KINGLOUP

When your plane gets delayed three times to finally get cancelled, then they book you a flight 7 hours latter but it eventually gets cancelled as well, then they offer you a flight 24hrs later which would get you to your destination once the interviews are over, so you just head home and pay $100 for a cab...

Same here! I'm going bananas!

Harvard interviews!!!!! I'm shaking!

I might, I'm in contact with a PI there.

When you google your POI's name to make sure you spelled it correctly in your SOP and find out he passed away last year...

They emailed me this morning.

Just got invited to the interviews at Duke (neurobiology)!!!!!!

It really isn't that hard. I majored in neuroscience, so I was quite knowledgeable for the cellular biology and molecular biology sections, but had never seen most of the stuff in the biochemistry section. I bought a prep book (which had so many mistakes...), and read it twice during the summer. My test was towards the end of September and I did not have time to study at all during the month preceding it. I still showed up without high expectations knowing that I would only submit my score if it were good. I scored a 97th percentile... It does not test so much your memorization, but more your reasoning skills. It still is a multiple choice test, but you don't need to cram in 100+ hours of memorization to succeed. This is a guess, but I would expect most students applying to top 10 programs to have 85th percentile and over. Most applicants to those programs would not submit anything lower as it can only hurt. That is what I was advised to and what I heard. I, of course, submitted it everywhere, even to program who did not ask for it lol. Also, although many programs recommend or strongly recommend, few people take it. According to ETS's data, a little over 5000 people took the Biochem and a bit more for the Biology test between July 2010 and July 2013. Thus, I would not worry too much if you don't submit it. I hope that helps.

For MIT BCS. Although, you are right about last year, it seems like it is going to be later this year. I got an email on Dec 4th (and I guess all applicants did) saying this: "All submitted applications will be reviewed in December and January. Interview invitations will be sent in January. Interviews will take place in late February by invitation only. Initial decisions will be sent in mid March. Final decisions will be sent in late March." I'm also applying to UCLA and am super stressed thinking that the first round of invites will probably be this weekend!!!

It stands for person of interest. It usually refers to a PI with whom you would like to work. For instance, the Pis you contacted and those you mentioned in your applications can be considered your POIs.

The two programs I mentioned are neuroscience programs, not biology programs. Also, you totally mixed up what I said. 20 people enrolling out of 400 applicants is not synonym with 5% admission. There is an important distinction between being accepted to and attending a given program. Not everyone who gets accepted to a program eventually goes there. It is much more informative to look at admission data to estimate your chances of getting admitted. So, 40 people admitted out of 400 applicants at MIT (http://bcs.mit.edu/academics/grad_howtoapplyfaqs.html) or 15-20 out of 175 at Duke (http://www.neuro.duke.edu/admissions/general-information) is roughly 10%. If you look at Petersons' data, you find similar things for other highly competitive programs (11% for UCSD's neuroscience program, 10% for the cognitive neuroscience program at Duke, 9% for the David Rockefeller program).

I think you are quite off with your estimations. Take MIT's BCS (Brain and cognitive Science), they receive over 400 applications and admit about 40 (only 10-20 eventually enroll). Duke's neurobiology program has similar stats with over 175 applications and 15-20 students admitted. Thus roughly 10% of the applicants are admitted to those top programs. Moreover, if you consider that many applicants are not qualified (low GPA + low GRE+ no publications + did not cure cancer) but apply to their dream school just for the sake of it, is isn't that depressing.

My supervisor was also hesitant at first as he told me that it usually takes 3 to 6 months for someone to get good at it. I started in September, patched 60 hours/week, and by October I was better than the grad students in my lab. It requires persistence, and I can understand that some people quit. It's simply not for everyone to sit in a dark room and poke cells 16 hours straight. By the way, fields recordings to study hippocampal plasticity looks cool. The only added thing with patch clamping is the struggle to get that indescribable gigaseal, which you probably heard of. I considered applying to UK schools, but the fact that doctoral programs are only 3-4 years scared me away. I am not interested in their one-year taught masters either. I think the US/Canada model with longer and more research-centered PH.D. programs would allow me to get more publications. Plus as you said, funding in the UK is no that good for international students (even though my country part of the commonwealth). Attending a UK program would cost 15,000-20,000$ (Canadian) per year whereas I would get full funding at any of the US schools I'm applying to.

Thanks! Right now, I am characterizing a novel ion channel in several cell types and I find it pretty cool. In graduate school, I would be primarily interested in studying ion channels and their role in sensory (e.g. touch transduction) or integrative (e.g. dendritic filtering) functions. Four of the programs that I am applying to have several people doing that (Harvard, Columbia, Rockefeller and Duke). Another subject that I find interesting but that I have less experience with is plasticity. I applied to MIT and UCLA because they have several faculty members using electrophysiology to study plasticity/learning and memory. I only did in vitro electrophysiology so far, but I would be really interested in trying other electrophysiological techniques (in slices, paired recordings, in vivo. etc) to address those questions. What are your interest thindust? Also, any other electrophysiologists around?

Undergrad Institution: McGill University (top canadian university) Major(s): Honours Neuroscience Minor(s): GPA in Major: 4.00 Overall GPA: 4.00 Position in Class: Top Type of Student: International male GRE Scores (revised version): Q: 170 - 98% V: 170 - 99% W: 4.0 - 56% Q: 169 - 97% V: 163 - 92% W: 5.0 - 93% I submitted my first score to 4 universities and submitted both scores to 2 universities. GRE subject Biochemistry: 700 - 97% TOEFL: 118/120 My mother tongue is French but I am studying at an English-speaking institution. It was not clear if I had to take the test, but I took it anyway. Research Experience: -Independent research project course in human genetics (3 months) -Summer internship working on circadian rhythms and cancer- Won an award presenting a poster and we will submit a paper this month (I will be second author) -2 independent research projects (total 8 months) in a developmental neurobiology lab - 3 poster presentations -Honours neuroscience project in a neurophysiology lab (started in August and will work there for the winter term)- I'm a beast at patch clamping and pretty much all my SOPs revolve around this. We will submit a paper to Nature or Science soon and I will probably be 3rd author. I just hope we can submit it before the interviews (if I have any...) Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 3000$ entrance scholarship 5000$ merit award Dean's list Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Volunteering since last year as a tutor, a mentor and a student research ambassador. Worked as a pharmacy technician for 4 years, but I think nobody cares about that Applying to Where: MIT Harvard Columbia UCLA Duke Rockefeller I thought six universities was standard but it seems like you guys are applying to a hell lot of universities. And it was so much work just for 6 that I submitted my last one just a few hours before the deadline. My three LORs are from past and current research supervisors, so they should be personal and convincing. I am literally checking my emails every 15 minutes since Dec 1st. Stressed as hell! Any thoughts?