lsanman

Depends on how certain you are of your interests. For example, many other interviewees I spoke with were very set on a specific topic of choice (as in, I ABSOLUTELY MUST work on siRNA in c. elegans). Those were the type of people more likely to already have established contact with professors working on their particular focus. I find a wide variety of research topics interesting so I didn't contact any professors until after my applications had already been evaluated and approved/denied. Hope that helps :-)

Ironically, I had around the same subject test score as you, and I had no idea what to do with it. I ended up sending it to 2/7 of the schools I applied to, Scripps because they required it and Stanford just for the heck of it. I definitely wouldn't worry about taking it again, though :-)

So I'm starting in Stanford Bio Sci this fall, and my credentials are similar. You should definitely have a shot :-) Beyond what you already said, make sure you have three strong recommendations and that all of the supplemental essays they make you do tie together nicely. What Home Program are you looking at?

haha well i could.. but i'm in bio sci. so idk how helpful i would be. but still willing if you need an extra reader (i know that every extra reader was worth it for me).

One that's been recommended to me is "Papers"... I don't have it for iPad though it is on my MacBook awaiting usage this fall. What I was told is that it is a great way to link together thoughts from all of the papers you've read ... you can link to an exact section of a paper that you got an idea from, etc. I don't have a lot of personal experience yet, but the quote I got from a postdoc in my UG lab is "I almost bought a Mac, simply so I could get the Papers app". A pretty high recommendation, hopefully it lives up to it. Plus, its free on the AppStore.

Oh, and get my wisdom teeth out. Grown-up WIN.

Soooo excited for doing AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE. But beyond that... 1. Get a tan (so I can lose it come fall) 2. Run/yoga 3. Finish all the epic fantasy series i've been meaning to read or re-read 4. Volunteer 5. Explore the lovely state of Ohio 6. Enjoy friends and the boyfriend So nice to relax!

Thanks guys, this is really helpful :-)

So, I'm in the process of trying to figure out who to choose for my first rotation advisor. I'm in the (somewhat) nice position of having many people I'm interested in working with in my program of choice. How did those of you that have gone through rotations and advisor selection make your choices? What are the important things to look for?