BiochemMom

Awesome news! I want to do protein structure. X-ray crystallography is my primary interest. But I want my degree to be biochemistry and do the biophysics certification program they offer.

I have mine set so my personal email is on fetch only and my school email pushes (I TA and also commute two hours to get to campus so if a class is cancelled or someone wants to meet outside my office hours I need to get the notification ASAP). So while I haven't been manually checking my email since it chimes every time I get one--I have been overly omg I need to look at this NOW since January. This week sucks because it's been nonstop weather info and I just came out of an interview weekend for my top choice program. Stop telling me it's icy! I know it's icy! I can look out my window, dang it!

I emailed only the faculty interviewers and wrote a short, four sentence personalized email. For example, I thanked them each for their time, and thanked one for showing me the NMR core facilities after our interview (I asked if he would be willing--not standard), another for touring me through his lab after the interview, and another for introducing me to his collaborator who also collaborated with the person who collaborates with my PI and wrote me a letter of rec (wow that's a confusing linkage typed out). I ended with "I look forward to the prospect of attending UNC this fall" (it's my top choice) and signed it.

Nah no reason to pester. Plus UNC is closed for snow all day yesterday and today. I live in NC and go to a different school that also closed the past two days so I checked theirs too.

Okay good to know! I just interviewed this past weekend and they said it was the 4th weekend and they had 2 more and also said we should hear back by first week of March--but someone put accepted for bbsp on survey recently and has me dancing with nerves haha Edit: I knew there was a weekend on Jan 22 and result went up jan 25 so I'm not sure which weekend that result corresponded too. Dancing with nerves every time my school email chimes--of course it's all weather crap. I just want to put a deposit on a preschool and get ready to move already!

Holy crap. My thesis without citations was 72 pages, 14 of those figures. (Chemistry program...required 50 page minimum without counting citations for my school). My advisor has my first draft now. He said I should be able to have it submitted to my whole committee within the month. So either he's got a lot of faith in my editing process or my own obsession with getting it perfect and spending two months revising before showing it to him helped. I just want it done. I'm ready to defend and get out! Haha Edit: 14 pages of figures because several were whole page NMR

Blinchik, when was/is your bbsp interview? If already passed, have you heard back yet? I fell in love with UNC and they skyrocketed to my top choice after meeting the POIs. I'm going to be floored if I don't get an acceptance because three of my interviewers offered to fund me to start in the summer after our interviews were over and one emailed me daycare info for my kid, unsolicited, the night of the interview while I was still there for the dinner. The wait is killing me! Stupid snow.

That means you're accepted and the graduate school will send the official offer. Things that could cause graduate school to deny when dept offers: not completing your degree, fraud on application (like saying you have a degree and sending falsified transcripts) and stuff like that. You're in. Congrats!

It snows there. I don't care how good a program is, I'm not living where it's cold for a month much less five+ years. No joke. Also not interested in Ivy League schools. Not enough diversity. I actually don't know why I bothered applying to Duke either because I hate the culture of that school.

Since schools are shut down for the south's version of snowpocalypse, I know my email will stay empty for at least the next couple of days. *whines in frustration*

Looks like Ga Tech has finally started their notifications. Someone submitted an acceptance today for Friday. Good luck everyone who applied!

I was really grateful Emory just told me so soon. Duke has already completed interviews and I didn't get one and they are notorious for notifying rejections late (heck, look at the results for Duke biochemistry and you'll see they don't bother with rejection notifications til April even for those not interviewed). I find myself getting more and more irritated they haven't told me even though I know I'm not getting in and they are my last choice of non backup schools. I just interviewed with UNC (my top choice) this weekend and think it went really well; I hope I'll hear soon. The rest of my schools are direct admits except NCSU who doesn't interview until mid March so it can be any time between now and late March and it's killing me. Ugh. My husband has to put in transfer paperwork for his job and we have to do it for my daughters school. If I don't have an acceptance from UNC (or rejection and acceptance somewhere else) by the last week of February, my daughter will be waitlisted for the private school system she's in. If that happens, I have to move ahead of my husband and pay a mortgage here and rent there so she can stay in her private school. I hate this waiting game. Hate it.

Just got back from mine. All of my interviewers had my app up on their computer when I walked in and didn't want my CV since they had it. I brought it just in case but didn't need it.

So in a veering back on topic news... My UNC interview is this weekend and I live three hours away so I'm driving in. I've been ready to walk out the door for two hours now and have forty more minutes before I should actually leave to not be obscenely early and I think this is messing with my head more than anything. Ahhhh I'm going nuts triple checking my luggage and just waiting around.

Congrats! Excellent program! One of the people I research with (not my PI but a collaborator) did his post doc with Judith Kimble there (and two of my committee members did their PhD in her lab). He speaks so highly of his time there and her lab--plus she has HHMI funding.

I know UNC BBSP had their first interview weekend Jan 22-24 and people posted acceptances on the survey as soon as Jan 27. Ahhh my interview weekend there starts tomorrow and I'm going to be a wreck all next week since I saw that correlation.

Email entitled are: fall 2015 graduate application Email was dept secretary informing applicants she was taking a new position and to contact (new person) if we needed to discuss our applications. It wasn't too big of a fake out since they emailed everyone when apps closed and said the committee wouldn't see the apps til mid-late February but still. Pick a different subject line!

I'd be creeped out personally. Like to the point where I'd request a different roommate or pay for my own room.

Maybe several other students listed them too and they submitted their list sooner? Also teaching courses potentially--possible time conflicts that way. I had to list 12 for UNC and got 4 of them and 1 not on my list for my fifth (but I'm betting that one is on the admissions committee not that my other 8 have conflicts) That's actually another thought. My current school wants to know who you're interested in doing research for but only adcom members actually meet potential students. The adcom is well aware of who is taking students and who isn't. You don't interview with POIs until after acceptance in order to line up rotations or such. So maybe where you applied does the same?

I just called the dept graduate secretary and asked straight up, "I was actually calling to inquire about the visitation days for accepted students. Is that funded by (school) or self funded?" And she immediately told me the school pays up to (it was $350 for them) in order to visit.

My husband and I have a 2 year old (she'll be 3 next month) and I'm in an MS program, graduating this may, and starting a phd program (hopefully) this August. We're both prior military and waited til we were both out, eight years total, to have our first, so we intentionally planned knowing I was going to grad school. I gave birth in my spring semester, junior year of college. We want three, 5 years apart. That means we'll try to conceive again the year our daughter turns four, after coursework is finished. I'll be overloading on courses to not deal with coursework, pregnancy, and lab work--I know how hard it is from doing it. Then our third, we'll try to conceive during my post doc. It's a lot of work, and finding the balance is difficult. That's why I'm so glad I did an MS prior to PhD. We have a great system setup for balancing our home and work life. It often means I get three hours of sleep in order to spend the evening with my kid and then write on my thesis after she goes to bed. But it works well. I have a great PI who is very accommodating with my schedule. The whole time I've been in grad school, I would arrive at the lab at 4 am in order to leave by 3pm with no issues (I drive two hours each way so I have to leave by 3 to get home for daycare closing). In a lot of ways it makes me way more productive. I have a limited amount of time in the lab, and I live so far away I can't just pop in to check on an experiment. It's been a great time management learning experience. I go in with a plan, and I get shit done. I've written on three manuscripts (2 first author), my thesis (just turned in my first draft to defend this April), two oral seminars, 3 poster presentations, and will complete my degree on time. In a lot of ways, having a kid gives me more motivation--I can't let my degree drag out indefinitely. I need to get back into the workforce asap. It took about a year to figure out our groove. We have no family around because we stayed where my husband's last duty station was for me to complete through my MS. It sucks and in another life, I'd already be tenure track, but I don't regret my service or moving for my husband. It took six schools to finish my undergrad because of the constant moving, but it was worth it. And at least I have no debt because of my GI Bill. My biggest piece of advice is in picking your PI. If they want a grunt monkey to do nothing but their own work the whole time, with a minimum hours requirement, it's probably not the best PI for you. If they measure productivity and designing your own experiments, executing, and being self motivated without caring about the clock then it's a much better situation. Either way, it's hard. There are so many moments of guilt. Guilt when I'm home because I'm not devoting as many hours as the single phd candidate in our lab. Guilt when I'm away because I could be with my kid. Guilt when I skip a day in the lab to go to an event at my daughters preschool. Guilt when I'm in the lab instead of at an event all the other parents are at. My biggest piece of advice is quickly accepting you won't be the best. I'm a great student but I can't devote my life to it to be the best. I'm a great mom but I can't devote all my time to it to be the best. Time with my husband slips when I have to ramp up lab work. Time in the lab slips when I devote time to my husband and kid. And you know what? It's okay. There's nothing wrong with it. Just don't let one side always be the up side on your scales.

Okay, that sounds good. I frankly would like to go back to the hotel and Skype with my kid before she goes to bed instead of going out to a bar. I'm "work friends" with my current classmates in grad school (ms program) but I treat grad school like a job--I don't particularly like to hang out with my "coworkers" outside organized functions and "off the clock" (like we go out to lunch but evening time is family time and if my husband and I have friends over they're our friends with kids our child's age). I haven't gone out to a bar in almost ten years, haha

I don't know how much this is true outside of my current institution but I'm in a funded MS chemistry program (thesis based) at a school that also grants PhDs. The director of our graduate program, and all the profs on our committee have all told me "no one gives a shit about your undergraduate degree once you get a graduate degree. Your thesis and research skills are all they'll care about now that you'll have a masters degree" (actual verbatim quote from the director of our department). But I had a 3.74 UG and a 4.0 MS with high GREs so I don't know if they meant that exclusively for my record or in general for someone who may not have as high an UG gpa.

I've got an interview next weekend. One of my programs does interviews but not til March and explicitly stated the committee won't see apps til mid to late February. The other programs I've either already been rejected (1) or they don't do interviews and won't notify til mid to late feb (2 more). I figure Duke has rejected me but not told me cause interviews are in two weeks. So waiting on 3 programs plus after the interview next week my top choice. I'm impatient.

I've never hated weekends so much in my life as I do during this application season. I'm sure many of you feel the same.