antanon82
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Posts posted by antanon82
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15 hours ago, LaurenEm said:
I too went in with wayyyy too bravado for an international student (Canadian), and applied to a very similar list of top-flight computational biology PhD programs. My academic profile, however, may have given me the edge I needed to eke out 2 interviews out of the 7. I was known to at least one of the faculty at the 2, so I'm not actually sure how much of them came down to prior networking versus the strength of my apps.I can summarize my stats in a following post if there's interest. It's very similar to thinhtran's, and we got interviews at the same NYC schools!
I agree with @zuska in that 11 applications in 3 days sounds really rushed. My personal statement was written over the span of a month, and it was quite honestly crowd-sourced from a few people I trusted to provide me with unbiased opinions. I also ended up hating the process LOL, but it really forced me to evaluate why I was going after each program. One anecdotal point about the networking thing also happens to be what sold me on NYC schools. I went to a total of three Cold Spring Harbour conferences and hackathons, and my goodness did I like the people and research environment! I also loved that there were so many research institutions collaborating on projects I liked in a single city, and that enthusiasm really came across in my apps and the people I contacted.
Good luck with the UConn interview! I've done both wet and dry work across many fields (and considered peacing it from academia altogether multiple times), so if you have any specific questions about where to direct your efforts next, feel free to PM me.
I don't have too much advice, sorry! I specifically looked for programs that guaranteed tuition coverage and full stipends for internationals. To be quite honest, as a Canadian, I would recommend Canada for international students (no idea if that's where you're from). If you're not at top programs that guarantee 100% coverage in the US, it turns into a massive headache, one that I personally want no part of. Reputable Canadian programs mandate that professors will at least cover your stipend through their own funding or TAships, and up to a portion of your stipend as well.
Yes, I am Canadian (naturalized citizen) but I have been living in the US for the past five years...
Thanks for the info - it is getting extremely competitive to get into top programs that guarantee funding.
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20 minutes ago, lamivudine said:
I applied for the Fulbright Canadian student award but it’s up in the air if I’ll receive it, but all of my programs (biomed PhD) will provide the same stipend as US students plus a full tuition waiver.
Thanks for the info...
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On 1/28/2019 at 5:09 PM, Josh1964 said:
I know it's always hard for international students to apply for life science programs because of the funding issues. I was rejected by most of the programs that I have applied (In retrospect, I should not have applied for all top programs, especially in the medical schools)MSK, Weil-Cornell, Rockefeller, Columbia Medical Campus, NYU Sackler Mount Sinai and Cold spring harbor and UCSF all said no. Only one interview offered from Uconn Health Center. Still waiting on more decisions but currently, do not have much hope. I did my undergrad in a top20 liberal arts college GPA 3.6/4.0 (I know it's not great. I finished in 3 years and one semester really screwed me up lol). Research experience wise I have around two years, no publications but a thesis on the way. Currently in a master program at my own undergrad institution. Recommendations are all from my advisors and they know me really well.
I'm just wondering how are other international students doing in this round of applications? Maybe it's some flaws in my own applications (I finished 11 in 3 days. Didn't really decide to apply till the last minute. I'm not really confident in my Personal Statement but I did the best I could ). Would like to hear from other international students about how they are doing this year? I'm currently thinking about doing a lab tech/RA job somewhere
Can you please give me advice on how international students apply for funding in PhD programs in USA? I did go through websites of some schools, and some of them do indicate that they offer TAships, assistantships, and others. But for programs that require contact with potential advisors who are looking for graduate students before applying, do you need to indicate that you will be needing funding and expenses?
I did apply to only one university this cycle (UMass Amherst), but I haven't heard back from any of those three programs I applied to, and am dreading rejections anyway. How do international students bring funds to work in labs?
Sorry about my poorly worded post, thanks!
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23 hours ago, lamivudine said:
I'm an undergraduate international/Canadian student attending a Canadian institution, and iI have received all of my notifications at the same time as US applicants.
If you don't mind me asking - can you please tell me how will you be funded? Did you apply for any international scholarships? Thanks.
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On 1/23/2019 at 8:33 PM, ChangYU said:
Hi all,
Hope everything is well for all of you! Congrats for those who got their invitations and offers!
I'm not sure if there's anyone in looking at this post and is at the same stage as me: got nothing but only rejection letters (5/9). I applied for 9 PhD programs and haven't heard from Harvard, Princeton, Stanford and UCB, but I see in the cafe that many people have got their invitations, and the interview dates are reasonably close. (One of the disadvatages I have is that I'm an international student, thus we are considered separately because of funding issue.) As a result, I need to move on and work on my plan B.
With all the advice I've got from friends, grad students and professors, I don't feel ready to make a solid plan by myself. Thus, I'm posting this up, and, hopefully, we can all share some ideas on how to make an alternative plan. So here's something about me (I'm not sure how detailed should I go for, please let me know if it's not appropriate):
I'm currently a senior, international student at UMass Amherst. I'm finishing a dual degree in biology and mathematics (applied/stats track). I have a 3.977/4.000 GPA, and received 40k+ scholarships over the years. In addition to my academic live, I also have 3 years of experience tutoring and 2 years of volunteering (BBBS kid mentoring program). I've only taken GRE once, and I have Q168, V151 and 3.5 (I'll definitely make this looks better if I apply next cycle or later). I'm in the honors college and doing a thesis. I have been in a plant genetics lab since the second month of freshman year, where I had various experience with wet lab experiments and bioinformatics/systems biology analysis. I am co-authoring a paper that will be submitted in February which is about analyzing and interpreting an RNAseq dataset. I'm working with this PI for the 4th year and he said that wrote me a very promising letter.
In addition to working with plants, I also had research experience during summers working with mammalian telomeres and interned at MRL at Boston on immuno-oncology targets. As for the computational aspect, my work on analyzing data in lab required me to use R, python and bash scripting. I also had intermediate/entry/entry levels of experience with SAS/Matlab/Java from project-based math/stats courses.
My original plan is to go straightly for umbrella PhD programs, which covered computational biology or systems biology. I want to use my advantage where I can do both biology and mathematics and to work in interdisciplinary fields. My passion originated from doing experiments, so I still want to keep up with my web lab skills (i.e. doing gene editing according to the results from computational analysis) which I think would also be valuable when I look for jobs later.
For long term goal, I would like to work in the R&D parts of the pharmaceutical industry. From the conversations I had with my co-workers during my internship, career-wise, it would be very helpful to have a PhD degree. Also, I don't want to limit myself to plant biology, so I need the transaction to focus on other systems. Also I want to keep all the lab work I deal with in vitro.
However, since the plan going for PhD directly didn't work out well, I need to start thinking alternatives. I think my CV would look better in a year or two when the paper is published (there's another one data analysis based that I'm working on as the first author). Also, there's a gap in between the data analysis I do in the bio lab and what I learned from my math/stats courses: I didn't have experience developing computational/statistical tools. I think it may be a solid plan to do something to fill in that gap.
The first thing I'm thinking of is getting a master in biostats. Although the deadlines for submitting applications have passed for a lot of good schools, I'm exploring options that are still available (i.e. Brown, UMich, UMinnesota, UCD, UPittsburgh, CWRU and UMass). One question I have is how much a biostat master degree would help if I want to go back to applying biomedical/compuational PhD programs? I do believe a master in biostats will open a lot of doors if I want to look for jobs, also if I want to switch to tracks such as data science. From what I have seen, all biostats programs offer the opportunity to do a thesis, however, if I want to apply to PhDs during the second year of my master, I don't think the thesis will be ready for publishing and I'm not sure how much points that will add to my application. So should I go for a thesis if I end up going to a master program?
The good thing is that, if I stay in the same school, I can finish the master with only one additional year. That being said, if I apply for PhD programs in the next application cycle, a thesis would definitely not in time. Yet, all the courses I take will be very coding heavy and project-oriented so would expand my skill-sets on the computational aspects dramatically.
I'm not sure how many bio/mcb master programs are still available now. If not going for biostat programs, I hope to get into schools that may help with my applications later. So please let me know if there's any program worth going for a try. I know the last option I have is the MCB MS at my school, which there's no doubt that I'll get into. One of the reasons I didn't think much of this option is that I need to take classes during the PhD programs anyway so I'd rather do something that I can learn more with the same amount of time and effort.
Another option is looking for jobs and gets experiences while working. As an international undergrad, I think it's hard for me to look for jobs in the US (although I have the 36 months OPT available), especially jobs that I can learn as much as a master program. It's hard to imagine finding a job that will allow me to do things that I don't know before (I'm still thinking about filling the gap in my experience/skills).
With everything going on in the U.S., I was advised that it's not such a bad idea to look for PhD programs in Europe, since I'll be international anyway. However I have no idea how this would work, so please let me know how I should start looking and what I should be expecting if going to graduate programs in Europe.
One addtional note is about grad school funding. My parents are funding me for undergrad (although I tried very hard to get as many scholarships as possible), and they can and are willing to fund for my tuition for master and PhD. However, I find it very not helpful when programs as me to bring my own funding while applying for PhD programs. I completed my undergrad in the U.S. so I'm not eligible for a lot of funding from my own country, also I don't want to sign contracts that force me to go back to work for a few years right after graduation (I'm not against going back but I want to keep all options available). And, to my knowledge, there's no scholarship that I can apply to before being admitted to a program (NSF grant requires citizenship). That leaves me no option to bring my own funding while applying, which makes me less competitive among international or all applicants.
I appologized that this is getting way longer that I planned for. Thank you if you have read this far. I'm just going to summary some major questions that I need help with:
1. What can I do better if I apply to PhD programs in the future? (Umbrella programs aiming for computation-based track). Are there any not famous but good phd programs that I can still apply for? I know WPI is still rolling and have a lab that may fit my interest according to a professor I talked to.
2. Is it worth it going for a master in biostats? Is a thesis helpful if it won't be ready as a submitted paper? How much help would it give to a future PhD application (systems bio/computational bio)? What specific programs that are still available? Would I be competitive for such programs?
3. Are there any worthy bio-based (i.e. mcb) master programs still open?
4. Guidelines for looking for jobs as an international undergrad. Is it possible that I can learn how to do more complicated computational analysis even if I had little experience with it before? (Although I can learn from colleagues, I imagine companies will want me to do things that I'm already good at.)
5. Where can I find possible fundings for grad school as an international student? The search engines don't really help much before one is admitted to a program.
6. Any other advice or question?
7. Thanks for reading all these! All the best luck for all of you!
I am in a similar situation as you are to a certain extent, except that I already have both undergraduate and masters degrees in biotechnology and cell biology from outside of USA (which is why I applied as an international student for fall 2019 cycle to three PhD programs at UMass Amherst). I had only one course in biostats and bioinformatics each during my masters. This year, I applied to only one university and haven’t heard back from any of those three programs I applied to. Planning to work on improving my gre scores, plus trying to see if I could do anything to enrich my experiences this summer - I plan to apply to programs other than microbiology such as computational biology. But I am barely finding anything as there’s limited opportunities for international students to intern anywhere in labs, and some of the summer courses are expensive. I’m sorry if I sounded too lengthy in your post here, but sometimes I feel lost.
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On 12/23/2018 at 1:06 AM, Wonwoman said:
Hi,
I have a bachelor's degree in biotechnology from India with GPA 3.82/4. I have a 5 years of work experience in molecular biology laboratory. I have four posters so far ( two as a first author, presented at international conferences). I want to stay in research lab in industry as research team lead and later technical director or CTO. After doing some research on people who are currently working at these positions, I found that most of them are PhDs. I have applied to some good PhD programs in Cancer Biology and molecular biology in US universities. I am also applying to some masters programs. After having discussion on the same topic with peers and mentors, I received mixed feedback ,i.e, some said that PhD is not necessary for the positions that you aim to hold in future whereas some think otherwise.
Is it a wise decision to start a PhD so late in the career ?
Suggestions and opinions are welcomed !
Wow I am in the same situation as you are. I also worked at a research institution for 5 years and now would like to pursue a PhD. I applied to only one university this time. If I get rejected I will need to look for more schools to apply for 2020, plus I was looking to see how I could enrich my career further this summer.
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I applied to only one university this year (UMass Amherst) and three programs (Chemistry, Microbiology and Mol. Bio). Since I have not received anything yet, I am not feeling optimistic anymore. Are there any summer courses or programs I could take to enrich my profile/cv? Any input would be appreciated. If there is anything similar to this topic I will delete this thread. Thanks...
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Any news from UMass Amherst Microbiology - anyone?
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2 minutes ago, jujubuju said:
I emailed the coordinator for UMass MCB and haven't heard back yet. I have a potential time conflict with a non-interview and wanted to know if they're done or not. However, based on previous years, I don't expect I'll actually get a reply. UMass Chemistry seems to process their applications later because the deadline is later.
Thanks for the info...
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I applied to microbiology, MCB and Chemistry programs - UMASS Amherst. Has anyone heard back from any of these programs? I checked the results section and two people posted open house invites from MCB program.
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I wish to apply for the 2020 fall in any biological sciences program (PhD in microbiology or cell biology). However, I need advice as to how to look for grad schools that offer childcare, including information about affordability. I keep browsing through so many universities - I have two children and I will be relying heavily on resources while I’m busy with hectic coursework and others.
I also couldn’t locate any relevant thread/topic here. If there is, can someone please provided the link so that I can delete this thread if needed? Thanks...
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On 5/18/2018 at 12:17 AM, filip1 said:
At risk of sounding promotional, the best help I got in terms of practice tests, was from the website called GREBIO. The take-home message from the booklet and the exam itself that I got was that in addition to (obviously) your knowledge, your problem-solving skills are tested here. So the grebio practice tests helped a lot in that respect, since they have a bunch of questions like that. But their summary ebook is a bit too "bullet-pointy" for me. It might be good for other though.
When have you taken the exam? Last April? If so how did you do?
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On 4/23/2018 at 10:51 AM, genefan said:
Thank you for this set! And while Kaplan seems to be everyone's favorite, although my wallet doesn't seem to think so :((
no problem, and happy studying
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http://mostafaworld.yolasite.com/resources/Biology.pdf
When I was practicing I was only able to find this one online. If you are looking for more there's Kaplan GRE Bio textbooks older than 2016 and they can be purchased from Amazon.
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I am also appearing for the April exam this year, in my case I am following whatever's in the syllabus on ETS website (with the help of some textbooks). But I am unsure about practice questions - don't know about you but I feel this isn't enough. I was thinking of purchasing books through Amazon but don't know what to get for practice. How about you?
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How authentic is online editing/allowing someone else to edit your draft and paying them online? And what websites are out there - anyone have any examples?
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Depends on the schools you are applying to... If they need subject GREs some mention their averages in the websites.
If you are applying for Biotech, your high score in Mol. Cell. Bio. is a plus point, because I'm a Biotech major myself, and haven't come across anything related to Organismal or Ecol/Evol Biology... I would have submitted the scores if I were you.
I wonder why you opted for Bio GRE subject instead of Biochem GRE subject... But it's all good
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Hi all,
I need a bit of advise on whether it makes sense to submit both my gre score reports.
First time I got 170 verbal, 159 quant, and 5.0 awa.
Second time I got 167 verbal, 164 quant, 4.5 awa
I decided to retake the test to improve my quant score. I'm applying to competitive IR programs that value quantitative skills (and my undergrad major was in physics), so I wanted the quant to look really good. I didn't expect my writing score to drop, and I was a little surprised by the 4.5.
Anyhow, what is your opinion on submitting two sets of scores? If you recommend just submitting one, which would be better - a higher quant score or a better awa? Does a 4.5 awa look strange with the high verbal and quant?
Thanks for the help.
I am in the same boat as you are, but I will be applying to biological sciences for grad studies.
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Ditto. I rewrote the exam last week after I was unsatisfied with my November scores. Two passages were repeated.
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I am a bit worried. When you look at the admission requirements for the Biomedical Gateway Program at the Indiana University of Indiana School of Medicine (http://grad.medicine...n-requirements/), you find that the average GRE scores of accepted international applicants are a lot (!) higher compared to average scores for admitted domestic applicants. This at least holds true for both the quantitative and the verbal score. So apparently, as an international applicant you have to score comparably high in the GRE to get admitted to some programs, regardless of being a native speaker of English or not...
Its getting tougher day by day for us international students, eh?
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My exam's on Dec 10th (I know it's late, I am trying to catch the remaining Jan deadlines and I know I won't make the Dec deadlines) - I appeared for one last week but the scores weren't that great, and so trying to give that another shot.
HOWEVER, at the testing center, there were no issues.
I have one last name (unlike yours - you said you had two of them...)...
I will try emailing them and see if this is an issue or not. I'm worried about scores being reported to schools at the moment - if they see that my first name is my last name (which is NOT, it's the other way round), I don't know if that will mess up the application process.
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I know this will sound stupid (especially when it's coming from someone who couldn't tell the difference between first name and last name when suffering from high fevers), BUT - months ago, when I registered for the GRE account online, I was suffering from flu and was in a hurry, and I put my first name as my last name. In my passport, it's the other way round.
My question/concern is - will this be a major problem when scores are reported to schools?
I tried to correct the stupid mistake online but still can't...
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Well, I am not a student of Comp Sci, but if I were you, I would firstly go through the requirements on department webpages, and look at the International equivalents to the US degrees. After that I would apply...
If you have time to retake the GRE, try to increase both the scores to 160's.
2019 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results
in Biology
Posted
Has anyone heard back from UMass Amherst Microbiology? There is only one "email interview" posted in the results section. I also emailed the grad admissions but have not received any replies...