Bioenchilada
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Posts posted by Bioenchilada
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6 hours ago, Sakashi said:
Undergrad Institution: R3 school, I'd say it's more lib-arts focused. IUP
Major(s): Biology (Pre-Veterinary Track)
Minor(s): Chemistry and Psychology
GPA in Major: 3.34
Overall GPA: 3.64
Position in Class: Magna Cum Laude?
Type of Student: Domestic, Female
GRE Scores: Q:155-59% // V:162-90% // W:5.0-93%
Research Experience: Undergrad: 2 school years. Neuroethology of reward and aggression w/lizard model. Essentially became assistant lab manager of the very small lab by my second year. Gave poster presentations at schools symposium, chosen to present poster at state-wide poster thing. (1 unrelated publication, 4th out of 9, from summer research program/course)Post graduation: Research Tech, mechanisms of prenatal effects of alcohol exposure. Little under 2 years total. 2 pubs, 2/5 and 6/8; 1 manuscript in progress where I'm first author out of 4.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Deans award of excellence for poster presented at university's undergrad forum, chosen by school to go to an annual undergrad research conference at the state capitol.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Research Tech just under 2 years, volunteered at variety of places like wildlife center (which means I can put the cool phrase "small-to-medium raptor handling techniques" if I so choose) and veterinary clinic.
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: One of 100 accepted into the university's special honors college. Required attendance in Socratic style classes which emphasized critical thinking, exchange of ideas, civil discussion, open-mindedness, problem-solving and public speaking. Required two end of unit mini-theses per semester, for total of 8 theses total. Topics had to be related to core subject of that unit. Relevant mini-theses included the philosophy surrounding the use of animals in research and the public image of an uncaring scientist. over a decade of experience using photo editing/graphics programs. Was a designated note taker for a giant number of classes, turning notes in on time for them to be photocopied for some other student; included Physics 1&2, Genetics, Virology, Micro and more that I'm forgetting.
Special Bonus Points: Female.Any other things that show up on application: 2nd semester chem courses are my downfall. Gen Chem I dropped from an A to a C. Orgo I dropped from a B to a C. Orgo is explainable, I went from a professor who taught via literature. Had his own textbook packet, simple, informative, easy to read, really helped me. Explained the concepts behind the chemistry at work. Orgo 2 I had a different professor, who taught via diagram. Threw equations onto board, verbal and brief explanation of the concept behind the chemistry, just utterly different. Ends up, I need to read to learn things effectively. Even though I took copious notes, it was just a little bit too far out of my grasp.
(thinking about)Applying to Where: Gonna be Neuro for all of them, and Research interest is going to be the same for all of them; addiction, reward/motivation, psychiatric disorders, animal models, behavioral neuro.
JHUPenn State
U. Penn
Pitt
Carnegie
VCU
UVA
VT
U Maryland
U Maryland, Baltimore
UNC
Though your GPA and GRE math are a little bit on the low side, I think that your research experience speaks to your skills as a scientist and am confident that as long as your LOR writers can further vouch for this, you will be more than fine. You also have a pretty good mix of schools, so I'm confident that if you write a good SOP, you'll get a couple of interviews
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On 9/13/2017 at 8:46 PM, CaliforniaRunnerKid said:
Applying for F2018. Please be VERY honest with me in whether I stand a chance at these schools or if I should lower my expectations.
Undergrad Institution: NYU College of Arts and Science
Major(s): Biochemistry
GPA in Major: 3.60
Overall GPA: 3.66
Position in Class: Top 10-15%
Type of Student: Domestic, Male, Whiter than Wonder Bread
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 163 (84%)
V: 162 (91%)
W: 5.0 (93%)
Research Experience:Over 2 years in a lab at NYU School of Medicine that works on drugs for neurodegenerative diseases. 1 Publication as 3rd author of 10 published in Scientific Reports.
Summer internship at a biotech firm where I worked on antibody-drug conjugates for cancer therapeutics.
3 poster presentations at minor conferences and one industry presentation for ~200 people, after I won an industry award.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:3 years deans list, NCAA Academic All American, Presidential Honors Scholar, Intellectual Property Contributor Award (Award from the company I worked for for developing a method for antibody expression and purification which had higher yield and purity than what they were previously using.) Senior Honors Thesis in Biochemistry
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 4 year NCAA varsity athlete in track and cross country, Over 1500 hours of community service
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: NCAA cross country conference champion?
Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)One LoR writer, the PI of the lab I have worked at for 2 years at Langone, is 'famous' in the world of neurodegenerative diseases and pharmacology (~400 publications and 19 patents)
Another LoR writer is an alumni of both Icahn School of Medicine and Rockefeller
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Applying to Where:School
Program
UC Berkeley
Molecular and Cellular Biology - Molecular Mechanisms of Disease
UCSF
Pharmaceutical Sciences and Pharmacogenomics - Molecular Pharmacology
NYU Langone
Mechanisms of Disease - Molecular Pharmacology
Columbia
Molecular Basis of Health and Disease - Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine
Johns Hopkins
Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences
Weill Cornell
Pharmacology
Icahn
Biomedical Sciences - Biophysics and Systems Pharmacology
Rockefeller
Mechanisms of Human Disease
Yale
Molecular Medicine, Pharmacology, and Physiology
Brown
Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology
UCSD
Biomedical Sciences - Molecular Pharmacology
UWashington
Pathology - Molecular Medicine and Mechanisms of Disease
Harvard
Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology
I would not apply to more than 8 schools, it is very likely that you'll have a conflict when it comes down to interview. Also, your list seems very top-heavy. Make sure you are applying because there are at LEAST 5 faculty members that you would work with and because you are legitimately interested in the program and/or school. It is really easy to fish out when someone is just applying for the prestige, and it becomes more difficult to write a good SOP if that's the main reason. Who is the other person writing you a letter?
PS. Alumni status does not really mean much from what I've seen. From personal experience, I had a letter from a Harvard alumnus and PI, and still got rejected.
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19 hours ago, samman1994 said:
Thanks for the feedback aqua.I think I understand where my main mistake is here. I thought proceeding with this entire process with the attitude of, I know what I want to do and how I want to do it, would show that I'm motivated and focused. But really, it appears its primarily a detterent because it makes the schools (and POI) think that I don't want to do anything else (i.e. I'm too focused). I think the biggest issue following from that is, it's coming off that protein NMR is a requirement, not a preference. Now for me, ideally I'd want a protein NMR lab, and will try and navigate my route that direction as much as possible (e.g. choosing to do rotations in labs that focus on that), but I definitely do not want that concept (requirement vs. preference) to get confused in my POS.
I'd also like to add (personally), I really don't want a lab that just does protein NMR. I want a lab that uses multiple instruments, but focuses mostly on NMR (e.g. why my email asked the POI if they used other instruments even when their focus is NMR). I also stated in another post that I'd like to join a lab that has a small developmental/theoretical side so I could see a little bit of that as well. I like to have one primary big focus, but I also really want to dabble my hands into a lot of things as well. At the end of the day that's what I really want to get across. I've done protein NMR work, and I really liked it, and I'd like to continue it, while expanding my horizons to include other instrumentation and biophysical methods.
I think for all these reasons, there is no point to email the POI. Doesn't matter which part of their project I like now, by next year they may be moving in a completely different direction with it, they may have a new project I might like. Really, it's not even up to me, I'll join the lab, and try and join a project I like, but it'll be up to the funding, available space, and POI what they choose to assign me. Using their specific research in my SOP will give me the problem I have now, it may come across as too focused. I want to show the school I've done my research, but I can do that by stating the labs, or just a brief summary of what they do, not specific project details.
I guess a question that arises form all of this is, do you think protein NMR is too focused for my SOP? Each school may have at most 2 to 3 members that do that kind of research, and I don't want the school to think "oh well if those 2 or 3 faculty members don't have room, he won't be interested in anything else, so we don't want somebody like that". Should I expand my focus to be just proteomics in general, and only use NMR (and the faculty members) as an example?
E.G.
I like biochemistry and think proteins are cool, key factors in disease bla bla bla, your school has a great NMR and crystallography facility with a variety of researches such as X Y and Z that have really interesting research (maybe only discuss in brief about one of the PIs research)
versus
I like protein NMR and think its cool and has a lot of potential for drug design. NMR has lots of benefits bla bla bla your school has researcher X Y and Z that focus on this and use your NMR facility (discuss instrumentation in a bit of detail) that look at (discuss projects of X and or Y)
One is generally discussing Biochemistry and proteins as my focus, and discusses the facilities they have there that would just be great in general for disease and proteomics (and if look at it that way, you go from 2 to 3 faculty members to literally 30+). The other is discussing protein NMR as my focus and how great their facility and those researchers are for my focus. One is very focused into a particular sub-field (structural biology of proteins and biophysical technique of NMR as the theme, with researchers X Y and Z as examples), the other is more general (basically all of proteomics as the theme, with structural biology and biophysics as examples).
I think that as long as you don't make it sound like you're going to grad school to do a technique, you should be fine. Remember, at the end of the day, NMR is still just a means to answer a question.
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22 hours ago, Molecular_nutrition_2018 said:
Thanks for replying Bioenchilada! Yes I totally agree, I am not sending more than 3-4 letters to each school. I sent 6 letters while applying for masters and got into it so I thought it worked perfectly, but if that's too much I will definitely take down 2 or 3 of them. I had 6 letters from undergrad (which I am unaware of the quality), right now I can get another 3 from master (I know these 3 are good) so ill rethink about my choice before sending out anything.
What do you think about my thoughts? Do you think it is possible to still experience more fields? if so do you know how competitive it is for general biology phD program like columbia and Upenn? Sorry to bother you but this overwhelmed unsettle feeling is slowing eating me day by day......
I don't you necessarily need to have experience in the actual field to get into a program as long as you can effectively connect your experiences to the field and explain why it makes sense for you to switch fields in your SOP. For example, I never did cancer biology research per se but I explained how each of my experiences helped me grow professionally and put me on track to want to study molecular mechanisms in the context of cancer.
I don't know much about the general biology program here, but it's still probably competitive. If you are unsure about your competitiveness in a field specific program, try applying to umbrella programs.
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16 hours ago, Molecular_nutrition_2018 said:
This is my first year applying for phD, so any help is very much appreciated!!! Being honest is the best I can ask from you, I am not gonna get offended in anyway so please speak up! I am applying from now and still got 3 months to fix any problem (hopefully that's enough time).
Undergrad Institution: US Top3 public school
Major(s): BioScience
GPA in Major: 3.3
Overall GPA: 3.34
Position in Class: no clue
Type of Student: International, maleMaster Institution: Columbia University
Major(s): Nutritional Science
Overall GPA: 3.5
Position in Class: no clue
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 167 (93%)
V: 153 (60%)
W: 2.5 (7%) eh....i don't know how either
TOEFL Total: can waive from most school since I attended a US college
Research Experience:3 years, 3 labs.
Junior year in college: Marine biology/ecology lab,
-Doing meta-analysis for a phD student
-Collecting data from field work,
-Determined relationship between climate change / thermal tolerance and marine invertebrate disease
-Researched age-dependent responses of marine invertebrates to climate change
-attending seminars.
Senior year in college: Physiology lab,
-Investigating the Adaptive Modulation Theory upon xxx fishes
-Measuring gastric pepsin and chitinase activities in spectrophotometer
-Aiming to execute digestibility trials to observe whether there is a correlation between gut enzyme activities and digestibility of dietary biochemical constituents, referring back to human
-PCR
-field work and DNA extraction
Master: Molecular biology lab,
-Transporter expression, down from the scratch (DNA-RNA-Protein). From exp design to final protein activity measurement, I have learned and performed all steps from the central dogma
-purification, gel electrophoresis, in-vitro transcription, in-vivo translation, oocytes injection, flux measurements, protein assays and etc.
-pretty much every experiment related with DNA and RNA in molecular biology, I have tried them, failed them, mastered them. Pretty happy and confident at the end of the journey
-this lab experience showed me my potential in the field of molecular biology/ molecular nutritional biology, I am trying do this as my phD
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:Dean's list 2 times at undergrad, well I was struggling learning English so...
Honor student at Columbia (possibly, me and my PI are discussing it rn)
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:1 conference & poster at college,
1 small conference at grad school,
1 first author publication in preparation (already finished both exp and writing, polishing up rn, but not gonna publish anyway before the end of 2018 probably).
contributed in several labs and maybe my name will magically appear on their future papers, I am being optimistic only.
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:Got an 2.7-2.9 GPA at the sophomore year in college which completely destroyed my GPA, but 3.35- 3.7 from junior to senior, so 3.35 cumulatively with the onward curve,
Got an 3.0 at the first half of the master, got 3.5 at the second half of the master, so 3.3 cumulatively with the onward curve.
-I will write these in my SOP cause I am a slow starter, i need time to digest everything, but after the warm-up I can get into a good shape pretty easily.
LORs:
-1 from my best friend, also my advisor from college (yeah this person is beyond helpful and we are that close, her and my senior year lab PI wrote me stellar LOR to boost me into Columbia)
-1 from my senior year lab PI, again I don't know what they wrote but probably pretty good, I can bet on this person.
1 from my Molecular biology lab PI, he is beyond satisfied about the quality of my work, he even promised that he will adjust his letter according to my SOP, and he will show me what he wrote, no catfish
-2 from my undergrad teachers, I attended more than 3 biology classes from each of them, and got A-A+ in all of the classes, they know I worked hard and have wrote me LOR for my master
-1 from my master teachers, maintained great relationship with this one professor and he is helping me getting through the whole master program, a good friend of mine, we had very often conversations and he is being a great friend, recommending schools and programs and etc.
Special Bonus Points:-international student assistant for 2 years at college, I like helping other kids who have similar background and struggle blending in.
-I am really talented in many fields outside of school, I am good at painting, 12 years calligraphy master (had a piece stored at my high school HOF), lv.10 certificated in clarinet (=clarinet teacher certification), national certificate athlete (basketball, made it 2nd national place at my sophomore),
-Great communication skill, extremely outgoing, never spoke english before college in my own country but pretty fluent without an accent after just 2 years. All in all, I am really spontaneous
-Trilingual
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:Some questions:
-I know I have made up my mind to stay with Molecular biology, but other fields are intriguing as hell, like cancer, virology, stem cell/regenerative biology, and etc. Therefore, I am thinking of applying to those umbrella programs, Columbia and penn have "Biology phD" which don't restrict your interest area, I am planning to apply for 3-5 programs like that and rotate in different fields before I made any decision.
-I have jumped around in different fields. I studied heavy ecology, marine biology at undergrad. Majored in nutrition science at master, but got into a molecular biology lab whilst. I did it because I am just generally interested into bio, I like and enjoyed learning and wanted to maximize my experience. All fields are fascinating, but now I am hooked by molecular biology since I have done some great work in the past year. I gotta admitted that I was scared by hard courses back in college such as cell bio, oncology, virology and such, but now boy do I regret...
-The most important question, I need someone hit me with reality: is it too late to change direction? I really liked molecular biology and worked 40-50 hours per week throughout the year, I was more passionate about doing stuff than attending lectures, so should I just stop being overoptimistic and settle down with what I have experienced? -other than the general biology program, I am interested in 2 other fields, molecular nutrition biology, and physiology.
-I am very anxious and unconfident when facing applications, I know it is tough for us international student, I am not sure how competitive I am, I am still doing research about my school list, I need advice for my safe bets, as you can see all I have right now are top universities which I know damn well that I am not getting interviews from....
Applying to Where:
NYU: nutritional and food studiesBoston University: molecular nutrition (dream)
Wisconsin-madison: biomedical & molecular nutrition (dream)
Tufts: biomedical & molecular nutrition (dream)
Columbia: institute of human nutrition (dream)
Brown university: biotechnology (including molecular therapy) (stretch a lot)
Cornell: Nutritional science program (stretch a lot)
UCD: nutrition science
UCLA:
UCB:
OHSU: Molecular & Cellular Biosciences
Penn: biology phD (broad program)
Columbia: biology phD (broad program)
*************************I will keep editing my post, especially for the school part, any advice helps, thanks a lot!****************************
Why do you have like 6 letters? I don't think you should have more than 3. After all, you want to get straight to the point as quickly as possible instead of having to convince the PI that you're a good candidate with all this extra information.
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Drop the last person. You already have your current PI giving you a rec letter, no need to get another from the same lab. She'll also probably communicate with your PI about your abilities/personalty if help is needed when witing the letter. Also, adding more than 3 letters seldom helps, don't make the adcom read more than they have to in order to make a decision about an interview/offer.
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Just posting this as a piece of advice for current applicants. In MY experience, the absence of publications will absolutely NOT have an impact on whether or not you get into a particular school. Don't think you're at a disadvantage if you don't have any because, in reality, most of your peers wont. Sure, it'll look cool and it'll show that you were heavily involved with a project, but it is not common for undergrads to have any meaningful authorship credits. I know plenty of people in top programs that did not have publications at the time of application. Just my two cents.
- facelessbeauty and ballwera
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1 hour ago, scoobydoo9 said:
Undergrad Institution: State university, R1
Major(s): Animal Sciences, with honors
Minor(s): Biology
GPA in Major: Not sure, but probably close to if not higher than overall.
Overall GPA: 3.79
Position in Class: Near top?
Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?) Domestic, female, white
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 158 (69%)
V: 162 (91%)
W: 6 (99%)
B: N/A
Research Experience: 4 years in undergrad developmental biology lab. State conference twice. 1 1/2 full time summers.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Awarded small grants and fellowships from university, cum laude
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Academic advisor, tutor
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: N/A
Special Bonus Points: Completed a certificate program in human health. Have mentored two undergrads. Lots of volunteer work.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I took a gap year and traveled, spent some time shadowing clinicians, but did not actively participate in research.
Applying to Where: I would appreciate any input on this. Really struggling to put together a list. My interest is primarily in the microbiome. Am I reaching too high here? Anywhere I should obviously be applying that I've missed? Too many schools?
Emory-GDBBSUniversity of Michigan-PIBS
Baylor-GSBS
Harvard-BBS
UPenn-CAMB
North Carolina State-Microbiology
UT Southwestern-DBS
Tufts-Molecular Micro (MERGE-ID)
WUSTL-Microbiology
U Wash-Pathobiology
Chicago-Microbiology
THANK YOU!
Did you only work in one lab? Who is writing your rec letters? I think that if those are strong, you chances are pretty good granted that you write a non-generic, strong SOP for the schools you apply to. I would make sure that your interests actually align with the research being conducted rather than basing it off of recognition. I would not apply if there are not more than 5 people you would be happy to work with. I would also not apply to more than 7 schools, interview logistics are likely to become complicated---and declining an interview is equivalent to wasting your money/canceling your app.
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Is there a specific reason why the dream is NYC?
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37 minutes ago, StemCellFan said:
I took the Biology GRE subject test 4 or 5 years ago and scored 87% for cell and molecular biology, and 76% overall. I don't know if that test would still be good for this application cycle or if I should retake it. I don't even know if 87% is all that impressive to adcomms. Most of the schools I looked at don't have any strict GRE cut offs. Minnesota mentioned that applicants should retake the GRE if it's not at or above the 70th percentile (which is the average of their competitive applicants). Most other places either don't mention averages at all, or when they do, they preface it with how important research experience is to the committee. But none of them have explicitly said they won't look at an application if the scores aren't above a certain percentile... though I could always call and ask, too.
A school official will probably not tell you that you should not apply if your GRE is too low. I think Cornell's advice is very useful as a guideline though: "Admissions Committees generally look for a combined Verbal and Quantitative score of 308. If your scores are slightly lower, don’t panic; you still may be considered for admission based on strengths in other areas of your application"
They also state that a 50th percentile should be the bare minimum for each part. What resources have you used to study? Have you taken a GRE prep course in the past?
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On 7/21/2017 at 8:28 AM, ThinkA said:
I am an international student with lots of research potential but poor grades. Would like some input on my competitiveness before taking the GRE. Trying to decide is I should apply to US schools or focus on Canadian.
Undergrad Institution: University of Western Ontario (Pretty good Canadian research University)
Major(s): Biology with a specialization in Genetics
Minor(s): Immunology and Microbiology
GPA in Major: 3.3/4.0
Overall GPA: 2.8/4.0
Position in Class: We don't do position, but on deans donor list in 4th year
Type of Student: International, Female
GRE Scores (revised/old version): Haven't taken yet
Q:
V:
W:
B:
Research Experience:Current Masters student in Biology, co-supervised in Medical Biophysics.
- Medical Biophysics Lab Assistant (September 2015 – August 2016)
- Honours Thesis Project in biology (September 2015 – May 2016)
- NSERC – USRA (paid research grant in Biology) (May 2015 – August 2015)
- Animal Physiology Lab Assistant (June 2014 – April 2015)
- Immunology Lab Assistant (May 2013 – April 2014)
Publications:
- 1 first author published, 1 first author in review, 1 first author in progress
Conferences:
- 3 International (poster), 3 National (1 poster with award, 2 oral), 1 Provincia (oral) l and 2 local (oral, both with awards)
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
- None
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
- TA in 2 courses (both Biology)
- Lots of volunteer work in mental health and crisis intervention
- On undergraduate education committee for our society of Graduate students
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)
- Grad courses: Introduction to Medical Biophysics (3.9/4.0) and Developmental Biology
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Applying to Where:
Hoping to continue a joint biology/medical biophysics type program. I am interested in using imaging to detect fetal fat development, but flexible with research interests.
Harvard - BBS
Columbia - Joint Biology and biophysics
Johns Hopkins - BCMB and CMDP
Any input would be great!I agree with @whybanana. Though your research experience is pretty decent, I would expand the list of schools you are applying to. As an international student, the competition might be more intense and your GPA will not go unnoticed--even though there are no actual minimums.
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23 hours ago, StemCellFan said:
I'm a current research technician (have been for the past 6 years) at a medical/research institution interested in applying for Biomedical PhD programs for Fall 2018. I have a lot of different research experiences, and while I've enjoyed them all, the ones that have impacted me the most is the stem cell biology research I've done, and the clinical/translational science research I'm currently doing. I think I have a decent profile, but I'm concerned about my GRE scores. I've taken the GRE 3 times already and I can't seem to dramatically increase my scores... and this has inevitably lead to crippling anxiety and panic attacks while I take them, which I think is negatively affecting them. Therefore, due to costs and anxiety, I'm not planning to retake them. I'm *hoping* that I'm still a good candidate regardless.
Undergrad Institution: Small state school
Major(s): Honors Biology/Psychology double major
Minor(s): none
GPA in Major: Unsure
Overall GPA: 3.67/4.0
Position in Class: Don't really have this
Type of Student: Domestic Female
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 47%
V: 55%
W: 93% (I don't know how I managed this)
B: Didn't take
Research Experience:- 2 years undergraduate researcher in behavioral neuroscience
- 1.5 year (+ one summer internship) undergraduate honors thesis in developmental biology laboratory. Resulted in a middle author publication with other undergraduate students. Presented a poster at two national conferences and one regional conference.
- 2 years full-time clinical testing and flu assay development laboratory, though I did primarily clinical testing for the laboratory
- 2 years full-time stem cell biology. Resulted in a middle author publication in good impact journal
- 3 months full-time assay research and development for start up biotech company. Wasn't a good fit due to lack of management/company stability
- 1.5 years currently full-time basic and translational research. Have 1 first co-author paper in submission. Presented a poster at a regional conference.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:- Dean's list during undergrad
- Graduated with magna cum laude honors
- Completed undergraduate honors thesis
- Wrote two fully-funded undergraduate grants for my undergraduate honors thesis
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:- Tutored statistics, biology, and psychology courses during undergrad
- laboratory TA for one semester
- Judged science fair posters for a couple years during undergrad
- Mentored elementary STEM students on their science fair projects last year
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
Special Bonus Points:- Great LoRs from well-regarded faculty
- one LoR writer has connections to the adcomms for two programs I'm applying to
- one LoR writer has connections to faculty at one of the programs I'm applying to
- I've been employed as a research technician at one institution I am applying to for the past 5-6 years
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Applying to Where:
Medical College of Wisconsin - IDPMadison - Molecular Cellular Pharmacology
UIC - GEMS
Northwestern - DGP
Minnesota - MCDB&G
Cincinnati - Molecular and Developmental Biology
Case Western - Biomedical Science Training Program
UIUC - Cell and Developmental Biology
I know a couple of these programs are way out of my league. I feel like I need more lower tier schools. Anyone have any ideas? I'm somewhat restricted to the midwest. Or do you think this is a good spread based on my profile? I'm looking for institutions that have good stem cell research and, ideally, a translational option to the program as well.
Would it be possible to take a subject test? That might alleviate the impact of your lower scores. I think you have a LOT of research experience and a good GPA, but I don't know the impact a GRE that low could have on your chances. Have you checked the websites to ensure that they don't have minimums? Not a lot of schools do, but it's always good to be safe.
- ire1 and Islamahmed
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I would apply to some schools now to see how it goes, just make sure you write a solid and convincing SOP.
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You should not mention being accepted into a program you did not attend. I think you will be fine when it comes to research experience and your numbers. Your PIs don't need to come from top schools for you to go to one, so don't worry about that. Finally, your experience does not necessarily have to be related to the kind of program you end up going to. For example, I did not do cancer research and ended up in a cancer bio program.
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Do you have any schools in mind? A starting point would help people guide you in the right direction. Mentioning the research you'd like to do would also help.
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12 hours ago, Philsgross said:
Can anyone advise on my list for neuroscience PhD programs Fall 2018? Too ambitious for my resume? Plan on trimming a couple of the programs. Looking to do neuroimmune research.
Undergrad Institution: University of Maryland
Major(s): General Biology
Minor(s): Neuroscience
GPA in Major: not sure
Overall GPA: 3.40
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: domestic, caucasian male
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
V: 158
Q: 161W: 4
Research Experience:
2 years as a volunteer/class credit at a neuroplasticity lab on campus.
Intern for summer at AstraZeneca subsidiary doing autoimmune research (1 publication non first author, in Science translational med). Continued part time for senior year of college.
1+ year (currently employed) as a full time research assistant in a neuroimmunology lab at University of Texas MD anderson cancer center, with 3 well-known PIs in the field (1 publication currently, 2 more in prep. 2 more posters/abstracts).
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:See experience.
Special Bonus Points:
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Will be getting a very strong letter of rec from my internship, and then 3 from my current job (one from a PI, 2 from Post docs who I work closely with daily and should write glowing reviews)Applying to Where:
Ohio State University
University of Pennsylvania
Illionois Urbana
Oregon Health and Science University
Miami University
Columbia University
University of Chicago
Georgetown University
University of Virginia
West Virginia University
University of California-Davis
I think you have a pretty diverse list of potential schools. Your stats, though your GPA is not that great, are pretty strong since you have a lot of experience, have publications, and will (hopefully) get really good letters from the PIs you have worked with. I would be surprised if you didn't get a couple of offers; however, I must warn you that Neurobiology programs, as opposed to umbrella programs, tend to be smaller and more competitive, so I would keep that in mind.
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Your GRE scores will be fine, even for Harvard. Standardized tests are much less important than pretty much anything in your app, don't worry.
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23 hours ago, indeeptreble said:
Hi, I know this thread has slowed down but I really need some guidance. I need to know if the schools I'm applying to are within my reach, and also if anyone knows any good schools for stem cell bio/regen medicine, neurodegenerative diseases, or brain injury.
Also, as application season slowly approaches, my anxiety is kicking in and I can't help feeling that I won't make it into any of the programs I apply to.
Undergrad Institution: Armstrong State University, small state school. Is now being consolidated with Georgia Southern
Major(s): Cell/Molecular Biology
Minor(s): Music
GPA in Major: 4.0 if this is only Biology classes? 3.6 if counting Chems and Phys :x
Overall GPA: 3.68 (I'll be graduating with a 3.71 in the Fall)
Position in Class: I must be top 7.5% at least because I was invited to Phi Kappa Phi
Type of Student: White female
GRE Scores (revised/old version): NOT TAKEN. Studying pretty hard though! Worried about the writing section.
Q:
V:
W:
B:
Research Experience: 3 years on 2 separate projects. My mentor went to UT Southwestern and is the interim College of Sci and Tech Dean and also the undergraduate research coordinator.First project: Biocatalysis - didn't really go anywhere. Iffy results and also perhaps too many cooks in the kitchen made matters worse. He got frustrated and made us change.
Second project: My honors project. Looking at local biodiversity of Wolbachia. just started a publication and hope to at least have it submitted for publication by the Fall. I'll be first author.
Also I'm about to start a little project with a second professor that specializes in neuroscience and has interest in neurodegen diseases. It won't be for long because I'm graduating in December but I really wanted to get experience in a lab more tailored to my interests!
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Phi Kappa PhiBeta Beta Beta
Graduating through the Honors Program
GA Power Scholar
Dean Research Scholar but I'm not sure if this would show up on my transcript in time for it to matter for grad school apps
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Most of my time as a researcher was for pay
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:Presented at a conference in poster form.
Special Bonus Points: Female? My mentor being from UT Southwestern? Neuro diseases are a personal issue with me, I have two uncles with Huntington's disease (my father's half brothers). I'm not sure if I want to mention this on the app because it might come off as "poor me." Also, my mom is a respiratory therapist and she's told stories of people with brain injuries and I've always felt for them especially.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:Probably won't matter but I'm a private piano instructor and also a church pianist.
Applying to Where:
UNC Chapel Hill - BBSP
UCSF - BMSMadison, Wisconsin - Genetics (They had some really interesting research on mental illness)
UPenn - Neuroscience (A lot of research on neurodegenerative diseases)
(Thinking of applying to Emory as a safety school)
I need to apply to some more schools. Does anyone else have any recommendations based on my credentials and interests?
For Penn and UCSF the GPA average is greater than ~3.8 (especially for the Neurobiology Graduate Group at Penn) , but I think you're pretty close to the average to say that it won't hurt you. Doing well on the GRE (80%+ on the V and Q) will keep attention away from your numbers, scores can only break a deal not make it. You have a lot of research experience within the lab that you worked at, so make sure you're able to coherently and concisely explain your projects in a manner that connects to your growth as a scientist or your greater career or research interests in your SOP-- this is probably the second most important part of your app after LORs. Speaking of those, try to ask people that know you well as a person and can attest to your potential as a researcher, preferably people you have worked with. Do you think a prof that will only know you for ~3 months before writing you a letter will do you justice? How much time will you be putting into lab?
Also, in terms of schools, I would probs apply to 4 more programs. Maybe two top and two safe/mid-tier schools?? That should balance things out.
But, remember, only choose schools that you would be fully satisfied going to. A lack of interest will show in your SOP and you interview, and you don't want to be stuck somewhere you don't like for 5+ years.
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How low are you talking and what schools are you aiming for?
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In my experience, schools don't really look at your senior year grades much, if at all.
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I think that in terms of marketability, the differences are marginal at best. Go where you fit in best.
- LoveMysterious, Infinito and ire1
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On 4/4/2017 at 3:19 AM, LilyMira said:
So... I'm applying to grad school next fall, and I've got a big bag of festering questions (don't know how many of them are relevant to this particular post, so ignore/exile me if I'm out of line).
Me: attending medium-ish R2 state school, majoring in microbiology/molecular biology- ~2 years of research (and counting), with one funded summer program at my home institution, 4.0, a couple of poster presentations and undergraduate grants, but nothing published. I'm interested in environmental and community microbiology, and in genetically engineering microbes to solve problems (detoxification, biofuel feedstock breakdown, value-added products).
1) The elusive question of "Prestige": so I picked my favorite 8 schools with the conditions that (1) they have to pay for me, (2) they have to have at least 5 faculty I like, and (3) their microbiology program can't be part of their medical school/program (shocking how many schools this disqualified). The schools I ended up with were University of Georgia, UC Berkeley, UW Madison, Rutgers New Brunswick, U Minnesota Twin Cities, Michigan State, U Mass Amherst, and Arizona State University. Now obviously I have a couple of crazy prestigious schools, but others I can't find microbiology rankings for- should I be worried about the schools not seeming hugely renowned after a quick google search or am I being (characteristically) neurotic? I'm not planning on going into academia, as of now.
2) As for not wanting to go into academia... is that something I should shy away from mentioning on my application? Right now my dream career would be working in industry (I'm interning with the DOE this summer, and hopefully I enjoy the environment as much as I think I will), but I see a lot of people here saying that grad admissions committees want to admit future professors.
3) Letter of recommendation by post-doc? Pretty sure this is a no-no, but just thought I'd get confirmation. The post-doc who oversees my work in lab offered to write me a great letter, but I figured it would be better for me to ask the professor who I've taken an upper-division biochemistry course with and am going to TA (an upper-division biochem lab) for next semester. (My other two will be my lab PI and the overseer of my summer project at the DOE- keeping my fingers crossed on that one)
4) Subject test: okay so tricky one: a couple of the programs recommend I submit either a BCM or biology subject test with my app. I was planning on taking the BCM test until... it got discontinued. I tried a practice biology test instead, but I know literally nothing about plants and neuroscience, and I landed in the 60th percentile. With scores like that, is it worth me trying to study and take the test over the summer?
Honestly I'll be happy to get into any graduate school. Whew, that was longer than intended. Anyway, thanks for reading my novel, and I'll appreciate any input (unless you suggest a gap year... then you're dead to me)!
Why are you ruling out programs that are within medical schools?
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2018 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results
in Biology
Posted
In programs where you have to rotate, only having three could be a problem. Rotations are not always very straightforward to set up and professors might have their reasons to not let anyone rotate in a given year. You have to consider that if you choose a high-profile professor, odds are there will be competition. Interviewing also gets more complicated with only a short list of people because the probability that you'll talk with people you have zero familiarity with their researcbh skyrockets. Having gone through the process myself, I don't think three is enough. At most, it is the BARE minimum, but you should aim for more to be safe.
Also, I think 5 is risky if the list is full of top schools. If the OP has the money and time to write good SOPs, they should go ahead and apply. Anything above 8 is probably too much, though you could always call and check what the interview dates are, or look it up online, sometimes it's publicly available.