neuroslice
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Posts posted by neuroslice
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Now that the dust is starting to settle a bit from the admissions season, I was wondering if anybody has given much thought to what they'll do this summer? Is it at all important to keep doing research? I'm sort of tempted to just because I know I'll go insane after a week without anything to do.
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17 hours ago, busybee said:
Congratulations!!!
This is interesting, and doesn't surprise me at all. I really feel like I won the lottery with this fellowship. I'm sure more than half of the people who apply are of "high quality." And reading some of the comments on this forum, it seems like some applications really just hit bad luck with over-worked and tired reviewers. One of my cohort-mates had five E's and one P, and got HM--but I feel like she deserved it more than me, with so much more research experience and publications! The last reviewer just seemed to miss her bold-faced "broader impacts" section and gave her a P.
I completely agree. A friend and I worked together very closely on our apps, sending drafts back and forth, running things by each other, etc. and I ended up getting the award and he ended up with a HM :/ I think our essays were of similar quality and we had similar levels of research experience/publications, but I thought he had much better broader impacts from his extracurriculars. With so many qualified applicants, I guess it just devolves into a crap shoot
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On 3/20/2017 at 8:51 AM, Levon3 said:
@neuroslice Also, fastlane is back up, so you should now be able to log in and see your decision.
I got the fellowship! Incredibly excited
I ended up logging into the website once it was back online - still not sure why I never got an email, but it all worked out in the end
E/E E/VG E/E
- Kaede, bioinformaticsGirl, busybee and 1 other
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12 minutes ago, Levon3 said:
I received an email that I got it. Make sure you check your spam folder!
Weird, I got no email at all... I found this on the website "Email notifications have been sent to all reviewed applicants. If you did not receive a notification, please email info@nsfgrfp.org from the email address you used on your FastLane GRFP application, including your name, 10-digit applicant ID number, and primary mailing address."
So I should have gotten an email even if I was rejected? Just going to have to send them an email I guess
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Do you need to check fastlane to get the results or would I have received an email if I got it? I didn't realize they were released and now the website is down for maintenance
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11 hours ago, seven27 said:
Just heard from UW. Hope it's good news for @neuroslice and @Bbbbbbbb (and whoever else is waiting for a response) as well
Me too!
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26 minutes ago, Bbbbbbbb said:
Anyone hear back from UW?
I think they said it would be by the end of the month, I haven't heard back yet either.
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12 minutes ago, Cervello said:
During interviews, has anyone been asked where else they are interviewing (they already know where I've applied since I answered that question in full on the application)? If so, how do you reply? Do you answer vaguely (I'm interviewing at 5 comparable programs) or do you name the schools? What do you think are the pros/cons to either response?
I've been asked this by a quite a few of the PIs who've interviewed me and so far I've been answering honestly and telling them the school names. They usually just say something along the lines of "It sounds like you'll have some good options" and then tell me why I should come to their school instead
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2 hours ago, vnatch said:
Since hearing back about interviews, I've started researching the practical and financial reasons why I should choose one school over another, and I came across a really basic question. Is the stipend awarded by my program meant to be enough to completely live off of? I have been under the assumption that it is, and I've been avoiding worrying about living costs by reminding myself that the amount of money I'm granted is supposed to be enough to live independently. However, is this true? I know I won't have anything close to a lavish lifestyle as a grad student, but is it possible that I'll need to take on even more debt to make it? I'm especially worried about living in San Fransisco, since a friend of mine told me it's so expensive that the UCSF or Stanford stipend would not be enough.
Similarly, do many grad students also hold part time jobs? The grad students in my undergraduate lab all seem way too busy to work outside of their research, so I'm not sure if this is common or not.
It's pretty uncommon to work part time while in graduate school, and I'm guessing that most graduate advisors wouldn't approve. I'd recommend talking to the current students during interviews to see where they're currently living. You could also (subtly) ask if they feel like the stipend is enough to get by comfortably.
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I don't think this is as bad as it seems at first glance. 70 admits out of a group of 120 is approximately a ~60% acceptance rate, but you have to consider that even top programs don't have 100% enrollment rates. The students that end up getting offers from Harvard are going to be getting offers from other excellent schools, so they always have to send out more offers than they have spots in order to fill out their incoming class. This means that the the actual post-interview admissions rate has to substantially higher than 60% - I figure that somewhere around 80% is reasonable based on the numbers you mentioned.
Edit: Didn't see OP's edit to his original post. But I do think it's reasonable to expect an 80% rate.
- Nomad1111 and hippopotamus
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20 hours ago, Microburritology said:
Umm it was a little more than 75% last year (my cycle), and we're planning on the same this year. My PI is actually on the ad-com this year, and she said literally all they look for if you've been called up for the interview is a) you are the same science-passionate student you seem on paper, and
you aren't an arrogant douchebag.
All the best
This is terrific news, thanks so much!
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I've read online that Yale BBS is one of the lowest (50%) which has made me pretty nervous about that interview. It would be great if someone could confirm (I'm applying within the neuroscience division).
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I've been fortunate to get a lot of interview invitations but am now trying to figure out how to arrange travel for them all. I have three interviews that are basically back to back (I will have to go straight from one to the other without returning home in between). Is it okay for me to ask for plane tickets from or to somewhere other than where I reside? I assume it'll be frowned upon to use their money to go to interviews with other schools?
And with one program I will have to miss a welcome dinner on the night we're supposed to arrive - Univ A has events throughout that day while Univ B just has a welcome dinner, so I figure that I will attend all of A's events, use the night to travel between the two and end up missing Univ B's dinner. This minimizes the amount of stuff I miss because I'm traveling during the night instead of the day, but I don't want it to look like I'm not committed to the school. Should I be up front about why I'm missing the dinner and just say I have an interview I already committed to (I committed to interview offer from A before hearing from B)?
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2 hours ago, purkinjay said:
I also just got an invite from Yale and I am very excited (!!!) but also really not sure what to do because their interview dates conflict precisely with UPenn. Is anyone else experiencing this problem/have an suggestions? I was not able to get into the January session for Penn.
Edit: I'm really sorry to whine about this, I just have no clue what to do :/
I'm in a somewhat similar position. I have an interview scheduled for the day right before another and I don't think I can get from one to the other without missing events. It would be great if someone had advice.
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13 hours ago, Cervello said:
It's at top of my list, too. Actually, so is Columbia.
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...
- Janiejoneswoah and Cervello
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4 hours ago, Tessellate said:
Have Emory and UNC finished sending out invites?
I got an email from UNC saying they will continue reviewing applications after winter break
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2 hours ago, purkinjay said:
Hi guys! Has anyone heard specifically from Columbia's neurobio/behavioral program? I think I've seen a few people say they've been contacted for biological/biomed sciences but not this, though maybe I misread. Anxiously waiting...
I don't think they've started sending out invites yet, but I imagine it'll happen over the next couple of days. They usually seem to send them a couple of days before Christmas.
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Can anybody confirm about UCSF? Are they just sending invitations today?
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1 minute ago, Janiejoneswoah said:
It was just a form letter from an administrator, but i'm fine with that...
Didn't mean it as a bad thing! Just trying to figure out if they're sending them all at once.
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3 minutes ago, Janiejoneswoah said:
Just got invited to interview at UCLA and Johns Hopkins neuroscience in emails that arrived within 2 minutes of each other!!!
Congrats! I also heard from UCLA just now. Was your Hopkins interview from a POI? Or was it generic?
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1 hour ago, FlipWizard said:
The email I received from them on December 5th stated interview invitations will be sent in January, with interviews taking place in early March. I haven't received anything from them since then.
Yeah, that's the same email I got as well. I was thrown off by the self reported results on the grad cafe survey page, but I guess I shouldn't make too much of it yet.
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anybody know if all MIT brain and cognitive sciences invites are out yet? I see a couple of results were posted but nobody has mentioned it on here
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31 minutes ago, seven27 said:
If the person who submitted the Duke Neuroscience interview invite is lurking this thread, could they let us know if they applied to the psychology & neuroscience program or the neurobiology program (edit: or the cog neuro program)? Thanks!
I wasn't the one who submitted that, but I got an interview from Duke Neurobiology earlier today.
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6 minutes ago, kokobanana said:
Invites for Harvard's PiN come out all at once. I don't know if that is true about any other programs at Harvard.
That's unfortunate... but oh well, plenty of schools left. Good luck to you all as we struggle through this!
Summer before Graduate School
in Biology
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I'm actually backpacking in SE Asia for a couple of weeks, which should be fun! Just trying to figure out what to do with the rest of my time...