Jump to content

ruckaround

Members
  • Posts

    39
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Profile Information

  • Application Season
    2016 Fall
  • Program
    Molecular and Cellular

Recent Profile Visitors

The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.

ruckaround's Achievements

Caffeinated

Caffeinated (3/10)

25

Reputation

  1. Haven't been following things here as feverishly as I was while waiting to hear back about interviews, but I want to extend congratulations to those with acceptances starting to trickle in. I've got my first interview at the end of next week, then the pace picks up pretty damn fast from there. Best of luck to all!
  2. I just want to put this out there.. Thanks so much to everyone for sharing in the excitement, anxiety, tension and every other bit of this process. I think it's invaluable to have access to this community, and I've definitely benefited from it! I think we're all fortunate to have this resource as we continue with the process. From waiting to hear back about interviews, to interviewing, to more waiting to hear back, to what school to choose, to backup plans and other next steps.
  3. Anyone else wake up this morning and check their email, as if an invite might've gone out overnight? Fingers crossed for everyone hoping to hear back today!
  4. Spoke with someone in the Biology Department at MIT yesterday afternoon, she said that interview invites should go out by the end of this week, and that the program will suggest one weekend of the three due to faculty availability, research interest, etc. Also with regard to the timing of submission... I submitted all of my apps Nov. 30th, and one of my letters was received after the due date. It hasn't seemed to have negatively impacted me.
  5. No kidding! Good luck to all with their fingers currently crossed!
  6. Perhaps the more interesting question then becomes... "How does prestige impact success." I think we're all in agreement that going to a brand name school certainly does not take the place of doing great science. But presuming that one does do great science, in what ways do y'all think going to a elite institution or top program helps enable one's success? Or, is that great science more efficiently/successfully achieved in such a program?
  7. This is a topic I'm very interested in as well, and something that I think people are particularly bad at talking about. I agree with a lot of what @Micecroscopy and @biotechie said. Certainly the most important factor in success is not your institution but rather your mentor. There seems to be little disagreement about that. I also agree that in many ways, prestige likely matters more for one's post-doc than one's phd. However I think that to presume there is not a meaningful correlation between elite institutions and success is misguided. To some extent the most important part of this discussion is an agreement about what "success" means. I'll go out on a limb and suggest: 1) success at landing TT faculty positions. 2) funding availability 3) publishing in high IF journals [just for the hell of it, 4) Nobel prizes] I'm not sure I agree with how the system is setup (ie, the presumed importance of Cell/Nature/Science pubs, etc) but I think it's hard to dispute that these things matter in real ways. (It's especially hard to dispute a Nobel as success :p) Regarding 1) http://www.slate.com/articles/life/education/2015/02/university_hiring_if_you_didn_t_get_your_ph_d_at_an_elite_university_good.html "The data revealed that just a quarter of all universities account for 71 to 86 percent of all tenure-track faculty in the U.S. and Canada in these three fields. Just 18 elite universities produce half of all computer science professors, 16 schools produce half of all business professors, and eight schools account for half of all history professors." "The top schools generate far more professors than even just slightly less prestigious schools. For example, in history, the top 10 schools produce three times as many future professors as those ranked 11 through 20." While this study didn't look specifically at biology, it's hard to presume our field trends differently. Regarding 2) There is plenty of information about funding, the following are just two random google results: http://www.genengnews.com/insight-and-intelligence/the-top-50-nih-funded-universities-of-2014/77900233/ https://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/09/13/nsf-funding/ While there is certainly a degree of intricacy here, I think it suffices to say that the funding situation at a top 10 or top 20 school is almost always better than at some misc. mid-sized state school. Regarding 3) One example: http://www.natureasia.com/en/publishing-index/global/ Not hard to imagine how point #2 contributes directly to this. Regarding 4) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Nobel_laureates_by_university_affiliation --- Interesting thought regarding undergraduate affiliation: http://qz.com/498534/these-25-schools-are-responsible-for-the-greatest-advances-in-science/ I certainly do not mean to say that no one outside of these "elite" schools does good science or achieves success, or vice versa that everyone at those schools is successful and a great scientist. However, I think it is abundantly clear, at least by these metrics, that there is a strong correlation. I haven't thought as much about it, but it seems safe to presume there is also a correlation between attending one of these schools and success outside of academia as a biology phd. Like I said before, I'm very curious about this idea and I think people are bad about talking about it. It's very awkward. It's likely not how we would like things to be, yet it certainly seems to be the state of affairs. Curious to read others thoughts!
  8. For those who celebrate it and are lucky enough to spend the time with those that they love, Merry Christmas to you! I'll be trying to unplug and cherish that time. This craziness will be waiting for us all when we return.
  9. " During the week of January 4, 2015, the committees will start to contact those applicants who have been selected for an interview. The selected applicants will be invited to interview, at our expense, to arrive on Wednesday, March 2 and depart on Sunday, March 6, 2015. This is our only interview session. Highly qualified applicants residing in other countries and for whom a visit would not be possible may be selected for a telephone interview." From the biosciences website!
  10. This has literally been me over the past two days.
  11. So, on the CAMB website, some of the subgroups list the faculty on their respective admissions comittee, implying that each group might send out invitations separately. (Note: Totally speculative) At any rate, judging from the results page, in previous years interview invites have been reported through January. So no need to worry yet!
  12. For what it's worth, I think the person from the survey was writing about WUSTL and not UW Seattle. They also wrote that they got the invitation on the 15th... At any rate, from past years it looks like UW is good about sending rejections at the same time as interviews, and does both in bulk and in the near future. It's a top choice of mine, so I understand your excitement. Fingers crossed for the both of us.
  13. Absolutely the same boat. With the exception of Michigan PIBS (and not anyone from my specific program), no one has heard from any of my programs (as far as I'm aware). The anticipation is killer, and I imagine easier once one has a couple interviews lined up. You already have one, it seems likely you'll get others!
  14. Congrats to everyone hearing back from PIBS! I applied to CMB, and now have my phone switched off of vibrate.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use