eeee1923
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Posts posted by eeee1923
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You get breaks (sort of). Depends on your PI but usually the major holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, 1-2 wks in the summer). I usually don't take off Thanksgiving (due to travel constraints). Just know that the more "breaks" you take, the longer it will take you to complete.
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The rule of thumb I've been told before is to go "with the highest ranked program you can actually see yourself being successful in". If you like the research at the number 1 school (and the PIs and culture) and you can make ends meet in terms of COL, then I say go for it.
P.S. This is one of the best problems to have during the application cycle. Good luck!
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12 minutes ago, MusMusculus said:
Does anyone have any insight on appeasing a professor who is grumpy that I will be missing several (8) classes due to interviews? None of my other professors care, and are instead just super happy because I go to a totally unknown school for science and managed to get interviews at great places. But this one professor has been rather unpleasant and expressed disbelief that my interviews take place outside of weekends and insinuated that I accepted too many interviews and would clearly not be strongly considering all of them and just want a free vacation, and has said that it will affect my grade but won't tell me how and just that I have to do twice as much work as everyone else to stay up to date. I'm fairly upset at this professor but have only responded super politely in fear of getting them more grumpy. Any else having any kind of similar issues?!
I had a prof like this when I was interviewing. All I can say is ignore them - this is YOUR future. They're already have their PhD. It's unfortunate when profs aren't supportive (especially when you're having a successful application cycle). I ended up getting a B+ in the class from that prof but it didn't make much of a difference when I got all my acceptances. Good luck @MusMusculus! Work hard on your school work but make sure you do well on your interviews.
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In addition to the points brought up above, some schools actually like to see applicants from lesser known schools because it adds an element of diversity that could be advantageous for the program. One of the programs I interviewed at had said something along those lines to me.
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pick six
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@stillconfused I am not a mom but I respect every mom that pushes herself by attending grad school with young children (I have a couple of friends like that). The feelings of confusion are pretty normal for someone in your situation (and don't knock me since I am no psychologist). If you get into your program, you can use the experience to motivate your kids to keep pursuing their dreams, even if the going get tough. My father was finishing his PhD while I was young and he's honestly one of my biggest motivators in getting me to push myself academically and pursue a PhD myself. You don't want to regret not going down a certain path (that can be beneficial) because those feelings will haunt your forever. Good luck with your future endeavors!
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Stay calm - that small of a mistake shouldn't derail your future plans of graduate study.
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I've basically changed (or better yet, refined) my fields of studies since my undergrad and I haven't run into too many issues yet. As long as you have taken the major prereqs that a typical entering grad student would have gone through - then you should be fine. Some diversity in the incoming class' training can be looked upon as favorable in many cases. Since you are aiming at more chemistry heavy programs, you'll have to demonstrate that you have a solid foundation that would allow you to excel in a chemical biology program (e.g. taking a few biochem, synthesis, or at the very least some advanced chem courses or having done research in an area that was close). For example, I was a ChE for my undergrad but I took a ton of chem classes so I got into a chem master's program doing research on DNA damage which eventually helped me get into cancer biology programs.
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I agree with what's been mentioned already but I will say that the more elite institutions tend to have the most funding which manifests in better equipment, more cutting edge research and collaborations at other similar institutes. This means that PI's at more prestigious institutes tend to have contacts at other prestigious institutes which can help one when they are looking for possible postdoctoral positions.
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You could look at all the institutes that have NCI designated cancer centers
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1 hour ago, partydon'tstarttillIwalkin said:
Here I throw my application info, too. As an international, though, I really hope I just get a couple of interviews among about ten schools I applied.
Undergrad Institution: small liberal arts college in MA, well respected in biology. transferred from a big state school (in AR) after freshmen year
Major(s): biological sciences
Minor(s): philosophy
GPA in Major: 3.53 (two schools combined)
Overall GPA: 3.67 (two schools combined)
Position in Class: no idea
Type of Student: international female
GRE Scores (revised version):
Q: 164
V: 154
W: 4.0
B: -
Research Experience: My research experience is rather a mix of short internships, but all of them are well connected to my graduate research interest. Majority of my applications are to molecular biology or cancer biology.1. 2 summers at big hospitals, researched on breast cancer progression and metabolism
2. 2.5 years college honors thesis research on the fruit fly metabolism and cell death. In my SOP I elaborated much on the independent research aspect of this project.
3. half a year postbac internship at an international institution (in South Korea) focused on autophagy and liver cancer
= total 3 years of experience with no publication
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:chancellor's list
3 research fellowships, inside and outside school
graduated with cum laude
high honor in biology
another honor
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:taught students for half a year and did volunteer work at a hospital for years (long ago)
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
Special Bonus Points:
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I think I well elaborated in my SOP on what I want to learn and what I want to contribute as a student, besides research interest match. Although my LORs might not be some of the best written or highly ranked (of my performance), I think they well support my strengths written on my SOP.
Applying to Where: all focused on cancer metabolism and microenvironment.
Stanford - biosciences - cancer biologyMIT - biology - cancer biology
Harvard - BBS - cancer biology
UCSF - biomedical sciences - Tissue/Organ Biology and Endocrinology
Duke - molecular cancer biology
Baylor College of Medicine - interdepartmental biology program
Princeton - molecular biology
Cornell - allied biology program
Yale - BBS
I know, especially as an international applicant, my short experience and lack of publication would hurt my chances of getting into those top notch schools. Still, I believe there are more things in my SOP than numbered specs (well, anyone would think so) that speak out what I want to get into and out of each specific grad program. So, what do you guys think are my changes of getting into those all reach schools?
You seem like a solid applicant and a lot of the private universities in the US are more accommodating to international applicants.
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evil Santa
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One term paper and one grant proposal stand between me and winter break. Just gotta make it through 1 more week.
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"Out of Site, Out of Mind". Live by this credo for the next few months (it will be one of the hardest things to do but you must). Try to relax and finish off the school year strong.
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Just a quick point: If you are using a laser pointer in your presentation please DO NOT wave it across your slides without purpose. It tends to be quite distracting to an audience.
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With basics like calc and stats - most programs are pretty strict about having those classes since the hundreds of students competing for spots will have them.
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Send the second set since you're at a higher percentile for the V & Q portion. Although you're writing score dropped a bit - you're still well in the 90th percentile.
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Private schools tend to be more accepting of international applicants on average
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You're in the right section
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Are you asking about Purdue (like their medicinal chem & molecular pharm program)? Also cell bio programs and pharmacology programs are different types of biomedical science programs. Although they can have overlaps - their aims tend to be quite different. Also as an international student who hasn't taken the GRE yet, you will be missing out on some of the programs that have earlier due dates (e.g. Nov. 1st).
List your scientific interests and then apply to those programs or apply to the large umbrella cell/mol bio programs at the different large universities where you would have the opportunity to get exposed to different research areas.
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^ definitely true. I guess I'm on the lucky side since most of the PIs in my dept tend to be understanding in this regard (as long as it isn't taking away too much time from your research).
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While chemistry & physics coursework will help provide some background, you will need to take some basic engineering principles courses. Most ChE MS programs will have some "tougher" coursework which will be building on foundational courses that would have been taken at the undergrad level.
Some useful (but not absolutely necessary depending on the institute) coursework: material & energy balances, heat & mass transfer, material science, basics of electrical engineering, basic programming. Your math degree should help you get familiar w/ engineering math (which doesn't tend to go beyond partial diff eqns).
Worried about a class I'm taking, where avg grade is C
in Officially Grads
Posted
First off relax. If you're just starting the class then at least get a feel for it before you go dropping it. Sometimes having a positive attitude can be helpful in getting you to learn the material and thus achieve the 'A' you want. Will the course be helpful to your learning and/or research project? If so, it may be worth sticking out with it. Talk to your professor (or advisor) and get their thoughts. Classes that are undergrad heavy will tend to be more 'work' than the typical grad course but if you don't have that heavy of a course load, you should be able to devote more time to the material than a typical undergrad and thus be able to score an above average grade. Hopefully my rambling made some sort of sense and good luck with your grad school studies.