leeal0011

@Throwawaydnf99 No problem! I can totally understand your worries, but think of it in the greater scheme of things. Sure, being smart as indicated by GPA, standardized test scores etc is important, but what's even more important is having direct research experience (publications, strong LORs from professors whom you've done research for etc.). Having such experience demonstrates to adcoms that you know what you are getting yourself into, and not just getting a PhD to "figure out" the next step in your life. Think of it this way, if you were an employer and you had two applicants, one of which is book smart, 4.0 GPA etc, and the other had applicable experience to job, but average GPA. More often than not, the employer is going to choose the more experienced applicant over the bookworm any day. This applies to PhD programs as well. It doesn't matter if you are a walking textbook reciting facts left and right. What truly matters is being able to take those facts, and design experiments to answer certain questions/tackle problems. So fret not, and good luck!

I totally agree with BabyScientist. The undergrad mentality is to be at the best school with the most prestige etc. Grad school is different, in the end a PhD is just a PhD no matter where you get it. What matters the most is who your advisor, and the work (publications, conferences etc) you do during your PhD.

I agree, I am currently looking for housing as well, and potentially a roommate.

Hey! I am heading to Northwestern as well, and will be joining the IBIS PhD program. However, I am planning on coming to the Chicago-area late July. ?

I can't necessarily speak about those programs, but when I decided on a program I took into consideration many factors. The most important factor for me was that there were more than a handful of PIs (4-5) that I'd like to work with. Next thing I'd considered was whether or not those handful of PIs had sufficient funding and are planning on taking students - take with a grain of salt as funding situations can change at any time. If you're unsure whether or not a PI has funding, one way to check is here: https://projectreporter.nih.gov/reporter.cfm. After that, I'd consider where most of those students end up going after completing their PhD. Next are logistical things like cost of living, location/safety, overall satisfaction of current students in the program.

Let's throw the biggest beach banger! ?

Hi guys I'll be attending Northwestern's IBIS program, and will be starting a summer rotation! It would be nice to get to know some of my cohort. Also, any tips on living in the Chicago-area would be greatly appreciated. ?