bioapplerobot

I think it will help your application tremendously. I went into the 2017 application season with a 3.36 GPA, below average GRE for first or second tier program, but a ton of research and a 1st author publication in a much lesser journal than Nature. And now I'm headed to BCM, almost purely off the back of my research and publication. I had easily the worst stats of anyone at my interviews (at least who I spoke with), and two separate faculty told me that my research/first-author publication got me an interview over my "middling" GPA and GRE.

Well this thread is quite intimidating. So many Ivy level schools. I'll be heading to Baylor in the fall. Good Luck to everyone!

Finally got accepted to my top choice school today! Either I was not on a waitlist or someone declined an offer.

It ultimately came down to which school had the whole package of research, mentorship/support and location for me. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very hard decision. I definitely lost some sleep over it.  
Long story short, the research fit was very good at both schools, and it would be very hard for me to choose solely based on that. 
As for mentorship/support, I got along better with the faculty I interacted with at Penn. This obviously depends on who I happened to interview with/run into, but the gut feeling was there. I decided to listen to it because I got matched with POIs I was really interested in at both places, and simply could see myself working with those at Penn over Harvard. I’ve learned the hard way that personality is something that matters to me. 
I also approached it from the angle of: “If (or maybe when) something goes wrong, who (other than my PI) can I go to for guidance?” At Penn I could name two such people after the visiting weekend, at Harvard it was a bit harder. I think this one is largely because CAMB is broken up into a few sub-groups, and each has a chair and administrator. It’s very different when you’re one of six or seven people, versus one of 65. Both of them at Penn sought the few of us in the sub-group out during the interviews to touch base and get to know us. Does not being sought out during the interview mean there is less support at Harvard? Probably not. But the structures of the programs are undeniably different, and I decided that Penn fit my needs better. 
Also, there is a higher junior faculty turnover at Harvard than at Penn.  To me, this had a higher probability of translating into a high pressure environment that I didn’t feel would fit the type of environment I learn best in. Of course that will differ on specifics labs and it’s probably avoidable; but again, it’s there, and might limit who I get to work with. I tend to gravitate toward smaller labs (which tend to be led by assistant professors) so I did not want to be limited by this fear. 
Finally, I preferred Philly over Boston. I can afford a one bedroom apartment about a 15 minute walk from campus by myself in Philly, in Boston that is nearly impossible. I wanted to have the option to live by myself comfortably. Ruled out NYC because of this one too. 
All in all, I had to go with where I felt I would have the highest probability of being happiest and most successful. So it’s not really one deciding factor, but kind of the context of the whole program, including the location, that just made Penn the better fit for me. It was one hell of a personal decision.

You've travelled a lot, you've gone backpacking, you've had plenty of time. Others likely haven't, so why sweepingly say that travelling is a waste and you strongly advise against it? You're approaching it from one of many angles but others are in different positions coming at grad school from different angles. 

This thread seems to be all over the place. You are unsure about research as a career, mentioning that you might do a master's or medical school. However, you are set on a specific type of research. You also allude to potential problems by asking which field is "easier." 
Start by determining career type. Do you want to diagnose and treat patients? If so, go to medical school. You can do research as an MD, but you might have to do a post-doc after residency. Do you want to do the highest form of research without direct patient care? More specifically, do you want to show up to lab every day, read articles, conduct experiments, balance two or more projects at a time, present your work at conferences, publish articles, mentor students, and live a life of contemplation? If so, do a PhD. Do you want to do solid research with a deep clinical focus? That is, do you want to see patients once or twice a week while running a research group? Do you want to see patients with serious disorders while working to develop new treatments for those disorders? Do you want to be in training until you are 35 to 38? If so, do an MD/PhD. Those are really your three options if you want to be a career scientist. A master's should be used as a stepping stone because you didn't have enough research experience or as a way to get a job as a staff scientist (not a PI). 
Once you know which degree program to pursue, you can start looking at specific programs. Never apply to a program to work with a single professor. Unless you are applying directly to work with that person, you will likely end up in a different lab. Apply to programs with three to five professors doing research you like. If you are applying to medical schools, apply broadly and go where ever you get admitted. 
The field you choose is based on your experiences. If you have done human genetics research and you know that is what you want to do and you cannot fathom doing anything else, apply to programs specific to genetics. That applies to any type of research. However, if there is any chance that you will want to do something else (sounds like a real possibility based on your post), apply to larger programs or programs without a specific aim. For example, my program, BBS, is an umbrella program. We can work in any field. I rotated in a basic cell biology lab, a cancer cell metabolism lab, and a human genetics and neuroscience lab. I came in with six years of cancer research experience, but I ended up joining the human genetics and neuroscience lab. 
Overall, you are approaching this issue at the wrong end. You are looking at research areas before you are set on doing research. Take some time to reflect on your experiences. Decide what degree to pursue, then go from there. 
P.S. If you start a PhD then realize you want to do something else, most PhD programs will let you leave after two years with a master's. 

Oh, I got that email. When I first read it I thought they said that "we have more highly accomplished applicants than you." I was pretty upset for about an hour before I realized I misread it.
Still a little annoyed because during the interviews I qualified my responses with things like "if I have the opportunity to go here, _______" and just about every prof would stop me and say that everybody gets in. Guess not.  

OMG. I won the NSF GRF. How did that happen? I'm shocked. Great way to begin the weekend, that's for sure. Now I just have to decide where I'm going.

Officially committed to Vanderbilt IGP. Excited to see they moved one up to #14 this year.
Opened up waitlist spots for Sinai CAB and Emory CB. Hope they pulled someone off the waitlist who really wants to go!

Happy to say I just accepted an offer of admission from one of my top choices and a top 20 school in my field.  For all of those with low-GPAs, there is hope! Find a masters that will accept you... do extremely well and the door will open for Ph.D programs! 
EDIT:  Also, thank you to this community for the great advice and support along the way! 

Accepted to VCU BSDP!

Epigenetics, I feel for you.  I was in the same boat, I had an interview at my "dream" school, and ultimately it seems like I will be getting rejected.  However, I had an interview at another program, and I completely feel in love with them.  I just received an acceptance, and I'm so happy that things turned out the way they did because I might have missed out on this opportunity.  Let yourself grieve for a couple of days, but then get things together and kill your next interview!  
 

Got an acceptance email from JHU this afternoon! Psyched!

Accepted to NYU with a 2.6 uGPA. Miracles happen. 

Hey Academia is great too, as long as your doing research.
But why would you spend 5 years learning techniques to give it all up and become a consultant? or to give it up for journalism? Those five years could be allocated in a much more efficient way.
Going to grad school is a huge undertaking and a massive risk when you want to become a researcher, but then I think, well if half the kids around me are already not aiming for what I am aiming for then I have quite an advantage. IF they come into grad school from day one with the intent of not becoming a scientist, then my competition is much fewer than the entire class that is entering.
I'm not putting all of my eggs into the basket of becoming an academic, I would also go into industry if academia fails.
Okay so yeah, let's talk about salary. Going to graduate school is a massive opportunity cost salary wise, if you are getting your PhD for salary purposes you are in for a nasty surprise, the chances of you making good money are actually higher if you don't go into school for your PhD. Let's say you get an average job at 50k a year starting, by the time five year passes if you are a smart person (smart enough to get into grad school) your salary should be much bigger than 50k. 
I'm not in science for the money at all. I'm in it for the love of asking and answering questions. For results, I am crossing my fingers that I will get LUCKY...

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? 

Got into Duke Pharm program. Was my top Choice and will be taking it!! 
 
 

Accepted to Cornell BBS! 
Definitely a huge relief, as this ended up being the only school I got an interview for. 
Was definitely thinking that things were really bleak a while ago but now that's all changed!

I'm nursing a 102 degree fever that refuses to go down and coming to terms with the idea that it probably isn't a good idea to drive tonight to my interview...
And suddenly I get an email that I got into Harvard BBS!!!!!! 
Happy, feverish mess = me. 

Just got a call from a professor at UCSF that I got into Tetrad  

Acceptance to Pitts IBGP!  So excited. i interviewed there the weekend of 1/20.

Just got into Univ of Michigan PIBS - CMB!

Northwestern IBiS acceptance!

accepted to Chicago! now I can relax, good luck to everyone else!

Accepted to University at Buffalo Biological Science. This is my first acceptance and it feels so surreal