PRR

Rejection from UW immunology Bummer...but oh well better than being left hanging!

I'm still confused as to what shoes to wear as a girl in cold , snowy places if I don't want to change shoes... Anyone have examples?

Waiting on them too...I don't think anyone on here heard from them yet

they squeezed me in! The Michigan coordinators are so nice and helpful.

For people who got invites to Emory's cancer program, feel free to PM me and ask about any of the professors or labs or other info regarding the program. I've been working in a cancer lab there for a while now and personally know several professors and have some insights(from classes and grad-student stories) on the others too.

Which interview weekend did you get for Pitt?

I was too slow at responding to Michigan's PIBS interview invite and the weekend that I don't have a conflict on is already full... Do you think they will be willing to squeeze a few people into a full weekend?

anyone know if Penn Immuno is done sending out invites?

Harvard Immunology's invites are out!

awesome! Interview scheduling is driving me crazy, but it's going to be worth it.

Do you know if Pittsburg will have another interview weekend?

For the helpful graduate students that hang around this thread, would any of you guys be willing to look over my SOP draft before I show it to my PI and other professors? A lot of schools are asking for a Personal Statement + a Research statement, and some ask for just one big SOP. What I wrote is basically aone big SOP, which I'm going to split into personal and research statement/ re-edit and cut down words to fit the limit of school that ask for one SOP. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!If you are willing to, please let me know and I'll PM you it!

PM-ed you! Thanks for the response!!

Wow this is such helpful insight! Thank you so much for responding. I'm so thankful for your comment and relieved that someone agrees with me that their website is just so bad(thank god it's not just me)!

Does anyone here go to or know about BCM's grad school? especially their immunology program? I'm in the process of coming up a list of schools to apply to this fall and BCM is currently on my "extra-long list" that I am cutting down. However, BCM's website is such shit...or for whatever reason I'm just not clicking with their website too well. Could you guys tell me your opinion about the school? and then a Dumb Question-- I am having some trouble finding a definitive list of their immuno faculty that has labs. Is this it?: https://www.bcm.edu/departments/pathology-and-immunology/research/faculty-labs They also have this weird search engine thing for their faculty(http://profiles.viictr.org/search/) and when I use this and even narrow down to immunology/assit.prof,asso.prof, prof I get 115+ faculty.. I would love to hear from people who have applied/looked into Baylor before! Thanks

Awesome advice guys @biochemgirl67 and @PlanB! I am so glad I posted here because I definitely feel like I have a better grasp of what I should do now. I'll probably get some of my professors' opinions to help me narrow down my final list after I create a long list. I'll keep you guys posted!

Thanks for your comment. I am 80% sure I'll just stick with my GRE scores, but I will seriously think it over to decide if I need to retake it over the summer. I know I could do 2-3 points better on the Quant, but for my verbal score I think I got very lucky already.... the option of retaking is definitely still on my mind nevertheless. I don't think my scores right now will hurt me that's why I am okay with not retaking. My school is one of the top 25 ranked universities on usnews (I know I know, but i'm just using it to reference my school). I definitely am aware that the schools I listed are reaches for me(as they are for many others), and the schools you listed are also very very great schools! Do you have any non-reach suggestion for me? I guess I am not asking for "safety schools" but for good schools that are within a short reach instead of a long reach? Thanks again!

Thanks for responding! The schools you listed are definitely on my radar and will look into them more. Regarding rec letters, when you say as many research letters as I can manage, do you mean literally as many as possible? Like i mentioned, I have worked under 3 different PIs (including my current one), and I know all of them can write good things about me. For sure I'll ask my current PI for a rec letter But, I am in this dilemma on deciding if I should actually ask one or both of my two previous PIs for letters. I actually have by chance read a rec letter my first PI wrote for me when I applied to my summer program last summer, and it was 2 full pages single space full of nice things said about me in her intro to bio course as well as as her research student. I do keep in close contact in her, but my concern is that I definitely grew a lot as a student, scientist, and person since then, and I don't know if a rec letter from her will reflect where I am currently. She also works in a completely different field. She is a wildlife biologist! Then there is my summer PI, who I know really liked me. He literally told me I was the best summer scholar they have had and wanted me back in his lab this summer. I am also very close with the graduate students that were my direct mentors, and I know they will vouch for me if this PI were to write my letter. My concern is that I had very minimal personal interaction with this PI. He actually was gone a whole month during the 10-week program, so all he knew of me was basically my results that happened to be good; he doesn't know me as a person, work ethics, etc. I only emailed him once since the summer program when I had to tell him that I want to stay in my lab now at school for this summer and thus cannot go back to his lab. I did try to mention what I have been up to, etc. in that email. Aside from these PIs, I also have three other biology professor biology in mind that I know could write me great letters. One is my immunology professor like I mentioned in my post earlier. He is the professor that I trust the most for advice and inspiration, and I do visit his office frequently! He is also on my senior thesis committee, so he is aware of my research. He knows my aspirations/goals and how much they mean to me. I also did very well in his class, not just only grade wise I promise! I was very engaged and showed my interested in the subject. The two other professors I have in mind are similar in that I also am doing very well in their classes(Cell Bio and Cancer),am very enthusiastic,participate a lot and visit their offices pretty often too. Basically, I know I have all these people that I trust will be able to vouch for me via rec letters, but I have no idea which ones to ask other than my current PI... A lot of schools say the require 3 and only 3, but some says 'at least' 3, so what does that mean? Can I send more than 3? SHOULD I send more than 3? Who would you choose if you were in my shoes?

Hi everyone! First time posting here! My problem is that I feel very average. I'm a domestic female who goes to a top 25 research school..My GRE scores are 159V/162Q/4.5W ,which I know are very respectable but i don't know if they are actually competitive. I have a pretty solid 3.7-3.8 GPA which I am proud of, but I once again feel is average compared to many people here.By the time I graduate next year, I would have had 3 full years of research experience(1 year in a lab that doesn't fit with my current interest[it was just my first attempt at getting my foot in the research world, and I did learn a lot!], 1 summer program, and ~2 years by graduation in my current lab), but this seem to also just be very standard. I don't have any publications yet, but I'm hoping to convince my PI to take me to and let me present my work at a national conference later this year. I'm interested in Immunology/Cancer Biology (specifically I love me some hematopoietic stem cell/T cell/B cell malignancies!), I currently work in a myeloma lab and will be doing my senior thesis in this lab.I also did a summer program last summer in a lab that works on hematopoietic stem cells. So I definitely would say I have experience in this field I'm interested in! My letters of rec would come from firstly and obviously my PI, whom I trust to write me a great one, and one from my immunology professor, whom I seek advice from a lot and is on my thesis committee, and one more that I haven't decide who to ask (I have several people in mind that I know will write me great letters, but I just don't know who will be the best to ask). The schools I'm most interested in as of now are (I'm still adding to the list, these are just my top choices/dream schools!): Stanford, UCSF, UWseattle, WUSTL I don't know whether I'll apply to their cancer program/cell bio/general bio or immunology program yet, as I'm getting to know these program more! And obviously these are top schools, but I of course want to aim for the best program for my field. SO, for those that read all the way until here, do you guys have any comments/advice for me? Any schools with great immuno/cancer programs that you would recommend me looking into? Please be honest and thanks so much :)!