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Has anyone heard anything about interviews for the OxCam NIH Partnership program?

Hi! I have been writing SOPs for biological science PhD programs, while most of them have a clear upper limit in the length of the SOP (with a range of 500-3000), one of my programs does not state a maximum length. I'm wondering what an optimal length would look like for adcoms, somewhere around 1000? To have adequate details on my past experiences but hopefully not too long to bore the readers. Any suggestions would be very welcome!

I am new to this forum and not sure how this works. I have been working for 2 years post my Masters degree and I am considering applying for PhD programs this year to start in Fall 2019. I would like to get so advice to set some realistic goals when it comes to selecting my universities. I have copied the template from another post: Undergrad Institution: (D.Y.Patil University (India) not a big league school)Major(s): Biotechnology and BioinformaticsOverall GPA: the scoring scale was not GPA. I have sent it to WES for evaluation.Position in Class: AverageType of Student: International, Male. grad Institution: Georgetown University, Washington DCMajor(s): Biochemistry and molecular Biology.Overall GPA: 3.86Position in Class: top 5% Type of Student: International, Male. GRE Scores (revised/old version): I have not given my GRE yet I am going to give it in the next month. How much will that score matter in terms of aiming for top 10 schools.Research Experience: 6 month thesis dissertation for undergraduate degree followed by 1 year experience post degree working on the same project in India. 6 month thesis dissertation for graduate degree followed by 2 and a half year experience. Publications: 2 (2nd author, in reputed journals of impact factor: 8 and 10)Awards/Honors/Recognitions: undergraduate research project was awarded at a recent conference in India. Honors degree for academic performance at graduate level. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: In all, a research experience of 3 years + (2) 6-month thesis. I have worked on wide range of topics from diabetes, lung cancer, wound healing, breast cancer, neuroinflammation and cancer immunotherapy. Applying to Where: I am mainly attracted to transnational research in cancer Biology/molecular Biology with recently developed fascination for immunotherapy. I am hoping my profile is competitive enough to apply to the top schools but I am not sure. Any advice in much welcomed and appreciated.

Hi, Is there anyone here who's applying this round? Try to help each other waiting it out ?

At least a year back from now everything was going great in my Biology PhD program. Apart from the occasional feeling that I was not being able to work to my full potential, the quarterly reviews with my PhD committee members were “excellent”. My advisor was comparatively satisfied with my progress in research than with other members of the lab and that brought additional responsibilities. However, little did I know that a ‘B’ in a stats class was all that was required to send me back to my miseries, two years into my program. My advisor was relatively new and to my knowledge did all he could to save my ass, which wasn’t enough at the end. The only thing that he assured was a letter of recommendation if I ever reapplied. I was a graduate assistant and with the assistantship cancelled I didn’t stand a chance to continue. I tried talking to the stats instructor but it did not yield favorable results. Fast forward a couple months after getting kicked out. I am back in my country. Sitting on the same chair, in front of the same computer that I used while sending out applications about 2 years ago. All I can think of is I don’t want to die a failure and if I really have to fail I would prefer failing in something that I am at least happy doing. I do have a job a present but I know that I don’t want to do that. I want to get back to my PhD (of course a fresh start somewhere else) or at least try. I know it might be difficult (as per some blogs) and even if I get in I might face an analogous situation during the coursework. For the time being though I am trying to tackle one problem at a time. Just wanted to know if any of you guys have had similar experiences. Both optimistic and pessimistic views are welcome in addition to suggestions related to increase my chances (if any).