samman1994

Hello everyone! So I am at the point of deciding between schools, and I've come to realize, it isn't as easy as I originally thought. Early on in my search, my only priority was research/program. I applied to schools that had a good amount of faculty doing research I was interested in. Now I have visited the faculty and the school and have narrowed my search down to primarily 2 schools, but have realized that location is coming to play a much bigger role than I thought. On one hand, School 1 has everything I want in terms of location. Literally everything. Geography/terrain, culture, demographic, pricing, etc. It is a city/state I would love to live in. The school itself is nice, and specifically there are 2 faculty members who's research I am very interested in. But that is really about it, and I am a bit worried about putting all my interest in just 2 people. On the other hand, School 2 has nothing I want in terms of location. I dislike the terrain/geography, culture, demographic, etc. It is a city/state I really have no interest in living in. The school itself is actually beautiful (one of the most beautiful campuses I've ever seen), and there are a looot of faculty members I'd like to do research with (8+ at least). Their research program is amazing. There are some funding issues with most of the faculty however, which does make me a bit cautious (it appears not all of them have great funding), but there being so many faculty members I'd be willing to work with, I don't think this will be a problem (worst case scenario I may have to teach a bit more than I desire). I know the priority is always research. That is the whole point of a PhD, and I have been told multiple times that location should not be my deciding factor. However, I do think it is an important factor. So how much credence/weight do you (or did you) guys put in making your decision?

Hello everyone, There is something I have been hearing for quite some time now in my various interviews, and now that I've heard back from almost everyone (and am pretty sure as to the decision of those I haven't), I've started thinking about it. So from what I've heard, it is possible to basically ask for a higher stipend by informing the school of interest that another school is offering you admissions but with a higher stipend. From this, you proceed to basically see if they can match or even go higher than what the other school is offering. Is this a bad idea? I assume a stipend is calculated taking in living conditions and tuition, and whatnot. So asking anymore isn't exactly "necessary" (as what you might say if you were asking a raise for a job), but rather a bit greedy. Each school will give a stipend for each location and its living cost, so it also seems useless to compare one schools stipend to another. Be that as it may, I do also enjoy extra money and am curious as to how one would proceed to go about this and the potential repercussions.

I just looked online, and the interview dates for script are (for La Jolla campus) Feb 22-25th and Mar 1-4th. So I'm assuming if I haven't heard anything from them at this point, I'm taking that as a rejection

The job market had its own pain and nightmares. I think I applied to at least 100 places before I finally found my current job. Most companies don't even respond to you. The ones that are nice usually send you an email months later telling you the job opening is now closed. Sometimes you get phone interviews, and they say we'll contact you shortly for an in person interview, and then nothing. Other times your in person interview goes great, but you still hear nothing back from the company. While the whole time you're not only thinking to yourself, am I just not good enough, what am I doing wrong, etc. But you are also financially in a bind as well, and losing money fast. I should also mention, this whole process of phones, in person, and eventual either silence or rejection takes literally months. The stress from this application process definitely was much less than the stress to find a job. Getting rejection letters can be a let down, but getting rejected from a job is just depressing. When I got my rejection letter, I got sad, but went back to work the next day and got over it. When I got rejected from my 20th interview in just a matter of 2 months, well that hurt a lot more.

I had the same thing happen to me too. They reached out to tell me they were interested in my research experience, but that they had not made the decision to accept me yet. I don't know if it means anything, but i have been invited to interview at that school

The shape of water. What a crappy movie. Probably one of the worst I've seen in a while.

For me it's currently a number of factors, but primarily research, PI, and the "atmosphere". Basically, it has to be research I'm really interested in and like, a PI who's personality goes well with mine own, and an atmosphere that isn't "negative". What I mean by that last bit is, yes a PhD will be stressful, but it doesn't have to be dreadful. I recently visited a place called the Jacksons Laboratory over in Connecticut as part of my PhD recruitment weekend. The place in general had a very.... high strung feeling to it. Speaking to a lot of students there, I came to the understanding it was a very demanding place, with most PIs requiring at least 6 days a week and 8+ hours a day, and overall very stressful need to publish. I have heard similar statements about some people in research heavy big name places (e.g. Ivy leagues, Scripps, etc.). T The secondary factors are the area itself (e.g. living conditions, crime, cost of living, etc.), opportunities for collaboration (this sorta goes into the whole "atmosphere" aspect), and teaching. I don't really want a roommate, nor do I want to be broke. I do want to enjoy my 5-6 years while I'm doing my PhD. Nor do I want to get robbed or shot where I live. I also want there to be opportunities to collaborate with other faculty members, who are also willing to collaborate with me. This goes along with the atmosphere/mood of the school (is the department in general friendly, do they co-operate, sharing of instruments and facilities, etc.). Finally, not the biggest thing, but I'd personally prefer not to teach as part of my Stipend. I do like teaching, and do think it's a great and important experience, but I'd rather it be extra income than part of my income. I'd also like to be able to choose when I teach (instead of having to teach every semester or year), so I can balance/plan my schedule more efficiently for my research. One final factor at least for my field, that goes up next to the research itself, is the facilities available. The instrumentation my research uses is the primary limiting factor, and having really good instrumentation and facilities can go a reaaaalllly long way for whatever kind of research/collaboration I'd like to do. Just to give you an example on where I'm planning to go and why: I'm pretty sold on UConn health. The research they are doing there is exactly what I'm looking to do. The POI I'd like to join has a great personality, and the interview I had with her went really well (for both of us). I had a great time in general talking to her, both about research and general life. The atmosphere was very relaxed and laid back. Collaborations were very common, and sharing instruments was as easy as literally walking into someone elses lab and asking to use it (or asking them to teach you how to use it). All the students said they loved the research, didn't feel under any amount of stress/pressure (at least outside of the norms of research), and really had very little negative to say about the school or program. The area itself was really nice. I liked the weather and location (all 4 seasons, very pretty, rural but close drive to urban). A little on the expensive side, but does have cheap areas nearby, with a great public transportation system. Only con of course is the crime. Some of the highest in the country. Finally, you don't have to teach! They also had amazing facilities for my field of work. All these factors combine to make this a really appealing pick.

Hello Everyone, So initially, I planned to make this about rejection letters themselves, or the awful silence of schools and the doubt and anxiety that follows it, but I decided we should have a feels thread for the entire process. The whole thing is just anxiety filled. From getting terrible test scores on your GRE all the way to the rejection letter itself. Personally, I've had 2 moments I would consider soul crushing during my application process this year. The first was when I received a 149Q on my GRE when I'm trying to apply to Biochem. After weeks of studying, a lot of money and stress later, I am left with a score that is unusable for my field. Granted I retook it and did better the second time around, but sitting there behind the monitor as it loads up your score and shows you that 149 was really just emotionally draining. Really made me reconsider my entire PhD quest for a little while, wondering if it meant I just wasn't smart enough or ready for a PhD in general. The 2nd time are these rejection letters. I aimed a lot higher than my scores and grades would place me at, so I expected to get some rejections if not all. But getting rejection emails still sting and are a bit demoralizing. Especially when you tell people where you're applying, and not only do you have to live with the disappointment of yourself, but you have the disappointment of others when they start asking you what the schools said. It's come to a point that I'm not even going to ask my friends how their application process went. If they got into a school, I'll wait for them to tell me, and if they didn't, well we act like it didn't even happen. Luckily, I have been accepted into one program, and have a good feeling about another. But I honestly can't even begin to imagine how it must feel to get rejected to all the schools you applied to, especially if you applied to like 15-20 schools or something. Anyways, this entire past 7 months have been super stressful and have sucked. From GRE tests, to writing SOPs, to the anxiety of getting LOR. Everything. It's made even worse because every hiccup makes me question whether I'm even ready for it or not. Regardless, my top choice is still silent (so theirs still hope), and my 2nd choice gave me an interview, so I'm still really excited for this application process!

Still haven't heard anything from Scripps yet either. Rejection or invitation for interview.

Hey guys, so from my understanding, most schools by now are either sending acceptance or invitations for interviews or to see the school. \ In regards to Harvard, their biophysics and biomed have already made the decision. UConn Biomed has already sent out applications for interviews, and had them last week. They will be giving decisions within this month. UNC biochem program has already made its decision. Iowa State Chemistry has made its decision, and the BBMB program has sent out its invitations. I still haven't received anything from Scripps yet, still holding out hope!

Hello Everyone, I have a friend that is applying to Law Schools across the country, and he asked me if I could look over his SOP. I don't know anything about law schools nor what they look for in SOPs however, so I was hoping someone here (in that field) could take a quick look at it and just give some simple feedback on if its good or if there is anything that needs to be changed/modified. It's 2 pages double spaced, so very short. Thank you guys ahead of time!

Thank you!

I don't know why you think I'm undermining history or implying it can't be complex, simply that you can have simple conversations around history but not about sciences. The fact of the matter is, a lot more people know basic history (or at least i'd hope), then basic chemistry, math, or physics. I have seen and read several posts regarding history and religion that were about simple basic concepts that anyone could discuss (so not all of them are regarding majoring in some specific historical timeline/place). Fact of the matter is, I could discuss the civil war with a historian. Will it be in detail regarding the specific battles or generals? No, but I can discuss simple history regarding why the civil war may have been fought, or the philosophy of each side. I'd find (and hope to find) many that could also discuss these same topics without majoring in history. However, I'd find it difficult indeed to discuss even the simplest topics of Chemistry and Physics. Personally, I attribute this to the basic education system in America (i should've mentioned all of this that I'm discussing is regarding America). You are required throughout K-12 to take a variety of history classes almost every other year, however you don't cover Chemistry until your junior year, and most people never even take physics. Note that the main difference I am implying in these topics is their ability to be simplified. I find a topic such as History, a topic that can be very very specific and complex, but can also be made very simple and base. I do not see that happening as much to say something like Chemistry. People have the general knowledge of History (at least again, I hope), there was a civil war south slaves north free, world war 1, world war 2, nazis bad, etc. (these are all things that can at the very least serve as a basis for a discussion) However I'd argue most people don't even have the simplest knowledge of Chemistry. What is Chemistry? About... Chemicals? Whats an acid, whats a base, what even is hydrogen or helium? Personally, I cannot speak the same about Physics and engineering (especially electrical), or even computer science (since I am not in these fields), but I can imagine they are all the same.

If I may just piggyback off this topic, when is the deadline then for schools to send you a rejection letter? Or better yet, if they don't even send them sometimes at all, when is the deadline for an acceptance letter? How long should one wait to hear back from a school if they haven't received any of the above methods of rejection?

Hello everyone, I have recently gotten an invitation for an open house at one school, and invited to a recruitment weekend for another. Now the open house is because I was accepted into the program, but the recruitment weekend is sent to everyone who applied, whether they got accepted or not. My question is 3 fold: 1) What is the difference between the 2? Is it the same event with just a different name? For both events it appears I will meeting with faculty and seeing the school, so no real difference there. However, since I have not been accepted to the recruitment weekend school, it does make me think this event will influence my chances of getting accepted (or rejected) if they like me or not. Is that so? Or in other words, they are trying to find out who to "recruit" during their "recruitment weekend". 2) How does one dress for this type of event. My prior PI stated that you no one will really look negatively on you for being too dressed up, but you can be looked negatively upon if you are not dressed up enough. My personal assumption is it is like any casual but professional event, and should be formal casual. Basically a simple collared button up with nice jeans and dress shoes. Now I know each event is different, but I was curious if I could get your opinions on prior experiences during such events, what you saw, and hopefully I can gauge based off that how I should dress and prepare for the occasion. 3) Based off of question 2, how does on prepare for this type of event? Now I assume the givens, find out the research of your faculty members and do some research on them and the school/program itself (although I had already done all this prior to applying to the school anyways). Is there anything outside the usual stuff I should look into? I had emailed my POIs prior, and at both of these schools, they had both helped me through the application process and I did discuss their research via email with them as well. Should I also email them and tell them I'm coming to the school this and that date? If this does influence my admissions process (whether I get in or not), then I want to be able to put my best foot forward and be as prepared as possible. So I'm trying to get as much information about this event as possible. In general, any experiences you've had would also be greatly appreciated. I've never been to something like this, and all my friends are in the same boat I am, so none of us really know what to expect. Thank you as always!

Well I'd say the biggest reason is there are probably more people in those fields than the natural sciences. In my undergrad, all of Chemistry, Biochemistry, physics, math, computer science, and yes even biology and engineering, was still dwarfed in comparison to psychology graduates. Combined, even all of the fields above including psychology, were still dwarfed in comparison to the social sciences. Now these are undergrad numbers, but as juillet stated prior, the numbers for grad school regarding stem fields and social sciences is reversed. However, I'd argue that the people here don't represent the number of people that are graduating with those degrees, but those that are simply interested in pursuing those degrees. Based off of undergrad stats, one could say there are simply a larger number of social science majors, or people interested in social sciences, but based on grad schools stats one could argue more stem field majors successfully get their degrees or successfully pursue their degree compared to social sciences. That still means this site would have a larger number of social science people (or people interested in the subject), and based off juilets stats, that just means they may be less successful at pursuing it (Note: I am not stating why they are less successful, just indicating one way to interpert the stats). One final factor, that I think is as equally important, is the discussion of these topics. I have seen a variety of discussions on these forums regarding religious, historical, or even ethic/moral topics. In contrast, there aren't many discussions on here regarding the topic of natural sciences. The fact of the matter is it's just far easier to have a simple discussion between historians on this forum board regarding some type of simple historical topic, but far more difficult to discuss why Einsteins physics is superior to say Newtonian physics or something similar. Whereas a simple grad school question can go on for maybe 3 or 4 posts, a discussion regarding a certain topic can go on for pages and pages of posts.

Yeah, that's why I was asking. In the off-chance that I had no other option (this was the only school that I got accepted to), I wanted to see whether or not it would be a good or bad idea to still not only go to the open house, but to potentially accept their offer. I've seen other people's research, and there are some that I would be interested in discussing, but only one I'd really like to join and do a dissertation under (at least in this department). I guess at the end of the day it'll really depend on if this is my only option, or if another school accepts me. Thank you all for your feedback!

It has nothing to do with self-centered at all. It has everything to do with my original concern of being unable to join labs in another department. I have no problem in meeting and discussing other peoples research in the chemistry department with them, I just have no desire to join their labs and do my dissertation with them. This meeting, for me at least, seemed like a great opportunity to meet the people who's labs I'd like to join, but most of the people I want to meet are in a different department. In hindsight, this is my fault for not thinking ahead of this situation, and just taking my POIs advice and applying to a department that only had 1 person I was interested in joining (in start contrast to BBMB which has 3-4 different professors I'd like to potentially work under).

This is the exact same boat I was in. No one did want to hire me for only a few months, and with no prior experience, the contract jobs didn't want to waste time training me either. It is as I stated, a sticky situation. In reality, you will end up screwing the company, and that is something you will have to consider, and something I did. As stated prior, my main issue is guilt. I knew full well when I applied I lied to them, and full well that I was planning on leaving. I was just wondering whether I should come clean or not (so as to prepare them for my leave). As the you can see from this thread, the general consensus was not to leave at all, and do whatever I can to defer. However, if you aren't going to leave it on your resume, then I guess it doesn't really matter. For me, since this will be my only industry experience before grad school, it will be a very important part of my resume after grad school (i.e. it would be veeery beneficial to me to keep it).

I have considered that option. I am still awaiting to see which school accepts me before I make that decision. From my understanding, you can get accepted into a program, and defer for a year without having to apply again (you basically are in, you just don't start until the next year). My only concern would be the school not accepting it (I don't have an amazing application, so I'm not that special to wait for), and that would make me look bad to the school.

That one is on me. I didn't really think the move out completely, the way I saw it, sure I can just apply to both and hopefully get into both. The problem for me isn't advisors, but rather joining another lab if this doesn't work out. I didn't think about that part until I got the response from the school saying I couldn't meet those professors during the open house. So simply put, I applied to it because I'd rather have a program than no program, and didn't think out the details completely.

Yes lying is generally frowned upon in all fields, especially science. If you can't trust the scientist, you can't trust anything they produce or do, hence making them useless. Again, I don't say lying is good or should be done, but it was something I had to do to get some money and get a job. The company won't be hurt from one employee nor my lie, if anything the only person here who will really suffer will be my own boss (which is the person I am feeling bad about in the first place).

Well the problem is, I've looked at everyone in the Chem department, and didn't find anything I even remotely wanted to do. Frankly, I don't even know why my POI is in the Chem department (he's theoretically in both Chem and BBMB). Of course I can still go there and look at the school, talk to my POI, etc. But if I can't join the other labs, I am not willing to go to that school (at least via the Chem program) for just one lab. Also, thank you! In other news, that being the case, do you think it would be unwise to contact my POI and let him know of the situation? He was the one who informed me to apply to the Chem program, and he said to do so because he could get me in through that program (even though he knew the other POIs I'd like to work with as well). So I feel like he had a direct impact on my admission process. I was initially thinking of contacting him and letting him know of the situation and the problem I was having.

In regards to lying, it came across to a point where I had to. No one wanted to hire me given my timeline (leaving for PhD program next year), and I needed the money. Yes, I disliked lying, and still don't like it, but I needed the money and the job, but also was planning on pursuing my PhD. In regards to whether or not I should pursue my PhD despite having something good going for me now. Throughout my job search, every job I found that I wanted to liked required a PhD. Yes I may have something great now, but if this job doesn't work out, or if I leave for more pay, then I'm screwed. I can get another job easy enough, but the pay will be low, and I'll go back down to an associate or at best a research scientist. With a PhD, I will have a lot more doors open for me, both regarding higher pay, and easier to get a job (especially those that I like). Also, even though I'm being promoted, since this is a small company, I won't be able to get any further than the promotion really. Theoretically, with that promotion, I've already hit the glass ceiling for this company. Yes I could leave for another company, but you'd have the issues I stated above. Finally, yes I do want to be in industry long term.

What I did was email my POI telling them I sent the application and thanking for them for all the help they gave me in the process. Simple and quick to the point. However, if it's been weeks since you applied (if you applied the 14th of November), it might come across as you trying to basically get them to look at your application. I'd also advise if it's been that long (unless its the 14th of this month, in which case contacting them to inform them and thank them shouldn't be a problem).