Molecular_nutrition_2018

Currently applying for UNC nutrition phD (but biochemistry) as well, would like to hear more!

Bump! I am applying for mulecular nutrition or pure nutrition phD for 2018 fall, would like to hear advice as well!!!

Applying to Where: NYU: nutritional and food studies Boston University: molecular nutrition (dream) Wisconsin-madison: biomedical & molecular nutrition (dream) Tufts: biomedical & molecular nutrition (dream) Columbia: institute of human nutrition (dream) Cornell: Nutritional science program (stretch a lot) UCD: nutrition science UNC: nutrition science UIUC nutrition science *************************Schools updated at 9/13! **************************************

Thank you, I will definitely keep looking for fitted umbrella programs! May you have a nice day

Thanks for replying Bioenchilada! Yes I totally agree, I am not sending more than 3-4 letters to each school. I sent 6 letters while applying for masters and got into it so I thought it worked perfectly, but if that's too much I will definitely take down 2 or 3 of them. I had 6 letters from undergrad (which I am unaware of the quality), right now I can get another 3 from master (I know these 3 are good) so ill rethink about my choice before sending out anything. What do you think about my thoughts? Do you think it is possible to still experience more fields? if so do you know how competitive it is for general biology phD program like columbia and Upenn? Sorry to bother you but this overwhelmed unsettle feeling is slowing eating me day by day......

This is my first year applying for phD, so any help is very much appreciated!!! Being honest is the best I can ask from you, I am not gonna get offended in anyway so please speak up! I am applying from now and still got 3 months to fix any problem (hopefully that's enough time). Undergrad Institution: US Top3 public school Major(s): BioScienceGPA in Major: 3.3Overall GPA: 3.34Position in Class: no clueType of Student: International, male Master Institution: Columbia UniversityMajor(s): Nutritional ScienceOverall GPA: 3.5Position in Class: no clueGRE Scores (revised/old version):Q: 167 (93%)V: 153 (60%)W: 2.5 (7%) eh....i don't know how eitherTOEFL Total: can waive from most school since I attended a US college Research Experience: 3 years, 3 labs. Junior year in college: Marine biology/ecology lab, -Doing meta-analysis for a phD student -Collecting data from field work, -Determined relationship between climate change / thermal tolerance and marine invertebrate disease -Researched age-dependent responses of marine invertebrates to climate change -attending seminars. Senior year in college: Physiology lab, -Investigating the Adaptive Modulation Theory upon xxx fishes -Measuring gastric pepsin and chitinase activities in spectrophotometer -Aiming to execute digestibility trials to observe whether there is a correlation between gut enzyme activities and digestibility of dietary biochemical constituents, referring back to human -PCR -field work and DNA extraction Master: Molecular biology lab, -Transporter expression, down from the scratch (DNA-RNA-Protein). From exp design to final protein activity measurement, I have learned and performed all steps from the central dogma -purification, gel electrophoresis, in-vitro transcription, in-vivo translation, oocytes injection, flux measurements, protein assays and etc. -pretty much every experiment related with DNA and RNA in molecular biology, I have tried them, failed them, mastered them. Pretty happy and confident at the end of the journey -this lab experience showed me my potential in the field of molecular biology/ molecular nutritional biology, I am trying do this as my phD Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list 2 times at undergrad, well I was struggling learning English so... Honor student at Columbia (possibly, me and my PI are discussing it rn) Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 1 conference & poster at college, 1 small conference at grad school, 1 first author publication in preparation (already finished both exp and writing, polishing up rn, but not gonna publish anyway before the end of 2018 probably). contributed in several labs and maybe my name will magically appear on their future papers, I am being optimistic only. Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Got an 2.7-2.9 GPA at the sophomore year in college which completely destroyed my GPA, but 3.35- 3.7 from junior to senior, so 3.35 cumulatively with the onward curve, Got an 3.0 at the first half of the master, got 3.5 at the second half of the master, so 3.3 cumulatively with the onward curve. -I will write these in my SOP cause I am a slow starter, i need time to digest everything, but after the warm-up I can get into a good shape pretty easily. LORs: -1 from my best friend, also my advisor from college (yeah this person is beyond helpful and we are that close, her and my senior year lab PI wrote me stellar LOR to boost me into Columbia) -1 from my senior year lab PI, again I don't know what they wrote but probably pretty good, I can bet on this person. 1 from my Molecular biology lab PI, he is beyond satisfied about the quality of my work, he even promised that he will adjust his letter according to my SOP, and he will show me what he wrote, no catfish -2 from my undergrad teachers, I attended more than 3 biology classes from each of them, and got A-A+ in all of the classes, they know I worked hard and have wrote me LOR for my master -1 from my master teachers, maintained great relationship with this one professor and he is helping me getting through the whole master program, a good friend of mine, we had very often conversations and he is being a great friend, recommending schools and programs and etc. Special Bonus Points: -international student assistant for 2 years at college, I like helping other kids who have similar background and struggle blending in. -I am really talented in many fields outside of school, I am good at painting, 12 years calligraphy master (had a piece stored at my high school HOF), lv.10 certificated in clarinet (=clarinet teacher certification), national certificate athlete (basketball, made it 2nd national place at my sophomore), -Great communication skill, extremely outgoing, never spoke english before college in my own country but pretty fluent without an accent after just 2 years. All in all, I am really spontaneous -TrilingualAny Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Some questions: -I know I have made up my mind to stay with Molecular biology, but other fields are intriguing as hell, like cancer, virology, stem cell/regenerative biology, and etc. Therefore, I am thinking of applying to those umbrella programs, Columbia and penn have "Biology phD" which don't restrict your interest area, I am planning to apply for 3-5 programs like that and rotate in different fields before I made any decision. -I have jumped around in different fields. I studied heavy ecology, marine biology at undergrad. Majored in nutrition science at master, but got into a molecular biology lab whilst. I did it because I am just generally interested into bio, I like and enjoyed learning and wanted to maximize my experience. All fields are fascinating, but now I am hooked by molecular biology since I have done some great work in the past year. I gotta admitted that I was scared by hard courses back in college such as cell bio, oncology, virology and such, but now boy do I regret... -The most important question, I need someone hit me with reality: is it too late to change direction? I really liked molecular biology and worked 40-50 hours per week throughout the year, I was more passionate about doing stuff than attending lectures, so should I just stop being overoptimistic and settle down with what I have experienced? -other than the general biology program, I am interested in 2 other fields, molecular nutrition biology, and physiology. -I am very anxious and unconfident when facing applications, I know it is tough for us international student, I am not sure how competitive I am, I am still doing research about my school list, I need advice for my safe bets, as you can see all I have right now are top universities which I know damn well that I am not getting interviews from.... Applying to Where: NYU: nutritional and food studies Boston University: molecular nutrition (dream) Wisconsin-madison: biomedical & molecular nutrition (dream) Tufts: biomedical & molecular nutrition (dream) Columbia: institute of human nutrition (dream) Brown university: biotechnology (including molecular therapy) (stretch a lot) Cornell: Nutritional science program (stretch a lot) UCD: nutrition science UCLA: UCB: OHSU: Molecular & Cellular Biosciences Penn: biology phD (broad program) Columbia: biology phD (broad program) *************************I will keep editing my post, especially for the school part, any advice helps, thanks a lot!****************************

GradCafe post: This is my first year applying for phD, so any help is very much appreciated!!! Being honest is the best I can ask from you, I am not gonna get offended in anyway so please speak up! I am applying from now and still got 3 months to fix any problem (hopefully that's enough time). Undergrad Institution: One of the UC schools Major(s): BioScience GPA in Major: 3.3 Overall GPA: 3.34 Position in Class: no clue Type of Student: International, male Master Institution: Columbia University Major(s): Nutritional Science Overall GPA: 3.5 Position in Class: no clue GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 167 (93%) V: 153 (60%) W: 2.5 (7%) eh....i don't know how either TOEFL Total: can waive from most school since I attended a US college Research Experience: 3 years, 3 labs. Junior year in college: Marine biology/ecology lab, -Doing meta-analysis for a phD student -Collecting data from field work, -Determined relationship between climate change / thermal tolerance and marine invertebrate disease -Researched age-dependent responses of marine invertebrates to climate change -attending seminars. Senior year in college: Physiology lab, -Investigating the Adaptive Modulation Theory upon xxx fishes -Measuring gastric pepsin and chitinase activities in spectrophotometer -Aiming to execute digestibility trials to observe whether there is a correlation between gut enzyme activities and digestibility of dietary biochemical constituents, referring back to human -PCR -field work and DNA extraction Master: Molecular biology lab, -Transporter expression, down from the scratch (DNA-RNA-Protein). From exp design to final protein activity measurement, I have learned and performed all steps from the central dogma -purification, gel electrophoresis, in-vitro transcription, in-vivo translation, oocytes injection, flux measurements, protein assays and etc. -pretty much every experiment related with DNA and RNA in molecular biology, I have tried them, failed them, mastered them. Pretty happy and confident at the end of the journey -this lab experience showed me my potential in the field of molecular biology/ molecular nutritional biology, I am trying do this as my phD Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list 2 times at undergrad, well I was struggling learning English so... Honor student at Columbia (possibly, me and my PI are discussing it rn) Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 1 conference & poster at college, 1 small conference at grad school, 1 first author publication in preparation (already finished both exp and writing, polishing up rn, but not gonna publish anyway before the end of 2018 probably). contributed in several labs and maybe my name will magically appear on their future papers, I am being optimistic only. Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Got an 2.7-2.9 GPA at the sophomore year in college which completely destroyed my GPA, but 3.35- 3.7 from junior to senior, so 3.35 cumulatively with the onward curve, Got an 3.0 at the first half of the master, got 3.5 at the second half of the master, so 3.3 cumulatively with the onward curve. -I will write these in my SOP cause I am a slow starter, i need time to digest everything, but after the warm-up I can get into a good shape pretty easily. LORs: -1 from my best friend, also my advisor from college (yeah this person is beyond helpful and we are that close, her and my senior year lab PI wrote me stellar LOR to boost me into Columbia) -1 from my senior year lab PI, again I don't know what they wrote but probably pretty good, I can bet on this person. 1 from my Molecular biology lab PI, he is beyond satisfied about the quality of my work, he even promised that he will adjust his letter according to my SOP, and he will show me what he wrote, no catfish -2 from my undergrad teachers, I attended more than 3 biology classes from each of them, and got A-A+ in all of the classes, they know I worked hard and have wrote me LOR for my master -1 from my master teachers, maintained great relationship with this one professor and he is helping me getting through the whole master program, a good friend of mine, we had very often conversations and he is being a great friend, recommending schools and programs and etc. Special Bonus Points: -international student assistant for 2 years at college, I like helping other kids who have similar background and struggle blending in. -I am really talented in many fields outside of school, I am good at painting, 12 years calligraphy master (had a piece stored at my high school HOF), lv.10 certificated in clarinet (=clarinet teacher certification), national certificate athlete (basketball, made it 2nd national place at my sophomore), -Great communication skill, extremely outgoing, never spoke english before college in my own country but pretty fluent without an accent after just 2 years. All in all, I am really spontaneous -Trilingual Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Some questions: -I know I have made up my mind to stay with Molecular biology, but other fields are intriguing as hell, like cancer, virology, stem cell/regenerative biology, and etc. Therefore, I am thinking of applying to those umbrella programs, Columbia and penn have "Biology phD" which don't restrict your interest area, I am planning to apply for 3-5 programs like that and rotate in different fields before I made any decision. -I have jumped around in different fields. I studied heavy ecology, marine biology at undergrad. Majored in nutrition science at master, but got into a molecular biology lab whilst. I did it because I am just generally interested into bio, I like and enjoyed learning and wanted to maximize my experience. All fields are fascinating, but now I am hooked by molecular biology since I have done some great work in the past year. I gotta admitted that I was scared by hard courses back in college such as cell bio, oncology, virology and such, but now boy do I regret... -The most important question, I need someone hit me with reality: is it too late to change direction? I really liked molecular biology and worked 40-50 hours per week throughout the year, I was more passionate about doing stuff than attending lectures, so should I just stop being overoptimistic and settle down with what I have experienced? -other than the general biology program, I am interested in 2 other fields, molecular nutrition biology, and physiology. -I am very anxious and unconfident when facing applications, I know it is tough for us international student, I am not sure how competitive I am, I am still doing research about my school list, I need advice for my safe bets, as you can see all I have right now are top universities which I know damn well that I am not getting interviews from.... Applying to Where: NYU: nutritional and food studies Boston University: molecular nutrition (dream) Wisconsin-madison: biomedical & molecular nutrition (dream) Tufts: biomedical & molecular nutrition (dream) Columbia: institute of human nutrition (dream) Brown university: biotechnology (including molecular therapy) (stretch a lot) Cornell: Nutritional science program (stretch a lot) UCD: nutrition science/ food science Columbia: general biology phD Penn: general biology phD