NeuropharmesanCheese

Hello all! I'll be attending Emory this fall for in the Molecular and Systems Pharmacology PhD program! I'm very excited, Emory was my top choice! Hope to see you all in August

Oh my gosh, thank you guys so much for your responses. You have no idea how much this helped with settling my conscience on what to do. I emailed the first school this morning, with an honest explanation of the situation, and the prof that I had been emailing with maintained his Ghandi-like kind demeanor, and made me feel like I was far from the biggest jerk in the world (which is what I felt like). I feel like an enormous weight has been lifted off my shoulders. And, as a plus, I did (at least I'm pretty sure I did) very well in my interviews! I've got another round tomorrow, but I feel like I'd have to mess up pretty bad to counteract the positivity that I conveyed during these ones. Thank you so much!

I got an offer from a school a few weeks ago, and since I got declined from all other schools I applied for aside from my top choice, I decided to accept. Now I haven't "officially" accepted, but I've gotten unreasonably close. This is because this school was probably my fifth choice, and all the choices above that basically told me I wasn't even close to a good enough candidate, so I assumed my top choice was completely out of the question (since they're the most prestigious school I applied for). I told the department that I was going to accept for sure, and asked if I had to submit my acceptance in writing or if the email was good enough. The professor I emailed said that the email was good enough, but then emailed me about a week later saying that he was mistaken and that I did need to submit my acceptance in writing. I was at a conference without email when I received this, but within the two days between this email being sent and returning from the conference, I ended up getting an invitation to interview from my top choice, with a heavy indication that the chances of me getting an offer after that interview were very high. Needless to say, I was floored, but also very conflicted because the school that I was intending to accept seemed very excited that I was coming there, and the professor that I went back and forth with was so unbelievably nice and attentive. Especially with the April 15th deadline looming, I feel really bad for leading them on and possibly leaving them in a position where they have no one to admit because it's so close to the deadline and everyone else has accepted offers. They said that I was going to be one of only one or two new students admitted into the program this year. Now, I know I haven't been given an offer to my top choice yet, but they seemed to be implying that I should expect one. What do I say the the school that I got so, so close to accepting? Should I let them know that I'm suddenly considering a surprise offer, even though I haven't been accepted to that school yet, so they might have a chance to scramble and find some kind of replacement? If I do that, do I run the risk of them rescinding the offer, then being suddenly screwed if my top choice actually doesn't decide to make me an offer? And how do I phrase this nicely, to avoid hurting feelings and burning bridges? I really feel badly about the whole situation, but I really never expected this offer from my top choice. I thought the game was over. Any insight would be huge!

Thanks for the perspectives I think I'll end up going with Emory if I do well in the interview and they make me an offer. It will be really hard to give up SoCal though! Living there is sort of a dream to me. Now I just have to figure out what to tell UCI, since I pretty much guaranteed them that I'd attend, just short of putting my John Hancock down... they were so nice to me, too I hope I don't burn bridges and hurt feelings.

I was just short of signing the dotted line for UC Irvine, when suddenly I got an interview from Emory after being waitlisted. I honestly thought I had no chance with Emory, so I'm completely taken aback. I was really getting into the idea of UCI, and now I've got this curveball offer. Emory is ranked significantly higher than UCI for pharmacology, like top 10, whereas UCI is somewhere in the 40's. I know ranking isn't everything, but it's really hard to ignore. They both have a serious focus on neuropharm, which is what I'm most interested in. UCI is only accepting one (or maybe two they said) new PhD student into the program this year, whereas I know Emory is accepting several. I'm not sure which is preferable. I was assuming that being one of the only students entered into the program would mean that I would get a lot of personal guidance and attention at UCI, but I'm not sure what downsides there are to that. There's also the weather. Atlanta has great weather, but Irvine has arguably perfect weather (to me, I like the dry heat). Location is a big thing too. They both have awesome locations, but it seems like there's a lot more diversity of things to do in any given direction in Irvine. Though I'm pretty sure the vibrant culture of Atlanta stomps the rich white bread culture of Irvine and the rest of Orange County. And cost of living will be much more manageable on the east coast than the west. Another factor is that my boyfriend is coming with me and he's in the food industry (10+ years in fine dining, planning on eventually starting his own restaurant), and everyone seems to be telling me that SoCal has the best opportunities for cooks/chefs in all the country (except maybe NYC). There's so many thing to consider. I don't know what to do. There's tons of pros and cons to each school and each area and I just can't decide. Any insight from anyone here?

Okay, thanks for the insight! Based on this information, I will only raise my hopes very slightly

I've got a question about waitlists, so I'll post it here instead of starting a new thread. Is it considered rude and/or pestering to ask about one's position on a wait list? I'm pretty sure some schools might not exactly have a ranking, like if my research interests are more suited for a POI who has a student who declines an offer, I might get in in place of someone who has better "stats" than me but who has different research interests. That considered, is it okay to just ask, or will that hurt my chances?

Yesterday I received an email from one of my top schools stating that they haven't received my transcripts to date. Then they asked me if I was still interested in the program, and gave me an address to send them to. I thought I had sent them months ago, but it's possible I sent them to the wrong address, so hopefully they get there now (I requested them to be sent yesterday). They said "The recruitment committee is reviewing all the applications thoughtfully and carefully at this time." So my question is, is it reasonable at all to see this even a little bit in a positive light? I obviously won't raise my hopes too high since I'm aware this is far from anything indicating an acceptance, but if they didn't even take me seriously as a candidate at all, wouldn't they not even bother asking for my transcripts? Or is this just standard procedure for all applicants that don't have all documents sent in? Any insight would be helpful! This is my first year applying, and it's a confusing process that's got me all sorts of anxious.

*sigh* You both are right and I know it. I just hate feeling caged in, having applied to only 6 schools, all of which seem like they may be a long shot. I thought that they seemed reasonable at first, but I'm beginning to doubt myself more and more. My R&D job in industry should qualify as research equivalent to that done in an academic environment, right? I don't think it would be a good idea to look for other jobs in warmer spots because I feel like it would look better to have two years of experience in the same job than a year of experience here and a year of experience there. It just seems to me like two years would look more solid. But this is all assuming that I don't get in somewhere. I'm really, really hoping that I get in somewhere. I'm ready to get this underway, I feel stagnant with just a BS. And I know grad school is supposed to be the next step, but I don't see why it can't also be an escape

Oh boy, am I starting to feel inadequate haha. Ready for the lowest GPA so far? I have to post something so I stop tearing my hair out. Undergrad Institution: Large state school Major(s): BS- Biochemistry & Molecular Biology Minor(s): Spanish GPA in Major: All classes relevant to my major, 3.34 Overall GPA: 3.36 Position in Class: Not sure, no rank given Type of Student: Domestic female (white) GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 160 - 78% V: 162 - 88% W: 4.5 - 80% Research Experience: 1.5 years total (but counting) 6 months in an biochemistry lab (undergrad) - studied membrane protein folding 1 year in a biochemistry R&D lab in industry- job focuses on rapid diagnostics testing for food safety Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Was on Dean's List for 3 semesters (first semester, then last two) Pertinent Activities or Jobs: My current R&D job Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars since 2008, (a student cooperative) Executive board for 1 year, (city's student cooperative organization) Board of Directors, House Representative, spent 2 months volunteering in Honduras as an English Teacher two summers ago. Also, my GPA made a marked rise from my early college career (aside from my first semester). My last two years I recieved nothing under a 3.5 and got a 4.0 many classes, including some of the most difficult ones in my major. LOR's: Two from professors (one being the director of Biochemistry at my school and the other was my professor in my Biochemistry lab) and the other from my supervisor at my R&D job (title of Associate Research Scientist) SOP: I worked on this for about 2.5 months straight, and got tons of critiques from professors, friends, and professionals, and I believe it's just about as perfectly manicured as I can personally make it. People seem to think it's pretty strong, so hopefully I can believe them. Applying to Where: UC Irvine UC Davis USC UCLA UNC Emory Debating if I should apply to UGA as a safety All for Pharmacology (conc. Neuropharm) Yeesh, there it all is. I can't stand that my GPA is just too low to not really be competitive. Any thoughts? Some days I feel confident that I'll get in somewhere, and other days I feel like I'm totally boned. Should I apply to UGA as a safety? I don't really want to go there, but if I don't get in anywhere else I'm basically stuck around here in the cold for another year and I'm itching so badly to get out.