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OK. How much do fall grades matter? I feel utterly unprepared for my finals this week because I only started studying after submitting (ugh). I'm probably going to get a couple of Bs. I don't want to sound like I'm whining but I have to face the facts I guess.

I'm going to see them over the break so I'm just buying a souvenir from my college. And in my culture it's polite to go the extra mile to give gifts so I'm not sure unless if your relationship is something that you would seem appropriate for gift giving. Writing an earnest thank you email should be ok though, I think. Also if they have kids, maybe some candy or something? I think that's what I'm doing.

Oh shit. Luckily we aren't applying to the same department but fingers crossed for the invites! Congrats! this is happening too soon :x

Looking at last year's thread (1st page of this thread if you don't want to search for it) A person from UNC got an invite on the 5th and super early ones from Penn Neuro, Emory, Vanderbilt, UTSW and other UT's, U Chicago etc... Flip through it if you want, I shouldn't be procrastinating this hard because of finals

Is there a typo there? Did you mean 155? And you shouldn't be worried about it considering your ridiculous GPA We also have the exact same plan haha, I finished GRE near october and am literally still finishing up my SOPs. Your range of schools is pretty large and prestigious, but I understand that you want that "fit"

Need it WUSTL's second essay about leadership is a pain in the butt. This wait is going to be terrible I bet after I submit all of them

Are you set with that school selection? With a 4.0 and, at least judging from what you posted, decent research, you should get some interviews, but if you're thinking about changing career paths, are you sure you don't want more backups?

I like dolan duck avatar. But yeah, perfect GPA with exceptionally strong research and other things (SOP/LOR etc.) means you will be competitive anywhere. One qualm is that in graduate school, you shouldn't really have a "safety" school at least like back when we applied for college, but a fit school. That is, somewhere you feel that you will be happy and do well. As for cancer biology, why not UCLA (where I am currently at right now)? I know a couple that are pretty great, or at least working on stem cells that might have some potential for cancer treatment I guess. You also have a ton of schools, and considering your application, you should get enough interviews. Do you think you should drop some?

This might be too late, but what I did for a couple of them is that if they specifically said "upload official" I requested the school to print out their transcript for free, which is different to the one I can get online (or the unofficial one, I guess). Then I will scan it and upload that. I don't know if you still have access to those services though.

What you have now should work. That is, starting with a brief intro on why you want to do science to shape your essay, and end with your aspirations. If you dive into your research directly it would be weird.

Oh shit. I go to UCLA and my GPA is only ok. And the points being made are very valid. The entire application is holistic and there's always a give and take between various aspects.

I'm also applying to CU, however to a different biology department. Would you need me to review your SOP?

Selection committee does look at the strength and competitiveness of your UG program. Obviously a 3.5 from MIT means something different than one from say a random liberal arts school. However, I'm not sure how informed they are about an Indian program, though you can email their admissions to check it out?

I would say depth is way more important than breadth, and judging from your experience you seem to understand what's going on in the lab and that's really what people are looking for. And @kire01 your 7 years of experience is pretty intimidating :/

Looking here, there's more of a confirmation bias because I would think the applicants here that post their stats are on the better end. Also as mentioned above, listen to your PI, he/she has a lot of experience and probably isn't sugarcoating. (Just assumptions here)

Offset is such a strange term. They wouldn't have direct relation with each other but if what you're asking is that a good pub is beneficial yes, and a lowish GPA is bad (obviously, not trying to insult your intelligence). Without seeing your entire package it would be impossible to say if your low GPA will kick you off the "yes or maybe" pile, or that your research as a whole (duration, how you conveyed it in your SOP, pub etc) will boost you up to an interview/offer. Also, competitive schools have taken 3.2, 3.1 GPA so there isn't a cutoff but you do have to make sure the rest of your applications are exceptionally strong.

I'm down. PM me

I'm also applying to exactly both those schools as well. I've talked to some professors at both schools and many grad students rotate between all the schools anyway and are exposed to a lot of resources, but I'm not exactly sure how to tackle that in my SOP

Magoosh compiled some GRE ranges for those top schools for biology. But for top 10 you would want to score 162> for verbal although that's still a rough estimate. I've emailed some admission committees and in their words "above 75-80%" for all GRE scores. This would be competitive and would not harm your application and directly cause a rejection, I would think. Princeton and Duke has very detailed scores on their page you can check that.

You should keep it specific for exactly what your research interests are. I wouldn't even know how to structure a statement that included an interest in "general" biomedical sciences that would pertain to the admissions committee. If you enjoy micro/immuno there must be some individual projects you must be interested in, so you should mention those

Thanks for this. My GPA is only 3.48 but my GREs are decent 162V 167Q 5.5AW, does this constitute as "doing well"? My school has incredible grade deflation as well, so I'm sure they take this to account but I guess a heads up should be nice. Also my stats: Undergrad Institution: Top 2 state schoolMajor(s): Molecular biologyMinor(s): N/AGPA in Major: 3.43Overall GPA: 3.48 (strong increasing trends)Position in Class: above averageType of Student: domestic Asian maleGRE Scores (revised/old version):Q:167V:162W:5.5B: NoResearch Experience: 3 years of human genetics with 1 summer of structural biology, learned a lot but one should send manuscript by the end of this year (a bit too late) and the other is still in the process of writingAwards/Honors/Recognitions: Not much, made 3 quarters of deans listPertinent Activities or Jobs: Co-founded a club, board member and takes up a lot of time, currently as a senior supervising a masters studentAny Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: 2 Extremely strong letters of rec and one weaker one Applying to Where: UCSF (pharmaceutical chemistry), Harvard (BBS and pub health), Duke (mol bio), Columbia (nutritional and metabolism) Penn (Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics,BMB) and Princeton (mol bio)

Did you feel that you have reached your potential? How well did you feel on the day, and if you just needed some mental adjustment to try again it should be fine, but those scores are not competitive in the top schools, and every bit counts. I also am in UCLA, but a rising senior, so good luck!

Both in terms of time in the field and on one project (as you cannot be fully immersed in one summer for example, IMO), but judging that you are treated as a grad student right now, I think it should be fine. The most important thing is seeing one set of experiments from the beginning to the end, i.e. hypothesis, experiment, troubleshooting and the ultimate conclusion you can derive from the data. This requires time and independence which is what constitutes my "stayed in research for some time". Sorry for not elaborating.

That would hurt you as most people have stayed in research for some time, but if you can describe your ability to actually do individual scientific thought during the interview, it might be salvageable. Full time researcher as in like NIH or lab tech? You would need to show independence in your projects.