meaningless

hello pstu24, i am not in your field so i can't give any advice, but i think your can nicely insist that you come visit and meet them. just don't tell (stress) them that you are going only for them, but you are just going for holiday purpose or for fun, and meet them just as a passer by. and for the self-invited recruitment weekend i think it is not a good idea. as in my field that kind of weekend they have packed schedule and thus they might not have time to accommodate you. after all, a face to face chat can essentially increase your chance. if you are determined enough, you should show your deliberation by showing up proactively. just don't be a bug before any form of acceptance. stay calm and sane, be patient, gentle and polite all the time. no rushing, don't give up. wish you luck, and you will need them all.

one more thing to add, my case is i am applying to particular person but not the program. the skype call is over. the thing that he has covered is that he explained a bit about his situation on the funding, the project and the recruitment on this particular position. he asked about my lab experience to see if i acquired the technique that fits in his expectation. he told me what projects (except the phd one) that i have to work on. what he meant "logistic" is the paper work that has to be done with the school. as he has the fund and he wants to start the appointment ASAP. but the school has their own schedule so he needs to figure out what and how to do with that. it seems like an "unofficial acceptance" to me. but who knows, i will keep updating here until i get the official acceptance with school chops on hand.

thanks selecttext. i will follow up here after the skype call. as i noticed that the major trend now in the world is like the committee in school is of higher power than the POI himself in picking candidates, where the old system sounds more favorable for candidate with good research background but f**ked up in like CGPA. i think this case can be a review of this situation.

Hi all, I have get in touch with a POI, here is his reply: >Dear meaningless, > >Many thanks for sending me your proposal and CV....blah blah blah > >I have read your proposal and I am interested in discussing your potential >PhD here. > >First, I will have a meeting with the postgraduate affairs at [the grad school] >to first sort out the period of start, procedure of recruiting an >international student blah blah blah then offer me a skype chat. then i asked about what should i prepare for the discussion (interview?), he replied: >You don't need to prepare anything, as we would be covering various >logistics and then your experience in lab techniques, etc. so 1. can i say this is an unofficial, acceptance? 2. what does that mean by logistics here? (i didn't apply to the grad school officially, just exchanged several emails with him. and the actual thing is his was my colleagues, where i have worked for him on a paper. he then get position in another country and left. now he works closely with my current supervisor.) thanks, mls

Hello all, I am a bit excited and would like to share my situation and get some opinions or point of view from you. 1. I got a phone interview offer 2 days before, and the POI would like to call me on the day follow. that means I got less than 24 hours for the preparation. Anyway the interview went well ( i think) and she commented me as "although the field is not an exact match, I call you based on your good experience in the lab with publication and both of your reference are really nice." and she said I seem to be interested in the project. I said I planned to fly to Germany in March, and she asked if I got some interviews by then? I said (honestly) I applied for several positions at the same time and I still not yet get any interview offers (as they are still on going and the deadline is in Feb). however i will go to Germany for holidays even I don't have any interview. I asked if i can come and drop by the institute? she then replied that I can come and then I can talk to her big boss, also she actively followed to ask for my exact date of arrival. then I said still not yet confirmed and will inform her right away for arrangement via email. She said it is ok to keep the email thing. so for this one do you think the POI is just out of politeness or she really likes to see me going and have a visit? And am I seems to have any chance in getting the offer? 2. I contacted a POI via email in Dec. Then he just asked for my reference and CV and then asked me to go to Germany for an interview. Then I suggested sometime around Feb and then he didn't reply. I thought that it was over and moved on. suddenly he contacted me again and stated that his job will post on some website on the day follow and ask me to fill in the application. I then thank him for the information and then he replied to remind me to indicate his project in the application. so then I finished the application the next day and then he contacted his secretary (i guess?) to ask for my documentary to go thought the qualification recognition. (the application still on and haven't hit the deadline yet) this is so far i get to now. As actually the POI didn't say nothing on the admission and neither did i ask anything about to get an offer from him (I still not yet gone to interview!). also of course i am not going to harasser anyone including me myself. No one can promise nothing before the proper procedure. Just I think it is time to spill this out and discuss with you guys that what does this look like? is this good? as actually i am already very tried in emailing after 100s of same procedure and not really having progress..... here is my profile if this is useful: GPA: 2.3 (3rd honor) MSc with research thesis 3 publications, one 1st author, two name in the middle, another one is in progress 2 strong LoR, one from highly prestigious professor (my current supervisor plus master supervisor) 4 years of lab experience (coordinating NIH project) GRE: V:144, Q:160, AW:3.5

Hello there, as I am not in the CS field so my pov is loosely based on the general idea about the Germany schools. actually they said in Germany except the very young one (with less than 20 years of history) are considered fairly close to each other (of above average standard in the world). of course if you are talking about IMPRS or TUM or LUM then they must be a bit superior, but for the 2 you mentioned are more or less the same in reputation over the world. so just pick the one with consideration of living cost and the location of the city. btw congratulations!

halo jason tea, it seems to me that you are a strong candidate if you want to work in structural biology. as this field related to bioinformatics, which some (or should I say most?) of the PhD positions requires a physics degree, instead of biology. However, in order to strengthen your application, i will suggest you to join a bioinforamatics/structural biology lab to work as RA for one year or so to have a better preparation. research exp and peer-review publication are very important. strong LoRs also count very much. so i think if i were you i will wait for the next round to prepare for the above. I suggest, if you have the chance, join a lab with famous professor in the field and work hard to get a good reference. all the best x

just apply and send the emails to potential POIs no matter what. this is a real life example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsui_Lap-chee "He studied Biology at the New Asia College of the Chinese University of Hong Kong and was awarded a B.Sc. (3rd Class Honours) and a M.Phil. in 1972 and 1974, respectively. Despite his unpromising performance at university, Tsui would eventually prove himself as an accomplished scientist. Upon the recommendation of his mentor at the CUHK, he continued his graduate education in the United States and received his Ph.D. from theUniversity of Pittsburgh in 1979." maybe the world changed a lot and this is not working anymore under all kinds of procedure or instruction or requirement. just work that out and never give up.

so i don't really tell others what i am doing. my relatives talk about some rumor based on "biology" in family gathering and don't really realize that i have anything to do with the topic. i mean even i get into the program i will just say " i am going to study abroad and will inform you when i come back, bye". and as a matter of fact i live independently and it is not necessary for me to explain anything. maybe this is a way to avoid those awkward scenario. anyway if you manage to let them understand that is awesome as they can support you mentally. that is very important in my pov.

i agree with what crucial BBQ said. PhD to me is half job half fun. if i am not fun in top Uni i won't do good.

Better than sleepless and meal-less. I am here to comfort all the possible candidate on earth. Undergrad Institution: stupid out-of-rank local university Major(s): biology Minor(s): GPA in Undergrad: lower than 2.5 GPA in Grad School: NA, just pass or fail or distinction, and I am obviously not the distinction baby Position in Class: last one passing out Type of Student: Female, international GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 160 V: 13x W: 3.5 B: - Research Experience: 0.5 year in protein lab as RA, 3+ years in rep lab under rep prof. as RA, coordinating NIH project. one first author publication, 1 conference and 1 publication with name in the middle. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: big no Pertinent Activities or Jobs: "Ms. coordinator RA"? Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: still a living man not walking dead? Special Bonus Points: don't stress me man...haha Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Applying to Where: see signature this might seems a joke to most of you huh? I have told myself and people around me that any reply (even formal rejection) are miracles from Santa Claus of Finland. anyway I hope all of us can have a good laugh on the above and be relax, there are so many stupid jerks like me flowing around and you have huge chance!

I am working on 3 of them, getting rejected by one, and getting an interview chance. others are still working and didn't yet submitted. I am not a strong candidate, i mean anyone who look at my profile would consider that if i ever got a shot that will be a miracle from the santa claus. anyway just wanna send my regards to all of us and just don't need to stress yourself too much out. what i believe is what goes around comes around, if it is yours it will always go to you.

hello, first of all i don't have PhD degree so far, but i have been working as RA in the mentioned field for 3+ years, and completed a master degree with research based thesis fallen into the same field. hope i can of some help. 1) Is a master's degree typically required before the PhD in this field? - yes and no. actually they won't say you have to have a master (except some Europe Universities) to be eligible, but a master plus solid research experience do count somehow. also a decent referee and his good reference is of high importance. 2) Which schools have strong programs in my research areas? Some PhD programs I have read about are: Columbia, Emory, UW... but how about for master's programs? - which country you are referring to? just search on pubmed for "surveillance" and you will get some hint. (i try to avoid the big Ivy league one as everyone knows) in US, Wisconsin I would say , in UK Edinburgh, in Singapore NUS, in HK HKU. (just my personal idea) 3) How common is full funding? This is my most major concern. I understand that funding for master's students isn't as available as for PhD students, but if a master's degree is necessary first, then I would need funding. - not very common up to my understanding. would you mind trying to be full time RA then take the part time master's degree as what i did? of course there are scholarship flowing around but it is like 1 out of 50 is for master. 4) How about English-language international programs? I have no qualms about studying abroad and as I mentioned, London has the program I am most interested in (I just don't know how I'd pay for it!). - well sorry this is out of my knowledge. but i heard of something like joint University programs, and i don't know how it works. good luck to you.