[Yale CBB or Upenn GCB]

Hi guys,

 

Received two offers from Yale (Computational biology and bioinformatics) and Penn (Genomics and computational biology), I'd like to do research in human genetics and complex diseases using computational/statistical methods.  Still hesitated between these two programs, anybody familiar with the GCB program? Based on my knowledge, many professors under this program are doing wet-labs and professors doing interdisciplinary research are usually assistant prof. 

Could anyone give me any suggestion on the choice between these two programs? Thanks a lot!!!!

 

[2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

8 hours ago, Bioenchilada said:

Universities don't tend to disclose the reason why they rejected you in the first place, so it's hard for the applicant to know what actually went wrong. Also, a lot of schools don't reject a student simply for not having one course on two, given that there's been a strong push for students conducting interdisciplinary work. Based on @StupidVivian's school-choice, I'd say that their problem was MOST LIKELY not course-related, at all. 

 

 

 

I totally agree. What's weird is that a director of my applied program called one of my referrers and asked why my referrer thought I am a great candidate and I seemed to be just fine based on my other application material.   Besides, do you have any advice for my safety picks this year? Thank you so much.

 

[2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

11 hours ago, Luptior said:

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.

 

I have taken three CS courses, C, Java Programming, Data Structure and Algorithm, I think maybe it's not enough...My second research experience is developing a tool in Java, maybe it kind of make up for this?

[2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

41 minutes ago, Luptior said:

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

I don't know. I guess it's because one of my recommenders wrote something bad about me... I didn't get quite well with her...

[2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

Hi all,

 

I have applied for several Ph.D. programs in bioinformatics last year, received no offer....sad... I am planning to apply again.

 

Undergrad Institution: Peking University (anybody know it in US?). 
Major(s): Biology (Aim for bioinformatics with a focus on human genetics)
Minor(s): 
GPA in Major: 
Overall GPA:  3.63 
Position in Class: 15%? not sure...
Type of Student: International Female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 170 
V: 154 
W: 3.0 (I know it is really low... tried my best...) 
B:

Research Experience: 

Eight months at a molecular wet lab, cooperating with a graduate student;

1.5 years at a bioinformatics lab, submitted a paper as the first author;

six months at a biostat lab at Yale, didn't do an independent project... sad..., co-authored a submitted paper (too many authors listed in this paper, don't think this work would matter for my application)

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Honors at our department 

Invited Presentations at a graduate symposium at Berkeley

Special Bonus Points: NA

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I didn't take many courses in Maths or CS and I am aimed for Bioinfo and Human Genetics program

Applying to Where: Some top picks are listed here.   Does anybody have some suggestions for my safe bioinformatics programs, it would be better if have some emphasis on human genetics?

CMU Biology

Umich PIBS

Uchicago Human genetics

Duke CBB(computational biology and bioinformatics)

UCSD Bioinformatics

UPenn GCB 

[2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

Have any international students heard from UCLA bioinformatics program?