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biochemgirl67

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  1. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from TangentTam in Ask questions about the PhD application process!   
    YESSSSSSS.  Preach!  The schools are acutely aware of the fact that they are good.  (I had someone at Harvard say, "We know we're Harvard, you don't have to tell us."  Instead, do exactly what @Bioenchilada says... write about specifically what is at that school that interests you.  Faculty, research, faculty.  And why YOU are a good fit.  Sorry to chime in, I know that you already have 2 grad students on here, but I just felt like this is a common mistake.
  2. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from Corijoys in Ask questions about the PhD application process!   
    Sorry to butt in, but I have to say, based on only 2 WEEKS of grad school I would NOT EVER join without being able to rotate.  Not in this field.  It takes so long to get a PhD and you can be pretty miserable if you get it wrong.
    Example:  I met with a professor I thought I wanted to work with.  They look good on paper, we even got along really well.  However, when I met with her grad student, she let me know some of the drama that had transpired in this laboratory AND about some of the negative aspects of the faculty's personality.  Then a couple other students said they had heard some stuff about her mentorship abilities.  Now, this is not to say you should trust everything you hear.  But you SHOULD take some pause and think if those things might be serious problems for you.  If you talk to 3+ independent people and hear the same things, it is very likely true.  Also, if you were to ignore the warnings and rotate in the lab (which I may very well still do.  My school has 4 rotations.) you're only wasting 1 rotation, NOT 5+ years of being miserable.  So all in all, faculty members know how to sell themselves and know what you want to hear.  I would heavily warn against going into a program where you've already committed to a lab.
  3. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from Beanstian in Ask questions about the PhD application process!   
    Sorry to butt in, but I have to say, based on only 2 WEEKS of grad school I would NOT EVER join without being able to rotate.  Not in this field.  It takes so long to get a PhD and you can be pretty miserable if you get it wrong.
    Example:  I met with a professor I thought I wanted to work with.  They look good on paper, we even got along really well.  However, when I met with her grad student, she let me know some of the drama that had transpired in this laboratory AND about some of the negative aspects of the faculty's personality.  Then a couple other students said they had heard some stuff about her mentorship abilities.  Now, this is not to say you should trust everything you hear.  But you SHOULD take some pause and think if those things might be serious problems for you.  If you talk to 3+ independent people and hear the same things, it is very likely true.  Also, if you were to ignore the warnings and rotate in the lab (which I may very well still do.  My school has 4 rotations.) you're only wasting 1 rotation, NOT 5+ years of being miserable.  So all in all, faculty members know how to sell themselves and know what you want to hear.  I would heavily warn against going into a program where you've already committed to a lab.
  4. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from Some violinist in Ask questions about the PhD application process!   
    YESSSSSSS.  Preach!  The schools are acutely aware of the fact that they are good.  (I had someone at Harvard say, "We know we're Harvard, you don't have to tell us."  Instead, do exactly what @Bioenchilada says... write about specifically what is at that school that interests you.  Faculty, research, faculty.  And why YOU are a good fit.  Sorry to chime in, I know that you already have 2 grad students on here, but I just felt like this is a common mistake.
  5. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from taylorrrmartin in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    So I'm going to put this on here before this thread before the new cycle of people get here... THIS IS TOTALLY 100% TRUE.  You, before you apply and even begin to look at programs, need to sit down with yourself and decide what are your priorities.  Do you want a med school attached?  Do you want a highly independent program where you are left to your own devices?  Do you want a program with mostly famous PIs?  What type of location do you want?  What is your personal life like and how will this affect where you live, work expectations, etc?  How do you want to handle your finances?  Do you want to commute or live next to campus?
    Once you get done with priorities, you need to decide where you'll be competitive.  I think either people have no idea (and therefore apply to like 12-15 schools) or overshoot and apply to too many top programs for their profile.  Your most important aspect of your profile is your research experience.  Was it long-term?  Did you get results?  Did you do conferences/papers/poster sessions/presentations?  NO COURSEWORK WILL BE APPLICABLE HERE.  I've sometimes seen people try to pass a class-based project off but it doesn't count, unfortunately.  Not unless you wrote a grant or paper or something that then got accepted by the NSF/NIH or a journal.  Now, we've talked before about if GPA is important.  Simply put, it is, but it isn't the end-all, be-all.  If you're going for Harvard/MIT/UCSF/Caltech/Rockefeller, you're going to need a great GPA.  Although adcoms do know that personal situations, course difficulty, and other things can affect it.  Generally speaking *FOR TOP PROGRAMS*, over a 3.5 is good, 3.75 and up is great, and 3.9+ is fantastic.  However, if your science/major GPA is higher than your overall, make sure you point that out on your CV.  Mine was, and significantly.  (3.76 cGPA/3.86 science GPA)  GPA matters, but if you have a low one, get great recommendations!  It'll go a long way.  Actually, just have great recommendations in general.  3 from your supervising research mentors would actually be ideal.  Grad school is much less about classwork than research and your GPA can demonstrate your academic success.
    It's really important to be honest with yourself about where you're competitive.  If you're not, you could end up with a disappointing cycle.  But the most crucial part is to combine your priorities with institutions where you'll be competitive.  Myself, I applied to 7 places and I actually should not have applied to UCSF and Stanford based on my priorities... I wanted to live with relatively low financial debt during this time with a relatively high quality of life in an interesting area.  Based on my knowledge of the Bay Area, that would have been difficult to do with the cost of living there.  But all in all, I think that I chose schools at which I was relatively competitive and was fairly successful.
    If you narrow it down like this, you will have an easier time deciding on where you want to go.  I have had a really clear vision of how I want to live for the next five years.  I want to have a supportive environment with a PI that is around to help mentor me through this.  I want to be able to live near a city center to be close to the excitement of city life.  I don't mind having to have a car.  I want to be able to afford to live where I live without huge credit card bills.  I want an institution with a good name/reputation so I can go to a good post-doc.  I also want an institution with a high degree of collaboration and dynamic research in molecular signaling in disease.  It actually hasn't been a difficult decision thus far and I only have the final interview which is in NYC (and I'm like 90% sure I'm not a NYC girl :P).  And I would NOT want to do more than the 4 interviews I have so far.
    Good luck, young padawans.  (Oh and feel free to PM me if you want.  I'm just going to be relaxing all summer anyway)
  6. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from facelessbeauty in Ask questions about the PhD application process!   
    Sorry to butt in, but I have to say, based on only 2 WEEKS of grad school I would NOT EVER join without being able to rotate.  Not in this field.  It takes so long to get a PhD and you can be pretty miserable if you get it wrong.
    Example:  I met with a professor I thought I wanted to work with.  They look good on paper, we even got along really well.  However, when I met with her grad student, she let me know some of the drama that had transpired in this laboratory AND about some of the negative aspects of the faculty's personality.  Then a couple other students said they had heard some stuff about her mentorship abilities.  Now, this is not to say you should trust everything you hear.  But you SHOULD take some pause and think if those things might be serious problems for you.  If you talk to 3+ independent people and hear the same things, it is very likely true.  Also, if you were to ignore the warnings and rotate in the lab (which I may very well still do.  My school has 4 rotations.) you're only wasting 1 rotation, NOT 5+ years of being miserable.  So all in all, faculty members know how to sell themselves and know what you want to hear.  I would heavily warn against going into a program where you've already committed to a lab.
  7. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from facelessbeauty in Ask questions about the PhD application process!   
    YESSSSSSS.  Preach!  The schools are acutely aware of the fact that they are good.  (I had someone at Harvard say, "We know we're Harvard, you don't have to tell us."  Instead, do exactly what @Bioenchilada says... write about specifically what is at that school that interests you.  Faculty, research, faculty.  And why YOU are a good fit.  Sorry to chime in, I know that you already have 2 grad students on here, but I just felt like this is a common mistake.
  8. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from spiffscience in Ask questions about the PhD application process!   
    That's all you can do.  Chillax and try not to drive yourself insane.
    You have 5-6 years ahead of you with which to drive yourself crazy.  Just bank on the fact that you is SMART, you is KIND, and you is IMPORTANT.  It'll come through in your interviews.  That goes for everybody on here!
  9. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from ellieotter in Failed my first class; confidence tanked   
    You know what?  Because you can't do anything and you did your best, you need to repeat after me:
    Fuck that guy.  Fuck that class.  Fuck that rotation.
    I know we're supposed to use professional language, but sometimes you just have to drop a few F bombs.  There is nothing you can do to change it other than move on.  Work hard to do well in your other classes, choose a different rotation.  Identify what you could have changed and make it a point to work on those things in the future.  Do you need to learn better study habits?  Do you need more of a work-lab balance?  One failure doesn't constitute an entire career of failure.
  10. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from Cervello in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    I've got one prescription... Chill pills for everyone.  For the sake of everything holy, you'll get detailed information on interview weekend.  And by the way, it's pretty true that at a certain level/caliber, the research and educational quality is equal across institutions.  A grad student at Hopkins is not guaranteed more or less success than one at Harvard.  Or Yale.  Or UCSF.  Or UPenn.  Or Rockefeller.  Or Weill-Cornell.  Or Stanford.  Or Emory.  Or Vanderbilt.  Or University of Washington.  Or several other schools.  Do you feel me yet?  So wait until interviews to assess your options.
     
     
     
  11. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from Josie817 in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    I've got one prescription... Chill pills for everyone.  For the sake of everything holy, you'll get detailed information on interview weekend.  And by the way, it's pretty true that at a certain level/caliber, the research and educational quality is equal across institutions.  A grad student at Hopkins is not guaranteed more or less success than one at Harvard.  Or Yale.  Or UCSF.  Or UPenn.  Or Rockefeller.  Or Weill-Cornell.  Or Stanford.  Or Emory.  Or Vanderbilt.  Or University of Washington.  Or several other schools.  Do you feel me yet?  So wait until interviews to assess your options.
     
     
     
  12. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from cosiva in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    I've got one prescription... Chill pills for everyone.  For the sake of everything holy, you'll get detailed information on interview weekend.  And by the way, it's pretty true that at a certain level/caliber, the research and educational quality is equal across institutions.  A grad student at Hopkins is not guaranteed more or less success than one at Harvard.  Or Yale.  Or UCSF.  Or UPenn.  Or Rockefeller.  Or Weill-Cornell.  Or Stanford.  Or Emory.  Or Vanderbilt.  Or University of Washington.  Or several other schools.  Do you feel me yet?  So wait until interviews to assess your options.
     
     
     
  13. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from SA01RSE in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    I've got one prescription... Chill pills for everyone.  For the sake of everything holy, you'll get detailed information on interview weekend.  And by the way, it's pretty true that at a certain level/caliber, the research and educational quality is equal across institutions.  A grad student at Hopkins is not guaranteed more or less success than one at Harvard.  Or Yale.  Or UCSF.  Or UPenn.  Or Rockefeller.  Or Weill-Cornell.  Or Stanford.  Or Emory.  Or Vanderbilt.  Or University of Washington.  Or several other schools.  Do you feel me yet?  So wait until interviews to assess your options.
     
     
     
  14. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from desmond.bo in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    I've got one prescription... Chill pills for everyone.  For the sake of everything holy, you'll get detailed information on interview weekend.  And by the way, it's pretty true that at a certain level/caliber, the research and educational quality is equal across institutions.  A grad student at Hopkins is not guaranteed more or less success than one at Harvard.  Or Yale.  Or UCSF.  Or UPenn.  Or Rockefeller.  Or Weill-Cornell.  Or Stanford.  Or Emory.  Or Vanderbilt.  Or University of Washington.  Or several other schools.  Do you feel me yet?  So wait until interviews to assess your options.
     
     
     
  15. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from Actin in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    I've got one prescription... Chill pills for everyone.  For the sake of everything holy, you'll get detailed information on interview weekend.  And by the way, it's pretty true that at a certain level/caliber, the research and educational quality is equal across institutions.  A grad student at Hopkins is not guaranteed more or less success than one at Harvard.  Or Yale.  Or UCSF.  Or UPenn.  Or Rockefeller.  Or Weill-Cornell.  Or Stanford.  Or Emory.  Or Vanderbilt.  Or University of Washington.  Or several other schools.  Do you feel me yet?  So wait until interviews to assess your options.
     
     
     
  16. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from spiffscience in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    I've got one prescription... Chill pills for everyone.  For the sake of everything holy, you'll get detailed information on interview weekend.  And by the way, it's pretty true that at a certain level/caliber, the research and educational quality is equal across institutions.  A grad student at Hopkins is not guaranteed more or less success than one at Harvard.  Or Yale.  Or UCSF.  Or UPenn.  Or Rockefeller.  Or Weill-Cornell.  Or Stanford.  Or Emory.  Or Vanderbilt.  Or University of Washington.  Or several other schools.  Do you feel me yet?  So wait until interviews to assess your options.
     
     
     
  17. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 reacted to Bioenchilada in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    Can you please not take over this thread with rambles? By this point, I would think that you'd know that generalizing is wrong and you should avoid doing it at all costs. Also, basing your opinion on inaccurate information and hearsay makes it rather weak and, some would say, wrong. 
  18. Downvote
    biochemgirl67 reacted to haughtysauce007 in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    I answered your question in the way I wanted too... that comment was my opinion based on my experiences, however generalized... it is an opinion... so I told you to go read more about Hopkins' history of research so you could form your own opinion, however generalized
    there is no right or wrong answer, there is just a question and someone's opinion 
  19. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 reacted to Epigenetics in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    Can we all please chill with overwrought stereotypes of major institutions? As someone who went to Harvard for undergrad and now works in an HMS lab, and is applying for PhDs, there are great things and awful things about Harvard. Also in your stereotypes, you're making a hilarious equivalence between medical research and biological/biomedical research. It's very hard and frankly incorrect to connect research into surgery techniques to research on DNA or the cell. Also just saying an institution "was amazing in the history" ignores what it currently is, frankly when a lot of those discoveries at JHU were being made Stanford was like 20 years old, so let's all chill.
    I applied to only six schools, but I applied to them because there were faculty there that I wanted to work with on topics I'm working on. Most graduate programs are defined by your PI, as I've learned working full-time in a lab the past two years. If you're just choosing for "reputation" or in spite of it, you're going to miss great opportunities.
    I can tell you for certain BBS is a program that will let you do anything you want pretty much, and it is incredibly student-dependent in outcomes. In that way it's similar to the Harvard undergrad experience. But the idea that you're just a PI's bitch or not doing good science... you literally can't make such broad statements because every lab is different. Let's chill with overgeneralization plz.
  20. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 reacted to blc073 in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    I was just asking for an elaboration on your Hopkins comment, which I'm not sure you gave me. However, your description of Harvard BBS and MIT has not been my experience. 
  21. Downvote
    biochemgirl67 reacted to haughtysauce007 in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    Dude, seriously, just  google Hopkins and read about their history in the field of medical research - really? They are sorta a big deal lol... 
    When I think of medical research, particularly neuroscience or anything related to neuroscience/neurology, I think of Hopkins. 
    When I think of of public policy/law/business/medical school, I think of Harvard. Furthermore, I'd choose MIT over Harvard for anything in the sciences if I wanted to live in Cambridge/Boston. 
    Like seriously I've been to top schools already so I don't need a name to feel justified... so I am going based on objective criteria such as student/faculty interaction, whether or not students are collaborative, and funding/time to do your own research and not just being a PIs bitch... and hands down I actually think MIT is best for people that want to also have resources to carry out their own research as opposed to constantly rotating and being a PIs bitch. I also think MIT phds in the sciences do extraordinarily well in highly competitive postbaccs...I think they also place extraordinarily well in actually creating graduates that go on to teach and run their own labs...
    There are some strong areas of Harvard BBS of course, but make no mistake about it, they definitely have drawbacks to which just getting the "Harvard" name isn't worth it...especially since I've already graduated from 2 top 5 schools. 
     
  22. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from MathToEconomics in Failed my first class; confidence tanked   
    You know what?  Because you can't do anything and you did your best, you need to repeat after me:
    Fuck that guy.  Fuck that class.  Fuck that rotation.
    I know we're supposed to use professional language, but sometimes you just have to drop a few F bombs.  There is nothing you can do to change it other than move on.  Work hard to do well in your other classes, choose a different rotation.  Identify what you could have changed and make it a point to work on those things in the future.  Do you need to learn better study habits?  Do you need more of a work-lab balance?  One failure doesn't constitute an entire career of failure.
  23. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from kinseyd in Microbiology PhD chances   
    Having moved from the Midwest to the South, it's not as much of an adjustment as you would think.  I really like it.  The weather's a good shift and it's similar in terms of the people and the overall feel.  I would recommend looking into Southern schools if you want to expand your list.  You could also apply to Purdue as it has a fairly good reputation in microbiology.
  24. Upvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from CatLady4Lyfe in Failed my first class; confidence tanked   
    You know what?  Because you can't do anything and you did your best, you need to repeat after me:
    Fuck that guy.  Fuck that class.  Fuck that rotation.
    I know we're supposed to use professional language, but sometimes you just have to drop a few F bombs.  There is nothing you can do to change it other than move on.  Work hard to do well in your other classes, choose a different rotation.  Identify what you could have changed and make it a point to work on those things in the future.  Do you need to learn better study habits?  Do you need more of a work-lab balance?  One failure doesn't constitute an entire career of failure.
  25. Downvote
    biochemgirl67 got a reaction from NeuroMetro in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    Just want to say that age isn't an issue... although GENERALLY speaking, older applicants have more research experience.  They'll have worked in industry, been at the NIH, etc.  The time that you said you've had to decide you want a PhD... it hasn't been spent in science (from what I can tell, which could be wrong) and that might be an issue if you phrase it like, "Because I'm older, I know that I want to be a PhD."  It sounds presumptuous simply because you are getting a PhD to be a scientist, not to be a PhD.  You are still a straight out of undergrad applicant, so I wouldn't go to any lengths to differentiate yourself from that crowd.
    The only glaring problem I can see with you application is that you'll only have 1 LOR from a PI that knows you well.  If you haven't kept up with the micro PI, then it's going to make it difficult.  If it's been less than a couple years, it'll be fine, as long as you've kept up with him.  To be competitive at a high level, as many LORs as possible from a PI are a must.  They are one of, if not the most, important parts of the application.  
    You'll be fine.  Your application is stellar.  You don't need to say anything about your technical skills, because it's not a really considered.  As my current PI says, you're not in grad school to be the hands, you've got to have the hands and the brain.  And the brain is more important.  But here's something; unless you have some attachment to Brown, I would apply elsewhere.  Like UCSF, Stanfod, UCLA, Weill Cornell, University of Pennsylvania, Sloan Kettering.  They are actually much better schools.  Brown has a weak research background compared to your other choices and is very undergrad focused.  But it's up to you.
    Just peace of mind that it's over.  I submitted in early November so I could focus on other things, but you definitely don't have to.
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