Jump to content

T.J

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    141

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by T.J

    Pennsylvania State university (Penn state PSU) - Hershey - Biomedical Sciences, PhD

    in Biology

    Posted

    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!

    Pennsylvania State university (Penn state PSU) - Hershey - Biomedical Sciences, PhD

    in Biology

    Posted

    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!

     

    Congrats! I've had friends attend PSU Hershey and do well there.  I saw your post earlier about needing a car for Hershey -- and I would definitely say yes! The weather is horrendous for half the academic year and you do not want to deal with a moped in the snow here. Plus, the buses are super infrequent and unreliable.  Hershey isn't really a "city" and to get to places where there are things to do (Lancaster, York, Harrisburg), you'll want a car. I don't know if you've started looking for rentals yet, but one of my friends rented at Briarcrest Gardens apartment complex with some other friends and it's within walking distance of PSU med center, so that was really convenient for her. Hope that's helpful! :)

    PhD bioengineering at Clemson University

    in Engineering

    Posted · Edited by T.J

    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

    2014 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    I am interviewing with them Mon/Tuesday. They still haven't given me any information about lodging (and I am coming from San Diego). I also know a few students there and they all say their grad office is rather unorganized, which might contribute to delayed responses.  They were also looking at apps in waves.. so I don't know.

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

    PHD Bioengineering/Biomedical engineering applications Fall 2014 profiles

    in Engineering

    Posted

    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.

    sorry to heart that.

    am starting to think that competitive ADMCOM put higher value to GRE than they claim . they discard publications, experience , grad school , if ur GRE is not in the 90th percentile.

    Pennsylvania State university (Penn state PSU) - Hershey - Biomedical Sciences, PhD

    in Biology

    Posted · Edited by T.J

    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.

     

    I interviewed and was accepted to Hershey. Speaking to some of my friends already in grad school, she advised against attending. Her words were "it would be a waste of your time." I think her opinion is based on rank, exposure and the quality of applicant pool. I thought everyone was welcoming and it seemed like a great program with all the amenities of being a Penn State student. It was my backup school and I have declined, but if it were my only choice, I think I would be in a tough place to decline and reapply next year.

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

  I accept