babybird

I actually attend UCSF, and live only on my 36k stipend. (AKA, no moonlighting another job). It's totally doable with roommates. I max out a Roth IRA every year, so it's not like I'm scraping by not planning for the future.

BMS hosts ~80 interviewees, and ~50-60 are accepted.

I saw that no-one replied to your post... BMS sends out just a few offers directly after the first interview weekend. They do the majority of offers after their second weekend! Nothing to worry about yet. (:

Have you looked at the PIBS program at Michigan? Despite being highly ranked, they seem to invite tons of candidates without being sticklers on the uGPA front...

I have a friend who rents from MSC Apartments, and she has a pet. Lots of grad students/professionals live in the various MSC buildings.

Yeah, it is. There's a difference between confidence and entitlement.

Is there a lab manager or someone you could email to see if he is out of town or something? Assuming this school has a deadline on the 15th, I also think it'd be permitted to give him a call.

Hi, hopefully this isn't too late. I'm in Cville right now. It's hard for me to guess not knowing how you and your spouse prefer to budget, of course. But here's some of my info to help. My husband and I pay $775/mo for rent (water included), plus ~$60 for electric and trash. (We don't have internet at home.) My husband and I live in a 1BR/1BA in the greater downtown area. We bus/walk/bike 2.5mi to UVa for work. Honestly, that's as cheap as you're going to get without additional roommates or moving further out and needed to drive + pay to park.

Ugh my fat finger hit the down arrow when I met to up vote this. Sorry! Anyway, I agree with you and the other posters who have echoed this.

I'm fine with the opportunity to TA. I absolutely will for at least one semester, for that valuable experience you mention... I just prefer programs that actually fund through an RA, and thought that if OP had similar feelings, it might be a consideration for them.

My PI (top 20 school where I am a lab tech) says that once you hit the top 50s, it's more the reputation of the PI and their work rather than just the school. Rather than rankings, I would decide based on funding and research fit. I personally wouldn't go somewhere that required me to TA for my funding, because that's just time spent away from research. If you want to end up teaching, then you won't be as opposed to the TA experiences as I am. I would also go where there are more professors in whose work I am interested.

Oh man, I had this whole post typed up and then deleted it.... fhjdiasopugd*()A&$*#( So, I come from a (weird) liberal arts undergrad background, and I had a pretty low quant GRE - thought my stats might be interesting for those in a similar position. (: Undergrad Institution: liberal arts, private evangelical university with a really small biology presence Major(s): Molecular Biology Minor(s): Chemistry GPA in Major: 3.93 Overall GPA: 3.92 Position in Class: not sure, but likely in top 5 Type of Student: domestic, female GRE Scores (revised): Q: 154, 52% V: 165, 95% W: 4.5, 80% Subject: n/a Research Experience: Three years as a full-time research/lab technician at a top 20s research university in a developmental/genetics lab. Presented posters at three major conferences, x2 papers in progress. Three years as an undergrad in an epigenetics lab. Presented x2 posters, 1 paper published. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: x2 poster awards x1 conference award for best paper x1 university-wide outstanding senior honors thesis award Pertinent Activities/Jobs: Besides my work as a lab tech... I TA'd for courses all through my undergrad: Genetics, Biochem I&II, Microbiologyy Special Bonus Points: I write a pretty mean SOP. Applied to: (Oh gosh, I applied to tons of places because I wasn't sure of my application, and my husband and I are also doing the whole two-body-job-hunt.) Boston College Duke (CMB) Harvard (Immunology) MIT (Biology) Northeastern (Biology) Northwestern (IBiS) Stanford (Immunology) UC Berkeley (CMB) UC San Francisco (BMS) UC Santa Cruz (PBSE) University of Chicago (Immunology) University of Illinois at Urbana/Champagne (MCB) University of Illinois Chicago (GEMS) University of Massachusetts at Worcester (BBS) University of Michigan (PIBS) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BBSP) University of Wisconson-Madison (CMB) --Results -- Rejections : Duke (CMB) Harvard (Immunology) MIT (Biology) Stanford (Immunology) UC Berkeley (CMB) Interviews: Boston College Northeastern (Biology) Northwestern (IBiS) UC San Francisco (BMS) UC Santa Cruz (PBSE) University of Chicago (Immunology) University of Illinois at Urbana/Champagne (MCB) declined University of Illinois Chicago (GEMS) declined University of Massachusetts at Worcester (BBS) University of Michigan (PIBS) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BBSP) University of Wisconson-Madison (CMB) declined Acceptances: Boston College Northeastern (Biology) Northwestern (IBiS) UC San Francisco (BMS) <----------------------------- attending! :D :D University of Massachusetts at Worcester (BBS) University of Michigan (PIBS) University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BBSP) Advice: Anyone with the two-body problem? Find schools you like in university-dense areas. My schools were (mostly) centered around the Research Triangle in NC, the Bay Area, the Boston Area, and the Chicago Area. This will help my husband as he seeks a postdoc. Coming from a tiny undergrad with a unknown bio program? Tech for a few years to gain experience. Some schools definitely have a GRE cutoff, I don't care what they say. I'm 90% sure that's why I got a few of my outright rejections.

University Of Wisconsin Madison Mathematics, PhD, PhD (F15) "Hi everyone. Could applicants that have been accepted into more prestigious programs please consider informing the Director of Grad Studies promptly. We (the wait-listed) are depending on you. Thank you for your understanding." Maybe the wait-list should have bolstered parts of their application to prevent this dependance on the rest of the application pool?

My favorite schools are the ones who tell you you're rejected online, but also note that a rejection letter is coming in the mail as well. Why waste the envelope?

Fabulous advice! I've been struggling with good, constructive phrasing in addition to trying to decide if I should say anything at all, so this is a really helpful comment. Thanks!