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Marrow

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Everything posted by Marrow

  1. I'm in the program and I heard it from people involved with admissions. Anybody who's interviewing can feel free to PM me with questions, although I don't check this account too often now that I'm no longer in an application cycle!
  2. Yep - around 450 applicants, 51 interviewed. Last year something like 33/45 were accepted, I don't know whether they're planning to lower the acceptance rate or increase the class size. Last year the total applicants were under 400 (350?) so this is a pretty big one-year increase.
  3. I'm graduating from McGill and going to Harvard for grad school, so maybe my perspective can be helpful. I don't think the two schools are even remotely comparable, and neither does anybody else who goes here. People only say "The Harvard of Canada" to make fun of ourselves, I've never met anybody who believes it. I wouldn't say we're the Ohio State of Canada either, but maybe the Michigan of Canada. McGill is a perfectly strong public research university, but it doesn't have anything approaching the resources, selectivity, or status of a school like Harvard. It's a good place to go if you want access to high-quality research and don't mind a large and relatively impersonal undergraduate experience. I've enjoyed my time here and I would make the same choice again given the chance, but let's accept the school for what it is: a great deal for a strong education and an important public resource. Rankings seem to place McGill anywhere from 20-70 in the world, but these tend to favour large, research-intensive schools anyway. QS puts McGill at 21 and Brown at 52. Would I advise people to choose McGill over Brown? Not in any circumstances I can think of. UofT and UBC are both better than McGill at certain things and worse at others. The 1/2/3 ranking will depend on your priorities, but in terms of research I think UofT is probably stronger in the most areas. They're all relatively similar schools in terms of quality and environment.
  4. I was at Rockefeller as a summer student and I really loved it. I did work for a big name PI who wasn't very involved in day-to-day affairs, which I probably wouldn't do for grad school. I don't know so much about genomics and computational biology, but in my field they had a number of younger PIs with smaller labs and strong reputations for mentorship. That being said, it's a small school - if none of the PIs you're interested in fit that description, you don't have too many other options. I can't comment on the other two schools, but I thought Rockefeller students seemed well balanced. Everybody went out to do fun things around NYC outside of work, and the lab was pretty quiet on evenings/weekends. The school really values their students, in the sense that your stipend and fees are covered for a full five years - PIs like grad students because they're almost free. But I think CSHL might also do that? In any case, all are great schools. I just wanted to mention that I got a really good feel from the Rockefeller community, because I often hear a different kind of reputation.
  5. It was as simple as not fitting with as many PIs. I found a bit of a strange situation where several people who did the kind of research I'm most interested in had it as more of a side topic in their lab. Harvard and Rockefeller both have PIs who match my interests more directly, even though UCSF seemed very strong in general.
  6. I'm actually in the same situation (well, I've just about ruled out UCSF, but I'm thinking strongly about Rockefeller). I'm sure we spoke at the Harvard interview! I'm also trying to get a read on how happy the students are, my impressions at the interview were quite positive but it's hard to be sure. I think it seems that UCSF students are more balanced even if Harvard students are also happy. Harvard might have a bit of an edge for teaching opportunities (I spoke to a few students who had done it), but neither emphasize it at all. I mostly wanted to pass on some advice I received from a Harvard neuroscience graduate who's done postdoctoral work elsewhere. He doesn't feel that the Harvard name overshadows schools like UCSF in an academic context. When talking to your family, sure - but he thinks that the top few schools are treated pretty equally when it comes to hiring. Considering how many Harvard faculty were trained at UCSF, MIT, Rockefeller, etc, I am inclined to believe it.
  7. Me too! First interview, finally I can relax a little... I'm in McGill Neuroscience too, but I didn't bother to make an account before today. I guess I'll see you there - maybe I know you already?
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