Chance for Getting into biomedical sciences- fall 2012!

[Dunhill]

Hi

I wanna do a PhD in microbiology or Virology

I am nervous, I took GRE and I did bad. I got 740 quant., 330 verbal

The verbal score stands out as very low and the quantitative score is not exactly great

My stats:

International applicant.

GPA: 3.2

GRE: 740-V 360-Q

Research experience: I year and published as 1st author.

Work experience: 2 years of experience as a teaching assistant at a university.

Self funded, I don't need to receive scholarship from a university. I received a scholarship which shall cover my enrollment for the PhD degree. Does it make difference? I know being a domestic student is advantageous when applying to a graduate program, but does being a self funded give you an advantage over others?

I am worried about my chance to get an acceptance

I applied to the following:

Mount Sinai School of Medicine

Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL)

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB)

Vanderbilt University

Johns Hopkins University (JHU)

Penn State university (PSU)

University of Wisconsin Madison (UW Madison)

any feedback, criticism or advice, please

Thanks so much in advance!

[whirlpool4]

I'm applying to PhD programs in microbio / immuno / pathology myself. I made almost equal on quant and verbal, so although they aren't great, I am not going to retake it. However, as a fellow student, I would suggest you retake the GRE if you are worried about that 300s score on verbal. I think your research experience will work in your favor, but I am not sure about your funding situation.

[Dunhill]

I am not going to retake the GRE too.

I will apply by this score and I will see

Good luck

[emmm]

I would also recommend retaking the GRE. I think your low V score will hurt you. The programs you're interested in tend to be very competitive.

[XXX]

hello, Dunhill. I am an international student too and I obtained my MS in America. I got interview invite from Mount Sinai last year and this school gets loooots of fund from NIH every year (the 3rd most as they said). In other words, I don't think they care about if you are self-funded or not. As to the other schools you are applying to, they are all prestigious in microbial research, and the application is highly competitive. So I really suggest you to retake GRE. Hope this information helpful. GL

[kgumps2012]

Unless I am reading what you wrote incorrectly, you received a 300 score on Q - quantitative. If that is the case I would absolutely recommend re-taking the GRE. If you meant that to be your V - verbal score, I would still advise your re-taking the GRE to get into those more competitive schools. I am sure they want to see you have control over writing and verbal skills to enable you to perform research and write decent papers to be published.

[virion]

If you look at the post, he mentions his score twice. One instance has the Q/V inverted. The entire post, including the error, was posted on collegeconfidential. I asked about it and he confirmed that the Q should be the higher score, as expected given the sentence about the verbal being not great (an international applicant with 740V would have nothing to complain about indeed!). Apparently they couldn't or didn't fix the error on either site.

But I agree that the GRE should be retaken. However, it's a bit late and if Dunhill did end up applying for 2012 he can hope for the best and see how it goes. Would also be nice to hear about his results, but given that he hasn't posted since Nov 5, with 2 posts total, I think it's a bit unlikely.

Edited January 4, 2012 by virion

[Sulay Patel]

hello, Dunhill. I am an international student too and I obtained my MS in America. I got interview invite from Mount Sinai last year and this school gets loooots of fund from NIH every year (the 3rd most as they said). In other words, I don't think they care about if you are self-funded or not. As to the other schools you are applying to, they are all prestigious in microbial research, and the application is highly competitive. So I really suggest you to retake GRE. Hope this information helpful. GL

Hi XXX , I am an international student and got invited for interview at mount sinai .I am into Medicinal Chemistry and chemical biology, I would like to know more about the reputation of graduate school at Mount sinai ( i am applying to structual -chemical biology and molecular design), and how was your interview like..?

[Neuropsychologist]

Hi all!

I'm an international applicant. My profile is here:

GRE: Q-750

V-430

AWA- 4.0

TOEFL- 105 (I've got a 30/30 in writing)

GPA- 3.75 (out of 4)

Program of Interest- Neurosciences

I'm assisting my Professor who's currently doing her PhD. I've also finished an internship at an industry and completed a industrial training program. I also have to my profile, a Certificate course in Psychological counseling which is equivalent to a Post Graduate Diploma. I have attended a couple of international conferences and presented a poster in a national conference too. I have an undergraduate research project too.

The schools which I've applied for are:

For PhD in Neurosciences:

University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio IMGP

Georgia Health Sciences University

Marquette University

University of Nebraska Medical Center, Omaha

University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center, Memphis

Texas A&M Institute of Neuroscience

For MS in Neurosciences:

University of Montana

I haven't heard from any of the universities above. I was rejected the last year when I applied for fall 2011 because my application came in late. This year I sent my application early in October and still no reply from them.

What chances do I stand for admission in any of the universities, kindly give me your valuable feedback guys, Cheers!

[800meters]

OP: You will be accepted somewhere because the graduate school will not have to pay for your PhD program. Simple as that.

[emmm]

It's not quite as simple as being able to pay for it. That may work, though, for a non-competitive school that will admit students with no guarantee of funding, but I don't think it will work for the schools the OP listed.

[Neuropsychologist]

@800meters and emmm: Guys, what's your opinion regarding the schools to which I've applied? Have you any idea about the way the admission process goes in these schools? Are they competitive enough to get an admission?

[emmm]

Have you checked the results survey? That can be helpful to see how you compare (very roughly, since you just see stats, if you're lucky and people posted them). For example, my stats were good, but I got more rejections than anything else. And having seen the stats people had posted in the past, I was not surprised by this at all.

Edited March 11, 2012 by emmm

[Neuropsychologist]

@emmm: I am constantly checking the surveys but the scores that students have put up are inconsistent with the propensity of being accepted or rejected. A low score was accepted sometimes and a good score was rejected and hence the confusion.

[virion]

@emmm: I am constantly checking the surveys but the scores that students have put up are inconsistent with the propensity of being accepted or rejected. A low score was accepted sometimes and a good score was rejected and hence the confusion.

Just goes to show that research experience, personal statements, and letters of recommendation go quite a long way.

[emmm]

Agreed -- there's really no way for us to tell you anything more reliable than the info you'd get from the results survey. Acceptance depends on so many factors. All you can do is try to put together the best package you can. I was very aware of where my application was weak and had plans in place to improve those areas if I did not get accepted anywhere. I don't know what else you can do, really. If you don't try, you have no chance of getting in, but it can be nerve-wracking. Good luck!