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intirb

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Everything posted by intirb

  1. Your GPA isn't low, and while having publications would definitely give you an edge, you still have plenty of research experience. Most incoming students don't have publications. You're applying to PhD programs? Are there really labs at every one of those universities that you would find interesting? Ideally there should be multiple labs at your target schools where you have relevant research experience and are interested in the subject matter. Also, just as a tip: just working for a startup or winning a business plan competition isn't the same as innovation. Make sure you present the innovative ideas you actually contributed to whatever projects you were working on, and tie in the skills required to design/invent to whatever your future research interests might be. Good luck!
  2. To agree with what's been said, I didn't have ANY papers or patents (two conference posters) when I applied to PhD programs.. as long as your LORs are strong and supportive, you'll be very competitive!
  3. intirb

    DOE CSGF

    The program of study would be the other big obligation. As with all of these fellowships, they're ultimately funding the fellow and not the research, though they'd probably seriously reconsider if you switched fields. I don't think every fellow ultimately uses high performance computing in their thesis research, but they all use computers and computation in one way or another.
  4. No, I mean I did take organic chemistry in undergrad, but I haven't had to use any of it for my classes here yet. But who knows how things will go when the courses get more advanced. People work hard here, but my cohort does try to get together fairly regularly, if only for lunch or dinner. I think this depends a lot on your classmates, though. One of the downsides of HST is that research interests and technical courses are very diverse, so you don't necessarily develop as strong of a cohort feeling as in some other programs.
  5. I'm not sure, since I've just started. During my interviews, the admissions committee seemed concerned about my biology/chemistry background, since it had been a long time since I had taken those classes (and I did take them). I haven't had to do any organic chemistry (yet, but I haven't taken all my clinical courses yet, either), but cellular biology seems like it would be extremely important. Not really. I had a few non-first-author papers in review, and I had presented at a fairly large conference. I was really worried about it during the application process, but I think that students with first-author publications are very rare.
  6. A lot of us were BME, but I can definitely think of more than a few people that weren't. You don't have ANY biology or chemistry background? I think you would have a very hard time with the HMS courses. I'm not completely sure, but I think all of us had at least some coursework in the area. I don't remember the form at all, sorry. Double and triple-check all instructions, and if it still is ambiguous, just fill it out how it makes sense to you and don't sweat it. For the SOP, mine was about 1200 words. I doubt there's a strict cut-off, but I think standard SOP guidelines apply.. You should be able to say what you need to say in 2 normal (size 12, standard margins, single-spaced) pages. A few of us have Master's degrees, myself included. As I already said, it won't cut down on the number of courses you have to take. It might in theory lower the total length of the program, because if you've done more research already it might take you less time to be productive in the lab, but I don't have any actual data to back up that speculation. I'm not sure what you're asking with 1). Are you asking if it helped us to get accepted? I imagine that would depend a lot on where we were straight out of undergrad. If you have two students that have done roughly the same amount of work, but one student did all of it during undergrad and the second did the work in undergrad + MS, then I'm guessing the first student looks more impressive. On the other hand, if you feel like you're not ready for a PhD straight out of undergrad, so you work REALLY hard during your MS and pull ahead of your MS peers (not just ahead of senior undergraduates, whom you should generally be ahead of if you've done an MS), then getting the MS probably would help you. This is all silly speculation though. I have no idea how HST actually weighs an MS in their decisions.
  7. Most people apply through MIT, and most of the applicants are admitted through MIT. I don't know how they pick students in the end, but I don't think there's any kind of quota. I think my year there were two students admitted via Harvard. Yes, you can apply separately to other departments in MIT. In fact, if you have a particular professor at MIT you'd like to work with, it would make sense to apply to more than one department in order to maximize your chances of actually getting to work with him/her. HST won't know that you've applied to another department, and if they did somehow find out, they most likely wouldn't consider it. Admissions decisions from different departments at MIT are made completely separately, so you could get accepted to two MIT departments. Not sure. This would be a good question to ask older students, if you get an interview. Since this is my first year, I can't really compare how things used to be to how they are now. As far as I can tell, the move to IMES has mostly been an administrative change that hasn't really been seen too much on the students' end of things. Most people seem optimistic about the change. Depends on what you mean by "a lot". Some students end up going to medical school - probably not more than 1-2 per class.
  8. My classmates are very smart. They blow me away. They definitely keep me on my toes and make me glad I have the opportunity to learn from them! Some students come in with fellowships, many more are awarded once first-year students apply. I'm sure everyone has research experience, but I think people overestimate the amount that the name of your university matters. The program is looking for people who have done and will do good work. Period. I'm not in any way involved in the actual admissions process, so everything I know is from my experience as an applicant. The gradcafe results search should have pretty good information about timing of interview notifications. The interview is serious - unlike at other universities, this is not a recruiting event. You go through multiple panel interviews by mixed groups of professors, students, and alumni. You will be asked technical questions, especially about your research. I seem to remember that they interviewed roughly 2-3x the number of final accepted students, but the number might actually be a bit higher than that because I'm not sure how many international students they interviewed by phone/skype. One of the main things HST will try to figure out is how well you'd be likely to succeed with the coursework. They won't admit people they think can't handle it. That said, we all have our strengths and weaknesses, and so as a group we've tried to come together and help each other out. It should also be noted that preclinical courses are pass/fail. As an aside, it's great that you've looked into this program well enough to know so many details! Right now I'm taking 2 medical school courses and 1 MIT course. I could probably add another MIT course on top of that if I didn't want to spend any time researching (but I do). You get financial support for the first two semesters, which means you can use the time to rotate through labs and pick or you can use the time to get a headstart in one lab (or in coursework) if you already know where you want to be. Most students rotate. That's a really good question, but I'm not sure I have enough information to give you a good enough answer. My gut instinct is that results are extremely lab-dependent. I've heard of many HST alumni who have done extremely well, and I haven't heard of anyone having trouble getting a job in industry. This could all be biased hearsay as well. If you get an interview, definitely ask them! And ask for numbers! Just keep adding questions when you have them. I do try to check back here as often as I can. Last year the applications process was psychologically and emotionally brutal - so I hope I can ease some of the stress!
  9. Very competitive. I think the (very, very rough!) numbers are roughly 400-500 applicants for 20 spots. Apply through the school/program that makes the most sense for your research goals. Neither way is easier. Not sure.. I can never tell if US News counts the MIT Biological Engineering or the HST MEMP program when they're ranking programs. Maybe someone else knows the answer.. Anyway, the program is highly regarded. I believe the average time is 6 years. The course load is much higher than most PhD programs, so that accounts for the longer graduation times. I think the coursework is definitely something to consider when applying to the program. Does the idea of taking medical school courses at Harvard Medical School and engineering courses at MIT get you excited? Would you like to get experience working in the hospital through clinical rotations, even if it takes time away from your research? Or do all of these things feel like chores? Those are good questions to ask when evaluating fit. No. Absolutely. One of the greatest things about this program is the chance to work with pretty much any research lab at the Harvard-affiliated hospitals, Harvard University, or MIT. The possibilities are endless. Glad to answer any more questions. Good luck!
  10. I just wanted to clarify - I'm not necessarily personally opposed to animal research. I based my advice on how it seemed stell4 felt about the matter based on his/her post, but if s/he came back and clarified, my advice might change. I understand the arguments on both sides here, but if a person has one particular viewpoint, I don't think they should let monetary considerations compromise their personal ethics. In the long run, that's a decision I think you'd regret for a bunch of different reasons that I listed.
  11. This. Often times, stereotypes do have some grain of truth to them. The problem arises when you generalize to the point of punishing (or favoring) people just because they belong to some group, regardless of their actual qualities and/or circumstances.
  12. I don't want to sound preachy, so I'm really sorry if this post ends up that way, but I do want to stress the importance of having and following your own ethical code - for your own psychological health and for the good of society. As a scientist and a compassionate human, I think you have an obligation to yourself and to everyone around you to use your powers for good. What exactly it means to do good in this world is up for debate, and every person has their own point where they draw the line. It sounds like you already know what you believe, and you're just having difficulty standing up for those beliefs. You're in a difficult, unenviable position, but these are the life choices that define who we are as human beings. Muster up the courage to stand up for what you believe in, even in the face of negative consequences. Think about the kind of example you want to set for your fellow students and/or (if it helps) your future kids. Plus, think about what kinds of effects doing this work will have on you. If you're going to lab every day feeling ethically conflicted, you're not going to have passion and excitement for your research. Not only would that spoil the fun, if you're not passionate about what you do, you won't be doing your best work. And you'll lose confidence in your ability to do what's right. If you decide you don't want to do this research, but you're having difficulty figuring out how to carry out this decision (dealing with your advisor, etc), we're all here to help as best as we can. There are also probably people at your university (try the ombuds office) that can help you navigate such a decision. If you think the research applications aren't actually against your ethical code but you're just not sure if you can carry out animal research yourself, you can send me a PM. Best of luck!
  13. To the OP, I would apply to the programs you're most interested in professionally, but during interviews make sure to ask about maternity leave and childcare policies. Most top-tier schools are really doing their best to support women in your situation, but as I understand it the main problem (if a problem arises) would probably be with your advisor. I'm not really sure I have good advice for how to choose an advisor that will be understanding or how to find out if they will be accommodating, but it would probably help to choose advisors with children or with graduate students with children. Right now I'm in a lab where one of the grad students has a kid and sometimes skypes into lab meetings. If you're nervous about asking about these policies during interviews (worried about how it might reflect), you could seek out an the ombuds office at the university while you're there. These are people who will explain school policies in confidence and at least at MIT they're perfectly happy to talk to prospective students. There might also be some kind of university office specifically geared towards families or work-life balance with useful information about school policies. Good luck!
  14. I can't speak for everyone - personally I started the summer after my freshman year, researching full-time over the summers and part-time (10 hours a week) during the year. For me, though, it was a struggle as I was overloading on credits to finish early, and I didn't really put in the time/effort to do quality work. For that reason, I went abroad, got an MS and a lot of research experience - that helped a ton when applying to PhD programs. It took me longer, but I spent less (money and time) on undergrad and got to experience the rest of the world for a while . I guess that doesn't really answer your question, since I didn't apply straight out of undergrad. I think it makes sense to apply to any program you'd genuinely want to go to. Some people pick "safety" graduate schools that they wouldn't really like to attend, and I'm not really sure why.. but I guess they just have different goals than I did.
  15. Ah, cool. Yeah you're not considered an international student then, because you can be funded all the usual ways as an American citizen. Well you can always apply to US programs (and US fellowships) alongside applying to your MS program. I think you'll probably have a really tough time without a strong research background, though. I was in a similar situation last year, where I had been studying abroad for quite some time and didn't really have any idea of my chances. It can definitely be a stressful and gut-wrenching process without any kind of feedback, but in the end you'll never know unless you try.
  16. Oh, you're not American? In that case, it will unfortunately be even harder to get a position in the US. International students are harder to fund, so there are less spots available for them, and the competition is extremely high. Sorry for just assuming you were from the US before - I should have checked your location!
  17. Yes, it will significantly decrease your chance of admission. Grad school admissions are mostly about your research experience and the letter of recommendations written by professors with whom you've done research. If you can't afford an MS (which I completely understand), you could maybe see if you could work as a research technician in a lab for a few years? That said, it's not like your chances are completely shot. If you got really good grades and can play up your final research project, with a letter of recommendation from that project commenting on your fabulous potential to do more research, you could get into an ok school. Have you talked to a trusted advisor/mentor about your chances? They're usually the best source for an honest evaluation, since they know more about your situation than we do.
  18. intirb

    DOE CSGF

    Yep, agreed! Best of luck to all of you, and feel free to ask more questions as they come up during the application process!
  19. I'm not sure what you mean by biologically based.. I'm sure it depends a lot on your specific focus, but I find it hard to understand why Harvard would make a 'neuroengineering' list and schools like UW, UMich, Brown, and Pitt wouldn't. Anyway, please don't take it as criticism - just a suggestion that there are very well-respected institutions with great neuroengineering research that might not be in the top BME schools.
  20. intirb

    DOE CSGF

    To InquilineKea - nope, they don't consider that at all. They just want to know that your project is beyond the scale of a typical cluster (say ~32 processors in parallel). If you have access to a supercomputer already, then great! Krell will give you a ton of resources on how to take advantage of that access. And no, sadly there are no reviewer comments on your application (though some people who just missed it are strongly encouraged to apply again). It's not like NSF where you get feedback on your essays or anything. To Anacron - you do actually get a small allocation outside of your practicum, and I think if you have a large-scale project in mind and you're serious about pursuing it, there are people that will help you apply for more time. Also, computational science is definitely not limited to simulations! If you're doing computational or analytical work on large datasets (classically, astronomy), for example, that counts too. Here's another example.
  21. tempest36, any reason UW didn't make the list?
  22. Agreeing with ghanada, just wanted to add: the lack of ochem would probably only hurt you if you wanted to research something that heavily involved organic chemistry (say, tissue engineering or drug synthesis). There are a few courses that probably would be absolutely required (like calculus), but I really doubt you'll have a problem here.
  23. Um.. have you had frank conversations with the professors you've worked with in the lab? I'm not sure whether or not getting a funded position in the labs necessarily means they approve or disapprove of your work, but if you're worried about how they perceive the quality of your work, I think it might help to ask. Then you'll also get a better idea of how strong of a recommendation they're writing for you, and maybe where you need to improve. Don't worry about the GPA at all - mine was much lower, and I did pretty well last year. It's ALL about your research experience and LORs. (ok, not ALL, but like 95%)
  24. intirb

    DOE CSGF

    Yes, there were at least a few first year grad students. I can't really remember the exact breakdown. I don't really know how they compare first year graduate students to undergraduate seniors.. I'd also imagine the bar is slightly higher, but you also have a much better shot of putting together a plausible POS with an advisor at your school.
  25. intirb

    DOE CSGF

    Hey there! So glad you're interested in applying! I really do hope there are others out there, and that it's just a little too early in the application process for people. The application requires a few essays. I don't know if they're going to change the format from last year, but we had one essay describing our intended research project within computational science, one essay describing our need for high performance computing, and one essay defending our program of study. These essays will have to be very short (probably just a paragraph), so you'll need to be very concise. They'll ask you to talk about specific things, so follow the rules and talk about those specific things. Reading very carefully seemed to be a pretty big part of this application. Talking to a few people at the conference last year, it seemed like they looked for the following: 1. Interest in computational science. Note that computational science IS NOT computer science (I think a lot of people get tripped up here). I'm not sure I can give a perfect definition of what computational science is, but in general it involves using highly-intensive computations to solve some science/engineering problem and sometimes can also be developing new, faster ways to perform highly-intensive computations. If you think you still need a better idea, browse this page. That publication should give you a good idea of what kinds of things people are currently working on in computational science, including fellows. However, don't feel like you need to stick to traditional DOE science domains (simulations, energy, etc.). I wanted to apply computational science to a new science domain - as long as it's within the fields of study listed, it's ok. Your essays should definitely reflect that you know what computational science is and you have a good need for it in your work. Also, don't feel like you need to be a computer scientist. One of the things they like to do is get scientists and engineers from other fields into the field of computational science, and actually I think your chances of getting in as a CS major are a lot smaller (perhaps because CS majors are more likely to confuse computer science work and appropriate computational science projects). Anyway, in your essays, you really need to convincingly justify why a supercomputer would be absolutely necessary in this really cool science/engineering project you have. 2. Great letters of recommendation. This one seems to be really key. Your recommenders should be able to comment on your research ability and rank you very high among the other students they've had. Ideally, all of your recommenders would have seen you in a research setting. Even more ideal, they should be familiar with the CSGF program and comment on how well your proposed research fits in with their mission (I didn't have this, but it can definitely be a huge plus). 3. Program of Study. Your program of study should meet all of the rules and criteria set out for you (when the application opens up, they'll have a bunch of places with more information about the POS, so read carefully!). Those course choices should also make a ton of sense regarding your research project. Unless you have a ton of experience with parallel programming already, one of your computer science classes should probably be that. If you're struggling to find classes that meet all the rules and would help your research, you should think carefully about the school you've chosen and possibly also whether your research project truly makes sense for this program. Ideally, you should develop your program of study together with the advice of some professor and graduate students at your top-choice school, and that professor should be willing for you to tentatively write him/her in as your advisor (but this is non-binding). Grades, awards, publications and all that stuff are of course important, but I think those above things are considered more carefully. Of course, all the usual disclaimers about how I'm not actually involved with the admissions process, don't speak for Krell and am not claiming to do so, and I'm just a very new first-year fellow. I will say, with the authority of a fellow, that this fellowship is wonderful, all of the 'obligations' seem a lot more like opportunities to me, and you'll meet some crazy smart and interesting people if you get it! If you have more questions, feel free to ask!
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