heuristicSystems

I used an Amazon Fire for a few years, and I did not like it for reading papers. It was somewhat usable for videos and internet surfing, but it was generally not a pleasant experience. I bit the bullet about a year ago and bought an iPad. It is phenomenal. It is very easy to read papers, and things just work and work quickly. They are cheaper than they used to be. I got mine for $310 (https://www.apple.com/us-hed/shop/buy-ipad/ipad-9-7/32gb-silver-wifi), though the pen was an extra $100. It's definitely not cheap but, if you can't afford it, I would probably recommend reading on your computer or on paper rather than getting a cheap tablet. Just my two cents, though. Good luck!

This is really useful, thanks for passing this along! At a very minimum, this will make me tailor my applications to bioinformatics programs to be more tool-focused. Great to know that I should be able to find a good fit in an umbrella program.

Hello! I’m getting around to applying for programs next year. I have a degree in biology, and some coursework in computer science (5 courses) and bioinformatics (2 courses) and math (calc&difeq, linear, stats). I have a good gpa (3.97) and have some research experience (4 years on-and-off in the same lab—starting with wet-lab genetics stuff, ending with a thesis where I used R to do a bunch of error propagation analyses related to some protein dynamic stuff, a year in industry half bioinfo analyst half immunology tech, and a few months of full time sysbio academic tech work). And lots of poster presentations, but no publications. I’m at a lesser-known R1 school But I’m super worried about admissions, being in the more-niche space of wanting to do some sort of quant biology. I feel well-qualified for biology programs, but i don’t really want to do much wet lab work in the future. Biostatistics would be awesome, but I’m not super qualified (I’ve never taken analysis or even a proper multi variable). Same with a lot of the more math-focused bioinfo programs Im thinking if focusing my applications to sysbio and bioinformatics programs? Should i still apply to pure bio programs? Do y’all have any suggestions?

I'm enrolled in a joint BS/MS program but, due to university policy, I receive my B.S. degree this semester, and then my M.S. next year (called "Masters PlusOne" on my transcript). How does this effect my eligibility for the NSF GRFP? I see on the FAQ that there are different rules for BS/MS programs but I'm a bit confused by them. Should I wait until I'm enrolled in a PhD program to apply, since it seems like I only have 1 shot? And, if I'm not eligible to apply, I've seen some alternatives--like the NDSEG and the Hertz fellowships. Does anyone have a more comprehensive (or at least longer) list of alternative fellowships somewhere? First time posting, so please let me know if this isn't the right place! Thanks!