queerorpheus

First off, congratulations on your interview! You should be very proud of yourself and your accomplishments. I may be biased because I personally didn't consider prestige a factor in deciding where to apply, but I think what matters is your fit with the program. You seem interested in the program, so as long as you're comfortable there and your research goals align with the program's, prestige shouldn't matter. Go to the interview and see how you like the faculty and students you talk to, then base your decision on that. Also, look at the outcomes from the program - even less well-known programs can graduate students with accomplished careers. Best of luck from a fellow fall 2021 applicant!

Speaking as a fall 2021 applicant, it's really good that you're starting to think about this early! Here's what I did for PhD applications in molecular/cell biology and biochemistry: Spring semester/summer before applying: Start researching schools where you might want to apply. I used GradTrek to generate a list of schools based on degree and region, then went to the program's website and made detailed notes. I noted things like funding, benefits, teaching requirements, unique research opportunities, and anything that made the program stand out to me. From this, I made a list of the schools where I would be applying and their application requirements. Summer/beginning of fall: Identify your rec writers and ASK THEM EARLY! I cannot stress this enough - professors are busy people and you need to give them enough time to write and submit. Some will ask for a CV/resume so make sure you have that in order. Start drafting your statement of purpose early as well, and give yourself time to refine it and modify it for each school. If you're applying to a program that requires you to reach out to faculty of interest, start doing that. Fall: Start your applications as early as you're able to, especially if you're requesting fee waivers. I would recommend making a separate folder in your email for everything grad school (you'll be getting A LOT of emails). Remind your rec writers to have everything in by the deadline. Generally, just work ahead of deadlines and don't put everything off until the last minute. Best of luck to you in your grad school journey!

I'm not planning on having any slides or figures. I've also heard the bit about interviews being more like conversations, and from my friends who have interviewed already it seems like interviewers are more interested in the general trends of your data rather than specific details that a figure would show.

Which program/school are you referring to for Pitt? I'm still waiting to hear from MCDB in the A&S school, but I think I heard that programs in the med school may have sent interviews before the holidays. Don't quote me on that though.

I'm not a neuro applicant, but my neuro professor got her degree from OSU and she did some really cool research on neurodevelopment while she was there. OSU is overall a great school for STEM fields (hence why I'm applying there for biochem).

I've also started a cover letter for this program as well! I'll definitely let you know if I have any questions, thanks

I've considered PREP programs, but it seems like a lot of them are designed specifically for underrepresented minorities (as defined by NIH). Some would consider me underrepresented as a queer woman, but I don't fall under the NIH definition specifically. Do you have any insight into whether it's even worth applying? (For what it's worth, I do have one interview with a PhD program already. This is more just for my own stress about backup options.)

I'm going business casual, but not fully formal. I got a blazer and am wearing a turtleneck top under it for the interview day, and then I'm planning to just wear a nice blouse for panels. I'm still planning on wearing nice pants too, just so I can feel confident and powerful lol. I heard someone say to at least wear a nice pair of jeans in case you need to get up for whatever reason during the interview.

Personally I wouldn't use slides. From what I've heard, interviews aren't going to go super in depth on your work, they just want to know that you can talk about what you did and its implications. You can talk about trends in the data, but having the specific data isn't necessarily helpful. Since interviews are online, I'm planning to have some notecards by my computer so I don't miss any talking points about my research. Hope this helps!

I think this depends on the school and the program, as well as the dates of your interview. I wouldn't worry too much about this unless your interview is next week. Faculty are likely at home with their families celebrating the new year and I would give them some space until Monday and then reach out if you're truly concerned.

Update: I got my first interview yesterday for Penn State's BMMB program. I'm really excited and I hope this is the first of many!

You're not the only one, it's pretty early so I'm trying not to be too worried. Sending you lots of positivity!

I applied to Penn State, I'm expecting they'll send out interviews for BMMB in the coming week based on previous trends I've seen on this site.

Mine too, I hope to see you at interviews!

I know of one person who got an interview invite this morning. I'm crossing my fingers for one too!

That seems pretty common for Bloomberg. When I did my open house with them, a lot of current PhD students had done either an MSc or MPH at Bloomberg before starting the PhD. We'll just have to see what happens I guess!

I ended up applying to everywhere I had initially planned: Two programs at JHU, Pitt, Ohio State, UMD, and Penn State. I know that at least Pitt will send out interview notices shortly after Christmas, so it's nice to have some kind of timeline. I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

I attended virtual open houses with Pitt BioSci and JHU School of Public Health where they told us that interviews will be completely virtual. Pitt had a very organized plan where you'll essentially have a full day on Zoom doing all the traditional things like info sessions, meeting faculty, and all that jazz. They said we'd do small group interviews and then hop into breakout rooms to talk to the PIs we're interested in from our applications. I can definitely see a lot of people suffering from Zoom fatigue (if we aren't already from classes) but at least they're trying to maintain some sense of normalcy. Now to cross my fingers and hope to see some interview invitations by the beginning of the new year...

Is anyone else here planning on applying to UMD BISI? The application still isn't open and I'm a bit concerned.

That's a good question. I know one of the programs I'm applying to doesn't have a fee for domestic applicants but I'm mostly paying out of pocket for applications and I really can't afford 12-15 schools.

12-15 seems like overkill to me, and a lot of people don't have that much money or time to drop on applications. Heck, I didn't even apply to that many schools for undergrad. I'm not stressing about trying to add more, especially when my academic advisor recommended against it. I guess it comes down to personal preference and the ability to actually pay for that many applications.

I'm meeting with my academic advisor tomorrow to make sure I'm on track with my prep. We were supposed to meet during the spring semester but dang COVID threw off those plans.

I've seen a lot of things online that now is a good time to start reaching out to PIs but I really have no idea where to start with that. I have a list of schools I want to apply to and PIs at each that I'd be interested in in working with. Is it typical to reach out to several PIs for each program or just one? I have a general idea that I should introduce myself as an applicant that would be interested in working in their lab, but how much should I talk about myself/research vs. just an introductory email? I don't have a lot of guidance on this so anything helps. Thanks y'all!

Can anyone else back this up? I should add that: Academic: I'm currently sitting around a 3.9 both overall and in my major and don't expect that to change. I've gotten through the tougher classes in my major (p-chem and biochem 2) so I'm mostly finishing out those good old liberal arts requirements. I've been on dean's list for all semesters and have also received awards from the chemistry department for my academic performance in those classes. Experience: Like I said, I really only have that one research experience, but I now have a publication in an ACS journal and hopefully will be doing a few conferences (even if virtual). I've tutored chemistry for three years now and am now student managing our tutoring service. I'm also a faculty aide for cell and molecular biology. I feel that I can get some strong LORs from my research advisor, tutoring supervisor, and academic advisor. I know Bloomberg specifically says they will evaluate your research experience differently if you're coming from a liberal arts background just because the size of the school can definitely impact your quality of research. I'm trying to focus my SoPs more on the qualities I got out of research than the project itself. I'm still super worried but my school has sent people to very good grad schools before with about the same level of research. I'm trying not to hype myself up too much but remain positive at the same time.

I'll be finishing my undergrad degree in biochemistry and molecular biology this upcoming academic year. I think I've been stressing myself out too much about PhD applications. I'm worried because I went to a small liberal arts college so I don't necessarily have a huge wealth of research experience. I have done research (that's hopefully getting published!), but it's in analytical chemistry because that's what was available to me. I'm looking at more bio focused schools but I don't even know if I have a good number of schools or the qualifications to get into any of them. So far I'm applying for: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School -- biochemistry and molecular biology Ohio State -- biochemistry Pitt -- molecular, cell, and developmental biology University of Maryland -- molecular and cell biology I'll probably end up adding to this list because it seems like everyone applies to more programs. Any advice would be much appreciated.