InquilineKea

So I'm curious - what do you use to get bulk minimal-preparation food online as cheaply as possible? Are there sites better than Amazon? (e.g. would Vitacost work)? I like to order low-glycemic index food that requires a minimum of preparation and that can be easily ordered online. So.. food like oat bran, rolled oats, roasted chickpeas, nuts, and dried tomatoes (if they were cheaper) would fit the profile perfectly. I've made a shopping list off Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/1NEVPQ8EZ7HCX/ref=topnav_lists_1) though I'm not sure if I'm listing all the best options yet.

Hello everyone, Is there anyone here interested in systems/quantitative biology? I'm really really passionate about the systems biology of aging in particular, though I'm also interested in metabolomics and anything with large-scale dynamical structure in general.

So I guess the time of year is starting again... === Undergrad Institution: (School or type of school, such as big state, lib arts, ivy, technical, foreign (what country?)... Overall Reputation in Biology?) Major(s): Minor(s): GPA in Major: Overall GPA: Position in Class: (No numbers needed, but are you top? near top? average? struggling?) Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?) GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: V: W: TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this) Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...) Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?) Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...) Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...) Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Applying to Where: School - Department - Research Interest School - Department - Research Interest School - Department - Research Interest

Yes - please join! We need all the questions we can get from people in order to graduate from beta.

In ESS, research fit often matters *a lot* more than research experience, since you often only have research fit with one professor. So then it becomes a single professor choosing between applicants rather than a department choosing the best applicants. I at least know this is the case for Harvard EPS and Berkeley EPS, which don't even have an admissions committee. Other EPS programs have admissions committees, but even then, you often need a professor who is able to fund you for at least 3 years of study. Even in these programs, you can be a top applicant who ends up rejected because the department might not be able to find a professor with funding willing to support you. This is different from most other PhD programs, where they simply accept the X best applicants in the area. Funding is often especially important in geoscience programs since they often don't have as many TA positions as other departments. So if you're super-passionate about what you do and can show that you can do good work (better than the other applicants), no one will care about your GPA as long as it's not TOO horrible. I'd say though - Caltech GPS does have an adcom and they do admissions by committee vote (they also have really generous 2-year fellowships so funding is not as much of an issue). So getting into Caltech GPS with a low GPA is non-trivial. The only other geoscience program I know that does admissions in a somewhat similar way is Princeton AOS. Anyways - people tend to care more about GPA if there are lots of required courses in grad school - because they want to know that you're able to survive them (and the quals). Which is particularly true for fields like physics and math, where one doesn't really do serious research with an adviser until after the 1st year (and where the student-adviser relationship isn't so critical that year). But cores tend to be far ore flexible for most geoscience students, and the student-adviser relationship becomes very important right from the very beginning. Atmospheric Science programs are kind of in between as they tend to have somewhat more homogeneous applicant backgrounds (and more required courses), but are generally culturally closer to geoscience than physics/math.

So the application process starts again today. See https://ndseg.asee.org/apply

Oh nice - I see. Do you know if applying directly to the program could affect one's chances of getting into the PhD program of the host university as well? (maybe it could help with finding funding, or finding an adviser, especially if there aren't many advisers at the host university who do computational aging research and who are taking new students on?)

Can I apply if I'm on medical leave and the chances of returning from leave are very low, such that I might be applying for grad programs next year? I've only finished one year of graduate education. If so, would I be at a disadvantage because I would be compared to other 2nd-years? [1] (even though the position I'm in means that I would basically be in the same position as college seniors applying to grad programs, since I don't believe that any of my credits will transfer over if I do transfer)? I wasn't able to do any research in my first year - only courses. My situation is basically severe versions of both comorbid ADD and Asperger's - at this point I have a lot of red flags so maybe I might as well have to mention them and depend on the luck of the draw with reviewers? ADD is also relevant because my grades are poor and I was only able to get the necessary medication towards the last 2 years of my UG study (after which my grades really improved, though they're still not perfect). Do you think that maybe I could also mention that I'm working with a social coach to try to address the issues of comorbid ADD and Asperger's that got me forced into medical leave to begin with? [1] I wonder if people doing joint BS-MS programs might also be at sort of a similar disadvantage..

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! Hmm - as for the NIH Graduate Partnership Program... Is that different from a traditional graduate program? Would I have to already be in a graduate program first? I know a few of the people over at Brown (though more at EEB than the other depts) - but I'm not sure if there's much computational research done in their aging division?

Does anyone else know about graduate programs in the biology of aging? Particularly programs with professors who do computational research in aging? For the record, I come from the University of Washington.

So I guess the time of year is starting again... === Undergrad Institution: (School or type of school, such as big state, lib arts, ivy, technical, foreign (what country?)... Overall Reputation in Biology?) Major(s): Minor(s): GPA in Major: Overall GPA: Position in Class: (No numbers needed, but are you top? near top? average? struggling?) Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?) GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: V: W: TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this) Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...) Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?) Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...) Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...) Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Applying to Where: School - Department - Research Interest School - Department - Research Interest School - Department - Research Interest

E.g. https://qph.is.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-f684fc759db65d357a228d2b4892dec2 This is like 30 pounds of books in a thin cardboard box (there are some massive textbooks on the bottom, like Atkins' Physical Chemistry). I'm not even sure if the cardboard box can handle it all without falling apart. How can I find a box that can hold all of this without falling apart? What type of packaging should I use and where should I get it? Is it ever advisable to ship 10-15 books in the same package? Or will there be friction between the books that could damage them during transport. Is it possible or advisable to use padding at all? Is it okay if I use an old Amazon box as packaging? Or any other type of old box? I could ship books in more boxes, though that will definitely cost more.

I'm going on medical leave for a year (so I need to move out of my apartment), and my mom just told me this: Does anyone know if this is actually a good idea or not?

So I'm moving out on July 31st and need to sell my stuff (furniture, utensils, microwave, etc) by then. Does anyone know of any venues where I can sell the stuff? I know of the grad student listserv, but any other options?

If I go on medical leave, then is it possible to defer the fellowship for a year? Or in other words, what are the chances that they'll accept medical leave as an extenuating circumstance, even if medical leave is a result of psychological circumstances?