BabyScientist
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Posts posted by BabyScientist
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On 5/14/2020 at 9:15 AM, shadiae said:
Hi
I've been accepted and plan to attend a very small PhD in biomedical science program in the state of LA, my advisor told me going here would be okay as long as I get a good post doc. Does anyone know of successful researchers who've gone to little tiny no name schools? I am interested in a project here... there are about 70 biomedical Phd students total across 8 departments..
I know people who attended a tiny PhD program at a hospital in LA and got great post docs. Small programs can still have great faculty. What matters is how productive you are and how much you accomplish, not where you want.
Congrats on getting in!
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On 5/3/2020 at 8:03 PM, Regimentations said:
The University of Washington is very different from Washington University. UW is in Seattle. WashU is in St. Louis.
Both WashU and Johns Hopkins offer top notch educations. I don't think you could go wrong with either.
Oh whoops, misread the post
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Don't bother with courses - a relevant degree is all you need. As far as boosting your profile, the only obvious thing would be to work as an RA/tech/postbacc full time after you graduate.
Your profile could be fine as is depending on what mediumtwotopping mentioned.
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I don't think anyone's going to consider anything a red flag in this crazy time. If anything, you might just have to explain it if they ask.
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On 4/23/2020 at 1:53 PM, dopamine_machine said:
I know that this topic is super old, but I figured that my question didn't require an entirely new topic. If I did volunteer work in a hospital/helped found a non profit, do you think that would be a positive or negative thing to include for a biology PhD program application? I don't want to give the impression that I'm pre-med, but I am super interested in the capacity of my future research for drug development (my hospital experience showed me that I like translational research, especially since I'm into stem cell modeling in neurological conditions). Also, while the nonprofit I held a leadership role in wasn't actively involved in research, it was a public health initiative to limit the spread of preventable diseases, thereby kind of playing to the same tune as both share the common goal of reducing disease symptomology.
I hope that my CV shows that I like research (I will have worked in the same lab for 3 years when applying; 3 current WIP/soon to be submitted publications), but am interested in human applications
I'd put it on there. Definitely won't hurt. Like dippedincoffee said, some people won't care, but some might like it. People have can have very different paths that lead them to a PhD, yours just included medically-relevant volunteer work. If you can tie those experiences in to why you want a PhD, even better. If not, no harm. We're allowed to explore careers before choosing one.
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Starting with anecdotes:
A friend who was an undergrad at UW told me everyone she knew in their neurobiology PhD program was unhappy.
I know people in the Hopkins program who say it's very old fashioned in its structure and intense, feels like they're weeding people out, but they're not necessarily unhappy. Probably dependent on personality type.
When it comes down to it, join a program with at least a couple people you're very excited about working with. The lab you join matters so much more than almost anything else. Make sure those faculty are actually taking students, and maybe even contact them/their students to discuss the decision.
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On 3/27/2020 at 8:25 PM, dopamine_machine said:
Hi all,
I know it's a bit early to be posting admissions profile, especially with all the turmoil going on in the world. However, I thought I might as well ask how strong my application would be if I were to apply for the 2021 PhD cycle!
Undergrad: UCSD Neuroscience and Physiology major; Studied abroad at UCL (Biological Arts and Sciences)
GPA: 3.76; major GPA 3.78; senior GPA 4.0 (likely cum laude)
GRE: Haven't taken yet; unsure if can/will
Research experience:
- 3 years of work as a Lab tech in a prominent neuroscience lab at the Salk Institute.
- Wet Lab: learned a lot of skills, such as tissue culture, protein/DNA/RNA related work (gels, WB, PCR, etc), immunofluorescent/immunohistochemical staining, histology (cryostat/microtome), perfusion/tissue collection, protocol optimisation
- Dry Lab: Learned basic R programming, Figure Creation for papers, Imaris, Confocal Imaging, Fluorescent Microscopy, ImageJ
- Have previous experience working with mice colonies, and experience working with most types of neuronal cells
- I've worked in developmental neuroscience, as well as on studies pertaining to Autism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Alzheimer's.
Publications:
- My old boss is almost finished with revising a paper that needed revision after submission to Science last year, on which I am a first author
- Two scientists I have worked under are in the process of generating papers, but have not yet submitted any for review
Awards/Honors:
- Just some basic things like Provost's Honors (Dean's List) every year, College Honors ceremony award, and a couple other smaller honors awards
Extracurricular Activities:
- I have acquired approximately 120 hours interning in two different hospitals (one of which is a highly competitive program with <8% acceptance). I've worked in the Emergency Department, Surgical Acute ward, and Neurological Progressive Care ward (mostly dementia/epileptic/spinal problems).
- I was secretary of a club (Project Kilimanjaro) for one year. The club's mission was to inform people of the HIV and Trachoma (leading global cause of preventable blindness) epidemics in the Maasai villages of Tanzania at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, in addition to secure first aid and clean drinking water for such communities. The club helped fundraise and ultimately allowed certain members to go on a 2-week service trip to Tanzania.
LOR: I hope to secure a strong LOR from my PI (a prominent scientist in the neuroscience field). I work under a senior staff scientist, who is leaving my current lab to become a PI at UCSD, so I will likely ask her for a LOR as well. I also am in the midst of securing an LOR from a distinguished professor who I have taken 2 upper-division physiology courses with and knows me very well. I might ask an old post-doc in my lab for a LOR, as he moved to a different country to become a PI.
Personal statement: I plan on drafting it in the next few months and asking my current/previous bosses and LORs to read it, so it will likely be pretty solid.
Planned Applications (will probably decrease later): Harvard, Columbia, UCL, UCSF, JHU, NYU, Univ of Washington, Cornell Weill, UCSD, Rockefeller, Icahn, University of Pittsburgh, Boston University
Let me know if you think I have anything to improve on before applying for the Fall 2021, or any advice you have if you applied for the 2020 PhD cycle! I am currently debating whether or not to take the GRE and am looking for advice. Thanks!
Unless you want to apply to any schools that require the GRE, don't bother. Your application is fine without it
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11 hours ago, shadeslayer said:
Hi y'all. Junior actively looking at the entire PhD process rn, and I don't know if I should pursue the PhD application or shoot for a Masters in biology (4 BS+1 year Masters through my current uni).
I have a 3.36 cum GPA, and have three years of wet lab experience at a Neuroscience lab.
- Two poster presentations
- 2 minigrants awarded for independent research
- 1 Summer Undergrad Research Fellowship Program at my uni
My PI is well renown in the field and is def writing a letter, as well as a bio professor who can speak to my intellectual curiosity and my research interests. Also currently in the process of looking for jobs in biotech or an internship in the private sector.
I definitely want to enter a program for Neuroscience as that is the field I am most interested in, especially dementias and development, but I coincidentally went to a talk given by a PI at UCSD working on RNAi stuff in BioChem who I worked for in high school. He recognized me and asked me how I was doing so I was planning on emailing him and telling him that I was interested in his lab and asking him if he was accepting students for rotation.
My question now is, is my GPA holding me back from good programs? Will a good SOP, my LORs, and experience help? I'm hoping reaching out to the faculty member at UCSD BMSE might be help as well. Or should I get a Masters/Post-Bacc to improve my GPA/Get a better Masters GPA and apply to the PhD then?
Your GPA is fine coupled with more experience. I'd advise taking a year or 2 for a lab tech/RA/research postbacc position - you make money and don't have to pay for a masters.
You could give it a shot now if you want - your GPA isnt that bad.
Do you have any publications? Awards? Presentations? These things help too
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On 3/6/2020 at 5:41 PM, mitochondria_1 said:
@Marburg-Virus Thank you. This past Wednesday, I did notified the other three schools about my decision of accepting an offer elsewhere.
I would like to live in the NYC area and the choices of school that are in NY are good fit for me. But, one thing is that I also liked UVA, there are faculties that I would love to work with, and they are offering me an amazing fellowship in addition to their offer.
I only visited Baltimore once, so I do not really know if I would like it, but the school (Hopkins) have a unique program that is very appealing to me.
Majority of the faculties I would like to really work with are in NYU, Mount Sinai, and UVA. The structure of the program that I liked the most were Hopkins, Mount Sinai, and NYU. Curriculum wise, I prefer Mount Sinai and NYU. Also, I know Einstein is a great grad school. I did a summer internship there and I liked it a lot and I know they are very invested in their students. So, it's so hard for me to make a decision when each program have parts that I like.
I interviewed at Einstein on Feb 12-14 and I heard back from them a week after via phone call and then later that day via email.
I'd prioritize faculty. If you liked all the schools and can't decide, prioritize faculty interests, narrowing it down to the 3: NYU, Mt Sinai, UVA.
Then consider the faculty. Are there specific ones you're excited about? Have you met/spoken to them? Do you know for sure they're open to taking students next year? Do their trainees have good relationships with them? Reach out to them to ask these questions. Doing that helped me decide between the 2 schools I was torn between.
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On 2/12/2020 at 2:29 PM, neuroticneuro6 said:
How many schools are you all applying to? I've heard so many horror stories of people not being accepted places that I have a list of 17 schools right now. I am trying to narrow it down (mostly for cost's sake, as the app fees add up to $1600), but I don't want to undershoot it ?
The trick is to have an appropriate range of schools. I applied to 10 and it ended up being too many. Unless you have the money to spend, don't bother. Just make sure every school you apply to has at least 3 faculty you'd be excited to work with.
- lowestprime, sccoria and neuroticneuro6
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4 hours ago, sirt3 said:
has anyone been rejected from harvard yet? I know they already accepted people to PiN im just trying to determine if they're one of those schools who never send out rejections
I'm still waiting for Harvard to reject me.
I'm a second year PhD student.
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On 2/6/2020 at 11:18 PM, swtster said:
Hi everyone,
I am preparing for my applications for next cycle (Fall 2021) and my research interests are very specific: vision loss and neuro-rehabilitation. It has been rather tedious scouring each school's faculty profile and looking up their research to find a lab that aligns with my interests since it's so specific. So far, I have only been able to identify a few schools.
Does anyone know of any other schools that are doing vision research?
TIA!
Brown
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Those numbers are used for screening before offering interviews, not after.
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You're over thinking it. You don't have to ask questions about their research. If questions didn't just come to me, I tried to relate their work to mine, or to things I'd heard of. If pipe in with like "oh I read something about that technique" or "oh my lab was exploring that".
More important than asking questions about their research is asking questions about the program and the logistics of their lab.
If you actually want to work with them, absolutely ask if they're taking students.
Other good questions to ask:
How big is your lab? Where is your funding from? Do you think the coursework in this program is valuable. Do students in your lab go to conferences? What do your students go on to do after graduating?
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6 hours ago, LumypySP said:
I was invited to an open house and I was wondering what's the main difference between open house and interview? Does that mean that we're more likely to be accepted? Thanks!
Depends on the school. Some schools call it interviews, some call it recruitment, some call it open house.
Realistically, once they've chosen to give you an interview, they're just making sure you're not crazy/are actually passionate about grad school and trying to convince you to come. It's really more about trying to convince you to come for a lot of schools, so why call it interviews?
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11 hours ago, depressroaway said:
was also wondering this as I have one interview slated, and I wanted to make a personal connection
is it worthwhile contacting in advance asking for a skype interview?
You want an interview before your interview?
Put them on your list of people you want to interview with - better to meet them in person. When I was interviewing the only people I put on the top of my list that I didn't get to meet with were people who were out of town. If that happens, you contact them to chat over Skype or the phone AFTER the interview weekend.
Contacting them in advance won't necessarily make them like you more or help your admission chances.
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There isn't really any point. Request them for interviews when they're making your schedule, and you'll be able to talk to them in person. The interview is more of a meeting than an interview. It's a chance for you to get to know them and ask all your questions as much as it's a chance for them to see your personality.
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16 hours ago, TheDefeater said:
Should we bring anything such as notebook or backpack?; i.e: Should we bring anything other than ourselves to the interview?
A small notebook might be a good idea. I found it helpful to jot down a few notes with my thoughts after each interview so that by the time April rolled around and I had to decide on a program, I could refresh my memory on what I thought of interviews in January.
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The 2 most common tracks are industry or academia. Industry being pharmaceutical and biotech companies. In those you could do well with just a bachelors, but a masters and a PhD would increase pay, and a PhD would increase autonomy (depending on the position/company). Depending on the field and what you want, academia could mean professor/principal investigator, or research scientist.
Other than those there are "non traditional" options like science writing, science policy, consulting, etc.
If you're in undergrad currently, I recommend looking for internships that would give you a taste for science application so you can decide what you want. If you want to do something that requires more specialized knowledge that your bio degree didn't get you, consider a masters. If you love research and see yourself doing it fora long time, consider a PhD.
- M246 and nerdyneuron
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2 hours ago, RobertMoog said:
That's very helpful, thanks a lot!
And not an actual question about strength and weakness, but generally how you stand out and why they would admit you out of hundreds of applicants. It might be a great match of interest (and hence the question how do you specifically show your interest and passion if you don't have to read papers), strong intellectual ability, or a clear idea of what research you would want to do as a PhD (when your current field isn't directly relevant to your POIs, and when you have done many other different types of projects, how do you show that you are focused and dedicated to research in that field?)
Most interviews go like this:
They ask you about your research experience. You start telling them about it, they occasionally stop you to ask questions.
They tell you about their research (this is why reading papers in advance is unnecessary). Ideally, you try to ask questions or relate their work to yours or things you've heard of.
They ask you if you have any questions about the program. You ask questions about how their lab works (how big it is, if they send people to conferences, if they have space for you, where their funding comes from, what their students go on to do, etc). This shows them you know what goes into a PhD.
You shouldn't be focused on one particular line of research. You should be open to studying many things within the general field. If that's the only professor studying it at that school but he isn't taking students, they won't accept you. Or if multiple do but aren't taking students, same thing.
You should show that you're excited to talk about your own work, you are able to think about other people's work (by asking questions about their research), you know what goes into a PhD, and you know why you want a PhD. If you're not sure about the why, they'll likely be able to tell, and they won't want to accept anyone who might end up quitting their PhD.
- RobertMoog, D2R and anxiousinternational
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5 hours ago, RobertMoog said:
Hello fellow researchers!!
I applied for 5 programs this year, and I got one interview invitation from my dream program, a confirmed rejection from a safe choice (which was surprising) and haven't heard from others (they have sent interview invitations in Dec so I assume they all failed.) The very tiny pool of interview invitations made me confused about why I even got invited by the very competitive, top program (and I even had a dream that I got another email saying the invitation was a mistake ?).
As I am preparing for the only interview weekend I have so far, I feel less and less prepared
The more papers I read about my POI, the less I think I know about the field. And as I read from here and there on this forum, many of you have talked to your POIs before even receiving interview invitations, but the only contact I got from my POI was a general reply from their assistant. I don't even know if it was a good match, especially because their work is not directly related to the current project I am doing right now. (Hence why it has been hard reading.)
I know getting frustrated and lingering on the question of why i got the interview at all will get me nowhere, so here are the questions I am asking:
Should I, or is it a good move in general to email my POI again about the interview weekend and ask for pointers (e.g. current work for me to think about my potential projects working with them, recommendations for other faculty members that I should talk to as I need to name a few for one-on-one interviews)? Is it unnecessary/bothering, or will it be very helpful if I ask for an informal chat with them before the interview weekend?
And also the general tips about preparing for interviews. How do you read about your POIs? Should you get more familiar with your current work to showcase your research abilities, or should you focus more on the POIs? If they are doing research you are very interested in but you haven't done any direct work/use any methods in the field, how do you prove that you have the ability to work with them?
And a more abstract question about dealing with your strengths and weaknesses. How do you highlight your specialties/strengths to stand out in the crowd, and how do you deal with obvious shortcomings? By strength I'm talking about more specific qualities, not "fast-learner/academically strong/experienced at independent research" that almost every researcher has. Examples from your own applications will be very helpful!
Thanks for bearing my whining and looking forward to your inputs...
Unhelpful to ask for an informal chat before interviews.
I found it completely unnecessary to read papers for my interviews in advance. I started off doing them, but the papers never came up. You should have an idea of what they do, but focus on knowing how to talk about your own research. Also know why you want a PhD and why that program is a good fit for you. They are unlikely to test your knowledge of their science, and more likely to test your knowledge of your own science.
You also won't be expected to come in ready to do their research. You're expected to show interest and intellectual ability, they'd teach you whatever technical skills necessary to perform research in their lab. It's school, after all.
I don't think any of my interviewers asked me about my strengths and weaknesses...
Your goal in the interview is to show them you're passionate and dedicated and KNOW you want to be there.
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Didn't happen to me in all 7 of my interviews. Never heard of an interviewer trying to discourage anyone... They are trying to attract you as much as you're trying to attract them.
2021 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admissions Results
in Biology
Posted
From my understanding it's realllly small. They accept like 1-3 students a year.