HopefulGrad555

Definitely possible to get in places next year. I applied to 12 places last year and got rejected from all of them. I applied to 8 places this year and got in to 6 plus funding through the NSF. I went to the NIH and did a postbac program there for a year in a field that was not my original field, but that was tangential. Everyone I talked to during this application season was really excited that I had this different awesome experience. I don't know animal behavior/ecology research, but you should find some other field that isn't your focus in animal behavior/ecology but can be related. Even look at the NIH Postbac program, maybe you can get some good imaging/neuroscience experience in animal models that can be applied to looking at animal behavior. Idk. The big lesson I learned though: the gap year turned out to be the best thing that every happened to me. I had time to establish a work life balance that I didn't have in college and am recharged and so much more ready for graduate school. Having weekends with no homework is super nice, and you have time to read and look at things that you're really interested in but didn't have any time before! This rejection could also turn out to be a blessing in disguise for you too, so make the most of it! =D

I would agree that the scores are meaningless. For instance, I received the award with E/E VG/E VG/E and I know that's less than a number of people who didn't get it, AND my reviewers put in a lot of criticism about things that could be improved in my application. I've heard these things can be kind of a crapshoot, so try again next year if you can. A year can make a big difference. I applied to grad school last year and was rejected from all 12 PhD programs I applied to, this year I got accepted to 6/8 of the programs I applied to and I got the NSF. Rejection was hard last year, but I asked lots of people for feedback and just focused on doing things that would improve my weak areas; there's always something to work on.

How do you know? and did they send out the interviews to everyone already then?

I don't know about this, but the date that I was invited to was February 12th, and they are having us arrange our own travel (and be reimbursed) so feasibly there's still more time. Good luck!

Also University of Maryland College Park doesn't have their deadline until January 15th, they have a lot of strong faculty

I've been in three different labs over the last 3 years, and people come from all sorts of different backgrounds. Really. Most PhD students learn a bunch of things they don't have much experience with when they start, and I know of some people who have switched fields and had to re-learn everything. It happens. Don't sweat it. Your unique experience will give you an interesting perspective on the research. My advice would be this: 1) know the research that you did do really, really well. Be able to explain the minutiae and the bigger picture both very clearly. 2) Look at some of these professors' research, get an idea for what they do, and have an idea of what techniques you don't know and be prepared to tell them how excited you are to learn them. MATLAB is big in a lot of neuroscience labs, so find a free copy online somewhere and start covering the basics. Here's a quick intro by my undergrad institute that I used when I was starting (follow the link and watch the series). You'll be fine, and remember, they wouldn't be interviewing you if they hadn't seen something in your application that they thought was valuable!

Did you see my signature before I deleted it? I applied to a bunch of schools last year, with no presentations and only 1 publication, and having no time to work on applications (working 25+ hours per week along with a very demanding senior schedule). I'm hoping this year is better.

GRE: 169 Verbal (99%) 167 Quant.(94%) 5.5 Writing (98%) UG GPA: 3.39 from JHU BME Research experience: 2.5 years research in one lab, with on break for a summer of research at SNU in South Korea. Currently an NIH Postbac in a viral immunology lab, doing full time research for the year Research publications, patents, conferences: 1 oral presentation at BMES Tampa 2015 1 printed publication( 3rd author), 1 accepted publication (4th author), 1 in review (2nd author), and 1 in preparation (3rd author) (4 total) PHD intended specialization: Immunoengineering, but if a lab with this focus is unavailable I'm more broadly interested in studying Cell-ECM interactions (how they influence cellular phenotype, and how to quantify and model them) University list: Duke (applied) UChicago IME (applied) WashU (applied) UMD College Park (applied) NIH OxCam (applied) UCSD (applied) Harvard (applied) Georgia Tech (applied)

I called JHU last week and the lady there told me that since I hadn't heard anything that was a rejection. You can try calling yourself though.

Yeah...I'm also in an awkward position because I have 6 programs that I've heard NOTHING at all from, so I'm pretty sure I'm just waitlisted or rejected but waiting for that news just kind of sucks.

Anyone heard back from UPenn...?

Hmm, sounds like Hopkins. On another note, does anyone have any idea why UPenn, UMich, and Northwestern are pretty late this year? I know there were a bunch of Northwestern earlier but they all seemed to be from one track? Does anyone know when UPenn interview dates will be?

Well, some of the training grants got cut earlier this year, so they're accepting less than normal. Plus one of the heads of graduate admissions died suddenly in November, so things are a little different than normal and no one knows what's going to happen. I'm a student at Hopkins who applied to PhD program, and I heard this from my PI.

Well, publications and industry experience are probably the two most important things on that list as far as grad schools are concerned (given a low GPA). Admittedly, I'm less familiar with the EE field than BioE, but have you considered applying for a post-bac with a stipend? They're basically designed for people in your situation who want to show they're serious about their field but have other credentials which weigh them down.

I know!!! Last year there were WAY more invites by this time....I think it's just a late year though because almost no one has posted results >.> Where are you applying?