Luptior

Same, still waiting for Chicago GGSB.

Found about 30 rejs reported on the gradcafe results... so sad

Question: How about international students with US degrees?

I wonder if professors prefer the students who claim that they want to be in academia? Currently, I'm more inclined to industry but still open to the possibility in academia(I think that is an option I want to explore in graduate school), should I indicate that in my SOP?

Do admissions still place importance on GRE score? I see some schools start to list GRE as optional for PhD program.

Around 3.5 and target schools are Duke, Brown, Dartmouth, NYU, Columbia, Gatech, Northwestern, UCSB...(Not sure if aimed too high)

If I feel my current grade isn't good enough, is it a better idea to wait for one more year?

If I submit the transcript without the Fall semester's transcript the application will be considered as incomplete? And I think almost all US college's final week is scheduled later Dec. 1.

I see most programs' deadlines are on Dec 1, but due to school's calendar, finals for next semester are scheduled after that. Nervous about the application now because my current GPA is relatively low. I plan to choose some courses which might be easier to get a higher grade for next semester to alleviate GPA a little bit. Can I still submit them after the DDL? Will that affect the result?

Hey, I'm quite interested in Dartmouth's QCB program. How was your interview going?

Choose the place where you don't need to pay extra money

So it means if we apply next year, we don't need to worry about the GRE Sub? https://www.ets.org/gre/subject/about/content/biochemistry

How many math and CS courses u've taken in college? Chinese universities have a great number of mandatory math courses for all science majors so math should be fine but lacking in programming experience could be a problem imo.

Hey Vivian, I also plan to applt to bioinfo/compbio programs. What was the reason that you got no offer last year?

Umm, I know I shouldn't just focus on a specific program which is ridiculous but I just want to get more information for this kind of programs, what kind of students they want, what abilities they value... It seems that CMU's website gives the most detailed information so...

Really appreciate your help! Great Thanks!

I drop Biochem simply because I only have two semesters left and the schedule is too full for me to insert another 3, 4courses… For the question you still confused, I'll graduate Dec 17 and prepare to apply for 18 Fall admission. So in addition to this semester, I only have 2 left. And there is no space (6 lectures maximum for each semester) so… I'm not that afraid of workloads but overloading seems more impossible plus that I want to do some research in the new direction. BTW, besides CS actually I can finish a bio minor thanks to the previous work on biochemistry but not sure if a minor can help There's still more than 1 year before the DDL but I just get more and more worried about application … For the points you mentioned… Actually, I'm still super confused what are the academic demography of compbio applicants? More comp background or bio background? CMU's website says they welcome the applicants from different fields. "We welcome students from various backgrounds, including life sciences, computer sciences, physical sciences, mathematics, statistics or engineering majors. We especially welcome students with interdisciplinary backgrounds (e.g., with undergraduate (or Master’s) degrees in computational biology or bioinformatics), or multi-disciplinary backgrounds, for example, double major or major/minor in biology and a quantitative science."http://www.compbio.cmu.edu/?page_id=163 And if the more applicants actually hold a biochemistry degree, yes my biochem background cannot stand out and I even don't have a degree for that but will the comp sci help? And there are some applicants from computer science majors applying to this program, it's more impossible for them to get the upper biochemistry courses on their transcripts, will it undermine their chance to get into this kind of programs? I know graduate courses might be a great bonus to the transcript, and I'm interested in taking 1 or 2 but definitely not that a lot. I know some of my friends who intended for Math Ph.D. actually took a whole bunch of grad courses but they are more theoretical and enjoys more freedom in undergrad curriculum… In my current lab, 2/3 of the PhDs come from LAC which seems even don't offer any graduate courses… How they solve these problems? Actually, I love my wet lab experience so far but my worry is how the committee value them, will they think the "unrelated" experience as a waste of time? And I agree with you that most computational researchers underestimate the importance of wet lab and even the background knowledge…

I listed gen and organic on the top… And yes, these are the courses I've taken... BS in biochem almost is demanding major in my college, there are a lot of courses required. I still some courses left like Metabolic chem, a biochem lab, an inorganic synthetic lab, an pchem lab, which is not a lot but still need a bunch of time. And I feel maybe I already took enough courses for compbio(I'm not sure if it’s really enough for the research but according to the reccommeneded courses listed on CMU’s program website it should be enough), and the leftovers are mostly lab courses(actually I learn some or most of them in my undergraduate research before, so in my opinion there’s no need to take the course just for the credits…) Actually I should be able to get at least a BA degree in chem since I’ve finished even more than the degree requirements, but college's policy restricts transfer students to get a degree if we transferred more than 50% of the major courses in… I do still have 2 semesters left, but I've some gened course(3), and a cell bio, an compbio course of bio dept, and some programming courses like algorithm, bioalgorithm and etc. Which I think are at some level more important for me if I want to apply for compbio program。 But I I do so I definitely cannot get a biochem degree...and not sure if it's a right choice...

I'm now in my junior year (2 semesters left actually), double major in Biochem and Computer Science and interested in applying to Compbio PhD programs. Used to spend a lot of time in wet-lab(might be a waste of time...) but grow more interest in the comp bio recently, and plan to change to dry lab in the following semester. Here comes the question, I consulted a Ph.D student who is in a compchem program and he told me that coding ability actually is more important for computational science research. So I'm now considering about giving up biochem major, also concerning continuing on these two majors could be really a heavy burden for the following semesters. I took some chem/bio courses which I think should be already meet the prereq compbio programs(with reference to CMU compbio), but there are still like 5 more upper-level courses left to finish the BS degree: Gen Chem 1/2 w/Lab, Organic Chem 1/2 w/Lab, Inorganic Chem, Analytical Chem w/Lab, Phycical Chem 1/2 Computational Pchem Lab, Gen Bio 1 w/Lab, Molecular Biology & Genetics, Intro Biochem, Macromolecule Struc & Metabolism (Will still take one Cell Bio and one u'grad course in compbio offered by bio dept next semester if I decide to give up biochem)

Thanks !!!

I took my first GRE general test (almost unprepared) and got V152 Q168 AW3.5. I looked the websites of some graduate schools but rarely do they put the information about GRE, such as the average score in past years. I plan to take it again but wonder what is a decent score if aimed at the top programs?

The mentor is a Ph.D. student assigned by the PI of the lab. Taking credit needs 20 hrs per week but I can still spend the same amount of time in the lab if not taking credit, which is not mandatory. The Ph.D. said she doesn't have time since taking credit for credit actually requires more time of her to mentoring me but if I don't take the credit the time schedule should be more casual. Okay, now I understand taking credit is not that important for the application. The only thing I concern now is taking credit for research is a prerequisite for writing Chem Dept's honor thesis and graduate with honor. Is honor has an impact on the application?

My current college offers a 3-credit course for undergraduate research but we need to apply for it. I believe many other institutions have the similar policy and I want to ask if taking credit for undergraduate research makes a significant difference from not? Really worried about it since my lab mentor says she will not have that much time for mentoring a student taking credit, so I can continue to do my current project there but without credits. In addition, since two-semester credited research is the prerequisites for honor thesis in the final semester, I may not be able to graduate with honor. Will honor has a significant role in PhD application?

Many master programs offer the chance continue to do Ph.D., I think that might be a good choice. Same rising senior Tarheel!

Thanks! I just wonder if the bad records from past can be a cutoff for the application and which really worries my a lot. I got a GPA of 3.43 from the past institution which also gives a department rank of 28/329 （roughly 9%）which seems not that bad, will the committee take that into consideration? Another question is that I know GRE is also an important and mandatory for application, but I was also thinking about taking one more GRE sub. I want to apply for biochem program so GRE biochem is a must. But since the grades I took in chemistry part(Orgo 2 and Pchem) were not that decent in my former institute, I'm considering about taking Chem sub at the same time. One friend told me if I did good in the test which can offset the grades a little bit, is that true?