (not just classes) and if you take time off I think you need to find a research position somewhere (as a tech, as a post-bac student...) to demonstrate that you're interested in doing research (and also get another letter of rec). Usually tech positions have contracts for 2 years, not sure about industry, but in academia this is what I've seen. Now, there's some funding for master's programs out there (scholarships and fellowships, I'd use google to find those) and you can always take out a loan. In addition some programs offer financial support in the form or teaching or research assistantships. Oh, and of all of the places I've visited no one seems to care about teaching experience (I have some, but it has not come up at all, it's really not expected or a plus, but if you can teach well you can explain things well and therefore are more likely to talk about your research intelligently). Oh yeah, and I think PREP/post-bac programs are nice because they give you a little support group when you apply again. You can bounce ideas off of each other when filling out applications, or revise each other's personal statements, then you can interview together, etc.. I have this sort of group through a summer program, and it definitely helped me stay motivated/focused/hopeful throughout the application process. And, they expect you to apply to graduate school, so if you miss a lot of work when interview season comes, they'll be ok with it (for sure!) and will continue to pay you just as much as you usually get paid (I'm pretty sure, but don't quote me on that). What kind of programs are you applying to? And what school(s) are you thinking of applying to?

I know a lot of people that have done post-bacs at different places and done extremely well (my friend just got into MIT Biology, and was also accepted at Princeton, Johns Hopkins, UPenn, U of Michigan and has 4 interviews left). I would say if you have a solid GPA for undergrad, a master's is really not necessary. Plus, most master's programs aren't funded, so you'd have to figure out how to pay for that. Maybe not the one at NIH, but other post-bac programs I've heard about last two years (not one), so you'd have a solid extra year of research experience and a letter of rec. Now, if you were to do a one year program, I think it is possible to get a good, solid letter of rec in a few months. I started working with my current research advisor in August, asked for a letter in October, and got a lot of interviews. I think her letter was really good bc it's a small lab and thus I see her every week. I also work 30 hours a week (or a lot more if necessary), so she's really gotten to know me well in that short period of time and likes me. I know she could tell I was trying really hard and I'm sure mentioned how motivated I was in her letter (and how quickly I learned things, etc). Oh, yeah and you don't have to get a lot of results/data from a research experience, the point is to understand what you're doing really well (read reviews and papers, and you will) and be able to talk about it (both in your personal statement and during interviews).

I personally didn't like the BBS program as much as other places I've visited. If I was to rank the places where I've been so far I'd say it's MIT Bio > Harvard MCO > Berkeley > NYU > BBS > UCSF. There are some nice people in the BBS program, definitely, but some of the students I met where incredibly conceited (not true at Harvard MCO!) and some of the fellow recruits were obnoxious. The program for me seems too big, so you'd never get to meet all your classmates which I want as a grad student, and the general interest of people in the program is too translational for me. Also, one of my interviewers "forgot" she was interviewing me (cancelled 5 mins beforehand, only place this has happened) and I was not the only one with that issue. Also, I got 0 of the faculty I wanted to meet (that I mentioned in my statement). That being said, the faculty I did meet were nice, they have nice facilities, they offer the highest stipend I've seen (37K), and it's in Boston which is a great place to live.

I decided not to apply to Yale for two main reasons (that I can think of right now). First, a person I know goes there and is fairly miserable, he doesn't get along with his classmates and he didn't do well with classes his first semester, he is now worried he will get kicked out of the program, so from the outside and the little information I have it does not look like a very supportive environment. And second, it is in New Haven which is not a very big city (and I would go crazy living in a small town for a prolonged period of time) and not very safe (I've heard some people call it Drug Haven and crime rate is pretty high).