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KR Marksmen

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Posts posted by KR Marksmen

  1. 43 minutes ago, Gopher29 said:

    Hi! Would you be able to expand on this some more? I’ve heard this point from others as well, but I don’t fully understand why it’s the case. Isn’t the coursework the foundation for learning new techniques in depth before applying them?  I know most of your time in a PhD will be researching, but are you expected to self-teach relevant skills like biostats, vs applying these skills after coursework training?

    The relatively small amount of time doing coursework on topics that aren't related to the most likely very small subsection of biology you do is why coursework should be a secondary factor. You will(should) learn more from PI/Postdocs/Lab work and from your individual reading than you will from your class work. Coursework can lay the foundation for an area you are weak in, have no experience in if you are shifting into a new topic area (like trying to join a lab that does Immunology, but you have no background in Immuno), or give you a deeper understanding of topics that you have already been exposed to in undergraduate biology but by no means have I been in a course were the concepts are totally new. It's just a deeper understanding of basic concepts being taught.

    I wouldn't follow this quote 100% but I was told to "get the lowest possible passing grade for your coursework". Why? because if you are spending all your time studying for courses, you most likely aren't spending enough time in the lab doing research and learning hands on. That being said, If you are trying to be competitive for grants GPA is a factor so don't tank anything. Find the balance that offers you an understanding of your coursework without causing a deficit to your lab work. At the end of the day its what you produce at the bench/computer that will speak volumes not the fact that you got an A in a 1st-year cell biology course.

     

  2. On 3/11/2018 at 11:47 PM, Carly Rae Jepsen said:

    I might go to WashU and really liked the Delmar Loop area, but I'm aware it's so-so safety wise. What would you suggest for someone who values walkability? I would ideally search for a place near campus. Sad to hear about public transport sucking, as I won't get a car nor plan to get one soon, really.

    Delmar Loop is a great area. Lots of food and entertainment. That being said, just like every city, you have to learn the safe and not so safe areas. If you stay within the loop you should be fine. Same goes for most of the popular student living areas (CWE, Delmar/U City). To me St Louis is very easy to tell you are in an area you "shouldn't be in", you'll recognize that your surroundings have drastically changed.

    Most of my student friends live in/around the loop, in the central west end, or by debaliviere/forest park(Recommend waiting to move to this area until after your first year). If you find a place in either of those though public transportation won't be an issue. Students have free access to metro/subway and you can get to most things you need (school, grocery store, entertainment) in less than 10 minutes. Walkability is great and even with cars most of us (that being my classmates) rarely use them for normal day to day. 

    Feel free to PM if you have any more questions.

  3. 4 hours ago, whybanana said:

    How early should I begin the PhD application process (i.e. reaching out to professors/schools, preparing a research proposal)?

     

    I started writing and researching schools mid july. I got serious about it in August though and wrote most of my generic essays (why PhD/PS/research Statement). These essays and an updated CV were proofread by several people, my mentor pi and advisors, and finished by mid September. I used October to tailor each essay to each school(different schools want specific things addressed in essays or have additional diversity essays). 

    I took my GRE in November exactly two weeks before December 1st(lol dont do that, shoot for mid october at the latest) or else I would have submitted all my apps mid November. Every app was submitted before December 1st.

  4. If anyone from the north east will be taking a uhaul through the DC area to WUSTL this summer/August or will go through st louis I'm trying to find someone to take my mattress and we can work out the compensation. DM if you are interested. 

    (Shipping costs for just a queen mattress are ridiculous, but to expensive /new of a mattress to just buy a new one)

  5. Hi all! I'm positive and committed already to Washington University in St. Louis DBBS Biochemistry.

    Side note.  If anyone from the north east will be taking a uhaul through the DC area to WUSTL this summer/August or will go through st louis I'm trying to find someone to take my mattress and we can work out the compensation. DM if you are interested. 

    (Shipping costs for just a queen mattress are ridiculous, but to expensive /new of a mattress to just buy a new one)

  6. Try to present your research.  It doesn't need to be a big national conference.  A symposium/poster session at your university is good enough.  Showing that you can present your research usually means you have a certain level of understanding of your project and looks good to adcoms.

    I think it's hard to say things to improve on or add since you didn't really post your stats or what you have already done.

     

  7. There's still hope! I got into 3 different schools this cycle all ranked between top 5 to top 15 in the country. I graduated with a 3.27. My last year gpa was actually around 2.9. I took two years off did full time research and applied to programs broadly. Although there will definitely be programs that look over you because gpa if you can try to do these things it will help you a lot.

    1. Explain any hardship you had that caused your gpa to be low. So important!!!!

    2. Rockout your gre and use it to balance out your gpa and include that although your gpa is low your gre shows you are capable of learning. (Despite the fact that correlations between gre and graduate school success are minuscule at best)

    3. Do full time research/post bac if you don't want to go the masters route. All my projects haven't worked but im able to go in depth about every topic related to my projects and this impressed every adcom I interviewed with. Additionally, working in a lab full time just makes you think differently and actively so that when adcom members talk about their research you can naturally follow up. Showing that you can think like a scientist will impress on the interview trail. 

    4. Apply broadly and don't limit yourself by your gpa. There's also alot of ways to get free applications.  If there is a graduate school fair attend it and tell programs how interested you are and ask for a few waiver. Out of 10 schools i paid for 2. The broader you apply the more likely you are for a program to take a chance. 

    5. Same as 1 but so important im saying it twice. Don't hide from your gpa. Address it in all your applications and talk about why it happened and what changes you have made since then. If you don't explain why it's low schools won't care and your applications will get dropped. Don't make it sound like your being whiny or it wasn't your fault. No matter the hardship own up to it and tell how you've grown and why those issues are no longer an issue for you. 

    Good luck on your grad school journey!

    18 hours ago, whybanana said:

    I'm graduating soon and I feel like I'm constantly on the brink of a meltdown. 

    I want to pursue a PhD more than anything, but my GPA is really holding me back. Though I go to a top institution, and have taken Honors courses in almost every STEM course, my GPA is stuck at approximately 3.25, which might go up to a 3.3 by the time I graduate. I have a very high GRE, but it seems like most people do anyway.

    I know that I am capable of much more. My story is not unique, and I don't like excuses, but I lost someone very dear to me during my first semester of college, and continued to suffer the loss (and other personal issues) for the next two years. By the end of junior year, I had gotten a handle on some of these issues and managed to boost my grades. 

    I'm currently running my own research project, and have amazing recommendations from professors I have done research with. I am extremely close to being first author on a high impact journal publication (of a project I conceived and designed; to be published later this year), and am a very well respected member of the research community at my university. 

    I did not apply to PhD programs because I felt that they were too much of a reach, considering my GPA.  I have a few remaining options:

    1. I was offered a research position at the lab I currently work at, but I'm not sure if I want to take it.

    2. I'm applying to top UK one-year research programs, but I'm not sure if they will take me because of my grades.

    3. I might apply to a Masters program in the US to boost my grades in preparation for a PhD application.

    What should I do? I'm terrified that I'll be left with no chance at a PhD in the next two years.

     

     

  8. 6 minutes ago, L543 said:

    Same...Every time I get an email notification, my heart jumps, and it just ends up being spam. The program I interviewed at Feb 10th told me to expect a decision late February-early March, but at my interview I was told more like 1-2 weeks...I am stressing out

     
     

    I've been doing the same thing!!! Newegg and Linkedin scared me so bad!!! 

    One of my programs said by the end of February. Glad it's a short month. 3 less days to panic!

     

  9. 9 hours ago, Kaede said:

    I have been admitted to every program I've interviewed at thus far and I have yet to have a conversation about a professor's work other than them speaking with me about it at the very end. I haven't even really gotten a chance to ask intelligent questions about their work because time runs out by the time we start talking about their research. Are my experiences outliers?

    Mine have been a mix. Most are half and half.  First half being "Tell me about yourself" (meaning research) followed by why i did certain things and why i want to come to that particular school. Second half being "I'm going to tell you what my lab does and try to pitch to you to rotate in my lab if you matriculate."

    I definitely had one interviewer who did nothing but grill me. Literally asked me to draw out pathways, draw a structure, and give him an explanation on how would i tackle a research problem his lab had previously. 

    On the other end I had an interview start off with "im going to tell you about two projects my lab works on. Feel free to stop and ask questions and make suggestions.  Otherwise it will be 30 minutes of me just rambling". 

  10. On 1/30/2017 at 10:01 PM, Bubbles_L said:

    I think the most important thing is to be prepared for your own research experience. So far, I think most faculty will not ask much about the details, but be prepared! I asked about the program, their opportunities, asked about potential areas I want to learn about but haven't got experience thus far... It is really like you are also interview them when they are interviewing you... That was a skype interview, I think onsite interview would make interaction more possible, and that's the good thing.

    BTW, when are you interviewing WUSTL exactly? I will also have my onsite interview(first onsite!) at WashU. Very looking forward to it.

    Thanks! This weekend! Good luck on your interviews.

  11. 38 minutes ago, Pepperoni said:

    Wisconsin Madison interview down, emory and washu to go. All cancer bio except WashU.

    Any hope at this point of hearing from Penn, Northwestern, or Chicago? Should I make one last ditch effort e-mail to the ad-coms if not?

     

    Are you interviewing for Biochem at WashU? Wondering if you got your Faculty list yet.

    • Albert Einstein Biomedical sciences: Jan 25-27
    • Berkeley Comp Bio: Feb 14-16
    • Berkeley IB: Jan 27-28
    • Berkeley Cell Molecular Bio: Feb 12-14, Feb 26-28
    • Boston University PiBS: Jan 26-28, Feb 9-11
    • CMU-Pitt Comp bio: Feb 23-25, March 2-4
    • Columbia Biological Sciences: Jan 22-23, Mar 2-4
    • Columbia Biomedical Informatics: Jan 27-29th
    • Cornell Tri Institutional computational biology: Feb 26-27.
    • University of Chicago Molecular Biosciences: Jan 19-21, Feb 9-11, Feb 23-25
    • Duke Biochemistry: Feb 9-12 or Feb 23-26
    • Duke CMB: February 2-4 or February 16-18
    • Harvard BIG (I asked and then asked a contact I have and all I could get was late January or early February)
    • Havard BBS: Jan 26-29, Feb 9-12
    • Harvard MCO: Jan 25-28, Feb 1-4
    • Icahn SOM at Mount Sinai (Neuro only): January 9-10
    • Icahn SOM at Mount Sinai (non-neuro): January 12-13 or January 19-20
    • Johns Hopkins CMM: January 19-20 or February 23-24
    • UMichigan PIBS: Jan 26-28, Feb 2-4, Feb 9-11
    • MIT Biology: Feb 11-14, Feb 25-28, March 11-14
    • MIT CSBi: Feb 3 & 10
    • MIT HST: march 2-4  (strange those two overlap as they are 2 of the top comp bio programs)
    • Northwestern DGP: Jan 12-14, Jan 26-28, Feb 9-11
    • NIH OxCam: February 15-17
    • NYU GSAS: Feb 2-3, Feb 16-17
    • Penn State BMMB: Jan 26-28
    • Princeton EEB: Feb 7-9
    • Princeton QCB: Feb 9-11
    • Rockefeller: Feb 23-24, March 2-3
    • Sanger 4-year program: Jan 23rd
    • Sloan Kettering: Jan 10-12
    • Stanford BI: march 1-5
    • Stanford Biosciences: March 1-5
    • UConn Health Biomedical Sciences: Feb 10-11
    • University of Washington Biology: Jan 26-28
    • University of Washington Genome Sciences: Feb 12-14, Feb 26-28
    • UC Irvine CMB: Jan 26-27, Feb 9-10
    • UCSD BMS: Feb 2-5, Feb 23-26
    • UCSF BMS: Jan 26-28, Feb 9-11
    • UCSF bioinformatics: Feb 9-10, Feb 16-17
    • UCSF TETRAD: Feb 2-5, Feb 24-27
    • UIC GEMS: Feb 10, Feb 24
    • UNC Chapel Hill BBSP: Feb 2-4, Feb 16-18, March 2-4
    • UMass Medical School BBS: January 26-27 or February 2-3
    • UPenn CAMB: Jan 19-21, Feb 2-4
    • UPenn Biology: Feb 24
    • UT Austin Cell and Molecular Biology: Jan 19-22, Feb 9-12
    • Vanderbilt IGP: Feb 3rd, 10th, 17th
    • Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) Biochemistry DBBS February 2-4 and February 16-1
    • Yale BBS Immunology: Feb 16-19
    • Yale BBS MMPP: Feb 16-19
    • Yale CBB/MCGD: Feb 3-5
  12. 10 minutes ago, Bioenchilada said:

    Maybe they're an outlier; however, I was under the impression that each department within biosciences acts independently of each other, so they don't have to follow those guidelines strictly. A couple people have posted getting Stanford invites before today. 

     
     
     

    Thanks for the info. That answer was from Stanford Biochems website.

    I'll cross my fingers in hope that they still send out more. But will also dampen my expectations a little

  13. 13 minutes ago, Bioenchilada said:

    I think @inadequate got Stanford Biochem in December.

    I was hoping that he/she might have been an early outstanding applicant and an outlier. 

     

    Their website says they will release invitations today or during this week.:unsure:

    "Q: What is your timeline for reviewing applications?
    A: The Admissions Committees will start to review applicant files directly following the application deadline. It is important that all of your application materials are submitted by the deadline. During the week of January 9, 2017, the committees will start to contact those applicants who have been selected for an interview. "

  14. 6 minutes ago, Pepperoni said:

    when did you get an interview invite??? I still haven't heard from Chicago...

    I did it. They were very happy to accommodate. I told them my friend was in the program and wanted to take me around the city and tour the school a little more. 

    *Note if you already made flight arrangements previously they may ask you to pay the difference to change it. In my case the difference to extend a day was 2 dollars lol which they decided to cover.

     

    Accidently replied to the comment that was replying to the comment i wanted to reply too.....don't know how to change it....

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