Search the Community

Hi there, Has anyone who applied to the CEB (or any other bioscience) PhD program at UChicago heard anything from them?

Hi people, I decided to have an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology thread for this year's round of applicants since I couldn't find one for this year, and I'd love to see the profiles and school choices and results of the rest of the folks here applying, and open up a place for people interested in the same subjects to chat! Figured I'd head it off even if it is late. Undergrad Institution: Small public liberal arts schoolMajor(s): Statistics & Applied EcologyMinor(s): Mathematics & BiologyGPA in Major: 3.1Overall GPA: 3.8Position in Class: n/aType of Student: International MaleGRE Scores:Q: -V: -W: -Research Experience: Undergraduate research at a different institute other than home institute for one summer in theoretical ecology (currently writing a result section of the paper to publish in the future) 2 Undergraduate research at home institute in bioinformatics & statistical analysis in soil science 1 research assistant at a research institute in SK for 1 year in computational & behavior biologyAwards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list for 1 year (junior year) Undergraduate research awardPertinent Activities or Jobs: Undergraduate teaching assistant in two statistics courses Energy analyst intern for 2 years Wildlife technician for 1 year Governmental officer for 2 yearsAny Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Experience in R and bash programming, a decent background in statistics & mathematics. 1 presentation and 1 poster session with research. Currently writing a paper on summer research to publish Volunteer at a wildlife rehab center for one season Student representative (Statistics) at home institute Special Bonus Points: I have been doing research since last summer with POI at a certain institute and wrote a recommendation letter for me + two other faculties at my school know me really well Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Contacted all POI's through email and phone/skype before the writing process. Areas of interest: Quantitative Ecology (Theoretical & Empirical Modeling), Animal Movement, Disease Ecology, Population Ecology --> Pretty much can work with anything that requires data analysis and quantitative modeling. ? Applying for PhD programs in (updating with results when I remember): U Minnesota -- EEB (Interviewed) U Minnesota -- Conservation Sciences (Interview in a week) UC Davis -- Population Biology U of Washington -- QERM (rejected)

Hi all! Noticed that we didn't have an Ecology and Evolutionary Biology thread for this year's round of applicants, and I'd love to see the profiles and school choices and results of the rest of the folks here applying, and open up a place for people interested in the same subjects to chat! Figured I'd head it off even if it is a bit late. Undergrad Institution: Highly ranked small women's collegeMajor(s): BiologyMinor(s): Landscape studiesGPA in Major: 4.0 Overall GPA: 3.94Position in Class: n/aType of Student: Domestic FemaleGRE Scores:Q: 159 (73%)V: 164 (94%)W: 5.5 (98%)Research Experience: 1 summer of molecular bio research at the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew in the UK 2 independent half-year research projects: one was forest field ecology with my current PI, the other was remote spatial GIS/LIDAR work in plant ecophysiology A year in my current lab, started a yearlong Honors thesis at the beginning of this fall semester off the research I'd done last spring with my PI, currently also his RAAwards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list every year School award for "Outstanding Work in Botany"Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Horticulture summer internship at my institution's botanic garden doing non-scientific research (archival research, oral histories, etc) developing botanic garden informational portals Member of the Botanic Garden Strategic Planning Committee (BG outreach, planning 10-year trajectory) Campus Tree Advisory Committee (educational outreach in the arboretum)Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Solid with RStudio and GIS, presented a poster for a school-wide conference showcasing student research (not very impressive but better than nothing) Special Bonus Points: I should have strong letters of rec from at least two professors who've both had me for 2 classes each and I've done research with both, and a solid one from my lab internship in the UK. One of the recommending profs got her PhD and postdoc in the department I'm applying to for one of the schools I think I have pretty solid statements/essays, I've gone over them extensively with current grad students, professors, career centers, and even one or two PIs and they've all given a big thumbs-up Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Captain of the rugby team Member of the Social Justice and Equity Committee (working in advancing diversity in the college and developing resources for minority students) I've contacted at least one PI, sometimes more at every school. They are all quite strong fits with research interests aligning very well with mine, and we had reasonably extensive phone or Skype conversations with them, all seem excited for me to apply and most have helped me with the process and committed to sponsoring me. One PI told me that he would ask for my application to be transferred for free to be considered by another department as well since it would increase the likelihood of me being able to get in and work with him, another couple are writing me letters of sponsorship, and the other two have said they think I'm a competitive applicant and would be a good fit with them. Weaknesses: I don't have any publications (though my thesis manuscript is currently in prep and I plan to submit it), and didn't take the Bio subject test, and my quantitative experience is lower than I'd like it to be. Also, my non-Honors research isn't as in-depth as I wish it was because of my liberal arts background.Applying to Where: Areas of interest: -plant biology and ecology I'm super interested in exploring biotic interactions involving plants, esp. mutualistic ones and studying them in order to figure out how to incorporate more biotic interactions into climate change community modeling (my Honors thesis explores the potential for mycorrhizal mutualist-facilitated range shifts). Plant-microbe and plant-arthropod interactions are particularly exciting. Applying for PhD programs in: U of Arizona EEB U Miami Biology U Minnesota EEB and PMB (Plant and Microbial Biology) Michigan State U Plant Biology (EEBB) Northwestern Plant Bio and Conservation

I wanted to make a separate thread for EEB stats b/c the programs tend to be pretty distinctive from gen bio and I'm curious what other people are up to this season! Here's a copy of the same rubric that is used in the other threads Undergrad Institution: (School or type of school, such as big state, lib arts, ivy, technical, foreign (what country?)... Overall Reputation in Biology?) Major(s): Minor(s): GPA in Major: Overall GPA: Position in Class: (No numbers needed, but are you top? near top? average? struggling?) Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?) GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: V: W: B: TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this) Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...) Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?) Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...) Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...) Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Applying to Where: School - Department - Research Interest School - Department - Research Interest School - Department - Research Interest 2

Many of the graduate programmes(PhD in my case) in Ecology,Animal Behaviour,Behavioural Ecology are stating that they require at least a few semesters of Mathematics,including Calculus in undergraduate or postgraduate levels. Some even require Physics. These subjects are generally not offered in universities (here,in India) for Biology related subjects. My query is,is there any way around it,for example,additional coursework later on ?