Some violinist

Since you're applying to engineering programs (non-biomedical), you may want to refer to the "Applied Sciences & Mathematics" section of the forums as they can probably give you a much better outlook/feedback for your profile since many of us are applying to biological sciences programs and would not have the expertise necessary to answer many of your specific questions regarding your field. Here's a link: https://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/32-engineering/

Good luck!

For people interested in synthetic biology, I updated the list that I mentioned above. 
 
Because http://syntheticbiology.org/Labs.html  list was somewhat outdated, I made a new list. I probably did not include every synthetic biologists. Leave me a message if you think I missed anyone. I will add them in. The number inside the parenthesis is the Google Scholar h-index for your information.   Boston University Densmore Lab (18) Khalil Lab (13)  Wong Lab (9) Caltech Arnold Lab (101) Cornell  John March (n/a) Georgia Tech Gaucher Lab (24) Harvard Silver Lab (90)  Church Lab (118)  MIT Lu Lab (n/a) Prather Lab (n/a) Voigt Lab (n/a)  Weiss Lab (n/a)  Collins Lab (97) Northwestern University Jewett Lab (22) Tyo Lab (18) Penn State Salis Lab (14) Princeton Jose L. Avalos (n/a) Rice University Tabor Lab (11) Stanford University Endy Lab (n/a) Smolke Lab (n/a) UC Berkeley Anderson Lab (n/a) Dueber Lab (15) Keasling Lab (78) Adam Arkin (69) UC Irvine Liu Lab  (n/a) UC Los Angeles  James Liao (70) Yvonne Chen (n/a) UC San Francisco Lim Lab (n/a)  UI Urbana Champaign Huimin Zhao (41) Virginia Tech Peccoud's Lab (21) Washington University is St. Louis  Tae Seok Moon (n/a) Fuzhonng Zhang (n/a) Yinjie Tang (n/a) Yale University Isaacs Lab (n/a) 

Yes, while nothing is certain yet, now is the right time to start calling your representatives to tell them to oppose this bill and tell them your personal story of how it will affect you personally. Unlike academic arguments which are often constructed as unbiased, dispassionate and impersonal ideas, the best way to engage with your politician is to tell personal anecdotes! At the same time, if you are already a graduate student put pressure on your school to oppose this bill because it's something that hurts them as much as it will hurt you.
Definitely not a reason to panic yet. But a good time to start doing something!

I was in a similar situation with a PI and had wrote about here at Grad Cafe in the past.  Frankly, I thought that my acceptance into this lab/program was all but guaranteed so you can imagine my surprise when I saw the rejection letter.  As it had turned out, the PI simply had not seen all of the applications yet and I can only assume that a better application had come across his desk after we had spoke.  Not suggesting the same fate for you and I truly hope you have a different outcome, I am only illustrating that these things happen.  I am not one to believe that  'everything happens for a reason' but I do believe that there are multiple future events that the future *you* may become a part of.  Yeah, I know, no duh, right?  I' just saying there are many paths towards the same end-goal, some of which might include time, money, and an MS program.  I am familiar with your postings around Grad Cafe; when I read them I often think to myself, 'this is something I may have written back in 2013/2014'.  In a way, my responses here are a sort of my future self giving my past self advice. Serendipity is a marvelous thing and I would not be where I am now without having failed hard, many times. Now, I am likely in one of the best positions for me to enter into a Ph.D. program;  certainly in a better position now than I was even a year ago.  The caveat of course is I must wait another year or two, but so what?  
 
I had read something somewhere on the Internet a few years ago; it was a post by a guy who in his forties was concerned that he would be too old by the time he [would] have earned his Ph.D.  Another poster responded to him by reminding him that, 'you can be 50 with a Ph.D., or you can be 50 without a Ph.D.  Either way, you will still be 50'.  As someone who is older than most around here, words to live by for sure.  
 
Anyways, you seem to be in a better position than I was before all of this.  I imagine you will also have better luck.  About UCs:  If you want Scripps, would it not be possible to attend UCSD and work in collaboration with Scripps, assuming we are discussing the same Scripps?  I also assumed that UCSF would have the BioChem you are looking for and if not then UCB or UCLA. Possibly Irvine, but Irvine might be more on the BioTech side of things. 

Dear Academic Faculty Researchers,
If you want to attract new researchers to your labs, please actually write a proper description about what you do. Writing "biochemistry and metabolism biochemistry" tells the viewer nothing. Writing "DNA repair or protein-protein interactions" also tells the viewer nothing. If you are going to be so vague in your faculty page, please at the very least update your lab page. Going to your lab page and clicking on the research tab only to be presented with a "Coming Soon" page, is also as useless as your 5 word job descriptions on your faculty page. The same goes for the opposite. Please do not write a 5 page introduction to the problem your research addresses, then only end it with a 2 sentence description of what your lab actually does. Please specifically indicate what potential biophysical techniques you use in the lab, instead of just saying "Biophysical techniques". A protein crystallography lab is completely different from a protein mass spec or nmr lab. Please organize your publications, and properly space them out. It is incredibly difficult to highlight one single publication, when you have every publication from the past 10 years crammed back to back with no spaces in between them (i.e. yesliterallylikethiswithnospacesbetweenanypublicationsfromrighttolefttoptobottom). Please do not put publications that you had very little or almost nothing to do with on your faculty or lab page. I do not want to get excited about a publication and read it, only to find out your lab literally only ran one of the 50 samples in the paper (often times the original PI will put their name last or 2nd to last and put the students ahead of them, but this also happens if it is a collaboration between 2 labs and the other lab didn't do very much). If you do, please indicate that you were a collaborator in the paper, and not its author. 
Dear Schools,
Please, for the love of God, and everything that is holy and good, have an option to organize your faculty by researchers. When you don't create sub-departments, and cram Biochemistry (including structural, computational, biophysical, etc.), and cell and molecular all into one department, you will end up with over 50+ faculty members with different research interests. And if you do lack the ability to organize by research, please, super please, ultra please, for the goodness of mankind, at least put a brief or potential summary, or even just key words (e.g. "DNA repair") next to the persons name. Nobody wants to click on 50 faculty members, and have over 50 tabs open, only to find out that member does nothing remotely similar to what they are interested in doing. Please organize your faculty members into their appropriate departments based on their research. If they do interdisplenary work, then organize them into multiple departments, not just one. Having a biochemist who do biophysical work, in the physics department page, but not the biochemistry, biology, or chemistry department page (when their main focus of work is Biochemistry), makes it incredibly difficult for people interested in finding a lab like that. Basically, learn to organize your web pages, faculty, and departments, and stop being so lazy. It will make it easier for your faculty to find students who actually are interested in the research, and easier for students to navigate your departments labs. 

These PhD Application thingies make me tooooo stressed. I'm constantly second guessing myself and doubting myself and shit. 

No response on my last post so I’ll go again...
Undergrad Institution: University of Missouri - R1 AAU 
Graduate Institution: University of Southern California - R1 AAU
Major(s): U - Biochemistry
G - Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine 

Minor(s): U - Biology
GPA in Major: N/A
Overall GPA: uGPA 3.46 - gGPA 3.77
Position in Class: as per recommenders/mentors 
u - top 10%
g - top 15%

Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority? - Domestic / m / LD minority

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 161 (78%)
V: 161 (88%)
W: 5.0 (93%)
B: did horribly on the last biochemistry one they offered, cannot retake (28%) only USC has the score. Will not send to others.


TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this)

Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)
3 pubs (2nd/5, 2nd/6, 3rd/6 from grad)
earliest - most recent
1. 3.5 yrs in a large well known plant biochemistry lab at MU. Plant/symbiome project & irradiated plans development project. 
2. 2-3yrs in analytical/biophysical lab. 2 pubs (2nd author), Binding, stability and structural studies yielded exciting results. 
3. Graduate - site directed mutagenesis study of TM peptides and their lipid interactions. This uses ITC and Liquid state NMR, developed mutant peptide population from plasmid to peptide in sample. 3rd pub (3rd author/6)
4. Graduate (thesis) - I sought to develop a more physiologically and contextually relevant sample platform for membrane anchoring structural studies in liquid-state NMR. As my thesis committee mentioned this actually is 2 projects rolled into one in just over a year. Developed viable Nanodiscs for study, developed and successfully captured target peptide in the ND for structural study. 
5. Professional / Industry (<6 months, ~1.5yr at time of enrollment into intended PhD program in 2018). I work for a wonderful company (top-5 in Biotech in world), this is like google, lots of younger driven researchers. I really would like to stay here however I was advised to seek a PhD by my previous mentors, and I always wanted to ask/address and answer larger scientific questions. I develop proteins and purification methods for academic, government and industry research.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)
I train newcomers in our Biotech company on routine methods/techniques. 
I was a TA at MU for 7 semesters - newcoming/struggling science majors in record-enrollment years at MU. I led class discussion, developed lessons/activities. Provided support and advise for more rigorous STEM courses. 15-35 students/semester.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...) LD student a minority?

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: My grandfather passed away one late undergraduate semester, one course I was taking did not allow me to relschedule a midterm. I sat early for it so I could goto his funeral, I got a C in this course. Otherwise I would have Latin honors. 
I loved USC's program and connected really well with my advisor. I'm worried my subject GRE in Biochem (28%) screwed me. I took this while in grad school (bad idea, no time).

Applying to Where:
Biochemistry/Mol Bio/Strucural Bio
1. USC - continuing same vein of structural research.
2. Baylor College of Medicine - I've contacted two researchers and was scouted for membrane/structural research.
3. UCSD - with our old collaborator (I've been in contact) 
4. Scripps (SD) - A postdoctoral friend at UCLA went here, he provided advise and inspiration for using PD nanodiscs in my MS thesis.
5. UCLA - Working in my postdoctoral friend's dept/lab group using structural and allied techniques to resolve large peptide structures. 
Biomedical Sci
1. UCSD - similar lab group to my collaborator
Neuroscience
1. UCSD - another similar lab in the med school where my old collaborator is located.
 
 

A good SOP should be no more than 1,000 words/2 pages when the word count is not specified. At many of these universities, the admissions staff(Professors at times) is so small that they just do not have the resources or time to read hundreds, sometimes thousands of super lengthy essays. 1,000 words is more than enough space to get your point across. - Admissions Track

@Some violinist Nice! I expect my first draft will be around 1500 words, but I intend to cut it down to 1k for the final version.

Glad we could help!
 
I'm working on my SoP right now and am focusing on getting all of the information out first (before editing and tailoring to each program). My focus section is about 5 paragraphs at the moment (about 1.25 pages single spaced/724 words), though I expect that will reduce as I remove fluff and interweave my focus with the fit. I expect my sections will be focus (longest), fit (next longest), future (fairly short and direct). Right now I think the hardest part for completing it will be tailoring the fit section to each school, mostly because I'm looking at 11 programs, haha.  

I also agree that 12 point font is the standard in academia and you should stick to that. Profs are used to reading this font size too, because it's often the standard requirement for things like grants or other proposals they must read and write.
Typically, in the sciences, single space is the new standard. Your specific field may be different, but I have not heard this about biology. Double spacing manuscripts is intended to make editing and corrections easier, i.e. it's for drafts, not finished products like your SOP. In modern times, with PDF annotation and other electronic means for making edits, I rarely see any requests for double-spacing, except from people who really like to make notes on paper the old fashioned way.
It's okay to increase the line spacing a little bit for readability. 1.15x spacing sounds nice. I also agree that you can go up to 1.5x spacing without making it look too spaced out. Whatever you can do to make the reader's life easier is better. However, be sure to follow instructions exactly. If there is an expected format from the instructions, after reading dozens of essays, the ones that aren't correctly formatted stick out like a sore thumb, and you probably don't want to be exceptional in that sense.
There is no standard way to define the length of an academic document (i.e. word count vs. page length). The general conversion rate is 250 words per double-spaced page, or 500 words per single-space page. I would say that for my field, a typical length is 1.5-2 pages of single space (or slightly larger than single space), which translates to 750-1000 words. I feel that in the sciences, we typically ask for page count limits, not word limits because no one wants to count words, much easier to count pages.
Since your schools have no explicit instructions, you can interpret this as fairly flexible. No need to aim for a specific length, so don't stress if it's only 600 words or something, as long as you make the important points. I think you'll be safe if you aim for something that fills one entire page and then at least half of the second page.
Finally, I would advise against writing the SOP in only 3 paragraphs. Those paragraphs will be way too long and while the "3 F" approach you are following sounds like it will be a good guideline to keep in mind for the document, that doesn't mean one paragraph for each of the Fs. Usually, the defining feature of a paragraph is that it is used to communicate one idea. The sentences in each paragraph present the idea and provide support for that idea. But if someone were to summarize your SOP, they should end up with one bullet point per paragraph, give or take. Unless you truly only want to convey one single point for "fit", for example, I would advise you to split up the main points into more paragraphs.
This last part could be personal preference though. I personally like shorter paragraphs, 3-5 sentences each. Some people feel like 3 sentences is too short for a paragraph but I don't like combining too many thoughts into one paragraph. For something like a SOP, where a reader will likely skim through dozens of them in a single sitting, I would argue that whatever your usual preference may be, shorter paragraphs might be better. Imagine if someone was only going to read the first sentence of each paragraph (which they might, for a SOP initial review). What would be the key points you want to convey?

Hello everyone, 
So I have been looking at the department of the schools I want to apply, and almost none of them say anything regarding word count or page limit. Only one has stated normally SOPs are more than 1 page but less than 3. So with no direction I have a couple questions regarding SOP in Biological Sciences:
1) How long is the average SOP? Is it defined by page numbers or word count?
2) Is it double spaced? This goes back to question one in regards to what defines length. A double spaced SOP can actually be a very short 2 pages, where a single spaced one can come across as quite a lengthy SOP. 
3) What is the average or standard Format used? I am thinking of using just 3 paragraphs (focus, fit, future), with no real particular format (e.g. APA, MLA, etc.). Will that look bad? Should I use a particular format?
4) How about Font size? I usually use Font 14 (I like my letters relatively big), but my PI always complained it was way too big and a font size of 12 is perfect. This will again, effect the length of the paper, since smaller font, more information that can be put
5) And finally, why all of this matters, what is the "perfect" length. What I mean by that is more defined by characters. Yes, single space with 12 font is going to be a very detailed and heavy letter even if its only 1 page, but that might be too much for the person reading it. Again, I'm thinking 3 paragraphs, so that's just going to come across as 3 giant blocks of text. Double space with 14 font would be nice, have it come out to 2.5 pages, so it's nicely spaced and big enough for the reader to easily read through it, but then you'll be sacrificing extra details you could put in. What is a good font size/page formatting that will allow you write a good amount, but also be appealing to the reader that will be reading it. 
I ask these because I want to write something detailed but concise, but have been given no parameters by the schools. Detailed enough it gives the reader a good idea of what I'm going for and why I want to attend (and why they want me), but not too much that it jades them and becomes overbearing. I'm trying to create some parameters for myself so I know how much I can write, so I can prioritize whats important to include, and unimportant enough to keep out. Thanks ahead of time as always!

If anyone has a different experience, feel free to correct me, but 12 point font is the gold standard for academic writing, including SoPs. Since I'm not from your field, I would suggest maybe looking at the requirements for other programs you chose not to apply to. They may include reqs for SoPs that make it clearer what is normal in your field and what your adcoms will probably expect. Although it is good to do focus/fit/future these do not necessarily need to be 3 large paragraphs. You may have more than one reason or more than one thing you wish to discuss in fit or future, or you may want to break your focus down to topic and methodology. It's perfectly acceptable to have more than three paragraphs while sticking to those three main topics. 

Welcome 2018 applicants! I wish you the best! I'm a 5th year but this forum was very important for me when I applied. I'm here for you!

If you're enjoying 1984 and are still feeling dystopian-ey, Brave New World is the way to go, like IoneMacaroni said. I remember thinking it was a lot closer to where I felt the world was going when I read it, kind of scary. As far as dystopias go, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 would be my favorite, I think. 
As for classics, don't know if Moby Dick can stand up to Gilgamesh if being a classic is about age, but I would definitely recommend it.

No problem! It is definitely in ballpark range of NSF. (Although you do get a one-time bonus from Hopkins in addition to NSF if you win!) If you have any specific funding questions, definitely ask Hong Lan. She's our program coordinator, 
 
Yeah, I did eight interviews... I got ten offers and ultimately declined two, but I probably should have filtered a bit better. Part of my decision to go on so many came from the fact that I only applied to two schools for undergrad, and I chose my alma mater because they gave me a scholarship and the other school didn't. With graduate school, I didn't have to worry about the finances and could go wherever I wanted (and got accepted), so I had a really hard time narrowing things down before my visits! 
Ultimately, I don't regret it at all. I was considering every school I interviewed at, and the interviews gave me a great feel for where I was interested and what research excited me the most. Having so many interesting conversations about research helped me pinpoint what I was the most excited about, and visiting that many schools made me realize exactly what I wanted from the graduate school I attended. If I had done my research better before applying, I might have been able to narrow the list down, but it was a great experience for me to do it this way. 
The toughest parts of doing so many interviews are scheduling them all and the fatigue. By numbers 7 and 8, I was pretty fried (especially since both of those were after a week-long international trip with an organization at my school). I still tried to be as prepared as possible and consider each school fully, but I don't know if I got as much out of those visits as I could because I was pretty drained. Scheduling is also a pain. I actually set up as many in a row as I could, so my schedule was 1 by itself, 4 in a row, 1 by itself, international trip, 2 in a row. That helped cut down on time in airports and missed classes, and was less fatiguing than doing them all separately. I also had to do two alternate weekends because I couldn't make the main weekends due to scheduling conflicts. 
I was able to get away with it in coursework because I only had one regular class and my ChemE senior design project, and I basically did design non-stop in January so my group didn't hate me for skipping out on them for most of February/March. 
By the end of my visits, I had it narrowed down to three programs, and I pretty quickly narrowed it down to two due to fit. They both had pretty similar pros and cons lists, so from there, it was really a feeling more than anything else. I kept coming back to Hopkins for the intangible reasons, and everyone I knew said they knew I'd end up here just because of the way I talked about it. But Hopkins wasn't my first choice pre-interview, and may not have even been in my top three, and my top choice pre-interview didn't even make my short list after I visited because it's so different being at the school and interacting with the people in the program than it is looking at a website. 
My feelings and impressions weren't justified in the slightest, but that might just be me. I was way off-base for several programs, especially about the personality of the program and the people in it.
There were two interviews I could have skipped, looking back. One of them I added at the last second even though I was starting to narrow down on where I wanted to go and the other wasn't a super great fit on paper, but I had fooled myself into thinking it was. The biggest thing you can't ignore is your research fit. From websites and papers, you can start to draw up a short-list of who at each school you think you would be interested in researching with, and if there are schools that really don't have a great fit, that's where I'd start to cut down the list. Also, if location is a factor for you, that's an easy one to cut your list down with. 
Seconded on the no stone unturned comment. I was afraid I'd end up regretting my school choice if I didn't check out every program I was interested, and I can say confidently that I made the right decision for me. By the time I decided, I knew for sure that Hopkins was the best fit and that I'd be happy here, and I was confident in it because I had looked everywhere. It was a really great feeling when I finally accepted my offer.
(Sorry for the novel guys...)

I guess I should post myself up as well. 
Undergrad Institution: Universidad de Los Andes. Top school in my country, not that it makes much of a difference on the international level.
Major(s): Microbiology
Minor(s): Biomedical Engineering, Bioinformatics (didn't figure out I'd completed that one until after submitting, dang), Jazz Performance
GPA in Major: ?/4.00 (my school doesn't do this either)
Overall GPA: 3.81/4.00
Demographics/Background: Latin American, lived in the US a few years.
GRE Scores: Q: 164 (87%) V: 170 (99%) W: 5.0 (93%)
LOR: Three professors, two of them MIT PhD graduates, one of those MIT faculty (the other two are at my university). Each one a different area: Synthetic Biology, Biophysics, Mathematical Modeling (trying to buff up my low quant GRE score and Microbiology major). Took courses with two of them, been TA to one of them, conducted research with all of them. Hope they're strong letters, never got to know.
Research Experience: iGEM/Synthetic biology team at my university (3 years, both dry and wet lab), Summer Undergraduate Research Program at my school held with Arizona State University on mathematical modeling (2 months), SUR program at MIT BE lab (2 months), paid undergraduate researcher at Los Andes-Max Planck Computational Biology Tandem Group (6 months).
Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: No peer-reviewed publications. Two articles in O'Reilly Synthetic Biology magazine, three posters in international conferences (London and Buenos Aires; one first author and two second author), one oral presentation in Latin American symposium, one more poster in Latin American workshop.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Distinctions awarded by my school for best GPA in the Biology, Microbiology and Biomedical Engineering programs (I've switched majors a lot, heh). Distinction awarded to my university's top applicants upon entering undergrad. 
Fellowships/Funding: I'll take RA, TA positions? Serve coffees? Play fiddle on the subway? Didn't apply to anything
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Paid RA in Comp. Bio. lab, TA for Parasitology, Social Practice and Quantitative Human Physiology courses. Volunteer academic tutor for low-income high school students in Bogotá?
Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: Won a couple smallish creative writing awards? Been in classical, jazz, and metal groups? 
Research Interests: Synthetic Biology, Mathematical/Computational Modeling, Infectious Disease.
Institutions/Programs: MIT BE. 
Comments: I wasn't planning on applying this season... I was gonna finish my Biomedical Engineering double major (I'm a senior undergrad) and apply everywhere I could next year. But the professor I worked with at MIT suggested I give it a shot, so I did the whole thing sort of last minute, knowing it was a huge moon shot. Now I'm kicking myself for not preparing my GRE more carefully and not applying to more, less competitive places. Oh well. Good luck to everyone!

The person I know said that he wasn't involved in the admission process, but it is very likely that they don't send out invites at the same time (so dont give up hope!), and we should hear back very soon!

If you're enjoying 1984 and are still feeling dystopian-ey, Brave New World is the way to go, like IoneMacaroni said. I remember thinking it was a lot closer to where I felt the world was going when I read it, kind of scary. As far as dystopias go, Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 would be my favorite, I think. 
As for classics, don't know if Moby Dick can stand up to Gilgamesh if being a classic is about age, but I would definitely recommend it.

That course sounds awesooooome. Definitely add Fahrenheit 451 to your list then. 

I'm actually reading Brave New World next.  I'm taking a course next semester called Thought Control in Contemporary Society and both 1984 and Brave New World are on the reading list. 

Not a classic, but Flowers for Algernon is a really great read! Brave New World is also a classic and a pretty good book.
I need to start reading more frequently as well. 

Entertainment purposes/ just overall great reads too?
Of what I've read recently, I REALLY recommend Han Kang's The Vegetarian and Hanya Yanagihara's A Little Life. Also, if you haven't read some of Haruki Murakami's works before, Kafka on the Shore is my favorite, followed by Norwegian Wood. I also recommend The Tin Drum by Gunter Gras and Franz Kafka's The Castle (if you like Kafka).
EDIT: Sorry. Not all of these are classics. The latter two are definitely what I would consider "modern classics". The first three are just recent lit that I really enjoyed.

Orientalism by Edward Said

Yeah that's the only thing I saw too. I also asked someone I know that's a phd student at the BE department and hopefully he will answer me soon