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liastra

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  1. I asked my program coordinator what the policy for mastering out is and he said that it isn't possible since there's no master's program. Is this really true? I thought they could "create" a masters?
  2. I'm a 2nd year PhD student and I'm basically failing a class I'm taking (like 2nd to last place in the class). I spoke with the professor and the possibility of me getting a C in the class is absolutely real (I'd have to get an A on the final just to get a B-). How much does a C in one of my courses actually hurt me, other than people saying "it means you failed"? I know I have to maintain a 3.0 GPA in the program to stay here (I have a 3.6 currently, so I have some buffer) and I know my program doesn't force you to retake it (and most PIs say you shouldn't cause its a waste of time). I know also that you're required to provide grades when you apply for a post-doc Fellowship, but I don't plan to do a post-doc (I wanna go straight to industry). SO, my question is what does a 'C' actually mean?? (Other than that I'm an idiot). What are the real-life consequences for my career in grad school? Thanks!
  3. I finally joined a lab! It took me 4 lab rotations (each due to a certain circumstance) but I ended up with a good lab, a nice PI, and some research I feel like I could wrap my hands round. HOWEVER, it’s a basic science lab so it's no longer on the medical school campus, and its grad students are in a completely different department than I now. My program coordinator, has asked me to decide which department I want to officially join. It's stay or go. Please help me!! Here are the differences between the 2 departments as far as I know: Name: Cellular, Genetic, and Molecular Biology (CMGB) - This is the department that I entered grad school with. - PhD degree offered by the School of Medicine - No TA requirement - Quals: Written + Oral (I think they give you a paper to read at the exam) - Required seminar every noon Friday at the Med Campus (will have to travel commute or take the shuttle to get there each week). - Department (grad program) is disbanding this program in 2 years, restructuring it, and renaming it. - 95% of all my friends/classmates are still in this program, but not my lab. Name: Molecular and Computational Biology (MCB) - This is a department/building that my lab takes place. - PhD degree offered by the College of Letters, Arts and Sciences - 2 semesters TA requirement (which I heard screws up your salary) - Quals: Written + Oral (I think they give you a paper to read 1 or 2 weeks ahead of time) - Required seminars take place in the same building - Department seems well established, as the life sciences department is also an undergraduate college. - All other students in the lab (3) had joined this department from the start, so they have no experience with the medical school program. - My PI has never mentored a CMGB student. My PI says he does not care either way. I’ve always been leaning toward the first one, because it has no TA requirement and I got to know several faculty members really well at the medical school (from rotations, classes, and meetings), whereas I don’t know any of the faculty in this building in my new department. It seems by staying in CMGB I could at least have an excuse to keep in contact with those people. By joining MCB, I think like I am cutting off all ties from the graduate program I entered with (I’ll have to check on this one), but that would definitely feel weird and I’m a bit scared that I’ll feel really lost, especially since after I graduate, I don't want to be only associated with basic science (I want to join industry). By the way, this is at the University of Southern California. Thank you so much!!
  4. My experience is in not taking it- and I highly recommend not taking the Biology GRE or any subject GRE exam for that matter. It's really not a factor in grad applications at all. Committees look at your 1) undergrad GPA 2) School you came from 3) GRE scores 4) essay and 5) letters of rec, in that order.
  5. I strongly advise treating every interview like it counts as the final step. Last year I applied to 11 schools, had 6 interviews, and got accepted to 3. It's very easy to be weeded out and not accepted, even at those "80%+ schools." The minute you let your guard down and stop trying, someone will step over you and take your spot. The 3 interviews I tried the hardest at, were the ones I got accepted to. Funny how that worked out.
  6. Well, no. I think it'll still count against you to some extent. You and I know there's nothing you can do about it except being excruciatingly polite, but some departments have some very fragile egos, and anything you do to make the coordinators' jobs more difficult or convey that they're less important than some place else, is not a good thing -- even if if was their fault for contacting you so late. So what can you do? Pick the school that you like more, and just put all your effort into their interview. Don't spread yourself thin or bother making special arrangements. The alternative weekends really do suck.
  7. Can I offer you some very important advice? If you so happen to have conflicting interview dates, be very careful about how you tell this to those schools you are arranging interviews with. In fact, don't even mention it to them! It's a HUGE strike against you, before you even interview. If you really want to get accepted to that school, just go to that interview on whatever weekend they assign you and zip your mouth. Last year, I received an invite to the University of Iowa but it conflicted with Washington University in St. Louis. I told Iowa that I had a conflict, so they gave me an alternative weekend. In fact, it was a very special weekend; A quick 2-day Sunday-Monday personalized event that they prepared just for me. Everyone was really nice and accommodating, but guess what, I still got rejected. Then when I was scheduling WashU, I made the mistake of telling WashU that UCLAs interview was the same weekend, so that I would need time to "figure it out" (flight arrangments, etc). I did go to WashU's regular interview weekend but suffice to say, I got rejected from WUSTL after I visited. Actually, there were several reasons why I didn't get into WashU (I was sick that weekend, I didn't wear a suit, etc) but telling the coordinator about UCLA definitely didn't help. My point is that rearranging interview dates are almost like death-sentences. It's your way of telling them "I'm actually not really my top choice" - even if deep down that's not true and you don't mean to hurt their feelings. Scheduling phone interviews is also just as bad. In fact, it's most definitely worse. Last year I also got an invitation from Southwestern. It was late in the season and I was tired of traveling and missing work. So I told them I was busy that weekend but could do a phone interview instead. It was a great phone conversation but ultimately I got rejected from there too. My point is, you need to act like you want to go there starting from the time they first contact you about the interview. Similarly, once you start interviewing, never let your guard down just because you've already been accepted to other school(s). This was my mistake. In a way, it's only going to occur naturally; you'll grow tired at some point and become complacent. After all, who would want to live in Texas, Iowa, or Missouri, after already being accepted to other great schools?!? So be aware of this; be on your toes at all times. When you stop trying, it actually shows to everyone else. Weird, right? There is a happy ending to my story: I was tired of 3 post-interview rejections in a row, and I was wondering why that had happened! So for my last interview of the season (late March), I decided to step up my game. I put the suit on, I followed the rules, I shook everyone's hand. And whadya know - I got accepted 4 days later. In fact, they even told me I was one of their top recruits of the season. Hahaha. I didn't end up going to that school, but it was nice to know I still had it in me. You just gotta try!
  8. Ok, got it. This is what that student (who's an extremely helpful/friendly guy) said in the email to me a few weeks ago: So it sounds like everybody should be getting 30k. I'm getting 29k, and obviously that should go up each year. But I've been talking to my close friend this morning who's in his 3rd year biochem program [different university], and he says that new/incoming students do not start slightly lower than older students. Hence, the source of confusion. Maybe my offer letter is old? LOL?
  9. Call the schools and ask. Don't be daunted by their answers though. Applying is a numbers game. You'll get in somewhere, trust me.
  10. Eigen -I know. I'm about to drop the subject. I just wanted to know how it worked. I didn't know you could negotiate the stipend as a new student. I didn't obviously and if I had tried my parents probably wouldve scoffed at me ("be thankful they even accepted you!"). Maybe it's something I can try in my 2nd year. Is that common? I've negotiated my salary before at work in industry and it worked well so I know what it's like. I don't want you to think I'm hung up on the money. Obviously if I were I wouldn't be doing this, lol. I just want to make sure I get as much as I can/couldve. Don't we all want that? Ktel- I figured that's what you meant. But that's not really wat I was talking about. Again, I'm just as soon going to drop this.
  11. Thanks Kitel and Eigen again for the replies. Eigen- I could see there being a difference or spread in stipend amount in your 2nd year and beyond, because that is based on the department and PI the student chooses, thus depending on "the funds available." However in my program (and most others as I understand) the first year is funded by the program or school of medicine or whatever you want to call it. Basically we are not yet decided on a department/PI yet, as we are going through rotations. Both of you mention it's possible for a new incomng student to have an award or that it might depend on the "funding source" that's why their stipend might be different. First, I think the funding source is the same for first year,s as I mentioned, is the same. Next, where's this award you speak of come from? The school? I can't imagine the school giving a new student an award because what would it be based upon? If it's something like an NIH grant though, for example, isn't that still technically given to the school...and then the school gives the student the same stipend (thus they get the student for "free" the first year). I'm not sure why an external award would affect their first year stipend, because they wouldn't really keep it and it wouldn't be offered by the school (unless I'm wrong) anyway.
  12. "This other person" - I'm not sure who you're talking about. I have no reason to believe my fellow new/incoming classmates will receive more than I, except because of my own paranoia and belief that I didn't rank in their top candidates (though I got an offer). As I said, the 5th year student said the Program is increasing the stipend to $XX,xxx, so I don't think him receiving $1000 more than me was because he had an additional fellowship. He got $XX,xxx just because that's what it is now. But to whom..
  13. Thanks a lot. When you put it that way, it makes a lot of sense. Yeah the current student I talked to is in his 5th year so I guess I should be lucky to be getting this amount, cause he probably started off way lower than I did. But when he nonchalantly told me (via email) that the program is upping the stipend to the new amount, for some reason it sure sounded to me like everybody was supposed to get that amount. He had no problem disclosing his stipend amount, but I didn't bother to inquire further with him. These emails occurred several weeks ago and I just remembered about it tonight. I'm pretty sure every student got this signing bonus. In years past, I heard that it was a $1000 gift credit for the bookstore, but now it's just cash.
  14. Thanks Eigen. Basically, all I'm wondering is - is everybody's offer letter/stipend the same (for a particular year)? Is that how it works in a graduate program? Because if it is, then there's no problemo. But if, say, they pay us differently based on how they ranked us when they decided to accept us into the program, then that seems a little unfair. And the reason i don't know how it works is because they never told us what the stipend was at the interview, so I didn't know what I was going to get until I received the offer letter. If they had told us at the interview I could assume that everybody gets the same amount.
  15. I have a question about PhD stipends: A current student in my new program told me that the Program is raising the stipend amount to $XX,xxx this year. My offer, suffice to say, is not that much, but rather $1000 less than the amount he named. Here's where it gets tricky, I am being offered a $1000 "signing bonus" which would bring me up to the amount he named. However, last I heard, they got the same bonus a few years ago when they joined the program too. So I don't know if I can really count that, because say if our stipend increased every year by $1000, I would always be $1000 behind. Make sense? Signing bonus not counted, am I supposed to get the same stipend that the current student(s) are getting? Is it prudent to ask a fellow incoming student what they are receiving? I don't want to make any waves but I also don't want to start off my program feeling like I'm getting the short end of the stick. That wouldn't be fair. Who is it safe to ask about this, or no one at all? Thanks.
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