notsaxophones

Hi everyone, I am a first year graduate student in a Molecular and Cellular biology program, and recently went to a talk by an author on the paper I have linked below. This paper details the state of biomedical sciences research in the US and discusses, and really made me think about trying to use my time as a graduate student to figure out what careers other than academia are feasible, and how I might eventually accomplish one of those careers. Many of us in my first year program agreed that this is good information to know, so I figured I would share it here. I'm not trying to scare anyone - but I feel like even though I had a fuzzy idea of what was going on with bio/biomedical careers when I applied to grad school, that this has helped me really get a grasp on the reality of the situation. The speaker just happened to bring up a good point that when you are considering grad programs, that we should see what their strengths are other than just producing students to go on to do postdocs and academia. http://www.pnas.org/content/111/16/5773.full.pdf Good luck on all of your applications! Notsaxophones

I am a little disappointed, but the expectations are pretty high. I'm trying again next year and can hopefully build from their feedback

I had one professor tell me he didn't want to read my personal statement before he met me so that he could get the direct impression of my research from me. Which is funny, because he is one of the professors that I mentioned in my personal statement as one of my top POI's at the school.

I had a similar thing with University of Washington. After the second set of interviews there my fiancee and parents told me i would not shut up about Seattle and the program. I went to another interview after that and when i was texting my fiancee at night about it he was like "yep. We're going to Seattle, I can tell"

Also, I would like to add that matching me with professors I was interested in actually didn't make the interview weekend better. With my two at washington, for the first I was matched with all people I really thought I was interested in. For the second, I felt like I was randomly assigned professors (I am a bacteria person and was very confused as to why I was placed with a Zebrafish eye person and a mouse cancer person). But I at the interviews, I found out that a lot of the people that I thought I was interested in wouldn't be labs I would want to join (professors thinking of retiring, etc), and that things I thought I wasn't interested in are actually really cool. I think that second program was also trying to show me the breadth that they offered as an umbrella program, and trust me, it worked.

I've already chosen mine but I'm still terrified to give the official "yes" and "no" notifications, because what if something happens and for some completely unforseen reason I would need to go to a different institution? (complete paranoia, I know. probably just decision anxiety haha)

From what I've heard, if a program is too postdoc-heavy you might get fewer chances to publish (aka, work harder to get your project noticed). But at my interviews, if there was a poster session not too many people presented - I don't think this is a representation of not many grad students being involved though, I think it was due to space, time, and who had the desire to give one. At some of my interviews I know that probably only half of the grad students participated in the extracurricular activities, and that made me feel like there isn't the pressure to HAVE to participate in every single thing the program does. Also, what I've been told over and over is that it depends on what kind of a student you are. If you are very self-motivated, do not need as much mentorship, and are essentially confident in being more independent in your research, then you could thrive in a less grad student-centric institute. Just depends on your personality and abilities.

If they are a part of the CGS then ignore their pressure. One of my schools repeatedly told me that if anyone tries to tell you that you have to decide before April 15th that they are wrong and to ignore them because you have the right to that time to decide.

How much longer is he at his school? how far apart are the schools? I have to say from 4.5 years of first-hand experience, long distance relationships SUCK. Thankfully my fiancee will be able to move in with me when I go to grad school because he will be separating from the military and going to undergrad wherever i go. But you have to look at your situation: How long have you two been together? Could you survive the distance? Do you see yourselves having a long-term future together? I can't say which option is better for you but these are some things to think about.

Best: University of Washington: MCB let me change my interview weekend so i could just make one round-trip to seattle and they did so immediately when i called. Worst: None were particularly bad

I've officially been accepted into my last two programs - UW madison and UW Seattle Microbiology!

Yes, University of Washington Micro you fly in on Sunday, interview Monday, do tours Tuesday and fly out on Tuesday

Some places do take longer to get back. If your school has a second interview weekend after yours they might not send the acceptances until after that.

To add to the child care portion, when I interviewed at University of Washington they told us that Fred Hutch has some really good child care facilities for people who work there. (So if you would join a lab at the Hutch, you could access those facilities). UW-Madison also boasted about how their grad students were having children as a show of how good the health care and stipend-to-living ratio are in Madison. Also, at every school I interviewed there was at least one current student who is a parent and they usually put one of those people on the student panel so that you could talk to them about being a parent in grad school. One other thing I was told is that PI's who have children are more likely to understand that their students actually have lives outside of lab. So talk to students about how their PI's are in regards to how much they want their students to be in lab 24-7

I got accepted to University of Washington's MCB program! After completing all of my interviews, I am very strongly leaning towards that program, or their Micro program (if i get in). Super excited!

The wage change is one thing I am worried about with Seattle. Another thing to think about is the housing market - prices in Capitol Hill, at least, have increased since the amazonians moved in (amazon.com). I feel like you have to live a decent distance from the campus to find affordable housing there.

It's not an acceptance yet, but my main POI at Washington sent me an email offering to help me distinguish between the two programs there and determine which would be a better fit. I'm really excited about this because I hadn't contacted any POI's before the interviews (it wasn't something I was aware that people did), and he sounds like he would be interested in my rotating in his lab if I go there! YAY RESEARCH!!!

I'm still doing my undergrad, but I'm in a special situation. I only applied to 4 places (because I knew I would go crazy missing too many classes), and I'm only in 3 "real" classes. All of the professors are understanding of my being gone, as they also went to grad school and know what I'm going through. I've just found that going and talking to the professors makes making up the work a lot easier. But you're definitely in a worse situation than I am, seeing that you have a lot more interviews than I do

I just didn't want to apply to any Ivy League schools. I'm from the Big 10, and the sense of competition and community is very different between Big 10-like schools and Ivy League schools. (I like where I am now). Nothing against anyone's program, just personal preference.

I was told at Washington (MCB) that their interview is pretty much a crazy-check. They accepted 32 of 33 interviewees from the previous interview weekend, and the only one that got rejected was rejected because she got so drunk she fell off a bar stool. (Their advice for us: Even though you're only with students, and even though we want you to have fun, you should at least try to be reasonably professional). Another person who was rejected in a different year was rejected for flirting with the professors she was interviewing with. I'm sure it depends on the school but there are definitely places where if you get an interview, it's like 95% certain you will be accepted

Glad other people have heard about this. *exasperated sigh* scott walker.....

Am I gonna see any of you guys at University of Washington this coming week? I'm out there for their Microbiology and MCB programs, just got my interview schedules and am CRAZY excited

Just got word that I've been selected to receive the training grant at UW-Madison. I suppose this bodes well for getting accepted? I don't have that interview for two more weeks!

I got asked SO MANY TIMES at my Ohio interview "do you have any questions about the program?". So when professors I was interviewing with asked me this, I asked about things not related to research, but more about their mentoring philosophy: How they approach teaching their grad students to write papers (or if they expect them to already know how), how hands on they are in the lab, what kinds of grants are available to apply for (which you can find on the program website but sometimes just seeing "training grant" doesn't mean much), and also about what opportunities there are to present your own research. This helped me figure out what the labs are like/what opportunities I'll have other than just what the subject of research is.

Thanks for all the replies guys, I think I'm just a little on edge because I've heard Washington is very competitive to get into, and they have a LOT of research that I am interested in. (Hence the two programs that I applied to).