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alkaline262

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  1. Nevermind, I changed this a bunch by eliminating the part about my background and submitted it.
  2. Sorry first time using this, it should be public to anyone with a link now. Anyone with the link should be able to see it and comment. Thanks guys.
  3. Hi, I am a very weak writer, but I really need to make a decent,short thank you letter for some fellowship funding I received for graduate school. Please let me know you think.https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4IsPvIIjvg2c3J5Zm5NelpKOEk/edit?usp=sharing
  4. I received offers from Marquette University(PhD Biology) and Washington State University(PhD Molecular Biosciences). I am leaning heavily towards WSU, but thought I would make a quick post for additional input. I have mulled over this decision on my own for weeks and talked with professors about it. WSU has more research faculty with a greater diversity in research topics. WSU has 30 faculty involved in research, while Marquette only has about 16. WSU has a larger,newer facility, and the department seems overall better funded. WSU, unlike Marquette, has a sequencing center. Marquette did offer a better stipend by a few thousand dollars(22K plus summer stipend vs 22K for entire year at WSU). Marquette is also recommending me for a $30,000 fellowship, which would relieve me of TA duty for a year. WSU offered a RA for my first semester, which would only relieve me of TA for my first semester. The point of stipend does not matter much to me, just thought I would include it to cover all the bases. Both programs waive tuition. I visited both universities, through my eyes, WSU seems a better program, better fit of research, and is in a beautiful area. Does anyone have input or experience?
  5. Good suggestion, maybe I could also ask how quickly students find jobs outside of the program
  6. Hello again, I have an interview coming up and am currently entering freak out mode. I did one interview already and felt I did not have enough questions to ask the profs about their research specifically or about the program in general I made a thread a few weeks ago about what questions you are likely to be asked, but I want to now focus on what kind of question you could ask the interviewer! Here is what I brought to my last interview: Questions for all profs. What are you doing in the lab right now, and where do you see the research going? What kind of methods commonly employed in the lab? How do lab rotations work and how do you choose students for the lab? What is the state of funding in the lab? How do you think students would describe the experience of working in your lab? What is important to you in a graduate student? What articles do you publish your papers in? Questions about program What kind of courses will I be taking? What areas are available for graduate concentrations? How long does it take students to complete the program? What percentage of students complete the program? What kind of examinations/thesis work are required? What do students do after the program? What is the average size of a class? What is it like to live in this area? I feel like I am lacking in questions to ask the profs, not necessarily the program specific column. Any thoughts?
  7. - All of my top schools were PhD programs, but I also applied to several "safe" MS programs. I received an offer from a PhD program, but now what should I do for the MS programs? It seems like I should not consider attending them over the PhD. I got an email today from a faculty member of one of the safe schools, and in it he expressed interest in my file and explained some of his research. Because I put so much work into my applications and I did not accept any PhD offers yet, I am hesitant to email these programs telling them I am no longer available, but I also don't want to waste anyone's time. What to do in this situation?
  8. Now that is a tough one, how did you respond? I guess I would have made a comment about the attention grabbing topic of the last paper...tough one though
  9. So I have my first interview coming up very soon, and I have been looking back through the topics for the kinds of questions people have been asked during interviews. I am practicing these topics by reading questions out loud, thinking for a moment, and then answering the questions out loud. I am not trying to coach myself or develop "canned" answers to interview questions, but more trying to get a good sense of what might be asked and have a few points I want to make already in my head that I can elaborate on organically in the context of the interview. A few questions I came across in this forum enough to consider common: What is your objective of applying for PhD? Why choose this university? Describe a challenge you have overcome? Why do you want to be in this program? What other schools have you applied to? What kind of career do you want in the future? What have you done since graduating? Does anyone else have examples of common topics, or even specific questions they have been asked in an interview?
  10. Thanks for the info, and I think I will email a few students in advance of the interview day.Also, I will be meeting grad students in the lab of my prospective advisers on the interview day, so having previously contacted some of them might make this meeting go even smoother.
  11. I have an interview for the PhD Biology program in two weeks at Marquette University in Wisconsin. I am considering contacting current graduate students at the program and ask them what the interview is like. Is this unreasonable? This is my interview, and I am very concerned.
  12. I have several schools asking for a list of awards and achievements. I couldn't find anything about this in the search engine; do you think they are just looking for a literal list without explanations? University of Minnesota application states: "Please list any honors or scholastic awards you have received and extra-curricular activities in which you have participated. Be sure to include any national or international fellowships for which you are currently applying or have received. Give titles of publications and of any research, inventions, or other creative work you have done. (Please limit your response to one uploaded page" I just have a few scholarships, few awards, and poster presentations from research projects. Should I just list them and give award dates?
  13. I like the idea of asking them in the letter if they would like future reminders as other due dates approach. I applied to twelve schools, and I am afraid some will get forgotten.
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