mademoiselle2308

My advice to you is to look up top programs in your areas of interest. Neuro, immuno, and cell bio are HUGE fields and not at all specific. Spend time looking up which universities are ranked best in your programs of interest and use this as a start. (Ranking doesn't always equal quality, but it is a start.) Further delve into these programs and look at the individual researchers there. Is anyone researching what you want to research? If yes, that is a program and school to keep on your list. If no, move on down the line. No one here or anywhere else can tell you which programs to research specifically. This is going to take leg work on your part. I certainly think you have a good chance, at least to get past the "paper" part of the application. Interviewing comes down to your personality and your knowledge of your research/ability to communicate your research. Have you taken the GRE yet?

I will chime in on this thread too. I am starting grad school (PhD) this fall, so I cannot comment on what grad school is like, but I was a low GPA applicant and can offer insight into applying with a low GPA. I have worked in a lab post-undergrad for 3 years doing cancer genetics and can also answer questions about working before graduate school. I am planning to attend my top choice graduate school this fall and couldn't be more excited! This website is great for tips and advice. There are a lot of wonderful people on this site more than willing to help. Feel free to message me with questions!

I have officially accepted my offer to The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston (MD Anderson)!! I am so excited!! :-) Time to kick cancer's butt!

You might want to consider finding the psychology forum to post this. http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/8-psychology/ .This forum is for biomedical sciences. Best of luck to you!

Oops! Meant to up vote and I accidentally down voted :-( Funny! Thanks for sharing.

I always send some kind of thank you. For my first three interviews I sent hand-written thank you notes. For my last two interviews I sent e-mails. The emails were nice because almost all of the professors emailed me back with a positive message, which was encouraging! I know they are busy people so I try to keep my thank-you's short - 4 sentences max.

I always send some kind of thank you. For my first three interviews I sent hand-written thank you notes. For my last two interviews I sent e-mails. The emails were nice because almost all of the professors emailed me back with a positive message, which was encouraging! I know they are busy people so I try to keep my thank-you's short - 4 sentences max.

They told us this weekend that they have 120 interviewees and plan to extend an offer to 80.

I have heard bad things about the Ivies being extremely competitive and cut throat ( people actually lock up their lab notebooks and sabotage other people's experiment). In addition, I really didn't want to live in the Northeast . . . the culture just doesn't appeal to me.

Has anyone heard back yet from Michigan Cancer Biology (part of PIBS). I know that they results search has a few results, but 4 people didn't list their program.

I have a few: "You want to go to grad school for cancer biology?" "Yes." "So you're going to be a doctor?" "Yes." "But, I thought doctors went to medical school." "I am going to get a PhD, no an MD." "Like a medical doctor?" "No, medical doctors get a doctor of medicine (MD). I will have a doctor of philosophy, Ph.D." "But I thought you were going to school for cancer biology, not philosophy . . ." Another few favorites: "So you're going to school for cancer biology?" "Yes." "Well, yesterday I saw this article on *insert non-scientific, public news source here* and they have a cure for cancer already . . ." "So you're going to school for cancer biology?" "Yes." "What are you going to do when you cure cancer? You'll be out of a job!" **sigh**

ilovelab - I sent you a private message.

I love doing the research part of my job, but my problem is that I don't do enough of it. I am basically a lab manager without the title or pay and have been in the same position for almost 3 years. I do a lot of extraneous stuff that I hate. I am so excited to be able to just focus on my own research project and classes in grad school. I know it will be challenging, but a good kind of challenging! (If that makes any sense.) It makes me feel a little big better knowing that other people feel the same. We can make it through these last few months!!

I agree (and I have also been working almost 3 years). I plan to take a few weeks to go on vacation and then move. Unfortunately I can't take too much time because we need the money. This job is just horrible. Congratulations on becoming an aunt! How exciting!!

Anyone else dying to leave their current jobs? I cannot wait to go to grad school!!!!! I thought getting acceptances would make it better, but instead it has made it harder to focus. I just keep telling myself only a few more months, but it's not working . . .

Oops! Meant to post this elsewhere! Please ignore it. :-)

Anyone else dying to leave their current jobs? I cannot wait to go to grad school!!!!! I thought getting acceptances would make it better, but instead it has made it harder to focus. I just keep telling myself only a few more months, but it's not working . . .

Congratulations, insaneinthemembrane!

I am doing the same thing when I visit that weekend, but I don't live anywhere near Texas. I think it is based on research interests. Looks like I will be seeing you mid February! :-)

A few weeks ago I cancelled an interview that would have been next week. I cancelled nearly a month ahead of time and the school was very grateful I called so far in advance. My guess is that these schools spend so much money on airline tickets that they probably have a deal with the airline companies allowing them to cancel the ticket and use the $ for another flight. Flights are only a fraction of the visit cost. Don't forget about hotel room, meals, transportation from the airport, etc. Even if they do lose some on the plane ticket, it is better than wasting additional money interviewing a candidate who has no intention or interest of attending their institution. Hopefully I cancelled early enough for them to recoup their loss or find another student to interview. That being said, it is best to cancel early and not last minute.

I got accepted to my first program today after interviewing this weekend! So happy My interview advice: know your research well, know a little bit about the interviewers, show enthusiasm, and have fun!

I have no idea.I really hope to receive an admittance from them, though! I have had my eye on this program for a very long time and was thrilled to receive an invite to interview.

I have an interview with them February 18 - 21. Please let me know how your interview goes and good luck!

I, too, will stop lurking and contribute my information. Undergrad & Masters: Big, well-respected, state school Major: Microbiology (not applying for micro PhD programs though) GPA: > 3.0 but not by much Type of Student: Domestic, female Gre Scores Q: 153 V: 157 AW: 5.0 Research Experience: Over 2.5 years post-undergraduate work in my area of interest. 5 publications in a range of journals - authorship somewhere in the middle 1 year of undergraduate research (1 project/semester) Awards: - Activities: Clubs closely related to my personal story and my program of interest. Special Bonus: My GPA is very low, but I had a formidable challenge in college directly related to my area of interest. Three (presumably) excellent letters of recommendation. Applied: I applied to 21 programs hoping my application would come across the desk of the right person who could see past my GPA and understand how my past struggles fuel my passion to study my area of interest. I applied to a very wide range of programs that I felt fit my research interests (some perfectly and others loosely). In hind sight, this was way too many programs. That being said, I probably would've nixed the "dreams" and "reaches", many of which have invited me to interview, so I am glad I didn't pair down the list. Luckily I had an assortment of fee waivers and a very supportive husband (who is NOT in my field or anything remotely related), but it still took me almost 3 months ... applying was my part-time job when I came home from my full-time job!! Best of luck to everyone and thank you for all of the advice I have seen on this forum!

You are welcome! Feel free to message me if you have any other questions about being a micro major and good luck!