bio0930

Hey Queen I was told that the JSPS will be sending out letters today or tomorrow to our hosts. I contacted the NSF office in Tokyo and they offered to fedex the letter to me due to my early start date. Not sure where you are in the process.

Like Queen I haven't got anything. Congrats to the people going to Norway and Australia. I did just receive an email from the NSF-GROW saying, "Your application is still under consideration" It looks like it is still being processed by the Japanese government.

Ive only got the unofficial notification that Im going to Japan. I still havent received an official letter so am unable to plan anything.

I just received an unofficial notification from the NSF that they are finalizing my reward, and that they needed some additional information for the Japanese agency. Looks like I'm going to Tokyo!

I thought we might hear something today as it's May 1. All I have on my side is radio silence. The waiting game continues.

I proposed August, but I still may not be able to find housing in Japan as the university helps you find housing and it's very limited. Logistically I may not be able to go until September/October if I can't find a place to live.

I put in for Japan. Mine hasnt changed yet either. Looking at last year it sounds like we'll out towards the beginning of May.

I got a 2 br townhouse in VP. actually got our #1 choice which was unexpected.

We got Verano Place, as I've got a wife and a kid. My only options were that or Verano Place. I don't think we can beat the price, and the location to the campus, so I'm just gonna stick with campus housing.

I had two schools accept me after sending me rejection notices after they found funding, so things can be weird. It still didn't alter my final choice though as Irvine felt like the best fit.

Well in just a week or two we'll find out our community assignments. Now I'm in that "regret" stage as I realized I probably should've listed ALL of the options in palo verde and verano place, instead of just a couple from each...

I'm just going to live in the guaranteed housing for graduate students to save myself the stress of finding a new house (housing.uci.edu). Also like you I'll be heading out in the middle of August, a month before the quarter starts to try to get things situated somewhat. Yeh I'm stuck at my regular job until the middle of August, and would love to just pick up and move but that's not an option. Just a few more months. I am trying to not wish the next few months to go by too quick, coz I'm sure I'll be super busy in grad school in the Fall.

Anyone else going to UCI? I just completed my SIR and will begin in the Fall for their gateway program in Mathematical, Computational and Systems Biology (MCSB). I'm looking forward to moving to California this Fall.

So have you figured out where you're going yet ion exchanger?

I just locked in and accepted at UC Irvine for their Mathematical and Computational Biology program. I think when every night you go to sleep, and you dream about different schools, and if you're making the right choice that it is time to just decide. I was faced with the common issue: Offered admission with tuition waived at UC Santa Cruz and Boston University for Bioinformatics. Offered admission with tuition and offered the full stipend at UC Irvine, and a few other programs. In the end though, I had to go with the department that just felt like the best fit. UC Santa Cruz was in my dream tier for Bioinformatics, their program is amazing there. The director even asked that I tough it out for the first year and look into funding from various labs and TA opportunities. But, at the end of the day I have to go where I feel like I can be the most productive with a decent quality of life. UC Irvine has a very impressive stem cell and systems biology focus, and I think that is more inline with my research interests. Good Luck to Everyone!!

Hey Amal I interviewed at Baylor and UC Irvine as well. Good Luck on where you decide to end up. I am trying to decide between UC Irvine, UC Denver and Baylor. I turned down offers from UC Santa Cruz and UGA. Although right now it looks like I'll probably end up at UC Irvine. This is the most difficult part of the applications process for sure. I can't help but think about it while awake, and dream about it while asleep. I am intersted in Systems Biology and Computational Biology. As far as the original poster (OP). Univ of Penn is an ivy league, and they have a very good genomics program. I'm not too familiar with the North Carolina State Uni program, but am familiar with the UNC Chapel Hill and Duke, which are more in the same league as Univ of Penn and UC Irvine. I would say it looks like your decision is between Univ of Penn and UC Irvine. Get a feel for the potential advisers E-mail a few, find out if any of them are accepting M.S. students. Typically though I am under the impression that it is easier to get into labs because you're a self-funded M.S. student, but may not get the same attention that the PhD students get. Amal has her M.S. already so might be able to give you a more realistic picture.

Others had asked about getting rejected post-interview, or getting accepted after not being invited to interview so I can share on both of those. I interviewed at Boston University, and wasn't rejected, but wasn't out-right admitted either (If that makes sense). Several schools invited me to interview, or accepted me because I have outside funding covering in-state tuition and $10,000/yr in living expenses for four years. That opened up more doors for me than I would've expected. BU said they'd let me know by mid-March, but several others I know have already been accepted into the program with full funding. BU informed me if I was accepted, that I shouldn't expect the same stipend as other students for the first year. Well I appreciate their honesty, it did crush my spirits a little. On another note, UC Santa Cruz accepted me one week ago after their interview weekends, and I was never invited for an interview. It was also very short notice while i was in the state of California doing interviews at UC Irvine and UC Riverside. Although, their story was similar to BU, and said that due to having received outside funding that they could take me as a graduate student, and that I might be able to secure more funding via TAships, fellowships, etc. (Although this wouldn't be guaranteed). Both BU and UC Santa Cruz asked me to hold tight on making acceptances. After reading a few books on graduate school admissions, and following these forums though I opted to only seriously consider schools who were willing to offer me the same stipends as the other applicants. Therefore I am now trying to decide between UC Irvine, UC Denver, Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and UC Riverside. Although right now it looks like I'll accept the offer from UC Irvine, for their graduate program in Mathematical, Computational and Systems Biology. So if I went to UC Irvine, I'd get the full stipend, in addition to my 10k fellowship from the outside agency. Also, for those curious yes I did inform UCSC and BU that if they were willing to put me on the same playing field as the other admitted students that I would seriously consider their offer. So it seems the books were right. They said you'd be faced with deciding between great programs offering you no funding, and top-tier programs offering you great funding. I believe I am going to go with their advice and go with the programs that offer me great funding.

Well at looks like next week will be my final round of interviews at a few UC programs. These interviews do exactly what they were intended to do, they make me fall in love with every program I visit just due to the quality of the research, etc. This is by far the most difficult part of the application process. I'm getting stipend offers from a few programs, and acceptances with NO stpiends from a few other programs. I'm waiting to hear back on stipend offers, but it's stressful nonetheless. I think now I'm looking at UC Denver, UC Irvine, UC Santa Cruz, BCM and Boston University. I also want to be polite to other applicants, and start declining offers. Being married adds an extra degree of complexity to the decision making process. Although she says she supports any choice I make, I know life will be more comfortable for her in certain cities and regions than other areas of the country.

@bamafan - Yes I heard and was rejected from UC Berkeley for their Comp Bio program. Got my rejection Friday evening through an e-mail which told me to check the site.

I probably jumped the gun and RSVP'd too soon to Baylor. Boston University just offered me an interview the same weekend, so now I have a conflict. I had to e-mail Boston University and request another weekend or date, but I was honest and explained the situation to them. I am sure that admission committees deal with this pretty regularly and understand people apply to multiple programs. I'm living abroad in Japan, so I don't have as much travel freedom as I would like during this time of year. It's costing me $1500 for a round trip ticket from Tokyo to the States, and it looks like I can only stay for a couple of weeks. A couple of the programs have e-mailed me asking if I wanted a Skype interview, but I'm trying to stick to face-to-face if I can so I can make a better impression.

@Cogidubnus and @thej-hizzle I too received a reject from UCSF, and looking at the results section made me feel better. Also it helps that I have had a couple of interview offers and I knew a rejection was going to come sooner than later. I'm excited about the Baylor interview, just due to the amount of research being conducted in my desired field.

Hey Vincenzo have you heard back from any programs yet? I'm applying to Computational Biology and Bioinformatics programs. So far I have been offered interviews at Baylor and UC Denver, and rejected from UCSF.

I'm in a similar boat to bfat and whirledpeas with a few interesting logistical challenges of my own. I'm in the Air Force serving in Japan with a Japanese wife who is pregnant with our first kid who is due in the summer. So we have to figure out how to move everything we own from Japan to the States, and when we get there get vehicles, etc. I haven't even thought about looking for cars yet. Also, I'm getting a little tired of hearing from Japanese and Americans alike, "You guys leave in the summer, how do you not know where you're moving yet." So I need to work on getting passports and visas for the wife and the kid, she'll need a visa. Our cat will need all sorts of papers and shots and possibly quarantined. Also a couple schools have contacted me about how exactly I plan on doing interviews in the United States when I'm a half a world away. They have offered to fly me from any American city to the interview city, but it's a $1500 round trip ticket from Tokyo to anywhere in the states. I'm just trying to stay positive and focused. My backup plan is to extend one more year in the Air Force, stay another year in Japan and reapply next year to probably a host of M.S. programs as a backup option. I'm not getting any younger though at 31..

It depends what area you want to be involved in. Ohio State University has a decent Medicinal Chemistry & Pharmacognosy (natural products) department. Here is a list of schools to check out, http://www.pharmacognosy.us/pharmacognosy-graduate-programs/

Just as Allouette suggested, show them you're a writer with a strong SoP. Get someone with a degree in Fine Arts (etc) to read it, I have a friend who is a novelist, and another friend who got his undergrad in journalism. They can help you improve grammar and style. Then get some academic minded people to read it for content, and give you suggestions on that route. I went back and forth between academics and seasoned writers. I'm also applying to a few MS programs as 'safety schools' in case I get rejected by all the PhD programs I'm applying to.