blc073
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Posts posted by blc073
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31 minutes ago, Tarlax said:
Undergrad Institution:
Massive Big 10 State School in the midwest
Major(s): Neuroscience (no physics)
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.5
Overall GPA: 3.35
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: Domestic
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 155
V: 166
W: 4.5
B: N/A
Research Experience:1 summer in a behavioral neuroscience lab
4 months in a neurooncology lab during undergradaute
1.5 year (will be 2 by enrollment) as a research technician at a well-known, Harvard affiliated genetics research center
Awards/Honors/Recognition: Various athletic awards (was a collegiate athlete)
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:Current position as a technician
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
Special Bonus Points:
Very strong LOR from former research mentor, as well as hopefully strong LOR from my PI who is a "big wig" in our department and the realm of geneticsAny Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Like I mentioned above, DIvision I athlete for 5 years
Applying to Where:
BU PharmacologyTufts Sackler
UMASS Medical
Harvard Immunology
NYU Sackler
SUNY Stony Brook
Einstein College of Medicine
UCLA Molecular Pharmacology (subset of biosciences program)
USC Neuroscience
UC Irvine Neuro
Starting to get freaked that I haven't heard anything back from UMASS Medical yet, as people are already getting interview dates. Any feedback on my profile/chances?
I heard back from Tufts Sackler on January 5th, FYI.
Honestly, your profile is a bit of a toss-up. Your numbers are fine, but you only mention two LoRs and your research is below what most people have. You applied broadly, so that's great, but it will take strong letters and an outstanding SOP to do some convincing. Overall, I'm guessing you will get one or two invites.
- SysEvo and Janiejoneswoah
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No, do not miss any questions on purpose.
The GRE works by grouping. Let's say in math there are two sections. The first section will be a fair mix of easy, medium, and hard questions. It will be the same difficulty for everyone. However, there will be three groups for the second math section. Group A will be difficult, Group B will be medium, and Group C will be easy. How well you do in the first section will determine your group for the second section.
This is where your question comes into play. Intuitively, it makes sense to want your second section to be easy, so you might try to miss questions on purpose. However, each group is confined to a range of scores. So, Group C might be 130 to 150, Group B might be 151 to 160, and Group A might be 161 to 170. Meaning, if you get every question right in Group B, you will still only get a 160 in math. But if you miss every question in Group A, you are still at a 161. Note, these numbers are not official.
So, it is best to do the best you can in the first section so you will be placed in the highest group for the second section.
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17 hours ago, AGradStudentHasNoName said:
So here is a question. And I know this is probably just waiting anxiety making me want to do SOMETHING lol. But I contacted professors back in August or September and it has been a while. For the ones that I had meetings with or from whom I got some positive response, should I shoot them a quick email now reminding them who I am and to look out for my application? I know this is unlikely to change any outcomes, but who knows.
To give the opposite opinion, there is something to be said about building a rapport with a professor. I contacted a professor early in the application cycle and he told me to let him know when I applied so he could talk to the admissions committee.
If you contacted professors and they responded positively, then it can't hurt to remind them of your positive interaction now that it is closer to the admissions process. You have two basic outcomes: 1) They are too busy and they blow you off, 2) They remember you, they like you, and they go to bat for you. The most important part of an application is convincing someone in the committee to fight for you. If you know a professor who knows someone on the committee, you might be able to accomplish the application dream.
In short, admissions committees want to throw out your application. If you can have someone in the room fighting to keep you in the running, your chances of being admitted increase significantly.
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I would give them a call and explain the situation.
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7 minutes ago, DGD4L said:
@blc073 that's what I'm trying to do! It's just an anxious/exciting/scary time in life haha.
On a side note, how do you like Harvard BBS? Now that I'm done with applications and stuff I think it would be interesting to hear about it from someone who went through it all already and is in the program! I applied as my "reach" school, just as everyone else probably did lol.
Well, you have to figure out a way to take your mind off the process. Otherwise, you're going to lose your mind. I'm actually being pretty serious. This is an important time to demonstrate to yourself that you can manage a work-life balance.
Harvard BBS is a great program with a lot of pros. However, like any other program, there are also many cons. If you would like to know more about my experience, I would be happy to talk with you via PM.
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I suggest you all just relax and avoid checking your email too often. Check it once a day or so and do something else to occupy yourselves.
The true anxiety begins after you get invitations and you have to wait a month or more to interview.
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On 12/6/2016 at 10:26 PM, VoidInColor said:
I'm not sure if this is where I should ask, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Does anyone have advice on how to accept an interview offer? Writing professional emails has to be one of the most stressful things in my life.
Here's an email I sent to accept an interview invitation:
"Hi Louise,
I have received an invitation from the University of Minnesota to interview with the MICaB program, and I am incredibly excited for this opportunity. While I do plan to interview for this program, I am not yet sure which weekend will work the best for me. I will confirm a weekend before the posted deadline.
Best,
Name"
And yeah, most places provide an online form.
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3 minutes ago, SysEvo said:
Thanks! Systems Biology probably will be different?
I'm not completely sure, but it looks like Systems Biology will send out invitations late next week as well.
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Harvard BBS will send out interview invitations on December 16th.
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I received an invitation to interview at UMN-TC on 12/10/15 during the work day.
I received an invitation to interview at UC-Denver on 12/21/15 during the work day.
These programs typically have very small incoming classes each year, so if you get an interview, remember that you are fighting for one of five or so spots.
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3 minutes ago, Neuro15 said:
On a related note, how in detail does one have to go when discussing PIs of interest? I structured my SOP in a way that leads up to a particular branch of neuroscience, and then I list profs in that area at the school. I really don't go into detail on each prof though, I pretty much just list them and then go on to say why the school would be a good fit.
I briefly mentioned what they study as a way to connect it to my interests. I said something like, "From professor X, who studies selective autophagy in yeast, to professor Y, who studies autophagy in cancer, there a many faculty with whom I could work."
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Hey friendo, you're coming off a bit arrogant. I would tone it down a bit before proceeding. We're here to help people, not make them sad.
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7 minutes ago, Janiejoneswoah said:
When discussing research interests/professors that you'd like to work with, do you think it's better to stick to roughly one specialization (eg addiction, brain injury) and talk about ~3 professors in that area, or to talk about a variety of interests mentioning professors in different fields? I'm torn - on the one hand, I actually DO have broad interests, but on the other, staying specific to one topic allows you to more credibly cater an SOP to a school (i.e. a school with a ton of addiction research gets a paragraph talking about why addiction research is fun). Thoughts?
I would stick with one area. When describing your research, look for a common theme, then propose professors of interest in that area. In my SOP, I described projects all relating to cellular metabolism and cancer, then I said that I wanted to study autophagy in graduate school. When I listed faculty of interest, I chose three PIs who study autophagy to some extent. I think this is a good idea whether it's completely true or not. I was lucky and ended up rotating with one of the PIs I listed studying autophagy.
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15 minutes ago, emfarce said:
Got off to a bad start freshman year, but last 2 1/2 years I had around a 3.55 GPA. Hoping they see this, as I mentioned it in my statement of purpose. Coupled with good GRE scores and strong recs I think I should be ok.
If you don't get in, it will not be your GRE. Don't worry about that.
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Your GRE score doesn't matter, I would be more worried about your 3.15 GPA. What's the story there?
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1 minute ago, Bioenchilada said:
Yeah, but it's a research statement, not a proposal. Even professors can give a 10 minute talk about their research when they can spend hours doing so. The ability to concisely depict your research in an eloquent manner and know it's broader impacts is one that every graduate student should have. Besides, I don't think there's any benefit into getting too technical in a research statement.
PS. The document tells you to describe all research experiences.
If it tells you to describe all of your research, then obviously do that. However, I still believe the majority of the essay should focus on a single experience.
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4 minutes ago, Bioenchilada said:
While that might work, I believe this person might be talking about Penn's research statement, which tells you to describe your research preparation. If you had multiple experiences, I think it's best to discuss all of them since you have more than enough space to be slightly more descriptive in each than in the SOP.
If it asks about research preparation, I still think describing one experience in incredible detail is better than describing several. One amazing experience is better than three good experiences.
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16 hours ago, Bioenchilada said:
The latter.
Agreed.
I would even argue that a research statement should be about a single experience, unless noted otherwise. When you apply to jobs or other research positions, you will be asked for a research statement in which you describe your best experience and how you would continue it (if you are applying for jobs, it will be your current research, but for this it can be your best experience). This is a beautiful opportunity to show them that you have the brains to be a scientist. Describe how you got into the project, what the project is, what the goals were, what you did specifically, any conceptual contributions, how you handled failure, results, and future directions.
In the personal statement, you can add all the personal BS people like to talk about, but you can also discuss briefly other research experiences.
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5 hours ago, DGD4L said:
Hey guys, I'm applying to Ph.D. programs for the Fall 2017 semester. If you could give me some feedback on my stats and my school selections, that'd be great!
I don't know if I'm aiming too high with my school choices. A lot of professors I know pretty well have told me try it out, so let me know what you think!
What are my chances with these institutions? Also, I'm looking for maybe one or more two programs to apply to that are a little lower than these schools, seeing as how most of them are pretty competitive. Please let me know if you have and ideas about schools with good microbiology research going on!
Thank you!
Undergrad Institution: Smaller Liberal arts college, R2 Research
Major(s): Biological Sciences
Minor(s): Biochemistry
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.96
Position in Class: Not provided
Type of Student: Asian male, first generation college studentGRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 150
V: 150
W: 4.0
B: n/aResearch Experience:
3 years in a microbiology lab carrying out my own project.
- Summer 2015 - awarded an Undergraduate Research Fellowship from the American Society for Microbiology, as well as $1,000 travel funds to go to ASM Microbe 2016 in Boston to present a poster and attend the conference.
- Summer 2016 - awarded an Undergraduate Research Fellowship from my school.
- Took research for credit through my Junior and Senior year
I have presented at many different meetings across the US, including national and branch meetings. (about 8 poster presentations)
I will be writing and defending an honors thesis this coming spring on my work as an undergraduate.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
- Dean's List every semester
- ASM Undergraduate Fellowship 2015
- Barry M. Goldwater Scholar 2016
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
Served as a work study for biology labs as a freshman and learned how to prepare many different types of media.
Currently a TA for Intro to Microbiology lab.
President of ASM branch at my university.
Member of Tri-Beta (Biology honor society), Phi Eta Sigma (freshman honor society), and Phi Kappa Phi (national honor society).
Special Bonus Points:
PI did his post-doc at Harvard, knows many different professors there well.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
3 letters, one from PI, one from professor I had for a lab class whom I got to know very well, and one from a professor helping me write my honors thesis
Applying to Where:
University of Chicago - Microbiology - have been in contact with a professor about a project I would be interested in, he seemed pretty responsive. Also said he would be accepting students in years to come.Harvard University - BBS
MIT - Microbiology
UPenn - not sure which program
Yale - BBS
Tufts University - Sackler Biomedical Grad program
Let me know what you guys think! I'm still open to looking at new programs, so let me know if you know anywhere I should look into!
I know my GRE scores are not up-to-par. I'm not a standardized test taker. I was hoping that maybe my grades, scholarship/awards and research will carry me a little.
You definitely have solid research experience, so that will help you quite a bit. However, your GRE scores are too low. Research experience, strong LORs, and a high GPA can make up for some of that, but a 300 is just too low in my opinion. I would not feel comfortable applying with that number.
I would retake the GRE and add two second-tier schools. You seem to like Boston, so maybe apply to BU? UMass might be an option as well.
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13 hours ago, Yuanyang said:
Updating mine with the Institutions I am applying to. Spent the past few weeks e-mailing and talking to PI with labs of interest. Unfortunately all of them replied with very stately answers; adopting the tone of “the application process is tough, but you should do it anyways ... because I sure did!”. I actually have no clue to my chances. I think I might need to cut down the list, I'm making the same mistake I did last time: I applied to programs which cover the research topic I'm most interested in, which is only found in programs which are far out of my reach and I lack the education and training to do well in.
Have the LORS ready, still writing out Personal Statements for the final 4 weeks of the cycle. I hope I'm not too late (I probably am but it might not matter).
I would consider large, umbrella programs, rather than small, field-specific programs. Umbrella programs admit more people, they cater to people with broad interests, and they are more forgiving of low GPAs/GREs.
Also, are you willing to share your SOP? Seeing the angle you are taking might help determine where you went wrong last time.
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1 hour ago, CanadianNomad said:
Whoa. I'm a little conflicted on how to proceed with my Harvard SOP then. I do discuss other faculty that I'd love to work with, but it is my current lab (one of them, I'm primarily based out of a different lab and spend ~25% time in this HMS lab) that is the initial reason I wanted to apply to BBS. So in my SOP, I discuss this when I'm talking about PIs that I would like to work with.
Perhaps a safe middle ground would be to discuss this PI and how I'd like to work with her, but also put some good emphasis on other PIs and laboratories for those on the committee who are potentially red-flagging people wanting to stay in labs they've been in?
My SOP had a general research theme, with about 75% of the paper discussing the work I did in the HMS lab and how that work related to my research goals. I wrote around three sentences about other HMS faculty and how their work related to my interests.
I would ignore conjecture about red flags or what may or may not happen during your second year of grad school.
- Nomad1111 and Bioenchilada
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9 hours ago, immuno91 said:
So, I worked on a fellowship at HMS for a few years before applying and had letters from two people on the BBS admissions committee that I worked with. I'm not sure if anyone told you this, but whatever you do - do not talk about how you want to work in one of the labs that you're currently in. Apparently for the majority of members of the admissions committee this is a massive red flag. Moreover, if you're at Harvard, you'll get a long talking to about how it's very much discouraged for you to rotate in, much less join, a lab that you worked in prior to grad school (rumor has it that the DMS leadership makes PQEs even more hellish than usual for people that opt to do this).
As a current BBS student, I cannot verify any of this.
The summer before I applied, I worked in a lab at HMS. The majority of my personal statement discussed my work in that lab and my interests as they pertained to that lab (I did mention other labs of interest in my personal statement). The administration is very clear that it is okay to rotate in and join a lab in which you have worked before, the only caveat is that you will be required to complete three rotations instead of two.
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2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results
in Biology
Posted
As someone who went through last year what you all are going through now, and who just finished his first semester of grad school, I can assure you all that things will work out. The admissions process is exciting, frustrating, and scary, but it's an effective system that will put you all where you need to be to move your careers forward.
I know this is hard advice to take, but just relax and enjoy the adventure.
For many of you all, the difficult part will be choosing which graduate program fits your interests best. For some, there will be the difficult choice of deciding how to spend one more year before beginning graduate school. But rest assured, everyone will be on the appropriate path to their future goals.