Budeer
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Posts posted by Budeer
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14 minutes ago, synapticcat said:
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 Harvard/MIT/Stanford/JHU/etc, but that both UTSW and Northwestern are solidly at the caliber of Duke/UNC/UWash/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.
Thanks a lot! That was very helpful.
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34 minutes ago, Otinogonnyo said:
US rankings may be a starting point!It can be fairly misleading and it may be true that the Person who is a big name in the field is PI in a smaller university! The other ranking metrics too give a fair insight! To better answer your question, either of these schools are not Ivy-League or Stanford, UC(B and SF),MIT or Hopkins. Probably closer in stature to Duke, UMich, UCSD in biomedical research.
I am sure whether you choose North or South, both the 'West' are pretty solid schools and will make you a competitive applicant,basically you will not loose anything by choosing either of them!! I suppose it will boil down to Chicago vs Dallas or hot vs cold weather finally!
Thank you!
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43 minutes ago, Otinogonnyo said:
Well the concept of Tier program is relative and as pointed out varies between programs! The exact words I told you was told to me by a former MD/PhD from UTSW. In academic circle,he mentioned UTSW has a good reputation.What that translates into industry-academic relationship and industry alone is something I have no idea either!
And the reputation of UTSW I have heard are from Cardiology folks(as I mentioned before) so I am sure will be skewed as they have a stellar Cardiology bench program.If you are really concerned about the prestige of the school,I would ask mentor or postdoc for their opinion.On another note,you can also look into the career graph of the recent graduate from the school and make a broad guess about the success of the school!!
Thanks for the reply! I did ask my current mentor and some other professors at my school about UTSW, all they said was it's a great school and well recognized in the biomedical field. They didn't say anything about "Tier" etc. I also looked at the career outcomes of students and communicated with UTSW associate director, it seems like it's fairly common for students there to find post-doc positions in schools like Harvard, Stanford etc., same case applies for those who found jobs in the industry. So it seems name recognition is not a problem. However, just out of pure curiosity, I'd like to know what people think of "tiers". If someone can give me a more specific answer or give some examples of "tier 1" "tier 2" schools, I would really appreciate it. I'm curious where UTSW or Northwestern (the only other school I got into) stand among other schools. I understand it varies from major to major, program to program, I'm just looking for a general impression. My apologies for asking so many questions.
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1 hour ago, Otinogonnyo said:
Well, the department I work in Harvard-affiliate hospital is Cardiology and UTSW undoubtedly has among the top 5 programs in cardiology and related research (Brown, Goldstein,Hobbs, Eric Olsen, Joe Hill to name a few. lnfact the entire Editorial Board of Circulation has been shifted to UTSW from Boston).So my PI may be biased in his opinion as well. But overall, I have heard good things about UTSW and although it is not a top-tier school, I would like to believe that it comes high on the Tier-II schools.
All the best with your choice!!
Hi! Thanks for the info. Just out of curiosity, could you elaborate more on the Top tier and Tier-II you mentioned? So is top tier schools like Harvard, MIT, Stanford; and second tier schools are like Yale, Cornell, U Penn, U Chicago, Berkeley, UCLA etc? Or are these all 1st tier schools? Not gonna lie I do care a lot about what people think of a school’s reputation/ prestige. Thank you so much!
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3 hours ago, Otinogonnyo said:
Hi,
I was offered an acceptance offer from UTSW and I did accept it. I was speaking to my current Mentor in Harvard and he seemed to think pretty highly of UTSW and insisted on taking up the offer. Well, I am interested in Cancer Biology too but I found UTSW wanting in areas related to cancer biology(in comparison to Harvard-affiliated hospitals I have been working for the past 3 years).But the words of my PI helped me a lot(I am an international student), so I accepted UTSW offer.I am fixated on working with a couple of their PIs and from the little I have heard they are expanding too!
So overall,I am happy to choose UTSW but again I did not apply to Northwestern,so I may not have given a balanced perspective on the better of the two programs.
Thanks for your reply! Yes I agree UTSW doesn't have as many cancer related labs as Harvard related hospitals, but it's still huge compare to lots of other program. It's good to hear Harvard PI thinks highly of UTSW haha.
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6 minutes ago, siliconchins said:
I didn't work at the DGP but had a lot of chances to talk to faculty while I've been in Chicago. If you're interested in big picture things, I can suggest people like Marc Mendillo and Dai Horiuchi who are interested in the tumor microenvironment (i.e. interactions of tumor cells with surrounding stromal tissue, which would have some relevance to cancer immunology) as well as labs like the Platanias, Kiyokawa, and Wan lab who are interested in large scale cellular changes in tumorigenesis.
Thanks a lot! I’ll look into these PIs.
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Great thanks! Did you work at DGP before? Looks like you are also interested in cancer biology. I interviewed with Marcus Peter, I think he’s doing very interesting research, it’s just his students said it’s very stressful working for him. I also liked Hans George Simon, who does stem cell and regeneration. Is there anyone else you’d recommend or familiar with? I’m more of a big picture guy and I’m not particularly interested in stuff like focusing on a single molecule or protein or pathway that’s important for this one specific cancer etc. I’m more into cancer stem cell, p53, cell fate control, telomere etc. Thank you for your input!
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4 hours ago, siliconchins said:
Thanks! I'm pretty excited. Congrats to you too!
Also something to keep in mind is that the DGP is aggressively expanding right now and hiring tons of new faculty. So by the time you would pick a lab, they would have a lot of new research directions/mentors to choose from.
That’s good to know. Thanks! What do you think of UTSW?
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Hi guys,
I would like some advises regarding making decisions. Any comments or advises will be appreciated!
So I was accepted by Northwestern DGP and UT Southwestern. I'm very impressed by both schools and I really don't know how to choose. My research interests are stem cell and cancer biology. Both Northwestern and UTSW have a number of faculties I'm interested in working with. UTSW is a larger program with more faculties to choose from, but it's dominated by many huge labs with big name PIs (Who I happened to be interested in). Northwestern DGP is a smaller program with mostly small labs so it's probably easier to interact with your PI regularly. But in general, these 2 are both great programs and I don't know which one I like more. I know that Northwestern is a very prestigious school, but I don't know whether its biomedical research is also well recognized. On the other hand, UTSW is a medical center who specialize in biomedical research, however it is not very well known outside of the medical field (In fact I've never heard of UTSW before I applied). What do you guys think? In terms of research ability, prestige, and recognition in the field, which one is better? Thank you!
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2 hours ago, hurryskurry said:
I believe that in biomedical research UTSW is generally regarded favorably. It is probably considered the next lower tier. Those schools are what like generally regarded as top 10 schools whereas UTSW is a top 20. UTSW doesn't have undergraduates so there's going to be less name recognition.
Are there any PIs in particular you're interested in?Thank you for the insight. I'm mostly interested in cancer, stem cell and aging. PIs I'm interested in are Jerry Shay, Woodring Wright, John Abrams, Sean Morrison etc.
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3 hours ago, hurryskurry said:
A grad student and a post-doc in my lab both interviewed at Baylor, I think their general impression was that Baylor is a more challenging program, in terms of things like classwork. I think the general impression is that UTSW has more research and publications, but it might be biased, because the people I asked work or are students here.
I’m also interviewing at UTSW in a couple weeks. I’m also curious about the reputation of UTSW in general. My research interests are cancer or stem cell biology. I have never heard of UTSW before I applied ( forgive my ignorance, I’m not from the US). I applied to UTSW only because I saw many labs there are doing interesting research, I have no idea how good the institution is or how it’s perceived nationally or internationally. I’m just wondering if UTSW is considered a prestigious institution, if so, at what level it is compare to other institutions in the nation? Is it considered the same level with Harvard, MIT, Stanford, UCSF etc. in terms of research. Or is it at a lower tier? Is UTSW a widely recognized brand in the research field internationally? Thank you!
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35 minutes ago, siliconchins said:
Thanks!
The whole interview weekend was really laid back. Dinner on Thursday night was with some students and faculty, and they give a short presentation about the history of the program and the area. There is a time for everyone to mingle and get to know each other, and some other icebreaker activities later on led by Steve Anderson.
On Friday, Steve and Nick met us at the hotel and led us to breakfast and presentations about the program, after which students led us to our first interview. I met with five faculty members for 30 mins each, and they were mostly relaxed conversations. I would say that you should definitely prep a short ~5min blurb about your research interests as I was nervous for my first interview and probably would have forgotten to mention things without the prep.
They mainly asked about my prior research experience, why I was choosing to do a PhD, and what I wanted to accomplish afterwards. It's hard to pinpoint a specific type of interview though because each faculty interview was slightly different - for example, one person I met with wanted to know how my research interests meshed with his work, and gave me some hypothetical situations to gauge my response. I would say the best prep for this kind of thing would be to read the research on each person you're meeting (info I got maybe 2 days before the actual interviews) and maybe some abstracts of recently published papers. I wouldn't go much beyond that though, because they don't really expect you to know the specifics about what they do, and won't "test" you on your knowledge. They just want to make sure you can speak intelligently about your previous work and about science in general.
Thank you so much for the info! Do you think it’s okay if I bring a notebook with me in case I forget to say something or just to write down a couple sentences about each interviewer’s research? Also, is there a specific dress code? How formal should you wear? Thank you!
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2 minutes ago, siliconchins said:
The first interview weekend was 1/11-1/13.
Oh okay, congrats! Mine is next Thursday. Do you mind sharing how the interview process went? What kinda questions did they ask? Thank you!
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2 hours ago, siliconchins said:
Accepted to Northwestern DGP! Very excited!
Sorry but how are you accepted already? Their Interviews start next week.
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2 minutes ago, siliconchins said:
I believe UChicago Cancer Bio invites have already gone out as I ran into people who were invited before the holidays on some interviews.
Oh okay, so sad... thank you!
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Does anyone know if the following schools are done sending out interviews?
1. Stanford Biosciences (Cancer Biology Track)
2. JHU Cellular and Molecular Medicine
3. U Penn CAMB
4. Weill Cornell BCMB
5. UCLA molecular & Cellular Biology
6. U Chicago Cancer Biology
7. Duke Stem Cell Biology
If anyone has any information about these above programs, could you please share with me? I've being anxiously waiting for more than a month but haven't heard back from any of these schools. Thank you for your help!
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Anyone know if Stanford bioscience cancer biology is done sending out interviews? What about JHU CMM? UCLA bioscience? Thanks!
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1 hour ago, factanonverba said:
FYI, I applied to Stanford Biosciences Cancer Biology, and I got an invite just yesterday afternoon (4:30pm Pacific time), so it is likely that they just started sending out invites. It could be coming soon!
Thank you! That’s good to know!
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Does anyone know if the following schools are done sending out interviews?
1. Stanford Biosciences (Cancer Biology Track)
2. JHU Cellular and Molecular Medicine
3. U Penn CAMB
4. Weill Cornell BCMB
5. UCLA molecular & Cellular Biology
6. U Chicago Cancer Biology
7. Duke Stem Cell Biology
If anyone has any information about these above programs, could you please share with me? I've being anxiously waiting for more than a month but haven't heard back from any of these schools. Thank you for your help!
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Does anyone know if Yale BBS MCGD track and JHU CMM are done sending out interview invites? Thanks.
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I've seen people posting U Penn CAMB, does that mean they already sent out all interview invites?
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14 hours ago, sp.110172 said:
Anyone get a USC interview!
Yes, I got mine on Dec. 15. I saw someone else also posted on the result page. I applied to PIBBS at USC Keck.
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Does anyone know if Yale BBS has send out all their interview invites? What about Harvard BBS, I've seen people here saying Harvard BBS sent out all invites today already?
Anyone heard back from Duke developmental and stem cell biology?
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Hey guys, I'm applying to many schools but I'm not sure about my chances at all. It's already 12/15 and I haven't heard back from any schools yet. I'm extremely nervous right now. Could anybody give some feedback? Thanks.
Undergrad Institution: USC
Major(s): Biology - B.S Biological Science. M.S Molecular Genetics (in Progress)
GPA in Major: 3.42
Overall GPA: 3.36 (Last 60 units: 3.6)
Position in Class: Unsure, definite upward trend through last two years. Finished freshman year with 2.8 GPA, Last 2 years 3.6.
Type of Student: International with US Bachelors Degree
GRE Scores (revised/):
Q: 170 (97%)
V: 162 (91%)
W: 4.5 (82%)
Research Experience:3 years undergrad research experiences in 2 labs. I worked in the first lab for a summer and second lab for 2.5 years and currently a master's student there. 2 publications, one mid author, one second author.
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list last 2 years at undergrad. Undergraduate research scholarship
Special Bonus Points: All three LOR writers know me pretty well, I assume strong letters from all three PIs, one of the writers was former Harvard MCB director.
Applying to Where:- Harvard - BBS
- Columbia - Integrated Program.
- Stanford - Bioscience Cancer Biology
- Yale- BBS
- U Chicago- Cancer Biology
- U Penn- CAMB Cancer Biology
- JHU- CMM
- Rockefeller
- Weill Cornell- BCMB
- MIT- Biology
- Duke- Developmental and Stem Cell Biology
- UCLA- Bioscience
- UCSD- Bioscience
- UT Southwestern
- Vanderbilt IGP
- Emory-Cancer Biology
- UC Irvine- MCB
- Northwestern- DGP
- USC-PIBBS
Thanks for any and all feedback!
2018 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results
in Biology
Posted
Honestly I think so too, the numbers of Nobel prize winners and HHMI members were brought up many times during my visit there. And it’s indeed very very impressive. I’m actually leaning towards joining UTSW.