2012 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

[InquilineKea]

______________________________________________

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

[fmrp]

Undergrad Institution: BS + Masters from Ivy

Major(s): Math, Biology

Overall GPA: 3.7

Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 780

V: 680

W: 5.5

Research Experience: 5 years of research at Ivy and large research university in systems biology / bioinformatics and molecular biology. 5 papers, 1 first author, 2 second author (Nature/Cell/Science level), 2 middle author. 1 conference talk + a few posters.

Special Bonus Points: Very good recs, 1 from an all around famous PI, 1 from a famous systems bio. / bioinformatics PI.

Applying to Where:

Harvard (BBS), MIT (Biology, CSB), Stanford (Genetics), Caltech (Biology), UCSF (iPQB), Berkeley (MCB), Yale (MCB)

[fosgfp]

Undergrad Institution: top technical university in the US

Major(s): biology

Minor(s): biomedical engineering

GPA in Major: 3.85

Overall GPA: 3.78

Position in Class: we don't get class rank but I'm guessing near the top

Type of Student: female

GRE Scores (revised):

Q: 168/96%

V: 163/93%

W: 6/99%

B:

Research Experience: 3 years of research at my university + 3 summers of research including 2 REU programs. one small publication on a paper with many authors

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: I'm on a half tuition merit scholarship at undergrad

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: studied abroad for a semester? don't know if that helps

Special Bonus Points: some grad classes this year, but those won't show up on my transcripts.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

Neuroscience at Columbia, Rockefeller, Harvard, MIT, UPenn, UChicago, Northwestern, WashU, NIH

[Business2Biology]

Holy wow. These first posts make me want to slowly step away from the PhD applications.... and run like hell!

Kudos to you both!

[Angie854]

Undergrad Institution: University of California San Diego,

Major(s): Ecology, Behavior and Evolution

Minor(s):

GPA in Major: 3.2

Overall GPA: 3.1

Type of Student: Domestic, minority female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 155 (69%)

V: 162 (90%)

W: 4.5 (72%)

Research Experience: 2 years working in lab off campus, 3 independent research projects one of which was an REU, Masters thesis. Poster presentation at a national conference + 2 on campus, one publication in prep.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: provost honors (x2), REU fellowship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA x 3, Review commitee for on campus publication, scholarship review comittee for AWIS san diego

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Mother of 2

Special Bonus Points: 3 strong letters of rec from leaders in their field (though at different times!), plenty of grad classes, female+minority+mother,

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Applied for NSF predoc, FORD fellowship and plan to apply for DOE predoc (and possibly USDA predoc)

Applying to Where: UC Berkeley, Stanford, UC Santa Cruz, UH manoa, University of Colorado...maybe others, haven't decided yet.

[AutumnLover]

Undergrad Institution: Ivy

Major(s): Biology and chemistry (double)

Minor(s):

GPA in Major: 3.62

Overall GPA: 3.54

Position in Class: Middle

Type of Student: Domestic Female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 790

V: 620

W: 5

Biochem: 660

Research Experience: 2 years part time in school, 3 summer internships, 3 years post-bac (1 at big pharma, 2 in academia) 1 publication in PNAS as middle author

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Chem TA for 7 quarters, Bio for 1

Special Bonus Points: Took Continuing Ed Grad classes in Biology

Applying to Where:

MIT-biology

Harvard- BBS

Tufts-Genetics

BU-Genetics

UCSD-Biosciences

Scripps-Biology

UCSF-Tetrad

UC Berkeley- MCB

Stanford-Genetics

[mbgradapp]

Undergrad Institution: mid-tier state school

Major(s):Biochemistry

Minor(s):

GPA in Major:3.97

Overall GPA:3.95

Position in Class: near top

Type of Student: domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q:166 94%

V:157 77%

W:4.5 72%

B:

Research Experience: 1 year undergrad, 2 year full time research tech

Applying to Where:

NYU

Tufts

Yale

Washington University in St. Louis

Boston University

UPenn

Northwestern

You guys are scaring me.

[solorenegade]

Tell me about it...How do I compete with these people?

[Faraday]

I think you will find that the types of profiles posted on websites like this are not necessarily an even distribution of the overall application pool...

Edited December 2, 2011 by Faraday

[Jimbo2]

haha that's definitely the case. just look at the NSF GRFP pages. Roughly 1/2 of the people that applied and posted on this website received the fellowship, yet the actual amount of people getting the fellowship is 1/10.

[virion]

Either the people who visit these sites are among the more qualified applicants, or they're compulsive liars.

[solorenegade]

Either the people who visit these sites are among the more qualified applicants, or they're compulsive liars.

I'ld like the think that the more qualified applicants posts their stats here. Call me naive, but why would anyone lie on here? Everything posted on here is somewhat anonymous so I dont think anyone has anything to gain from lying about stats here.

[virion]

I'ld like the think that the more qualified applicants posts their stats here. Call me naive, but why would anyone lie on here? Everything posted on here is somewhat anonymous so I dont think anyone has anything to gain from lying about stats here.

Just a joke. No reason to think anyone is telling anything but the truth.

[fmrp]

i also wanted to see how i would fare given that i've been out of college for a couple of years now. i've heard that people like me are held to more stringent standards, so i thought it would be a useful data point to post my stats here.

[fosgfp]

Anyone hear anything yet? Last year the first people heard on the 8th (from UCSD I think?)

[sarofino]

Undergrad Institution: Catholic liberal arts college

Major(s): Biology (BS)

Minor(s): N/A

Overall GPA: 2.995

Type of Student: Domestic

Graduate Institution: Mid-tier state school

Major(s): Biology (MS)

Minor(s): N/A

Overall GPA: 4.0

Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores:

2010

Q: 680 (96%)

V: 660 (61%)

W: 3.5 (29%)

2011

Q: 164 (94%)

V: 159 (82%)

W: 4.0 (48%)

Research Experience:

3 years in academia (thesis defense Masters)

4+ years in industry (bioassay and vaccine potency test development)

Posters and presentations at regional, national and internal company conferences

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

Undergrad scholarship

Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society

Various graduate travel grants

Masters research & creative scholar award

2^nd place poster at a local conference

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

TA for undergraduate molecular biology lab (5 semesters)

Graduate student advisor (1 year)

R&D scientist at biopharmaceutical company (4+ years)

Special Bonus Points: Primary author for bioassay sections of our FDA submissions.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Probably a lot older than most applicants. No publications.

Applying to Where:

University of North Carolina (BBSP)

University of Washington (MCB)

Tufts (Sackler)

Emory (GDBBS)

Washington University (WUSTL) (DBBS)

UCLA (ACCESS)

University of Texas (Microbiology)

Indiana University (Microbiology)

Stanford (Biosciences)

Duke (MGM)

Dartmouth (MCB)

University of Washington (Genome Sciences)

Northwestern (IBiS)

UCSF (TETRAD)

University of Wisconsin (CMB)

I applied to four programs last year, was rejected by three and waitlisted with no prospect of funding by the fourth.

[jroac001]

Undergrad Institution: (medium size state school; Good reputation in ecology and marine biology?)

Major(s): Biology and Chemistry

Minor(s): Mathematics

GPA in Major: 3.72

Overall GPA: 3.68

Position in Class: Near top of my department.

Type of Student: male, nontraditional.

GRE Scores (revised):

Q: 159 (82%)

V: 163 (93%)

W: 3.5 (29%)

B: 560 (62% on biochem, cell and molecular bio but didn't report this)

Research Experience: 4 years in a neurobiology of communication lab at my school, 1 REU in a Neuroendocrinology lab, ~ 1 year in computational chemistry lab at my school. 2nd of 3 authors on 1 publication, 6 conference talks and posters

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: NIH MARC U*STAR Fellowship, + 2 small merit based scholarships.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA in physics, recitation instructor for gen. bio

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: best undergraduate talk.

Special Bonus Points:

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

MIT - BCS - Computation

Yale - BBS - Neuroscience

Cornell - Computational Biology - Computational Neuroscience

WUSTL - Neuroscience

UCSF - Neuroscience - Neurophysiology and computation

[OldGrad2012]

Undergrad institution: Good school

Majors: Microbiology

Overall GPA: 2.927

Graduate Institution: State school in Cali

Major: Biomedical

Grad GPA:3.46

GRE scores:

V: 590 (82%)

Q: 680 (65%)

A: 3.5 (29%)

Subject:

B: 640 (46%)

Applying: Stanford (Bioscience)

USC

UCSF

UC Davis

UC Irvine

UC Riverside

University of Arizona

Scripps

UCLA

Vanderbilt

 

I am a nontraditional applicant , and have been out of schools for ten years. I have three coauthor publication.

[fosgfp]

Got a call from northwestern neuro!!! They invited me to their first round of interviews in January!!! So excited!!

[hunterbear]

Wow such impressive stats from everyone. A little nervous.

^^@fosgfp: Congratulations and good luck! You must be very excited

Undergrad Institution: Big State Undergrad, Masters from Ivy

Major(s): Bioinformatics, Biotechnology

Minor(s): Biochemistry, Math

GPA in Major: 3.9

Overall GPA: 3.7

Position in Class: No clue. Towards Top?

Type of Student: International female with US degrees

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 740

V:710

W:4.5

B:

Research Experience: Two years at translational medicine lab, and two years at a genomics/mol bio lab. First author paper under review.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Student of the year award, Scholarships through undergrad, and masters

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for calculus, and biology for 5 semesters

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Lots of volunteering experience, particularly in other countries.

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc..

Applying to Where:

Harvard (BPH Infectious Diseases)

Weill Cornell: Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis

Columbia: Same as above

Johns Hopkins: Infectious disease epidemiology

[Pitangus]

Got a call from northwestern neuro!!! They invited me to their first round of interviews in January!!! So excited!!

Nice! Did you just submit your application recently?

I feel like I'm going to get really antsy as everyone's interview invites start rolling in... not sure if my programs even hold interviews (the sparse few entries on the results pages suggest that two of them might, but if those are accurate it looks like they don't come in for awhile).

[fosgfp]

Nice! Did you just submit your application recently?

Yes, it was due Dec. 1 and I submitted Nov 30th, and my last rec went in Dec 1st. In the call they said they did an initial passthrough of the applicants and my "application stood out." So I'm guessing they just looked at top GPA/GREs and have only evaluated them so far

[fosgfp]

My friend just got an email invite to UChicago, molecular biosciences. Didn't get a phone call, just email.

I've heard nothing from UChicago neuro.

[elem3nt]

1 first author, 2 second author (Nature/Cell/Science level)

Would you mind elaborating how you were able to do this in 5 years while getting an undergrad and masters too? Most PhD students can't do that. I didn't know this was even possible.

[deundertaker]

Would you mind elaborating how you were able to do this in 5 years while getting an undergrad and masters too? Most PhD students can't do that. I didn't know this was even possible.

Well, this is very possible, it depends on how nice your PI is. One of my friend was the second author of a Cell paper, and all she did was one western blotting.

Edited December 13, 2011 by deundertaker