kung_pao_chiken

Received an offer of admission one week after interviewing at UCSF Biomedical Sciences. It feels surreal, especially after a lot of self doubt, to be admitted to one of my top choice programs despite having weak grades and no first author papers. Main strengths: Good SOP, LOR, worked at UCSF for 2.5 years, and my LOR writer I think is well known at UCSF for providing good training for SRAs in their lab. A lot of independent research projects in undergrad and postgrad, which I think were ultimately still important and came through in LOR+SOP.

Received an interview at Georgia Tech/Emory Biomedical Engineering!

This sounds fun!

I used to have this issue a lot with my current research, but I think its just developing other identities/hobbies from my scientific career/interests which I've done a lot of since graduating and working a bit as a research associate. You already know your science super well as evidenced by your invites, everyone deals with imposter syndrome, but most importantly, its good to just remember you are a person outside of your PhD invites and your scientific work and have things you enjoy Also maybe morbid but the phrase "memento mori" and stoic philosophy has helped me deal with a lot of things with regards to regrets about doing X vs Y, being in a certain place in life, etc. The reminder of death is actually kind of comforting in knowing that in the end, what's more important is to live a fulfilling life filled with enriching experiences, which usually means that a lot of things I am anxious about I find tend to pass regardless.

Did anyone apply to Mt Sinai BMS or know when they are coming out?

Got an interview invite from UCSF BMS yesterday night to add-on to what other applicants have said Pleasantly surprised because low grades, no research papers (one review paper and a few presentations) and non-URM status, so theres hope for all the low-GPA gang