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Chorg

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  1. Here's my opinion of Caltech(from a current student), Caltech is first and foremost a research institute. They also happen to give degrees for research. The school is small and extremely prestigious. The program is small and interdisciplinary, you can work in any laboratory you want. There may not be many PIs, but the majority of the PIs at caltech are of the highest caliber. Social life at Caltech is so-so. Everyone is a scientist, and with that comes the awkwardness, gender-imbalances, and pockets of awesome people. The grad students at caltech tend to be pretty cool, the undergraduates horribly geeky. Counter-balancing this is the fact that LA is a quick trip away. Stanford is a big university full of lots of people in northern cal. It's a bit deeper in the burbs than caltech. Barring a preference for the PIs are either school, the decision would really come down to location and school size/dynamics. Either choice is an excellent one. Oh, the stipend system at caltech: You must be payed the minimum stipend. Whether this comes only from your professor or a combination of TA and your proffesor is a different manner. People generally TA for two years, and professors pick up your tab afterwards. If you want to TA more, it's 4.5k a class extra.
  2. Hi, Here is my honest opinion: Unless you are very sure you need a degree in Neuroscience, don't go to either. Unfortunately the job market for life science PhD graduates is saturated with overqualified individuals from top-notch PhD programs. I'm sure both temple and tulane have decent programs, but unless they are at the very top of their fields, it's going to be very hard to ever find an academic science job. If on the other hand your eventual goal is to work in industry, you may be able to get a job coming from one of these departments. You will still face a lot of competition from graduates of higher-ranked schools. Temple, because of its proximity to the PHiladelphia pharmaceutical cluster is probably a safer bet for industry networking. Really, unless you desperately need a PhD(or can't get a job), I'd strongly advise you against attending any lower ranked school. Not that excellent students can't come out of these schools, but you'll be working against significant odds to establish yourself in the scientific community. Try again next year, or apply for the potentially more lucrative master's degree. A master-level job in the biotech industry is a lot safer than a PhD. salud.
  3. <br /><br /><br /> No. I was invited to interview about a month and a half ago. I'm fairly certain they are done interviewing. Sorry.
  4. Hi Everybody, Hope you are all doing well. I'm off to another interview tomorrow. This is getting tiring. So, I have a question about paths of study in graduate school. I've been fortunate to been accepted to a number of good biology programs already. All of these programs are general bio or cell bio. I'm finding that as I learn more about biology my interests are shifting more towards the realm of bioengineering/systems bio/ biophysics, but it's too late to apply to any other programs. So, I guess my question is largely focused on curriculum. I've noticed most bio graduate programs have two semesters of required classes, generally a cell bio and genetics course. Do you think it would be possible to work in a lot of the bioengineering curriculum if the department allows open course registration, or will this be looked down upon? My thinking is that the big difference between these two curriculums is the quantity of required courses. Bioengineers tend to take similar cell/molecular courses but with a lot more mathematics/physics/engineering tacked on while doing the same lab work.
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