Kinetic Isotope Defect
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Posts posted by Kinetic Isotope Defect
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2 hours ago, CozyEnzymes said:
I applied to UW Madison. I've heard they're having some financial troubles recently and that some faculty are leaving. Personally it was still somewhere I was interested in, so I figured I'd still apply and I was invited for an interview. I'm in biochemistry if it makes a difference.
Yes, they just lost two of their biggest Chem Bio professors (Ron Raines/Laura Kiessling) and they're set to lose more from what I have heard (a previous member of my lab is a post doc in Kiessling's lab). I would advise looking elsewhere for a PhD.
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21 hours ago, CozyEnzymes said:
Hey y'all. Thanks for having this thread, it's really helpful. I made an account here just so I could talk with y'all! I guess I'm struggling to decide which programs to apply to... or how competitive I am for grad school in the first place.
Undergrad Institution: State school, decent research output/environment (R2)
Major(s): Concurrent degrees in (1) Biochemistry (chemistry-intensive) and (2) Cell Biology
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: ~3.95
Overall GPA: 3.98
Position in Class: Near top
Type of Student: Domestic white female
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 163
V: 168
W: 4.5
B:
Research Experience: I've worked for 4 academic years and 2 summers in the same biochemistry/enzymology lab. I've worked on two projects that are significantly different but have some similarities between them. The first project is being included in a paper - I may be third author but a good bit of my data had to be redone after I left the project (booooo, lab protocol changes!), so I would be behind the grad students who contributed to the work. I've had two funded research fellowships from my university (one for a summer+full year, one for just a summer.) About the first project, I published a short article in the undergraduate journal at my university and presented a poster at my university's research symposium. I did an REU at a moderately respected program and had a poster at that university's symposium as well. I want to continue the same or similar field of research as what I did for my projects/REU.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Lots of scholarships/awards from my school. Phi Kappa Phi award/scholarship sponsored by my school. Recognized as the top junior in my department last year.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Teaching assistant for four years in general chemistry and biochemistry labs. I'm the only undergraduate teaching assistant for biochemistry lab and I've written an experiment for the class that might be published in J Chem Ed eventually. In-class teaching assistant for organic chemistry and biochemistry (one course of each.) Departmental tutor for chemistry/biochemistry - I tutor around 4-5 students per semester, usually meeting once a week or so with each. Helped to start "Research Ambassadors" program to help other students learn about research and find research projects (two years of involvement.) Leadership position in student American Chemical Society chapter with a good bit of volunteering. Volunteering through other science-based outreach in my college (open houses for elementary/middle school, "science fair" stuff, etc.)
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: My PI is not extremely famous but I think she's respected in the field! All my letters (one from my PI, one from REU supervisor, and one from lab TA supervisor) should be solid and complimentary. My personal statement / SOP should be good - I'm going to have lots of professors/friends/other people review it to make sure. I'm applying for the NSF-GRFP this year. I have a TON of breadth in coursework: upper-level chemistry, bioinformatics, genetics, immunology, microbiology, etc. I have taken some graduate courses as well.
Special Bonus Points: I have a lot of enthusiasm/charisma in person and interview fairly well. I would guess that at this level everyone has this so it probably doesn't make a big difference.
Applying to Where:
University of Wisconsin Madison (IPIB program)University of Michigan Ann Arbor (Biological Chemistry) (they have a lot of cool flavoprotein studies, which is an interest of mine!)
UNC Chapel Hill (BBSP Program)
Duke (School of Med, Biochemistry)
Stanford
UT Dallas
University of Washington (particularly for their peptide design research)
University of Toronto (undecided on this one, I just visited the campus and liked it and there are some cool projects)
Thanks in advance for any feedback on this. I guess I just struggle to see my strengths when I think about my application! A lot of my research background is not that varied and I don't have a publication aside from my undergraduate journal article... I'm wondering if that makes me a poor candidate for top-tier programs. It's my dream to become a professor because of how much I love to teach and see others succeed in chemistry/biochemistry. I don't want admissions committees to think that I only care about teaching and not about research. Should I dial back my expectations and apply to different places?
Any suggestions for where to apply are also welcomed. I'm mostly interested in enzymology or non-computational peptide design, especially as it relates to studying cell signalling or the immune system. Sometimes I feel like I might miss out on cool universities in my areas of interest because I don't know about some secretly-really-great programs or how to decide if a PI is respected and productive in research - just general guidance for figuring that out would also be much appreciated!
Thanks for reading!
I'm a current student at UMich (chemical biology, which is a similar program to biological chemistry). Which professors are you interested in? I know most of the enzymology professors here so I can give you an idea of who has productive/good labs, who isn't taking students, etc. IDK about how the admissions committee for biological chemistry looks at applications, but you would be a very competitive applicant for my program.
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On 8/18/2016 at 8:12 PM, fitzgradschool said:
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Going to have about 5 letters of recommendation
You should really just choose the three letter writers that will give you the best recommendation imo. If you send in more than that, the adcom will likely either 1) read all of them less carefully or 2) just read three of them anyways. They have a lot of applications to get through, so that limits the amount of time they can spend on a given application. The goal is then being able to convince them that you are going to be a successful student in their program within a short timespan, and that means focusing on quality over quantity.
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On 5/25/2016 at 11:42 AM, Neist said:
I think there's a lot of grey areas when talking about professors. Trash talking is not good, but I definitely want sincere opinions and warnings.
I agree. In the laboratory sciences, it's imperative for new grad students to hear about the negative sides of working with certain professors, since we essentially put our future careers in their hands (an advisor's recommendation is required for a large majority of research jobs). While trash talking for petty reasons is obviously wrong, my decisions for lab rotations and my final lab were influenced by what was essentially gossip about professors - who doesn't have grant money, who is never around, etc. There's a very famous professor here who literally will not write recommendation letters for any of his students (grads or post docs)! Thank god I heard about that before I considered working with him.
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8 minutes ago, Neist said:
I think someone pooped in my last reviewer's cheerios.
I'm a little bit disappointed in my results. I didn't think I'd get it, but man, that last reviewer...
Good/Good, Good/Very Good, Poor/Poor.
The first two reviewers were fair in their assessment. The last reviewer was a callous jerk.
"After reading (and re-reading) the research section, it's not clear how this project will broadly impact science, society, human health, or otherwise be significant beyond journal articles."
A direct quote from my third review. I actually outlined exactly how my project would do all of these things (and put it under a big, bold "Broader Impacts" section header so it couldn't be missed), but apparently this reviewer didn't believe a word I wrote!
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First year grad student, didn't get it. E/VG, VG/E, G/F. Last reviewer was really harsh (I got dinged for changing fields ffs), but the other two reviewers had some incredibly nice and positive things to say.
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Okay, I looked back at last year's solicitation (link here) and it also asks for "separate" statements on Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts, using pretty much the exact same wording as this year's. The only difference is the extra statement "Applicants should include headings for Intellectual Merit and Broader Impacts in their statements." I definitely don't think ignoring the heading suggestion will end with the applications being returned without review, and I doubt most reviewers will even notice that the NSF is now asking for these specific headings unless they are specifically told to look for them this year.
In my case, I have a Broader Impacts section in both of my statements, but I didn't make explicit Intellectual Merits sections because that seemed clunky. Hopefully the people who review my proposal will not be sticklers about that, it would be really annoying if I got dinged for not putting a stupid heading in my statements.
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30 minutes ago, biosci said:
another weird question: If a school gives you a choice of staying with a current student or staying in a hotel, does it look better to the school if you choose to stay with a student?
They don't care, its just to save themselves money. Every grad program I visited last year put prospectives up in really nice (and expensive!) hotels, which is probably preferable to sleeping on a couch in a current grad student's apartment.
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I'm still in a bit of shock in regards to how well this semester went. I haven't gotten my grades back yet, but the evaluation from my rotation advisor was full marks for everything, I got nothing but positive feedback in my grant-writing course, and haven't scored below a 90% in the intro course they make everyone in my program take. And just now, I got an email from the professor for my one elective class, which was a very difficult class conceptually (most of my cohort thought I was crazy for taking it), and apparently I have done better than any other student in any of the graduate courses he has taught before.
I hope this doesn't come across as bragging, I'm mostly just surprised at myself for doing so well! Hopefully this continues into next semester, I'm taking a course that my next rotation advisor described to me as "legendary" for its difficulty.
- Dedi and hippyscientist
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1 hour ago, PlanB said:
This is not a complex system. To be admitted into a top program you need good grades. FYI, the person was applying to cornell. This should not even be debated.
On 12/11/2015 at 10:30 AM, KineticIsotopeDefect said:I was admitted to Cornell (and other top programs) last application cycle with a 2.9 GPA straight from undergrad. It is by no means an automatic disqualification, and great research experience and letters of recommendation can overcome it.
See my quote above. Good grades aren't a prerequisite to getting into top programs. I know you think you're being objective and looking at "the facts" or whatever, but the truth is admissions committees do look at applications holistically, and grades aren't everything. My current rotation advisor told me that she looks favorably upon students who overcame some sort of struggle (in my case, which led to poor grades in my first 2 years of undergrad), because it shows you have what it takes to come back after failure and succeed. This is immensely important for success in graduate school and should not be discounted.
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10 hours ago, PlanB said:
Love the combo of Phil/Bioinformatics. Without GRE scores it is hard to evaluate. Philosophy papers and awards will most likely not help in the application process. Your GPA is not high enough for duke, Princeton, yale, tri-state or cornell. THe average student admitted to those programs is like a 3.75+. A higher GRE score, however, may help you out in the process. Mount sinai will most likely come through.
I was admitted to Cornell (and other top programs) last application cycle with a 2.9 GPA straight from undergrad. It is by no means an automatic disqualification, and great research experience and letters of recommendation can overcome it.
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On 11/12/2015, 9:46:17, TheKinaser said:
Anyone applying to the following?
MIT (Biology)
University of North Carolina (ChemBio/MedChem)
Yale (BBS/MMPP)
University of Michigan (ChemBio)
University of Washington (BPSD)
University of Wisconsin (Molecular & Cellular Pharm.)
I'm a first year PhD student in the ChemBio program at UMich. Feel free to pm me if you have questions about the program or the interview process.
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Before spending (wasting) money on retaking the GRE, ask the programs you're applying to if they have cutoffs for the GRE and how much the admissions committee cares about them. The chemistry department at my university (top 15) doesn't even bother to open the score reports they get sent (although for international students it's a different story), so unless one or more of the programs really cares about them, it may not be worth it to retake.
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GradApplicant2016, I had a somewhat similar experience to you. I applied last year with a 2.9 overall GPA, but excellent research and teaching experiences and very positive letters of recommendation, although I never had any publications until after I had been accepted. I applied to a similar range of well-ranked schools, and while I did get rejected from quite a few, I got into a few top programs. You will almost certainly be fine, but if you're still worried about it, feel free to pm me.
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Anyone you're interested in working with? Probably going to be biochem through PIBS, here.
Yeah, I'm mostly interested in working with Brent Martin or Anna Mapp. I've got a lot of experience with sulfur chemistry, so Prof. Martin's work is right up my alley, and I have been interested in Prof. Mapp's work ever since I decided I wanted to study chemical biology in grad school. How about you?
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Hello!
I accepted my offer to the chemical biology program earlier this week! I'm super excited, I really loved almost everything about the program and the university in general when I visited.
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It's definitely not impossible, but it will require that you put in a lot of effort to circumvent any worries about your GPA. I applied this application cycle with a GPA of 2.93. I made up for that with my GRE scores (see my profile), research experiences, teaching experiences, and my letters of recommendation. In my interviews and visits, not one person has brought up my GPA, but many have commented on my personal statement and my letters of recommendation. You may have it a bit easier since you've had your industry experiences to separate you from your undergrad academics (I'm still finishing up my undergrad), but you still should work as hard as possible to stand out. Keep in mind that master's programs will be easier to get into, but typically they are not offered (or only seldom offered) at universities that grant PhDs in chemistry. You generally have to look elsewhere (non-flagship state schools, smaller private schools, etc.) for terminal master's degrees in chemistry, and only some of them will be funded.
Feel free to pm me about this, and good luck!
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Everyone who got rejected from UCSD Chemistry today is really bad at pretending they're not upset.
UC San Diego Chemistry & Biochemistry, PhD (F15) Rejected via E-mail on 17 Mar 2015 17 Mar 2015- I admitted to Duke, but no love from UCSD? lol
- Have already gotten under a big shot. Low sub gre. Applied because my relatives live there.
- One 2nd author paper in JPCB. double major with Chem Eng. Got better offers. I don't even know why I applied here!!(maybe only because of the weather!!!)
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I interviewed for Michigan's Chemical Biology program on February 7th, and heard back from them February 18th. Did anyone give you an idea of how long it takes for the department to get back to you? They sent me an email the Monday following my interview stating that they'd get back to me the following week.
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Looks like Stanford is starting to send out rejections (check the website if you haven't gotten an email instructing you to do so). Oh well! Congrats to everyone who got in!
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I'm visiting Cornell! I'm going to the February weekend actually, as it allowed me to schedule more visits to other schools in. Right now, I'm seriously considering Cornell's offer and will likely attend if I'm not accepted to UMichigan after my interview (which is this weekend, holy crap!). I'm Minnesotan, so the cold and snow doesn't bother me too much, and there aren't many other cons that I can think of at the moment. That may change after I visit though.
I'm especially interested in the research of Professors Aye, Lin and Crane. I mainly plan on asking about their current research and where they see themselves headed over the next decade in terms of focus. I'll probably talk to grad students about stuff like cost of living, what living in Ithaca is like, which PI's to avoid, and other stuff that of that nature.
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Last year when I was TAing advanced organic chemistry lab, I had a student who turned in a report with the entire introduction ripped from a review article on the class of compounds they were synthesizing. I printed out the review article, highlighted everything they plagiarized and presented it to them the next day during class. They tried to convince me that since they reordered the sentences, it didn't count as copying!
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I'm pretty sure that most are fairly casual. Look nice for any fancy dinners they take you on or if you're going to a professor's home, but otherwise just don't dress super sloppy and you'll be fine. Even for Michigan chemical biology's interview weekend it was explicitly stated that the dress code is casual.
2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results
in Biology
Posted
Yeah, the Wisconsin governor cut state support to the UW system pretty significantly, and has been trying to remove certain tenure protections, so many professors are leaving. It's really unfortunate, UW Madison is such a great research university.