ab2003

Totally forgot about this. Should've posted a long time ago, but today's my free day Undergrad/grad Institution: Big state uni. UGrad Major(s): Biology UGrad Overall GPA: 3.32 Grad Major(s): Molecular Genetics, Biochem Grad Overall GPA: 3.79 Position in Class: average??? Type of Student: Naturalized US citizen/Immigrant from war torn country (whatever category that puts me in) - I'm a girl GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 157 (darn thing dropped to 68%!) V: 160 W: 4.0 Research Experience: 0.5 yr undergrad, 1.5 yr grad MS thesis that I want to publish before I graduate. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's, President's lists 6 semesters Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Worked in a lab setting for 5 years as a lab technologist; offered promotion to assistant manager but decided I wanted to go back to school instead (I followed my heart, so we will see if this was the right decision) Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Ran my own business for 7 years while working full time/going to school, land lord, and a couple other passive income deals, but all this is irrelevant since I will phase this out once accepted to stay within the school rules. Special Bonus Points: Maybe that I speak three languages and come from a country no one has heard of? Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Nothing really, I see myself as rather average when it comes to what really matters. Applying to Where: See signature

Rat.girl, you're just being realistic. It's not like they're picking you up from the street and you just heard about scientific research yesterday. We're going into an environment where post docs pay as little as $35,000/yr - we are at the last line of defense before feeding a family outwins doing what you love, so you have every right to state the obvious.

A bit of a silly question, but what do us women do about our purses? Do they walk around with their purses? I need my phone, car keys and deodorant with me lol.

I guess it's all up to what they want, but I'm pretty sure some students are going to think twice if they are offered $400 towards a flight but their actual flight is $600 like for the person above.

Now I feel a little better about not being invited to the Vandy interviews...and I thought not getting replies to my emails from them was bad...I guess they have a budget issue or something. How much out of pocket are you guys going to be?

I'm still a bargain for them. I may not get their names right, but my interview would just cost them $10 for gas, lol. Should've put that in my personal statement. Congrats on your UW interview, see, you did some unnecessary worrying too!

So I review my Emory statement of purpose and what do you know, this silly girl here has a list of potential professors at the bottom who are...from other schools that I applied to! I could just kick myself, what a great way to handle one of your top choices - now I'm just sitting around and waiting for that rejection letter. I can imagine the laugh the admissions profs had when they read it - even I'm laughing at myself.

I don't know about adcoms, but I have sent at least 6, 7 emails since Friday night and received personalized email replies by 4 almost immediately. If nothing else, you know they're lurking, so they'll be quick to get in on reviewing apps.

I found this site very helpful. https://www.tarleton.edu/careers/Students/dress-to-impress.html

Yeah, UAB is my pleasant surprise so far, so I think it will probably be reason to pass up the Clemson safety application. I was kind of hoping on hearing back from Vanderbilt IGP since there's one professor in the neuro dept whose lab I could basically jump right into without much training since my current MS thesis actually uses his methods and is pretty much the same subject. The cool thing is that he suggested to meet up once I get my interview. I know a lot of people have gotten invites from Vanderbilt IGP, so it looks like I might have overestimated my application. You never know what's going on behind these adcom closed doors. Luckily, I can prepare for my final course left in the spring to get my mind off applications.

Thinking about applying to Clemson as a safety school, but honestly, the $20,000 stipend is awful considering that the cost of living is the same as anywhere else. I already got my LORs in, but I already feel cheated considering this is my most expensive application so far to a school that pays the least from my list. Tell me honestly, would you guys pay $80 for an application that only gave you a $20,000 stipend, $1,100 fees per semester and only partial health ins? Help me weigh this.

For those of you with the WUSTL interviews, which programs did you apply to? Has anyone heard anything for the molecular genetics and genomics (MGG) branch yet? I know some people posted stuff about the immuno program...

I just realized that I might have a room mate during my interview. Not too crazy about that...what if she draws me a sharpie mustache the night before interviews?

Hi tuba, if it helps any, I applied to UTHealth only two days ago (this is for Houston). Yeah, should've done it earlier, but I held it up because I wanted a better transcript *sigh* Anyway, last year their FB page stated they had the first round of interviews in mid January, but when I checked last year's boards on here and a few people were getting invites to UTHealth around the same time, presumably for a latter interview date. I guess it depends in which batch they put you, but since we applied late, I'm afraid we might be in the latter group.

Congrats to everyone on interviews! This is getting very exciting, can't wait to meet some new people soon. Does anyone think we might be getting interview invites on Monday, Dec 23 too, or do you think schools will pretty much connect the weekend with the Christmas holidays?