yinyangwriter

Nice thread. I'm reading two books right now...Treasure Box by Orson Scott Card (very weird story) and Robot Dreams by Isaac Asimov (Heaven!).

I am interested in environmental microbiology and bioinformatics. I am particularly interested in studying microbial diversity in cool places like the Amazon Rainforest. :-) Can't wait to get started.

Thank you for posting this! I would suggest that people also see what the working environment is like among the faculty...do they get along/share equipment collaboratively, etc.?

I thought they were done with their admissions? I was rejected (because I screwed up my app) and someone else I know was accepted...all in mid January. The UCBerkeley people emphasized that they complete their admissions process very quickly (within two weeks basically of receiving all the applications). I applied to Plant Bio (for the microbiology) and the accepted person was chem-eng.

To bb9931 and other applicants, did you contact professors/PIs at the institutions where you are applying? It is crucial that you communicate with people you might want to work with and let them know that you are excited about their research, give them a brief rundown of how amazing you are, and let them know that you applied or are planning to apply and that you would love to know if they will have an opening in their lab in the Fall (or whatever term you are applying for). This serves to make the professor feel that you are particularly interested in their research and not just applying to the program because of the cachet (or alternatively as a safe school, etc). Make the professors feel flattered and wanted. You LOVE their research and want to work with them and only them...you only applied to the program because of their research that you read about in their papers A and B. Its a dating game. And if some guy came and said how he admired X, Y, and Z accomplishments of mine and thought I was an awesome person and also demonstrated that he had desirable qualities himself (minds out of the gutter now!) and asked if I would go out with him, I very likely would say yes. Flattery works.

My Profile... Programs applied to: Biology and Microbiology; specific interests in Environmental Microbiology Cum and Major GPA: 3.494/4.0; Graduated May 2003; Postgrad GPA in biological sciences 3.89/4.0 GRE: 640Q (54%? something crummy); 670V (95%); 5.0A (or whatever 81% was) No Subject GREs Citizenship: US Research/Professional Experience: Summer Mathematics REU, 5 years Teaching; 2 years as Academic Advisor and doing postgrad work in biosciences LORs: 1 from my previous professor/advisor from undergrad, 1 from famous current prof, 1 from another current professor Publications/Presentations: Presentation at one Senior Symposium (I don't think I even mentioned this), no publications Fellowships: Aborted application for Ford Foundation (ugh, if I had finished it then I might have had a chance!) Schools Applied to for Fall 2010: UOregon (interview) SIO at UCSD (still working on fellowship applications) CalTech (admitted) UCSD UCI UCBerkeley OHSU Oregon State UWashington UMass Amherst

Congratulations! I also really stressed about my GRE scores and took it several times to no avail until my advisor told me to stop freaking out about the test...that it wouldn't be a big deal. I just got admitted to Caltech with a really crappy quantitative GRE score (despite a bachelors degree in mathematics). I scored in the 95% percentile in the verbal section and 5.5 in analytical but only 50% in quantitative (its been a 7 years since college is the excuse I'm sticking with). Quantitative usually really matters in the sciences but everything else mattered more in the end apparently.