aberrant

Not sure if it is just me or it appears that the OP have/had trouble to find a job and get paid well in the first place. Most of the examples that you mentioned here are only legitimate iff one has options to choose who/where/what to work for/at/with. (Choose to make big bucks / choose to work till 5 pm and go home / choose to work at non-profits after making some money (regardless the amount) / choose to work at a flexible schedule.) If only OP has all these opportunities (not the qualities / education background), otherwise I don't think making OP to "love his/her work" is possible. That also leads to his/her question on whether he/she should apply for grad school and whatnot.

I would say a LOR from an established professor who is in another/outside of your interested field (from field weight more than a less established professor who does research in your field (from field A). Simply because LOR would also evaluate your ability in research, critical thinking, professionalism, etc. -- all that stuff that can be observed regardless what field s/he is in. Obviously profs from field A = ideal, but for a scenario where prof from field B had 100 grad students and that from field A had 10 grad students, wouldn't the prof. from field B be a better judge? (Just a way to show that LOR from the same field may not always be the best letter.) Of course you don't have to agree with what I said. But keep in mind that one of the better things about going to grad school in the U.S. is you can switch fields / research interest that isn't the same as your undergraduate studies (especially for the interdisciplinary ones.) However, I don't think my opinion has a strong foundation if your major is hugely different than what you want to pursue in grad school (which is not the same as professional school(s)).

I wouldn't even recommend Bobbi to spend money and take a class. I think what Bobbi needs to know is what s/he interested in besides "getting married". Don't even think about school if you, Bobbi, find yourself not interested in any academic subject. Because you'll find those boring classes miserable (besides the potential that spending money on classes that won't help you to get a job.) Until you identify what you wanna / passionate to do, I don't think anyone here can give you any meaningful advice -- especially related to grad school/academic.

No disrespect, but those numbers are not so meaningful unless the percentiles are given. Remember, different version of exams (especially the old ones), the scale shifts quite significantly. Hence, in grad school application, % of ones GRE performance is always require, even without the actual score.

I think it a reasonable to do that, but I'm not sure if the LOR from the "researcher" who you had a class with (a professor I assumed?) would help. Unless you were not officially enrolled at that institution and you don't have a transcript from that school, otherwise, your class performance should be shown on the transcript. I supposed advice from TGC that you would get is don't waste a LOR on someone who only know you through a class that you get an A whatsoever. As for the other "researcher" who you get advice from, he/she may know you better personally, which put them in a better position to evaluate whether you are a good candidate for a particular graduate program(s) or field(s). Remember that graduate school application isn't just about your academic performance, hence your LORs are extremely important to reflect how good you are as a person, a colleague, and a researcher. I was in a similar situation when I wanted to apply grad school years ago -- but I had to go back to my home country the year before I apply grad schools (on top of that, I took a year off before going back to my home country). I actually asked my LORs if they are willing to write me letters (While it make sense that your PI would write you a letter after all these years, professors who you didn't work with may be hesitate to do so.) Fortunately, my LOR (who wasn't my PI) understood my situation and this person eventually wrote me a letter. ps. I did not take any classes with this professor; however, this professor was closed to my mentor (who was a year ahead of me as an undergrad) and was in good terms with my PI, which allows me to get to know this professor better, and vice versa.

S = the length of 1 side. Because the volume of a cube = width x length x height, and they are all the same, therefore s x s x s = s^3 = 512. Take the cube root of 512, you get 8. I believe you're missing the percentage sign in (z / 100). It should be (z / 100%). Rewrite the following on a piece of paper. 1) In the American way: 9 million = (z / 100%) x 0,75 million (9 million / 0.75 million) = (z / 100%) x (0.75 million / 0.75 million) 12 = (z / 100%) x 1 12 = (z / 100%) 12 x 100% = (z / 100%) x 100% 1200% = z Hence. z = 1200% 2) Using the Asian way: 9 million = (z / 100%) x 0,75 million 9/0.75 = z / 100% 12 * 100% = z z = 1200% Good luck in your GRE.

From the logic of a student and TA, students who rely on TA and/or teachers to spoon-feed everything to them will not succeed in my alma mater. Students are responsible to be prepared before walking into a class -- whether it is a lecture or a lab. As for a lab, students have access to lab manual and referenced publications that they should have read before they conduct any experiments. As a result, if there are any confusion about what to do, it is only the TA's fault iff a student asked for clarification and the TA failed to do so. Students that I know are generally pretty self-disciplined and we have zero problem about what to do in the lab. Knowing WHAT to do is one thing, knowing WHY one is doing it is another. Maybe the difference in our background creates such a deviated point of view, but when it comes to a lab environment with multiple potential/de facto hazardous materials, there are zero tolerance of ignorance related to lab safety. Like this professor said, "The TAs are there to make sure nobody is doing something stupid."

Thank you for your response. I'm curious because I'm rotating in a lab and my work is very different from my field (or the discipline from my program). which is why I think it is worth it to mention it in my CV (that i have experience on something outside of my expertise), but it might be weird...

That's also the course that I enrolled! The class schedule is pretty intense... although jokingly, my friend said "you basically cramming the entire CS major into 14 weeks."

Hello all, I'm just wondering if it is a common practice to put ones research experience (through lab rotation, which is ~8 - 10 weeks) into the CV / resume. If some do, how much detail / info would you (or they) put into a CV/resume? Thanks.

y You just proofed that "ignorance is fixable, stupidity is forever". Read the entire thread again and see what we wrote, including my comments on the relationship between publication and fields. Think thrice before you make any moves. Dedicated to the hater(s): It takes you less than 12 months to publish a paper? Good for you. I think the difficulty of your "research" speaks for itself. You want to know what have I done? Let me give you a hint: It has been 29 years since the scientists first identify this problem and yet, there isn't a proper answer (or solution, I should say) to this question. So if you can spend your next 12 months and answer this question (which will benefit to us human being) -- try it. I'm pretty sure you'll immediately win a Nobel Prize in Chemistry or Physiology and Medicine.

If only OP was applying couple years ago, then I would say she has an above-average chance for UCSD biochemistry (from the department of chem. & biochem., not from the dept. of biology). But I can't make a better guess now based on the economy + competitiveness of the pool + uncertain 3rd LOR.

Dear HamedGharibi, This would be my last post in responding your relatively ignorant posts. As far as my understanding, Eigen didn't say a single word on people outside of the field (in this case, Chemistry) should not make any comments. Maybe you should re-read what he wrote (or type, if that matters to you). 1. What you failed to realize is that not all the applicants (especially those who apply with / soon-to-be a BS degree) have publications. I believe the general consensus here is if you are holding a bachelor / going to get your bachelor, it is OK to apply grad schools and get accepted without a pbulication. In other words, no publications do not hurt your chances, unless you were a MS student for some reason(s). 2. You say that "good publication is the indicator of your work". Well, how do you define by good? Without reading the paper itself, I would evaluate one paper based on its citation number and the publisher (which related to its impact factor.) I think that it is okay to publish in somewhere else other than Nature or Science, but I wouldn't say that a publication is "good" if that paper has not been cited by anyone in the world (or, cited for the author's argument). 3. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that you'll need to literally "convince" someone to publish your work if you work is good in the first place. I wouldn't draw a conclusion that "getting publish is hard" because it depends on a lot of things - it depends on the field of your research, how difficult it is to achieve your work, the significance of your work, the target audience of a particular journal, etc. Which is why I think #2 is important. I think this statement is preposterous. Instead of search on google, why wouldn't you just send an e-mail to the DGS / program coordinator/director and ask about it? Besides, how many "interviews with the members of admission committee" can you find on google? If anything, shouldn't you say "FAQ" of the program admission website instead/? Also, when you say "the professors" -- who are they? Where are they come from? Did they say it to you, or you just read it somewhere else? I would LOVE to read what you have read -- iff you can post some links here. You, thus far, have not realized that Eigen is coming from a perspective of "former PhD applicant, current PhD student / candidate" in one of the Chemistry programs in the U.S. If I'm someone who come to this forum and seek for advice, I certainly respect and value comments from someone who have experience more than those who have yet to been through the application process. Seeing some of the flaws in your logic, all I can say is: good luck in grad school application. ps. Don't take your publication too seriously. I read one of yours with zero citation and I have to say that the one I read it's just basically a combination of an undergrad lab reports for 1 semester/quarter with bigger figures, fewer texts, missing units, organization/format, English, improper use of units abbreviation (format), improper use of units, inconsistent sig. fig., extra content that doesn't contribute to your studies and discussion. pps. Don't take it personal. I just happened to read it after doing a bit of "google search". ppps. I just read this: http://abechem.com/N...10, 165-177.pdf pppps. Just came back from another "google search" and found that when you said "my publications has been cited more than 10 times", there is one of yours indeed cited by others 9 times but you were the second author instead of co-first author. On the other hand, one of the papers that you were the first author and cited once, was actually cited by yourself in another paper. Well, I think that's an improvement in any case. But again, don't take too much pride in it. Best regards, Buster "The Navigator is aberrant" Keaton

Oh yea. I wear flip flops to discussion and (research) lab. Unlike TA's from art / "professional" programs, It's not necessary for us to dress formally for discussion. (I have never seen a TA in natural / physical science dress formally - either casual or nerdy. lol.)

I wouldn't give you a thumb-down for your post but when you said "almost all the people who apply to grad program have one or two publication", I believe it depends on the country, the competitiveness of the school, and most important of all ,the field/program that an applicant would apply for grad school. Some fields take years to squeeze out 1 publication, while other fields may take a lot less (A publication from my alma mater in organic synthesis was by an undergraduate after 3 months of work; another paper from my current school was published by a graduate student who was taking chemical structure - he published a paper in computation chemistry after 2 weeks of work.) And just because one has a (or multiple) publication, that doesn't mean much if it has zero citation. (No disrespect to anyone here who falls into this category, tho.)

I have no experience in TA'ing a lab, but I prefer discussion better. I guess I'm just afraid to deal with students who have absolutely no idea why they are in the lab or what they are supposed to do in the lab etc.. Those are more likely potentially create a hazardous (in terms of lab safety) environment to the other good students. I know that I'll be the one who is responsible for cleaning up / fixing any possible mess if I'm a lab TA - hence I'm not interested. (besides, I can never wear flip-flops if I'm TA'ing a lab.)

How about suggest this student to take classes (probably graduate level?) that are related to those "advanced questions"? (Besides talking to him outside of class/discussion.) Or recommend him to read a few books, do a few google search, instead of you spoon-feeding him everything? I rarely gave out the answer unless my students been through the thought process and did some research beforehand.

Hope it's not too late! http://db.tt/WY1BHXUE

I thought a perfect exam (no incorrect answers) is the only way to get you a 170. Therefore " 9 wrong, score 166" doesn't make much sense to me. On the other hand, do they have the "adaptive" function in the test? I remember I took Manhattan once and they were pretty accurate (not as accurate as powerprep, however).

A 4.0 in AW is really not that bad -- 48% put you in to the "average" category. You were right about the difference in TOEFL and GRE verbal, tho. TOEFL is a lot easier. But what you're missing is that even though grammar and format plays a role in GRE AW section, what weights more in that section is if you can follow the instruction to analyze the prompts and write essays that involved critical thinking and rational arguments and/or suggestions (depending on the task/section). And 70% in verbal, for international students, might be quite challenging to achieve (unless you read and write a lot in English.) You may want to consider the post your profile in terms of percentiles instead, because your percentiles play a more significant role in determining your standing compare to other GRE exam takers who took the same exam. As for the numbers, it looks pretty good to me, but then I'm in STEM field so I can't tell you specifically how good your are for your interested program(s). On the other hand, I would advice you to focus on your SOP / PS and get strong LOR instead of the GRE though. ps. I was an international applicant and I'm an international student.

You should ask for people who know you well enough to write you a strong LOR. Don't waste your 3rd letter on someone who know you just for the grade, which reflects on the transcript. Therefore, use your old professor who knows you well, even if he/she may not be in neuroscience. In terms of the numbers, I think your quantitative is a bit too low. If money and time permits, try to get on or above 80% (Q=+158). I cannot answer your other questions, but I would suggest you to take more courses in neurosciences (since you didn't mention it on your list). ps. you can also repost your questions to the biology forum (http://forum.thegradcafe.com/forum/29-biology/), where you may get more responses.

I agree for the most part. But why would you suggest that the tuition in the UK is a bargain? As far as I know, if you are accepted by a school in the U.S., there is a tuition waiver plus a stipend for you. Take a quick look at the numbers here: http://www.ox.ac.uk/feesandfunding/fees/information/universityrates/201213feerates/ , I think that the tuition for some of the schools in the U.S. is event cheaper. On the other hand, it might be very challenging for you to study in the UK without some sort of funding since you're not qualified for financial aid (unless you are a EU citizen). While there are different ways to take care of the tuition, most of the American scientists that I know who have done their PhD in the UK received a prestigious fellowship that covers their expends during their studies. When I was considering to apply grad schools in the UK last year, my perception on the tuition situation after performing extensive research on the internet is A. get a fellowship that can fund me for the next 3 years, or B. pay out of my own pocket. There could be an option C, but chances are slim unless you are extremely competitive, which mentioned above.

Consider the fact that ochem weights about 30% of the CHEM GRE, I would play it safe and take physics, which should be more comfortable for you. Bottom line is that if you have a good score in physics GRE - it won't hurt your application, but if you have a bad score in chem GRE (sub 50%, and the school(s) requires it), then that might be a problem.

From my alma mater: "I have a Biology degree and have not taken engineering courses, can I still apply? You are welcome to apply, however those with engineering backgrounds would be considered more competitive. To be eligible for the review process you would need to have proficiency in mathematics including two years of college mathematics (i.e., advanced calculus and differential equations), and one year each of physics, mechanics, chemistry, and biology."