MCF10A
-
Posts
82 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by MCF10A
-
-
23 hours ago, Xerxxx said:
Undergrad Institution: Rutgers New Brunswick
Major(s): Cell Biology and Neuroscience
Minor(s): Chemistry
GPA in Major: 3.80
Overall GPA: 3.86
Position in Class: Not sure. Phi Beta Kappa elected twice (didn't join tho)
Type of Student: International Asian Female
GRE Scores (revised/old version): (Will take in Sept. Quite nervous in verbal and writing. Study hard rn.)
Q:
V:
W:
B:
Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)I am super nervous about applying in this cycle because I don't really have much research experience. I've been working in a lab at my undergrad institution since this July. Project is focusing on iPSCs modeling neurological diseases.
Produced a project proposal regarding Stem Cell Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis for the course Scientific Writing.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)
Academic Excellence Award 2015: Honored for having maintained the highest standards of academic excellence of the top 10% of the second year class
Elected to Phi Beta Kappa 2016 & 2017
Graduated summa cum laude
Dean's List all semesters
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)Ophthalmic Assistant in an ophthalmologist's office - half an year
Lab instructor/teaching assistant for general chemistry lab at undergrad institution for two academic semesters
Shadowed at department of medicine in summer 2016
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Applying to Where:
Stanford - Stem cell bio & regeneration/cancer bio/epidemiologyColumbia
U Penn
University of Washington
Any suggestion if I should apply this year? Because my GPA is not quite competitive and research experience is lacking. Am I aiming too high for those schools also? T.T
I would recommend you to take a gap year or two to get more research experience. Your GPA is good enough even for the most competitive program, but your limited research experience would hold you back. Working as a full time RA after graduation will not only help you to get more solid research experience and better recommendation letters, but also give you an opportunity to access whether grad school & a career in research is what you want.
-
On 6/6/2017 at 11:30 PM, mentarisemesta said:
Hello! I am a rising senior who is freaking out about PhD applications in the coming year (Fall 2018)... I'm not sure if there's a thread for the coming year yet, but I would really appreciate your opinion on my stats. I'm especially looking to see if my school list is good enough, and if I should have more/less middle-tier schools. I'd also really appreciate suggestions for middle-tier schools! I'm mainly interested in studying chromatin biology / epigenetics / stem cell and tissue engineering for my PhD. Thank you so much in advance!
Undergrad Institution: New York University Abu Dhabi, a recent branch of NYU that boasts 4% admit rate from 11,000+ applicants
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): -
GPA in Major: 3.85
Overall GPA: 3.92
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: International Asian Female
GRE Scores (revised/old version): Taking it this summer!
Research Experience:Summer 2016 on DNA Repair at NYU New York
Summer 2017 full-time (present), projected to be a year-long work on my Capstone thesis about nuclear myosin and nuclear reprogramming (doing high content screening, will be doing ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, etc.), possibility to publish paper based on this thesis
5 months research as the 2017 student leader on the NYUAD iGEM team (developing a device to detect E. coli in food using LAMP amplification methods)
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:Full scholarship for all 4 years at NYUAD
NYUAD does not do Dean's List, but projected to graduate with highest honors and NYU Founder's Day Award for my GPA
Awarded $5,000 NYUAD Research Funding, GNU Summer Undergraduate Research Program, NYU Dept. of Chemistry (2016)
Awarded $1,300 NYUAD Research Funding at NYUAD (2017)
Aiming for Gold Medal on the 2017 iGEM Synthetic Biology competition
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:Third Place in Public Health Think Tank 2016, Abu Dhabi, UAE
2015 Communications Internship at Pfizer Africa Middle East (AfME), Dubai, UAE (way before I knew I wanted to do research)
Special Bonus Points: Southeast Asian female international student? I'm also the fifth graduating class at my school. My school is super young, and although it is affiliated with NYU, the fact that its students are thriving internationally shows its standards of excellence.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:Mentorship Coordinator for Women Empowered in STEM at NYUAD
Volunteer for 2 years (3 years by the time I graduate) at the Abu Dhabi Science Festival for children 5-12 years old
Applying to Where:Rockefeller
NYU Biology (looking at the Abu Dhabi fellowship as well)
Duke
UNC-Chapel Hill BBSP
UCSF Tetrad
UCSD
USC PIBBS
The Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research
CSHL Watson School of Biological Sciences
One concern I have is the length of your research experience. Before you submit your application this December, you'll have one 3-month summer research, one ~6-month thesis research, and one 5-month iGEM project. None of these can be counted as "significant" in terms of length. Do you think you understand these projects very well, be able to write about them in depth in your SOP, and get great letters from your mentors? If so, you're probably good to go. The rest of your profile is solid.
For your school selection, I would simply cross off UCSF Tetrad unless you can secure ur own funding, since they rarely take any international students. UCSD has limited spots for international students so it can get very competitive too.
-
-
1 hour ago, strugglebus2k17 said:
Thanks! I know about Rockefeller and Sloan Kettering but those are some really competitive programs. I just applied to some virology labs at my school so hopefully I can land one of those for my gap year.
Was there a quizlet in particular that you used to study for the GRE vocab? There's an abundance of quizlets posted but I don't know which one is good or not. I'll look into the magoosh one for sure, I just didn't want to pay for it, if it's at all avoidable.
Does anyone recommend taking the GRE subject tests or do programs not really care about that? I know many of the programs "recommend" it but would you strongly advise to take it or not really?
thanks again for all the advice!
https://gre.magoosh.com/flashcards/vocabulary/decks Magoosh GRE vocabulary flashcard is free, and it also has a mobile app which is really handy.
About GRE subject test, I totally agree with @Kaede. Don't take it unless you've screwed up your upper level biology courses. I believe most of the programs don't care about subject test that much. I didn't take it, and most of my friends/interview buddies didn't take it either.
-
On 4/5/2017 at 3:45 PM, strugglebus2k17 said:
Hey guys,
So origionally I was set on medicine but after a considerable amount of thought and deliberation and I think with my drive for research and teaching the Ph.D. route is best suited for me. I'm familiar with med school requirments and competitiveness but as for grad schools it's a shot in the dark. I don't really know where I'm at and where I should apply in terms of how competitive my profile is. I am taking a gap year atm (about to graduate from undergrad this may!!) and planning on applying this next cycle - fall 2018.
Any and all help would be super duper appreciated!! - thanks in advance
Undergrad Institution: University of Texas at Austin
Major(s): Public Health Infectious Diseases
Minor(s): none
GPA in Major: 3.6
Overall GPA: 3.50, hopefully higher at the end of this semester
Position in Class: top quarter? I'm not sure.
Type of Student: domestic, male, LGBT
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:
V:
W:
B:- i havn't taken the GRE yet. I plan on studying and taking it this summer.
I have taken the MCAT and scored at the 87th percentile on the "Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems". - if that's any relevant indicaiton. I know for some schools they accept MCAT as a sub for GRE but I probabbly won't do that. I scored dissapointingly low on the CARS reading section... apparently I'm illiterate!? idk.
I'm taking the GRE anyway since the vast majority of grad schools require it.
Research Experience:Behavioral neuroscience lab for 3+ years that investigates rehabilitation in animal models (rat and mouse models) after ischemia to the motor cortex. The lab does a lot of studies into vasculature and dendritic spine recovery during neurorehabilitation and neuralrepair after infarct. so it's much more neuro oriented than the "behavior" part.
I just finished the draft of my manuscript and submitted it to my PI for review. Our goal is to submit it for publicaiton by the end of this semester, early summer. For the same research, I presented it at the Clinically Applied Rehabilitation Engineering symposium at my university. I was also one of five abstracts selected to present orally at the American Society for Neurorehabilitation annual meeting in san diego. co-poster presentation at the society for neuroscience annaul meeting, also in san diego.
So my issue is here that all my research experience is in a neuro lab and I don't know how applicable that is when applying to a molecular/micro/virology phd... I'm gonna try and supplement this by joining a virology lab that I have my eyes on during my gap year but I don't know how significant my contributions can be if it's only for a year.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:like dean's list once or twice and I got an honors scholarship ($1000) at the end of my freshman year.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs:-TA for Genetics for 2 semester, I got really good reviews from the students course-instructor surveys at the end of it.
-clincial observership program at MD Anderson in houston for 1 summer. I did rotations in leukemia and surgery. This was mostly for when I was pre-med so idk how pertinent this is for grad school.
-for my gap year i was just hired for a lab assistant at a pediatric clinic. It's just a tech job so i don't really think that counts for much except for experience.
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:I was an officer and team captain of the Polo team at my school. it's just a fun thing i did on the side.
I have a significant amount of community service in a couple different organizations.
Special Bonus Points: being gay? it's 2017 and idk if it counts for anything anymore. I probabbly won't "declare" this on the app specifically unnless there is a specific part where they might ask.I'll also have a very strong rec letter from the PI that i work for.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
I had to Q drop two classes but I can explain my way through those. I got a C+ in calculus. I can't do math to save my life SOS.
Applying to Where:
For grad schools, I really want to try to find something in the NYC area, since I love the city in general, so if you guys have any suggestions there that would be great (or anything in the new england area).
My research interests are in virology, specifically studying viral methods for gene therapy. I think that's pretty speicific and not many institutions will activley and specifically be doing research into this but I would apply broadly to microbiology/molecularbiology/virology programs.
I don't really know what would be considered in my reach so these are just schools that I'm looking into.
- weill cornell
- columbia
- NYU biology
- NYU sackler (anyone know what the pro's and con's are of doing a traditional university based Ph.D. or one at a med school? I'm assuming the clinically applied research there?)
- cornell university in ithica
- baylor college of medicine
any suggestions?
I think you're in good shape. Your previous research experience looks solid. Just make sure to get great LORs from your current PI and the PI of your gap year lab. The LORs are probably the most important things in your whole package.
Some comments on the GRE: it's very different from the MCAT. The verbal section of GRE is way easier than the verbal section of old MCAT which I took. For the GRE, the challenging part is the vocab, but the reading passages are very chill and the questions are straightforward. I got a shitty 52th percentile on MCAT verbal, but 93th percentile on GRE verbal. So don't worry about the GRE verbal too much as long as you spend some time studying the vocabs (I recommend the Magoosh flashcards). You need to study for the math (mostly algebra and basic stats, nothing related to calculus&beyond) and writing sections though, which are not covered by the MCAT. Also I don't think you can use MCAT score to substitute GRE for any biomedical science PhD programs (some master of public health programs do take MCAT score). And it seems that none of the PhD programs care about MCAT score (I scored a 97th percentile total score in the old MCAT and listed in several applications, but no one from any school mentioned it during my interviews).
As for programs, if you are really into NYC, don't miss Rockefeller (some world-class virologyµbio faculty) and Gerstner Sloan Kettering (some great gene therapy faculty). Outside of NYC I would recommend Harvard (both BBS program and virology programs), Hopkins and UPenn.
-
Harvard BBS!
-
21 hours ago, jeanetics17 said:
Yes!
On 3/13/2017 at 2:11 PM, Kaede said:Awesome! I'll see you there then!
Have y'all committed yet?
I'm committed too! So see ya'll this fall
-
12 hours ago, blc073 said:
Where are you in the GSK vs. BBS decision?
Also, I would consider Harvard Housing to be subsidized. They guarantee a cheap dorm room next to the medical school and they have apartments and houses in Cambridge that are cheaper than market price.
Still 50:50 now. It's a tough one.
Yeah I learned about HU housing options, but the $900/mo dorm room in Vandy is not as attractive as the $850/mo room in 2b apartment in Uppereast lol, and I want to live close to Longwood in G1.
BTW good to see you here, I probably know who you are
-
I'm facing a similar decision (Harvard BBS vs. GSK) so I can totally feel you.
I pretty much agree with all of your pros and cons, and just want to add a few points: (1) GSK has many PIs doing comp bio/genomics work too. They recently added a new "computational and systems biology program", and recruited Dana Pe'er from Columbia to be the chair. Those PIs are doing amazing cancer related work (Berry Taylor, John Chodera, Christina Leslie, to name a few). (2) There are several faculty members in MIT Koch doing cancer immunology (their cancer immunology program has 10 faculty members according to the website). Their work might not be as transnational as those done by GSK researchers tho. (3) GSK is not necessarily cancer biology focused. They have a top-notch structure biology department (arguably the best in the nation), and many top-notch scientists doing non-cancer related developmental biology, stem cell biology, immunology and cell biology research.
I think at the end of day, the major differences between GSK and MIT Biology are (1) translational vs. basic science research; (2) New York vs. Boston. The whole impression of the GSK program gives me is that they want to train the grad students to be ready to solve the problems in cancer clinics (clinical program, many many researchers doing translational research). Most of the cancer biologists at MIT (both Whitehead and Koch) focus on the deeper mechanism questions about cancer. Scientists at both places are doing outstanding science. Which aspect of cancer research interests you the most? As for New York vs. Boston, I haven't lived in either city, but I think both are awesome cities from my interview experience. The stipend should be similar at both places. The subsidized housing from GSK is a great deal, I don't know whether MIT provides subsidized housing too (Harvard doesn't so that's a big headache
)
Anyway, both are awesome programs and you really can't go wrong by choosing either
-
Got accepted by UPenn CAMB Cancer Bio (tho I already emailed to withdraw my application)... I was told by the Adcom that there's a quota for international students, so I declined the offer immediately and hope some other intl student would get this slot soon. Good luck!
Updates: just declined Weill Cornell PBSB and Duke Molecular Cancer Bio too. Hope will help folks on the wait list.
- Kvothe~ and PhDHopeful3
-
2
-
2 hours ago, cancergirl said:
Not compared to the 8 I had this past friday
WHAT......
-
Just got my schedule for a upcoming interview. So I'll be interviewing 6 (!!!!!) faculty members in one day. That's goona be a longggggggg day I bet...
- SysEvo and desmond.bo
-
2
-
5 hours ago, Roa Ni said:
Undergrad Institution: TOP10 University in China, Mainland, QS ranked 200 in Life science and Medical research ... not very famous comparing to PKU or THU
Major(s): Biological Sciences
Minor(s):NA
GPA in Major: 4.0/4.0
Overall GPA: 4.0/4.0
Position in Class: TOP
Type of Student: International, Male, Asian(China)
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 169
V: 152
W: 3.0
B: NA
TOEFL Total: 100
Research Experience:1 year for undergrad thesis, article in preparation
3 year in iGEM competition Best Composite Part X1, Gold Medal X2
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: National Scholarship X1 (top scholarship), and other scholarships
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: NA
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
Special Bonus Points:Recommender: Prof. Junjiu Huang(yes, the guy in Nature-figures who conducted genetic modification on human embryo)
Research topic of my undergrad thesis, it's a really novel phenotype and all the faculties interviewed are curious about it
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Applying to Where:
Harvard -BBS-stem cell biology, rejected
JHU -CMDB-stem cell biology, wait listedUCLA-rejected
BCM-rejected
NYU-Sackler-stem cell biology-still interview
UTSouthwestern-rejected
Umich-PIBS-rejected
Umass Worcester-IGP-acceptted
UGA-ILS-acceptted
Faculty in NYU told me that this academic is extreamly harsh for international students, since US students have NIH grants but we can not.
Anyway, good luck to all applicants
I'm a international applicant too. Grad school admission is indeed very hard for us because of funding issue. One thing I noticed is that research experience in the US+rec letter from PIs in the US can be the deal breaker for intl applicants, especially for the most competitive schools. Most of the intl students I met in my interviews have such experience (undergrad, summer research, exchange semester, thesis research, etc in the US). Good luck on your NYU Sackler and JHU and wish you can get into both!
-
Based on my experience it shouldn't be a big deal. I thought I screwed up 2 interviews at 2 schools because I didn't answer the follow-up questions about my own research well. I felt really bad, but I ended up receiving very positive emails from those two interviewers and got into both schools. Thing are usually better than we thought, so don't worry too much!
-
Me too! WOOOOO
-
8 minutes ago, hippopotamus said:
Got the call too! I'm sure more will come tomorrow
4 hours ago, desmond.bo said:Got an offer via a phone call from BBS. Good luck to everyone!
Big congrats! Gonna keep my finger crossed till next week or so
-
26 minutes ago, jeanetics17 said:
Maybe they're adjusting how many people they admit this year based on last year's results which they told us was a very big class (~70-75). Since so many people accepted last year, they probably think a similar trend will occur this year, and of course those are huge numbers in terms of cost for the program. When we didn't hear back last week, I suspected something was up and perhaps (I suspect) the 1st group of interviewees won't hear back until after the 2nd interview. Basically, I think they are going to pool all interviewees and cut from that instead of each weekend (reducing the amount accepted in total).
Yeah I am suspecting the same. It's likely that we won't hear back till next Wed or so. What's even worse is that they MIGHT accept less people and put more people on wait list if they really want to control the size of the class.
-
So another day of silence I guess?
-
56 minutes ago, blankens said:
That is very surprising! The only reason I asked was I am going on an interview/visit next weekend and there were only approximately 20 people invited to interview for a program that traditionally has a cohort between 13-15. This information makes it seem like less of an interview and more of a final screen to make sure you aren't crazy and almost everybody will be accepted.
The yield rate of most schools should be lower than 50%. The yield rate at Harvard HILS (BBS, BIG, MCO, sys bio, chem bio....adding up together) last year is just 53%. So I would assume that the "20 interviewers for 13-15 coming class" situation is 90%+ post-interview acceptance rate.
-
4 hours ago, cumulina said:
yeah, I got an unofficial acceptance today
Me too! From both BCMB&PBSB
-
Sloan Kettering acceptance!!! OMG can't describe my feeling right now
- LoveMysterious, Kvothe~, ImmunoB and 2 others
-
5
-
On 1/24/2017 at 9:24 AM, Pepperoni said:
Not biochem, cancer. haven't received faculty list yet though.
got it. honestly though, anything to do at this point, besides quietly understand we've been rejected? Any e-mail to adcom or anything? Frankly if you're not accepted, nothing can hurt at this point right?
see you there!
I got a confirmation from the UPenn CAMB cancer bio POI that all interviews for intl students were sent out already. The whole CAMB has a quota of accepting ~3 intl students this year but they received several hundreds of intl applications. Sorry.
-
18 hours ago, Pepperoni said:
yea no idea...I'm international but live and study in the USA, so I'm not sure what I'm considered as for their purposes
Same same. So we're on the same boat
-
1 hour ago, Pepperoni said:
ditto - I def did not get any invite, Skype or otherwise, from upenn... sigh.
saw you put u Chicago as doomed - did you ever hear from them?
So far now, I've been invited to Wisconsin Madison, Emory, and WashU, and never heard a peep from Northwestern, UPenn, and UChicago...
No. Absolute silence from the Windy City. But the Penn skype interview actually gives me some hope on UChicago. Maybe UChicago cancer bio will review the whole intl pool and send out skype interviews later (just as UPenn did)? There's hope!
2018 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results
in Biology
Posted
Your profile looks great. If you can get great LORs and write a solid SOP, you should be able to get interviews from a great number of programs.
I'm an international applicants applied to/looked into many cancer-bio-focused programs on your list last cycle. Sadly, the admission for many cancer bio programs is very hard for intl applicants, because they rely on NIH training grants like T32. So you should look into more large biomedical science umbrella programs.
From my experience, UCSF BMS and Stanford Cancer Bio rarely take intl applicants unless they can secure their own funding. Yale MMPP and Penn Cancer Bio each has only one spot for intl student last cycle (learnt from ADCOM during interviews). UChicago cancer bio and UW Seattle MCB had very limited spot for intl student last cycle, but it might vary from year to year. Harvard BBS, GSK, Rockefeller and UTSW are pretty intl applicant friendly. You can also look into Weill Cornell (Weill Cornell grad students can do rotation in Sloan Kettering labs), WUSTL, UMichigan, Baylor, NYU, and UTH/MD Anderson, which all have some great cancer bio labs.