pikaStardust

I had my interview today and wanted to add my experience as I felt it was a bit unusual. I was a bit nervous while heading to the embassy because currently I have another visa application pending under 221g. Way back in February, I have applied for a B1/B2 visa as I was planning to visit our collaborators in New York. However, the interviewer's attitude was a bit strange. She didn't let me explain my case and looked to me angrily to shut me up when I tried to talk. She then put the application on hold until I send some extra documents. Things went bad, I could not get documents in time for my travels so I ended up giving up my hopes. So while applying for my F1, I had another pending application. I was afraid that this would leave a bad impression on them, like I was trying really hard to get i the US. So today, I went to the embassy and waited, waited and waited until finally my turn for the interview has come. Unfortunately, I ended up at the woman who rejected me previously and she was really aggressive again. Before the interview while checking my documents, they said that my interview would be in English. When the interviewer first spoke, I could not hear what she said and supposing she spoke in English I asked "Sorry, could you repeat" and she frowned and with a mean voice she said (in Turkish) "Speak in Turkish to the microphone or this conversation will end". I never knew speaking English was a crime! The rest of the interview was in Turkish and it was like this: - Have you applied for a visa before? + Yes, in february. - I see, you have spoken with me at that time. (I was thinking "Oh no, now we got a problem" but luckily she did not ask any further questions about this.) - What is your purpose this time? + PhD education at Duke University. - Which field? + Bioinformatics - Have you applied to other schools? + Yes (I list the other schools that I have been accepted. I may be wrong but she seemed to be pleased when I said the names.) - Why have you choosen Duke in the end? + It was the best fit for my academical interests. - Ok, your application has been approved. Good luck. (Pheew and yaayy) I wasn't expecting these kind of questions, I was a bit surprised. I have a full scholarship from the university so I suppose that was the reason why she didn't ask anything financial. Although it was a bad start, thankfully I managed to get my visa in the end. Hope my path will not cross with that woman again. Now I am eagerly waiting my passport back.

Hi everyone! I will also be attending Duke for Computational Biology and Bioinformatics program. As a starter, I am planning somewhere within walking distance of the campus and after a quick search, I have seen that there are couple of apartment complexes around campus. But I got the impression that not all of them are in safe neighborhoods. Have you heard any special places that you need to avoid?? (thanks JungWild&Free, I am adding East Durham to my list) Any help is much appreciated as I won't have the chance to visit before picking a place. The first time I'll see the house will be the time when I'm moving in.

Thanks sg_87. Today, I have finally accepted Duke. I am really relieved now. Best of luck to you, hope you will get what you want!

As far as I observed, there will be a really high demand for computational biologists in the near future. Computational analysis of biological data is becoming more and more important with all these huge and collaborative sequencing projects. Also there is huge interest in usage of genomic data for drug discovery and clinical treatments. Bioimage informatics is also popular for identifying cancerous tissues or grading the stage of cancer. These are just a slice of it, there are lots of other subfields of computational biology. However, the current problem in the field is that the number of people understanding both biological and computational world is limited, compared to the actual demand. My undergrad is from molecular biology and genetics department and now I am an MS in computer engineering. My molecular biologist friends say that they don't get "computational biology stuff" because it is too computational and my computer scientist friends say that it is too biological and computational biology is a nightmare for both of them. However it is obivous that we need people who does not shy away from computational biology. So you can place yourself in a distinguished place from others if you can succeed in their intersection. Interdisciplinary fields are becoming more important and improving yourself in more than one field will definitely have a positive effect in your career. However, this is related more to the case where you continue with academia. I'm not really sure how it will affect your chances in industry. (I am going for a computational biology PhD so I might be biased, I don't know. If you have further questions about comp bio, you can always ask.) Edit: Oh, I just realised that you are accepted by Joint CMU-Pitt program. If the professor you will be working with is from CMU CS department, then this will be an excellent opportunity for you. Their CS department is one of the best in the world.

Just like biotechie says, masters is a good option if you are changing your field. My undergrad degree is from molecular biology and genetics department and when I first applied to computational biology PhD programs at the end of it, I got rejected by all of them. Now I am doing a masters in computer engineering department and I have got a handful of acceptances. I believe expanding my computational knowledge with the masters had significantly increased my chances of getting into a computational biology program. But if you are sticking with the same research area, then I don't think its impact will be that significant. However as far as I saw, European programs tend to require masters degree. so if you are planning to go to Europe, you might need to go for masters.

Hello to all! This might be a silly question to ask but I feel like I am in need of advice. So here is the deal: Up until this day, I haven't made contact with a specific professor from the school that I am now planning to accept. In my SoP and during my interview, I believe I have quite clearly explained what my ambitions are and what I expect from grad school, etc. So I didn't feel the need to express myself further specifically to a professor. Although I haven't accepted it officially, I am in the verge of doing it and there are couple of professors whose research interests me in there, but I think talking with them face-to-face once I finally start will be a much effective way of discovering their research interests. I will also have the chance of doing rotations so I won't be selecting my adviser at the beginning of my PhD. However, I generally see a trend of contacting potential POIs before attending the school. Now I feel like I should do the same and send an e-mail to the professor about his research projects and future directions. I fear if I don't do that it may seem as a lack of interest towards the program. I am quite enthusiastic about my acceptance so I really want to avoid leaving a bad impression. On the other hand, I also fear that my e-mail may sound like any other generic question directed to the professors and give the impression that I am asking just for the sake of it. I obvioulsy want to avoid that too. So what do you think? Should I start talking with professors or is it too weird to wait until I start? Thanks in advance

Thank you both for the help. No unfortunately, I haven't done any campus visits. I am doing my masters in Turkey and it is quite impossible for me to go to the US to see the schools in the middle of the semester. My choice has to depend on what I can learn from the internet or from the people attending that school. Now I am inclined towards accepting Duke rather than waiting for CMU. I have done a more thorough research of the program and talked with a current grad student. He told me I wouldn't regret if I were to choose Duke and to be honest, that was the answer I was looking for.

Hi everyone, hope you are having a good day. I am stuck in a dilemma now and thought this would be the place to ask for advice. I want to get a PhD in computational biology and so far I've got three official offers and one unofficial offer from a potential POI. Yesterday I learned that I am waitlisted by Joint CMU-Pitt program in computational biology - which is my top choice. I have been waiting for their response for weeks and to be honest, waitlist was a disappoinment after hearing that my application was "stellar". The problem I now have is that whether I will be lucky enough to get through the waitlist. On the one hand I tend to think that waitlist is equal to rejection and try to choose the best program from my other offers. But a tiny bit of my brain does not stop reminding me that I still have a tiny bit of chance of getting into this program. I have got offers from programs that I will be happy to go but I know that I will be pretty upset if waitlist turns into an acceptance after I accept another offer. I really don't know what to do. So, long story short: is waitlist basically equal to rejection or should I wait for some more time - maybe beginning of april - before giving my final decision? Any help is much appreciated, thank you in advance!

very recently one of my friends was admitted to a master's program which wants minimum 3.0 GPA and 4.5 in analytical writing but her GPA was around 2.8-2.9 and she just made 3.5 in GRE. if you don't have really serious problems with the rest of your application, then GPA becomes a minor point in final decision, as far as I observe. and what adviser said seemed promising to me, also. if it is certain that you will not be automatically rejected, I think you should give it a try. because that friend of mine also asked whether they are strict about their minimums and she was advised to apply in response. good luck

thank you!! sending e-hugs this is what I like about GradCafe, finding people that can really understand you. we should somehow get rid of Captain Obvious mode from parenthood. yes, we know what is a rejection and a waitlist, no need to emphasize. definitely, waiting the results are horrible, just horrible. when I told my profs that I was very tired of getting no news at the beginning of march, they were all saying "no news is good news!". no it isn't, it is the best that we learn quickly so that we can move on. and none of those no news turned out to be good news... I think I became numb to the bad news in the course of time, though. today, the last school that still didn't reject me sent me the rejection letter. didn't hurt that much, just said f***, then went on chatting with my friends. or maybe because I have made my mind on going to a masters first and then reapplying before hearing from them. the only thing left now to do is gathering some tiny pieces of motivation left to apply to masters. and I am wishing you the best luck for your waitlist, hope it turns out well. this. dozens of time I have heard it but here we are, with full rejection. now I will be tortured with "ohhh, how come they do not accept you?" seems I need to run away from people until I finally find some school to go.

thanks I probably am gonna apply again but now what to do next. do you know how much adcoms care about the courses you have taken?? I am in the last semester of my undergrad studies, on molecular biology and genetics but I want to continue on computational biology. the majority of the courses I have taken are molecular biology oriented. there are just two programming courses that can seem good for comp bio applications and some maths courses. I tried to compensate lack of courses by research, have been working on a bioinformatics project for 2 years and my senior project is also on bioinformatics. so it occurs to me that my weakness is more in the course level rather than in research level therefore my thoughts are shifting towards a masters over working in a lab. maybe with taking courses covering my research interests, I can develop a better background and show them a proof that I really know these things. on the other hand, I am too tired of all these to apply for some masters programs. I really need to make my mind certain that it is the best option. should I really strengthen my transcript with more focused courses? thanks for all advices

not very optimistic at this point... I remember having a long time to find a good match for my SoP but it has been a long time since then, I don't remember whom I wrote and to what extent I liked their research. but this is a clue, I would remember if there was a perfect match. anyway there are some labs that are acceptable but I don't know if I really would like to change my focus area. that would be perfect if I also had the chance to see the school but I cannot go all the way to US in the middle of the semester. but then this is just a hypothetical situation and I think it would be better if I prepare myself to 6th rejection rather than first acceptance...

I am in a similar situation, almost. All schools that I would love to attend without a second thought have rejected me. *sigh* now I am waiting for the other two that I have applied with not so much enthusiasm. After the rejections, I cannot stop but think what to do if one of them accepts me. I like the curriculum of the programs, schools are fine but there is not a faculty whose research is exactly fitting my interests. CMU and UCSD were such perfect fits for me that I am still unhappy to be rejected after more than a week's time passed and my mind is still stuck there. If by any chance one of them accepts me, I am not so sure that I want to attend. this process is painful, reapplying may be a madness but on the other hand, with a stronger application I may have the chance to go to better schools, my dream school. I know that my profile will be better when I graduate even if I don't do any extra work; it is highly likely that I will be graduating with two publications. with a masters or voluteering in a lab for a year, I can make it even better. ahhh, my brain is gonna explode from over-thinking... am I being so mad to think like this?? edit: damn!!! just after finishing this post, I have read my rejection letter from Brown. now I am waiting only from my back-up. *hits head to the desk to open a big hole*

me too, as you can see and I love this gif, Camberwick Sam waving to me. I use it as avatar in other forums also, addicted or what?