[Post here to get your worries off your chest]

Congratz on the Mayo interview, I guess I will be seeing you there in Feb for our interviews! 

[Admission % for International Students Discrepancy]

My question pertains to the admission rate of international students that seems to vary wildly between different graduate schools I am looking at. Harvard's BBS program seems to have roughly ~25% international students and U Michigan's Biology program somewhere closer to 50% based on its latest intake. On the flipside, most of the programs at UCSF seem to have <5% international students while MCB at Berkeley admitted only a single international student in its 2018 entering cohort (3%). Thus I would like to know if there is a simple way to find out what the admissions rate for international applicants in graduate programs or their proportion within the cohort. Furthermore, does it thus make sense for international applicants to simply skip applying to schools with a significantly lower intake of international students? 

[2019 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

1 hour ago, jmillar said:

Michigan doesn't have a general "Biology" program for graduate school. Instead it's spread over 15 different departments/programs. Are you more interested in some of the more biomedical aspects? If so, I would apply through PIBS, which covers 14 of the programs. Otherwise, you could apply to Ecology & Evolutionary Biology. PIBS will likely give you the most flexibility, with over 500+ faculty you can rotate with.

Indeed! I was looking at MCDB degree offered by the LSA (admittedly because it shows up the first upon googling) but PIBS seems to offer a lot more flexibility. Would you know what the competitiveness of these respective programs are?  

[2019 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

8 hours ago, StemCellFan said:

I think it's really good you have diverse experiences in research.  I think to help your chances, you should narrow your research interests down, even if it's something as broad as cancer biology or immunology.  If a program your applying to has a defined field you are interested, highlight how your research interests coincide with faculty X, Y, Z, or the overall research program, because that will demonstrate how you fit into their program.

For example, if you've done research in toxicology, cancer biology, and developmental organismal biology, and the program you're interested in at U Penn is focused more on cancer bio, perhaps elevate your cancer bio research experiences to demonstrate how well you'd fit into their program.

Thank you for the feedback! I am primarily interested in the process of senescence and ageing in general but am still finding labs and P.Is that have research in that area. Other than trawling though realms of papers and the respective faculty lists is there a more efficient way of finding such information?

[2019 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

Hi I would like to get a sense of my odds of getting accepted into some of the schools I currently have in mind   Furthermore, I am afraid my lack of publications might hold back my application although I have a decent amount of research experience (close to 2 years).

Undergrad Institution: UC San Diego
Major(s): Biology,  Literature
Minor(s): Music
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.9+
Position in Class: Summa cum laude (top 2%) 
Type of Student: Asian American

GRE Scores

Q: 170

V: 169

W: 6 

Research Experience:  Will have done almost 2 years of research in 3 biology labs but no publications yet

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Summa cum laude, Provosts honors every quarter and Phi Beta Kappa. 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Did some TA work and independent research studies in various fields (e.g. musicology)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: My interests so far has been pretty diverse although I do want to make a career in research in Biology. What might be a good way to showcase how this diverse background might benefit my suitability as a PhD candidate? LORs should be fairly strong coming from 3 PIs at the head of their respective fields. 

Special Bonus Points: Will have finished undergrad and graduated in 3 years! 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I might hold the school record for taking the most classes in a quarter. 

 

Applying to Where: 

Harvard - BBS 

Stanford - Biology

UCSF - Biology

JHU - Biology

U Michigan - Biology

WashU - Biology

U Penn- Biology

UCSD- Biology