-Star-

I'm in molecular and cellular biology.

I JUST ( seconds ago) received an email. Got "alternate"/"honorable mention" ... Still a little hope, but I doubt all that many people turn down funding. I hope you got an email too! (And wish you better luck than I had.)

Okay then. I suppose I can wait another week!! Thanks!

Has anyone heard anything about this?

Congrats!

I think that this is dependent on the program and the school. I know there are several schools/programs where your PhD stipend is NOT negotiable and all the students, regardless of the year receive the same stipend from the school. (Though, this may change if you personally are bringing in outside money such as an NSF grant, and most schools will pay you to TA above your required hours if you have any.)

I'm really sorry you feel that badly. I agree that you should try to make time to do other things that make you happy. Even if you go outside (outside of lab or actually outside) bring a timer and just read something non science for an hour during the day. Are there any other grad students around that you are close with? I am only finishing up my second year, but I wouldn't get through most days without a friend of mine. As for your project, is there another person on your committee you could go to for suggestions? You seemed to say/imply that your adviser wasn't all that helpful, maybe another committee member could be? I also agree that talking about your project with others might give you some ideas as to what is going on. It could just be something really silly like the water used to make the reagents has a varying pH that for some reason for what you are testing is really important. Honestly I would try to cut back on lab time a little and do other things you enjoy sometimes. I know each lab is different and expectations are different, but adding hours to your work day isn't going to help if you are too burnt out to get anything productive done. I'm sure you know you aren't the only one who feels this way, but it is a hard thing to deal with. I hope you can figure out how to feel better.

I don't have tons of knowledge on the subject, but you look like you are doing well so far (aside from the problem with recommendations). I think the recommendation situation seems tough, but low profile great recommendations and usually better than high profile mediocre ones. I would look into the GRE requirements for some schools and make the decision about taking them then. I'm not sure exactly where (geographically) you planned on looking so I don't know what the requirements would be. G'luck

They must be required/mandatory school supplies. If you just happen to want to buy a computer/printer/notebooks/etc, it is still taxable. If you are required to buy a text book for a class, then it is not taxable.

As a second year, I'm out. Oh well, it was a good try and at least no one said my whole application and project are crap I'm going to call it a win and get my ass working on my qualifying exam. edit *I found my email in my spam folder as well* I got a similar comment. My undergraduate academic background essentially is crap, but is expected give [X things I wrote about why my UG sucked]. Then I got that my graduate career is fabulous. I ended up with VG/VG G/E ... I was just hoping that my undergraduate grades (which are from 7 years ago) would be out weighed by my two papers, 5 years of research experience before grad school, and good letters. Such is life! I didn't get a third either, and it seems that applications with "worse" "scores" than my did. But I'm going to guess that it has to do with which discipline you applied to. G'luck next year!! Congrats again to everyone, G'luck to those applying next year, and to those who are out of the game ... there are always other fellowships to apply for

bah. Well congrats to all the winners Night.

Yea so ... I had told a classmate that we'd know after fastlane went down. THEN I somehow distracted myself with homework and forgot about it. So, of course she texted me to let me know it was down. NOW I'm in panic mode. PANIC!!!!!!!! AHHHH!!!!!! (yup thought I'd share)

And really, we are all sitting here obsessively refreshing this page ... whats another web page?

Saaaammmmeeeee HERE.

Sigh, Well, one less thing to be anxious about. My NIH NSRA application was "not discussed" so ... strike one. I wish they would hurry up with this thing so I can move on to more ... productive? matters!

Great guys! (and girls) You have all given me about a million things to do instead of grading for my undergrads or writing my qualifying exam proposal lol I am REALLY tired of waiting and REALLY anxious. AHHHH! (And also check this thread way way way too much.) But, I wish you all luck :-)

Just to throw out my annoyance with the rest of the world. I wish they would get on with it. Siiggghhhh.

I don't think re-applying will HURT you. If the school felt your credentials weren't good enough and you don't do anything differently, they won't be good enough next time around. If the school liked you but had too many people who were a better fit than you, there might be fewer next time around. In that situation I would suggest trying to get in touch with someone (a PI you're interested in or someone on the committee) you have spoken to during the process and tell them you are truly interested and would like suggestions as to how to improve your credentials for year. There are some things schools will hold hard and fast to that you may or may not be able to improve in a year. Some schools have GPA minimums that they will not consider you if you are under, others have GRE minimums, or it might just be a case of having 15 spots and 15 more qualified people applying at the same time as you. The best suggestion I have if you were not to get in would be to continue doing something that shows you are interested and capable of getting a phd in your field of interest. Get MORE research experience, take a graduate course and do well, retake the GREs and improve, have a discussion with a person doing your LOR and give them a better understanding of why you want to do this ... it is all dependent on your situation. As for schools, try this: http://graduate-scho...s.org/rankings/ or this: http://grad-schools....raduate-schools A grad school can be a "good" school because it is ranked highly, but you also want to factor in location, research interests, and other things that may be important to you (such as diversity, average time to completion, stipend, etc). I'm sure others will also supply useful information, I'm sorry I don't have more useful things to say on the subject. Best! ~Star

Xanthan has some awesome advice, and I completely agree. The more research experience you can get, and the more your LORs can speak to your ability to do research, the better chances you will have. Side note: Many schools have a policy that you can retake courses with low grades, if that is the case with your school, your failing grade may not even be on your transcript. I wish you tons of luck! Check out some schools and see who is doing research you're interested in, then once you find some schools and labs you are interested in, email the PIs and get some more info about their research. Also, make sure you are strong in your knowledge of why you want a PhD. You don't have to know exactly what you want to do in the future, but be sure you have come up with personal reasons you want a PhD in molec (ie you enjoy molecular bio and want to learn the skills to do research independently, you want to teach, you to want to run a lab, you want to further your education in molecular bio because you believe it is an important field ...). Whatever the reason, make sure you've thought about it! Again, G'luck!

There are positions you can get with a BS that pay more than that, but they are usually not academic/public research positions. If you are really interested in attending grad school, I wouldn't count yourself out just yet. I just applied for this coming year with an undergrad GPA significantly lower than yours. I scored well on the GREs and have been working in research for a few years and had strong people to write recommendations for me. I also took a grad class to prove I was capable of doing graduate level work. I was accepted to 2 programs, wait listed on another, and offered an interview which I declined in a fourth. Some schools have GPA cut offs and usually don't accept students with GPAs under their cut off, but graduate admissions want to see that you are interested in doing research, that you are capable of doing research, and that you will put forth the effort and pass your courses. If you can show them that you are committed and are working hard to get into a program, I think you will be able to get into a good one. If you would like to apply, I would make sure that you get as high of a GRE score as you can, boost your resume as much as you can, and that (along with the other suggestions already posted) will show admissions that you are serious about it. G'luck *EDIT* Oh! There are also some schools that offer 1 year "intro" programs. These programs allow you to do some research and take some courses and add to your resume before applying to phd programs. Some of these programs even directly accept you into their grad school if you complete it in good standing. So, if you think you need to get more experience this is another way to do it.

I'm headed to the MCB program. Congrats to you as well.

I'm curious to know what people in the field have heard about these two schools. Any information is appreciated. I know a lot about both schools, but I want to hear how they are viewed by others. Thanks.

Sorry, didn't mean to post twice.

Thanks for that post both lab ratta-tat-tat and LL2011. I've been in a similar situation shh, I've been accepted to a more "prestigious" school, but would really rather go to UMass Amherst (where I've interviewed but have not been accepted). I've been wondering if I could feel alright about not going to the "prestigious" school if UMass offers me admission. Oh school is stressful I wish you all luck and will possibly see you around LL2011