[2019 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

Hi! I've been reading these for a while now and decided to finally post one of my own. Although I ended up at a school that I loved, I had a bad experience applying to college in high school because I applied to schools out of my reach and I'm trying avoid repeating that mistake. So please be brutally honest with your opinions of my chances of getting into these programs! Thanks!

Undergrad Institution: Mid-size R1, relatively well known for biology/sciences/engineering
Major(s): Biochemistry
Minor(s): Chemistry
GPA in Major: 3.56
Overall GPA: 3.53
Position in Class: Not reported
Type of Student: Domestic female

GRE Scores (revised/old version): Not sure if I will send these in to schools that are optional, does anyone have any thoughts on whether it will help my application or am I wasting money on score reports?
Q: 163 (83%)
V: 164 (94%)
W: 4.5 (82%)
B: N/A

Research Experience:

Undergraduate Institution: 2 years in a relatively well-known cancer and aging lab (school year and summers), worked on a few different projects but my main one was studying the relative cancer resistance of different rodent species. I wrote a senior thesis on this project to graduate with honors in research and got a second author paper. I also have a mid-author paper but that project was very small and had a ton of other undergraduate authors.

Post-bac: I have been working as a tech at The Rockefeller University for the past two years in a lab studying obesity. I've been mostly doing behavioral experiments for a few postdocs and I'm beginning to take on a small project of my own that is part of their larger projects.  This research is very different from my undergrad research and what I eventually want to study (which is cancer biology), but I've gained a lot of experience and learned a lot about working full time in a lab. I have one second-author paper now and possibly one mid-author by the time I leave, although most likely not before applications are due.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Honorary Science Award Scholarship, Graduated with Honors in Research, Dean's List 5 semesters

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: None

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Vice president of my social sorority, Financial Vice President of my university's Panhellenic Executive Council (which oversees all sorority activities), first chair alto sax in wind symphony all 4 years

Does anyone have thoughts on whether I should include my sorority affiliation in my applications? I know some people look down on it but I gained a lot of leadership experience and it really enhanced my college experience. 

Special Bonus Points: My undergrad PI/recommender is well known in the aging field, my Rockefeller PI/recommender is famous, I took 2 grad classes as part of my undergrad major and did relatively well

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I am expecting an excellent recommendation letter from my undergraduate PI and at least a very good one from my undergraduate major advisor who will write about how rigorous the curriculum was at my school and that my major is one of the hardest at the university. Unfortunately I have not enjoyed working in my current lab and I am not terribly interested in the topic of research. I initially signed on because I wanted to get experience in a different field from my undergraduate research and I was very excited to work for such an esteemed PI. Things didn't really turn out as planned but I'm trying to make the most of it. So, I'm slightly unsure about the recommendation letter I will get from my current position but I don't really have any other options.

Applying to Where: I have a VERY long list of schools that I am slowly narrowing down. I am mainly looking at umbrella programs that provide a lot of flexibility to explore different areas. I have a wide range of interests but I am mainly focused on cancer biology and gene regulation. I don't want to enter into a specific program but I am fine with choosing a track once I've picked a lab.

MIT - Biology

Stanford Biosciences - Cancer Biology

UCSF BMS - Cancer Biology and Cell Signaling

Duke CMB - Molecular Cancer Biology

WashU DBBS - Molecular Cell Biology

UCSD Biomedical Sciences - Cancer BiologyU

U Michigan PIBS - Cancer Biology

U Penn CAMB - Cancer Biology

U Washington MCB - Cancer Biology

Cornell Weill BCMB - Molecular Biology

Gerstner Sloan Kettering - Cancer Biology

Northwestern DGP - Cancer Biology

UNC BBSP - Genetics and Molecular Biology

NYU Sackler - Molecular Oncology and Tumor Immunology

Tufts Sackler - Cellular, Molecular and Developmental Biology

BU PiBS - Genetics and Genomics

GWU IBS - Cancer Biology

 

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!