emfarce

So before I get into what I want to talk about, let me give you some of my stats. 3.15 uGPA from Northeastern University in Boston, 3.0 major. Had a rough first year, and addressed this in my SOP. 3.5 GPA for final 60 credit hours, so I made up some ground there. GRE scores were 159 V, 161 Q, and 4.0 writing (meh). 3 summer research co-ops at NU, and six months experience working at a cancer biology lab at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (let go because of funding issues). Strong LORs (two former PIs, one former plant bio professor). Applied to 11 schools, focusing on plant biology. Had one interview at Michigan State (PLB), but have yet to hear from there, as well as Oregon State ( BBP) , Washington State (PLB), Colorado State (Botany), U Minnesota (PBS). I understand rolling acceptances occur, but if I didn't get an interview, what is taking them so long to get back to me? Being in limbo like this makes you ask yourself a lot of questions, and I'm sure many of you can relate. Are any of you in the same boat, or have been at one point? Or, has anybody heard from the programs that were previously mentioned? Thanks a lot!

Anybody heard back from Michigan State (Plant Biology) ? Interviewed weekend of February 3rd and have yet to hear from them. Also saw that someone said they got accepted February 18th. Also, has anybody heard back from Oregon State (Botany and Plant Pathology), Colorado State (Botany), and Washington State (Plant Biology) ? Cheers!

Well that's a relief! Good to know they're still going through applications, and thank you for the response! Are you an undergrad there or working on your masters?

Still haven't heard anything from any other school besides MSU... Starting to get worried; I applied to Biology PhD programs, and Plant Biology programs if the schools offered them. WashU, UNC, Duke, and ASU were all Biology, and schools like Oregon State, Wash State, Colorado State and U of Minnesota were all Plant Biology. Anyone heard anything from these schools regarding these programs?

My interview at MSU for Plant Sciences is all set...but still haven't heard anything from anyone else. Are plant programs slower to send out invites? I also applied to BBS programs if the schools did not have Plant Biology related PhD programs.

Thank you for your response! That all makes sense, and hopefully I hear from other schools now. I had a few that were January deadlines, and some of my December deadline schools stated that they begin application reviews in January, so fingers crossed! Happy new year!

Happy new year everybody! So I had some thoughts regarding interviews. It appears that they contact strong domestic applicants mostly for interviews, but if you don't get one, are you likely to get rejected by that school? Not all applicants will commit to a program they got in to, and I do wonder if schools just seek strong domestic applicants in the interview and ignore all others. I would think that strong-ish applicants that are not interviewed are kept waiting, and if the program can take on more students, they will contact said applicants. Some of my friends have gotten into schools without an interview, making me even more unsure how this already random process works. Anyways, just some ramblings from me. Only heard back from Michigan State's Plant Sciences program, and have an interview scheduled early February. Best of luck to all of you!

Had anyone heard back from the following schools: Cornell (Plant Biology); Duke (Biology), U Washington (Biology), or Oregon State (Botany and Plant Pathology)? Cheers!

Undergrad Institution: Northeastern University (Boston, MA)Major(s): Biology Minor(s):GPA in Major: 3.0 Overall Undergrad GPA: 3.15 (however, for my last 60 semester hours, I had a 3.5. Low GPA can be attributed to poor start freshman and sophomore (only 1st semester) yearPosition in Class: AverageAbove Average Type of Student: Male GRE Scores (revised/old version):Q:161V:159W:4.0Research Experience: 2 years of experience; did three 6-month co-ops (research interships) at Northeastern. Also worked for 6 months at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list two semesters Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Worked as a tutor for high school biology for one summer, involved in biology club at Northeastern Applying to Where: PhD programs for Biology with emphasis on plant biology- some schools offer Plant Biology/Botany PhD programs Top choices: U Washington Cornell Duke Other choices: Michigan State Oregon State Washington State UNM UCSB Colorado State U Minnesota Recently got an email from MSU inviting me to their Plant Sciences recruiting weekend. That has been a big boost in my confidence of getting in to a good program, and MSU is a school I am very interested in!

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.

So I got a 320 on the GRE; 159 verbal and 161 quant. Good enough for 82nd and 79th percentile respectively. I got only a 4.0 on writing though, which is pretty bad for me imo. I have 3 strong recs, two PI's and one professor emeritus from my undergraduate institution, and a 3.15 GPA. Given all this, how are my chances to get into a top 55 program? I have about 5 schools that are ranked 55th-130th, but I'm curious to see how high my ceiling is for schools that I have at least a chance in. Cheers! -Kartik