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Janiejoneswoah

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  1. Downvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to PhD_RPs in Laying Down the truth, sorry, not sorry   
    Does it bother anyone else that schools like to start out the career path options presentations without mentioning going for a career in academia?
    Why the heck would you go to grad school for your PhD if that is not your goal. I'm sick and tired of that shit, you don't need a PhD for consulting, you don't need a PhD to become a science writer, you don't need a PhD for an industry job..
    Schools are letting in too many people, at every interview I've been to, I've met tons of smart people, alternatively, I've also met people that make me think "Why are you here?". I hear stuff like: "I'll be picking a mentor and doing rotations with people whose personalities mesh with mine" are you kidding me? -- I'll be doing rotations with people who are going to challenge me and push me to the edge - I'll be going with my gut feelings on who I choose to work with and it will purely be based off of their science. 
    There are TOO many PhD's awarded, have you seen the statistics on PhDs on welfare (not just Biology PhDs to be fair but all in the USA) something like 30 percent on welfare. 50 years ago there were about 600,000 Bio researchers, now there are 6-7 million, it's not sustainable.
    Schools need to clean up their acts, Masters degrees need to be funded not paid for by students - that can solve two problems: replicability as MS degrees can be focused on reproducing data and not novel data generation; it can also give an avenue for all the people who want to do what I would call "soft" stuff with their degrees. PhDs should only be given and encouraged for those who have raw talent and can become peers with professors not every person who applies.
    If science does not keep you awake a night and doesn't wake you up in the morning... good luck.
    When I'm a PI one day, I will not even let a student who does not want to become a SCIENTIST anywhere near my lab, not even for a rotation. Some of the people on this website and IRL just make me cringe, somebody needs to scientifically slap them with the truth.
    What are your thoughts? Are you getting your PhD without the intent of at least trying to become a PI or Lecturer? Why? 
  2. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah got a reaction from CRYTIME in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    That's what I tried. They basically just said it was a super competitive year, don't be too hard on yourself etc... Even if you don't get any useful information, it doesn't hurt and you never know what you'll find out. It really sucks to get rejected at this stage without knowing why, especially with everybody saying acceptance rates are 60-90%, so I totally sympathize with you.
  3. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to Pepperoni in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    2 interviews down, 1 to go, no word from any of the schools otherwise except a reject from NW
     
  4. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to CRYTIME in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    How would you approach a rejection from a school you interviewed at? Should I email them and ask if they have any paticular reasons or improvements?
  5. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah got a reaction from jougami in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    If they've already bought your plane tickets, expect to be sent the bill...
  6. Downvote
    Janiejoneswoah got a reaction from cosiva in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    If they've already bought your plane tickets, expect to be sent the bill...
  7. Downvote
    Janiejoneswoah got a reaction from .letmeinplz// in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    If they've already bought your plane tickets, expect to be sent the bill...
  8. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to nihchick2017 in 2017 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admission Results   
    Of course, happy to help! (although I probably should have tried to sell you on Baltimore since Stanford is my top choice and I haven't heard from them yet but oh well )
  9. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to nihchick2017 in 2017 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admission Results   
    I don't think anyone takes out loans, most people just live frugally. Also, Stanford has really good on campus housing that you can live in for your whole PhD. If you're willing to live in the less nice housing,  it's only like $750 a month, or if you want something higher end it's around 1100-1300. Most of the grad students seemed to live pretty comfortably (going out for dinner/drinks a lot, going into the city a lot). It's definitely a livable stipend. However, you'd probably live way more comfortably in Baltimore i.e. you could have a car, take more vacations, etc. But living near SF is also it's own factor since the city is unbelievable (my favorite in the US by far). Also I heard from the Stanford grad students that for each class you TA after you fufill the teaching requirement you get paid $1500. not sure if that is also the case at Hopkins.
  10. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to nihchick2017 in 2017 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admission Results   
    freaking out about hearing from stanford neuro (top choice program)...it looks from the results search that invites go out over a few days so keeping my fingers crossed....
  11. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to RM17 in 2017 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admission Results   
    Ahhh congrats! Here's hoping there's good news on the horizon for more of us..
    Sometimes it's almost better to miss the call, at least when they leave a message - last year I had some kinda awkward phone calls borne of the fact that I was not prepared. And also probably ~as a millennial~ I'm not good at talking on the phone anyway lol...
  12. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to neuroslice in 2017 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admission Results   
    I don't think MIT has finished sending out applications yet. I worked in BCS for a summer and emailed my PI last week, from what she knows they're sending invites until January like usual. But she isn't as involved with admissions this year, so take that with a grain of salt...
  13. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to Cervello in 2017 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admission Results   
    I'm waiting for Columbia, too, as well as MIT. Not sure if MIT is done sending out emails. They seem to be handling this cycle differently from previous, maybe because like Harvard they received a record number of applicants. In years past, they sent out emails over several days. Not sure if that will change this year. 
  14. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to Raptor Science Activate in 2017 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admission Results   
    Oh no, it's absolutely fine.  Thank you both for verifying, and best of luck to you both!  I just wanted to see confirmation from someone on this thread rather than a single post on the anonymous school list before I made any additional scheduling decisions/assumptions.  

    A few days ago, someone posted a Cornell invite early on the anonymous school list (nobody had posted confirmation here yet).  I ended up falsely assuming I was rejected from Cornell and booked an alternate interview over Cornell's one interview weekend only to have them invite me a few days later. Now I'm stuck with a big scheduling mess trying to arrange an alternate visit at Cornell.  Knowing UCSD has sent its invites out already makes it MUCH easier to figure out what to do with scheduling for my other interviews.  Thanks again for the clarification!

     
  15. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to desmond.bo in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    Unbelievable! Happy for ya man!
  16. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah got a reaction from desmond.bo in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    Just got invited to interview at UCLA and Johns Hopkins neuroscience in emails that arrived within 2 minutes of each other!!!
    UCLA neuro interviews 02/25 - 02/27 and Johns Hopkins 02/28-03/3
  17. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah got a reaction from LoveMysterious in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    Just got invited to interview at UCLA and Johns Hopkins neuroscience in emails that arrived within 2 minutes of each other!!!
    UCLA neuro interviews 02/25 - 02/27 and Johns Hopkins 02/28-03/3
  18. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah got a reaction from neuroslice in 2017 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admission Results   
    I'm sure they'll be trickling out until the end of the day, if not longer.
  19. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to neuroslice in 2017 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admission Results   
    Didn't mean it as a bad thing! Just trying to figure out if they're sending them all at once.
  20. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah got a reaction from sivis in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    Just got invited to interview at UCLA and Johns Hopkins neuroscience in emails that arrived within 2 minutes of each other!!!
    UCLA neuro interviews 02/25 - 02/27 and Johns Hopkins 02/28-03/3
  21. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to Pepperoni in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    can there be a separate locked thread that lists all the confirmed programs that have offered interviews
  22. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to Bacterrific in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    Hey, I was born and raised in Baltimore. It seems that many here have been deluded by misrepresentations of Baltimore (ie. The Wire, Serial, news). I will just say this, if you write off Hopkins because of Baltimore it is absolutely your loss. Baltimore is vibrant, young, and diverse. It has one of the fastest growing populations of people ages 25-30. It is actually an art hub so almost every day there are various events/festivals to explore. Between the UMD schools, Hopkins, and Maryland School for the Arts there is a lively student community. Baltimore has a beautiful setting on the water and because it was one of the first U.S cities it has beautiful, historical architecture. If you are a sports fan then Baltimore is a great place to be with the Orioles at Camden Yards and the Ravens. Baltimore is a condensed city made up of eclectic neighborhoods so not only it is very accessible, you will never run out of things to do/new places to explore.
    Baltimore has a truly diverse population and an incredible sentiment of social justice and activism. Lastly, Baltimore is just 45 minutes from DC, an hour from beaches on the Atlantic coast, an hour to Philadelphia, less than an hour to the beginning of the Appalachian Mountains (ie. tons of stunning natural scenery and parks), and 3-4 hours from New York. I could go on and on about what an amazing place Baltimore is. 
    I know people are concerned with crime, but in all of my years living in a working class neighborhood my roommates and I were never victims of crime. Honestly, the people most afflicted by crime in Baltimore are the poor and those marginalized/oppressed by our society...so please check your privilege before you start to complain about crime. 
    I am not attending Hopkins as I decided it was time to try out a new state, but the research environment is really phenomenal. And keep in mind that you have access to the NIH (especially the NCI, infectious diseases, and aging institutes), Kennedy Krieger, and UMD. I am not saying Hopkins is better than any other program, but it's a damn shame to see so many people write it off without any precedent/actual experience to go off. 
     
  23. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to Epigenetics in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    Dude you're the one telling us to be deliberate about where we apply for faculty and fit and shit, and you applied to 17 programs?!?
  24. Downvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to haughtysauce007 in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    Red flag - lol - go focus on some research please.
  25. Upvote
    Janiejoneswoah reacted to blc073 in 2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results   
    I guess I would just point out that your assessment of Harvard BBS is not an opinion, rather an inaccurate description. 
    My advice would be to be careful being overly critical of institutions during your interviews. It's a definite red flag. 
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