synapticcat

Did anyone catch this one? 

Did anyone catch this one? 

Hi everyone!
Wondering if anyone else is attending the University of Michigan in the fall. I'll be starting a PhD in Neuroscience through the Program in Biomedical Sciences (PIBS). Would love to hear from anyone else who will be moving to Ann Arbor! 

Finally made a decision and filled out my forms and WOW WHAT A RELIEF THIS IS TO BE D O N E
Good luck to everyone! I hope you all end up in the places where you'll be happiest   

Committed to Columbia Metabolism! Ayyyyyye thanks for everyone’s help along the way! It’s definitely more harder than I thought as being an international student. But I guess I am lucky enough this year, I’m more than grateful to get in Columbia and start my new journey!!! 

Congratulations to everyone!!!!! 
I have finally and officially committed to the University of Missouri-Columbia Biochemistry program.  Very excited to get started this summer!!!!  

Congratulations! I know at least one current grad student at Cinci from my undergrad department and she's very happy there . Wishing you an awesome time! 

Just sent in my letter for Baylor's biochem and molecular biology program!! What a RELIEF that this is over.

I've officially committed to Cincinnati's MDB program! I feel like a huge burden has been lifted off my chest!
@BiomedicalPHD123 You have a very hard decision ahead of you! Make sure that you take into account your gut feeling about a place. If you're really interested and committed to cancer cell bio for your graduate training, then I'd go ahead with GSK. If you think that you may want to venture out into other fields, then I'd say go to Harvard because they are pretty good, if not excellent, at many things bio-related. I'm a little bit leery about the rotation/class thing at GSK personally, but if that works for you and seems to be well-liked by the current students, then go ahead and do it!

Glad to see everyone making their commitments! Good luck to those still deciding where to go!

Did anyone catch this one? 

I think honestly that both are awesome schools. At this level, I'm pretty sure that you can't go wrong. However based on your other comment about Yale, I'd suggest that if you didn't enjoy the location/environment/faculty as much, it's probably not worth attending if you preferred UPenn and UM. The best place you can be for your PhD is where you'll have the best mentor support, lab environment, and support from other students in your cohort. Feel better, work better, and all that jazz.
What area of neuro are you interested in? I'm very tempted to tell you to come join me at Michigan  - if you have any questions about the midwest/metro Detroit/or the university I'm happy to help! I promise to be as free of bias as possible, since growing up in the area and knowing a lot of current Michigan students I have gotten a LOT of input on my decision, haha. 

Just got an acceptance from the Molecular and Dev Bio program at UCincinnati and Cincinnati Children's Hospital! It's been my top-choice throughout the process, but I have a lot to think about before committing.
Good luck to everyone who is still waiting to hear back or getting ready to decide!

Well, I, for one, totally think you should come to UM PIBS so we can be classmates. Also because you can tell people where you live by using your hand as a map, since you'll be living in The Mitten! Put those points in your pro-con list 
As far as reputation goes, they're all fantastic schools, you really can't go wrong. I was rejected from Northwestern DGP and UW Neuro, but Michigan was at the top of my list anyways so I'm pretty content with how that shook out. I also echo the other commenter's position that it looks better to not stick around at your undergrad institution for grad school. However, if you have strong reasons for sticking in the Seattle area, that's also an important consideration.
If you were at the PIBS interview weekend, you probably saw their post-PhD job placement stats at Saturday breakfast, and personally, I was really impressed with them. My current PI is a UM PIBS alum and he's going off to a TT position in the fall, and he only graduated in 2013. Obviously n=1, but he speaks very highly of UM's job network and felt supported there as a student. I also think, though, that you won't have significantly more issues with job placement at one of these schools compared to the others, as they're all high-caliber institutions. I don't know about UW or Northwestern, but UM seems to have more students placed into academia post-grad, but a healthy % also go into industry. I imagine UW might have connections in the PNW biotech industry, however, and from my understanding, Seattle is a pretty big biotech hub  - so there's that to consider. 
As far as breadth goes, I also think you're likely to have plenty of faculty options at any of these schools. UM PIBS has over 500 faculty, and it seems like a LOT are currently looking for students. I imagine, however, that Northwestern and UW have comparable faculty lists. In terms of student community, that's something you'll have to evaluate for yourself I'd imagine. I loved UM's neuro department because the students and faculty were very close knit and friendly - it felt like a slightly bigger neuroscience community than the one I have here at my undergrad, and I really liked that. Is there a student host you interacted with on your interview weekends who you could reach out to and discuss some of your questions/concerns with? I  communicated with several current students at the two programs I chose between, and it was really helpful in my decision-making process. 
I think something that hasn't been discussed yet is location - where do you see yourself spending the next ~5-6 years? Downtown Chicago is going to be a very different living environment than suburban metro-Detroit. Ann Arbor is a large college town, sure, but it's very much a college town, and not a sprawling city. I'm a born & raised Michigander who's moving back to the state for grad school, currently living in Ohio. Personally, I didn't really want to live in a big city, and I really enjoy the size and feel of Ann Arbor. However, it is bitterly cold here some parts of the year, and you should take things like this into account when deciding if you could be happy living in either of these places. If you have any more specific questions about southeastern Michigan/Ann Arbor/metro Detroit, feel free to PM me - I grew up in the area and know a lot of students currently at UM, including 2 PIBS students. 
Whew, that ended up being long. Definitely not trying to push UM, it just happens to be the school I have the most info on! I would say that you should think on where you think you'll be happiest - Chicago, Ann Arbor, and Seattle are very different cities, and you're going to be spending the next 5+ years at this program. I'm a firm believer that the more balanced, happy, and supported you feel in your program and by your mentor/lab mates/colleagues, the better work you'll produce, and the more productive your grad school career will be. Congrats on having these awesome options to choose from! Feel free to reach out if you'd like to chat about UM, living in the midwest, or anything else I could help with 

One thing I'd say is that honestly, I think that once you get to this caliber of institution, it all comes down to location/lifestyle fit, research fit, and ultimately, what you do in the lab once you get there (i.e. finding the right mentor who will help you succeed, being in a research environment conductive to your work style, etc). I think others have echoed this sentiment above. 
In terms of "tiers" strictly, I would agree with others who said that the absolute "top tier" would be more of the MIT/Stanford/Harvard/JHU followed really closely by Cornell/Duke/WUSTL/Columbia, but that both UTSW and Northwestern are solidly at the caliber of Wisconsin/Michigan/UW Seattle/Vanderbilt/etc. Of course this will vary based on your interests. But in terms of making a choice, I would go where you feel you (a) have the best opportunities for you research, and (b) where you think you'll be the happiest. I know that personally, my decision came down to the school I could see myself finding the right mentor and research environment for myself, and that lifestyle factors played a big role (as they should!). You really can't go wrong with either, they're both fantastic schools. But I'm a firm believer that the better supported you feel by your mentor and friends in your cohort, the better work you'll do, and the happier you'll be. 

@synapticcat Great! See you in A2!

Very happy to say that I've officially committed to MIT! Congrats to those who are in the same position, and good luck to those still waiting. I'm still waiting on a few fellowship decisions so the season isn't completely over for me, but it is a relief to know where I'll be for the foreseeable future. I hope everyone can experience this feeling!

Just got a call from UC Berkeley MCB today!!!! SO happy and relieved! Interviewed at UCSD, UWisconsin, UMichigan, and UCBerkeley and got into all four! Time to make some decisions, but for now I'm SO HAPPY!!!

Got the informal acceptance at UChicago CMMN program! Still waiting on Columbia and Tufts but boy am I excited!!!!

hey, congratulations! see you in the fall 

Accepted to Emory Neuroscience!  So happy, as it was a great fit for me as a systems/circuits person, especially with the GA Tech BME collaboration.  They were so nice on the phone and ridiculously flattering.  

Today I accepted an offer of admission from the University of Michigan. I'm so relieved to have the application/interview process behind me and excited to start in the fall.
My final statuses:
NCSU Bioinformatics - accepted U of Kentucky IBS - accepted U of Michigan PIBS - accepted (matriculating) Duke CBB - rejected Stanford BI - rejected UNC BSB - rejected UW Seattle Genome Sciences - rejected WashU CSB - rejected Harvard BIG - still haven't heard, but almost definitely rejected I aimed high, but I don't regret applying to all those schools I was rejected from. """You miss 100% of the shots you don't take" - Wayne Gretzky" - Michael Scott." - not_really_cool

Did anyone catch this one? 

Wooo! Good luck on your interview! I had a kick ass time interviewing at Michigan and their Neuroscience department is really great and close knit. If you have any logistical questions about UM/neuro/ I'm happy to answer!! I'm from the area originally and know the school fairly well, just went out-of-state for undergrad. 

Did anyone catch this one?