T.J

I did not know abt that. Thanks for the tip.

Haven't heard fro vtech or upitt

If I am not wrong, at Penn state, You are funded by the department for only the first year. Although you are guaranteed for 5 yrs and the dept chair sees to that, the funding for next 4.5 yrs comes from your PI - so which is dependent on PI's funding status and available project. Are you funded for all 5 yrs by dept by some sort of fellowship at Einstein? If so, you don't have to worry if PI has money - except may be 5k$ to 10k$ to fund for reagents for that semester - depending on your project. In theory you can work for any PI. If Einstein is no different from Penn state in this regard (dept funding for only first year), indeed your decision will be based on which professor at which university has funding for your next 5 years. PhD is a gamble in that sort of way: You expect professors to have funding next year while you take classes during first year and do rotations. The profs may get small funding or big NIH grants. If small funding you depend on the professor to get funded after every year or so by other grant. If its big NIH funding, it depends on when the funding has started and when it is going to expire. Not all professors have NIH-R01 grants or even R32 for that matter. You may ask each professor if they have guaranteed funding, but its hard to get a straight answer. Moreover, they may have already taken a student if they do have funding, etc. However, you can only trust that if a professor takes you in, based on previous track record of his/her performance, you can TRUST him/her to join the lab. It is hard to make a definite conclusion about the professor without talking to the students under him/her. At hershey, I found that this conversation between students and admin was encouraged and I was able to learn more about the professors I am interested in and how they are. This was the most valuable key for me to make that decision. Hope this helps!

Great! Thank you for sharing the info. Already bought a car and going to drive all the way from Houston to Hershey! I was thinking about the university housing - they said $523/month includes utilities, internet (from medical center). Although i will be sharing it with another roomate in a 2 bedroom apartment (bathroom is shared - downside, unlike here in houston). I will certainly check out briarcrest. Thank you!

Hey ERR_Alpha, congrats on your decision to go to Penn state BMMB as well. May we will see each other in some event or collaboration or at a conference.

I have accepted the offer from Penn state Hershey. Heading there this fall

Upenn reject! Cornell, Upitt, Vtech & rutgers left! Atleast the wait is getting over... [yawn]. I cant wait to leave to penn state actually. I still have got 5 more months :| !

Do you think Cornell has finished sending out all admits?

Hi, I have some questions about Clemson University, Bioengineering PhD stipends. I am still waiting on the funding from prof, but I wanted to start out with questions regarding financial aid if these calculations were true. Here is what I gathered: Stipend - 20000 ($ 18,000 - 20,000 / yr) State tax - 7% (compared to 3.05% in penn. I went to florida and TX before and I never thought state tax could be this debilitating) Tuition fee- $1200/semester in fall and spring and 400$ in summer (I have to pay 1200$ even after such a low stipend??? I don't understand) = $2800/ year. So, $2800/12 = $233.33 / month we will have to save up. Stipend/ year: 20000 Stipend/ month: 1666.66666666667 Fed Tax income/month: 287.5 health/month: 50 State Tax/month: 116.666666666667 Tuition save up/month: 233.333333333333 Effective/month: 979.166666666667 I find the argument that Clemson, SC is cheap to live is hardly able to compensate for the effective stipend. I hope somebody can point out that my calculations are flawed. Thanks! TJ

Very true . Im happy about hershey. It might be my final destination.

sinai reject! Guess I only have Penn state - hershey in sciences!

I agree. I guess i can expect it soon...

ok. Great! thanks for the info. I guess i will be prepared for the worst!

So if I haven't heard from upenn so far - is it going to be most likely a reject?

Sorry about rejection. I'm waiting to hear from them.

Gatech reject!

oh! good luck! Find out if there are more interviews after you.

Anybody here waiting on Mt. Sinai ?

Lo and behold. I got an email from GAtech that I will be able to check my decision online by the end of business hours today.

No worries. In my correspondence with many profs they exclaim that I have an excellent CV. I did not have anything published when I submitted my app. I just got one accepted recently and when I sent my updated CV they said they can't accept it (GAtech & umich) and I will hear about decisions soon/next few weeks. Lol I had a hunch I'm gonna be rejected at this point. I don't want to wait another year and waste time. There are so many ideas & I have so much I want to do in research. Grad school is only a tool, means to achieve it, albeit a good one. I'm still exploring Clemson as an option. I have been looking into good investigative science background in engineering profs. Let's see how it goes. Reject or acceptance, I'm glad they are sending it out soon.

Yes, That is one major reason I am holding on to PSU - hershey. I still need to do some soul searching meanwhile and I had given myself till the end of march atleast to make a decision.

Michigan ann arbor - rejected

You make a valid and interesting point. 1. Ranking - makes you think thrice. 2. Applicant pool is not competitive. 3. If you have other options, better to pursue them and use this as backup. My feeling was it was a good program and the professors are good too. You definitely have to prepare yourself to work hard to bring out good outcomes to offset the above points. So far I have Clemson Vs Penn state to decide on while waiting on others. It is not an easy decision because its going to be Engineering Vs sciences and I'm more inclined towards sciences.

Thank you. I almost gave up today. Jumpy when my phone buzzes. Hope I get good news.

Any news from mount Sinai?