NeurosciNerd Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 (edited) Undergrad Institution: Large university with strengths in scientific research Major(s): Biology Minor(s): Chemistry GPA in Major: 3.8 Overall GPA: 3.4 Type of Student: domestic, female GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 159 (82%) ***edit. I had written the wrong score before V: 163 (93%) W: 4.5 Research Experience: 3 yrs in neuroscience lab, 3 regional poster sessions, 1 regional neuroscience oral presentation, 1 regional neuroscience award, 1 national poster session, 1 1st author publication (low impact), 1 1st author in prep, 3 2nd-4th author papers to be submitted Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Regional best abstract award, Summer research fellowship recipient, Golden Key, National Society for Collegiate Scholars, National honor fraternity Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Research tech Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: My school wrote an article about me and my research, so at least that's exposure Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: formerly a ballet teacher Applying to Where: University of VA - Biology PhD - Neurobiology and Behavior UC San Diego - Neuroscience PhD UC Los Angeles - Neuroscience PhD Virginia Commonwealth Univeristy - Biomedical Sciences PhD - Neuroscience Johns Hopkins University - Neuroscience PhD Stanford - Neuroscience PhD I have a lot of very "stretch" schools, but I know I will we admitted to one of my safe schools (and I've been invited to interview at the other) so I figured why not try for the best? Edited January 12, 2012 by NeurosciNerd Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexhll6 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 @Neuroscinerd: have you heard back from UCSD or Stanford? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NeurosciNerd Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 @Neuroscinerd: have you heard back from UCSD or Stanford? No. I don't think I'll be getting in at either place. I know some people have already been rejected, and mine is still "under review," but I don't think I'm quite up to par. I just fell in love with their programs, and hope that somehow they decide to interview me. I absolutely love UCSD. So much of the research in the cellular and developmental specialty of the neuroscience program is exactly what I want to do. I was in contact with one professor before submitting my application, but I haven't heard from her in a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhm0219 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Just saw this and realized that I totally goofed on reporting my GRE scores. Corrected in red. I didn't have my scores on me when I first posted, and I misremembered by 10. Percentiles were all correct, though. =P Undergrad Institution: Ivy Major(s): Biology GPA in Major: 3.55 Overall GPA: 3.60 Position in Class: mid? Type of Student: white male GRE Scores (new test): Q: 164 (91%) V: 164 (94%) W: 5.0 (87%) Biology Subject test: 850 (95%) Research Experience: 3 years as an undergrad, 2.5 years full time since graduation in academia Awards/Honors/Recognitions: graduated with honors, two first author papers (small journals), one submitted second author paper, presented posters at three conferences Pertinent Activities or Jobs: two summer internships at school, 2 jobs post-bac as a research assistant in academic labs Special Bonus Points: recommendations from three PIs and one industry rep, one of the PIs is a psuedo-big-shot in NMR Applying to Where: MIT-Bio - Interview Harvard-MCB Interview Tufts-ISP - Interview Stanford-Biosciences - UC Berkeley-MCB - Interview UCSF-TETRAD - Interview UCSD-Biomed Sci - Interview Scripps-Bio - Interview UC Santa Barbara - Interview UCLA-ACCESS Mol Bio - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhm0219 Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 So I just got an email from Harvard saying that the Feb 15-18 interview weekend was getting overbooked since a lot of people who were assigned the Feb 1-4 weekend had conflicts. They were asking if I could do the earlier weekend. I'd prefer the later one as I would like more time to prepare and I will have had a couple other interview visits beforehand, so I will have had a little practice. Long story short, here's my question: Does anyone think there is an advantage/disadvantage to going to the earlier or later interview date? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jayeyesee Posted January 12, 2012 Share Posted January 12, 2012 Thanks for sharing. Second week of Feb seems ridiculously late. I wonder when the interview date they would be inviting for is. Stanford Biosciences only has one interview date for all of their Home programs. February 29th - March 4th. Because their only interview date is so late, they can afford to send out interview invites later. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjw017 Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 heard from the director of Northwestern IBIS today! so happy I was practically stammering. jjw017 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SCellNeuro Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 heard from the director of Northwestern IBIS today! so happy I was practically stammering. Congratulations!!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eakmurphy Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Got an invitation to Harvard OEB "recruitment weekend." yay! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhanson Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Got an invitation to Harvard OEB "recruitment weekend." yay! Congrats! Do you mind me asking how you were notified? And what exactly is the recruitment weekend? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eakmurphy Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Congrats! Do you mind me asking how you were notified? And what exactly is the recruitment weekend? Thanks! It's the first response of any kind I've gotten so I was pretty excited. I got an email from a professor who I'd been corresponding with before applying; he included the official invitation in his email. It's two days at the end of January, and it's NOT an interview- they made a point to say admissions decisions won't be affected if you can't make it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fosgfp Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Got an interview at NIH/Karolinska! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fosgfp Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Anyone have any news about Rockefeller? Are they still sending out acceptances? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy Eriksson Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 For what it's worth, looks like Columbia has sent out all of their interview invitations for neuro. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fosgfp Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 For what it's worth, looks like Columbia has sent out all of their interview invitations for neuro. Looks like a rejection for me then! Not upset since I planned on declining the interview anyway. How did you hear this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stacy Eriksson Posted January 13, 2012 Share Posted January 13, 2012 Well, I got an interview for NYU and, though I assumed that I had been rejected from Columbia, I wanted to make sure since it would save them money and me time if I only went to New York for one trip. The woman told me that they had already sent out all the invites. She wasn't exactly polite, either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krypton Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 (edited) @alexhll6 as well: I think the subject test is only "vital" if it's required by a program because you don't want to risk having the adcomm immediately toss your app for not providing all required materials. That essentially never happens. The GRE Subject Test is simply not important enough that not taking it, even when the program technically says "required" or "strongly recommended," would result in your application being tossed out. Does anyone think there is an advantage/disadvantage to going to the earlier or later interview date? No disadvantage to going early other than having less "practice," if you think you need it. If you interview early, you might get your admissions decision earlier. Edited January 15, 2012 by Krypton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenertea Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 That essentially never happens. The GRE Subject Test is simply not important enough that not taking it, even when the program technically says "required" or "strongly recommended," would result in your application being tossed out. Scripps is an exception. They definitely will not look at your app until they've received your GRE subject scores. I took the GRE Biochem in November but scores don't come out until December and they emailed all applicants in my position to let us know they would start reviewing our applications AFTER they received the official subject scores. aberrant 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krypton Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 Hmm, I have a first-year friend in Scripps Biology who definitely never took a GRE Subject. Are you sure they weren't saying that applicants who wanted to include a Subject score would start to be evaluated only after it was in? Anyway, either they've become stringent about the requirement this year, or they are in fact still not 100% stringent about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenertea Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 (edited) Hmm, I have a first-year friend in Scripps Biology who definitely never took a GRE Subject. Are you sure they weren't saying that applicants who wanted to include a Subject score would start to be evaluated only after it was in? Anyway, either they've become stringent about the requirement this year, or they are in fact still not 100% stringent about it. I think maybe in fact they're somewhat flexible. I emailed them before applying to see if it'd be okay to apply without it and they said I'd need to take but it'd be okay if the scores came in later (i.e. later in December). However, looking back at the most recent email they sent to everyone w/o subject scores, those who already took the test but were waiting for scores were instructed to not respond to the email while those who didn't end up taking the test were told to email back with their reasons and that the application would be reviewed in it's incomplete status. However, they did make it clear that the omission of scores would be taken into consideration as a negative by the committee. Also, I think your app gets look at later in the review process along with everyone who submitted scores late. Either way, it didn't seem to matter since I didn't get an invite anyhow, lol. Edited January 16, 2012 by greenertea Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGrad2012 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Got my first rejection my email from University of Michigan PIBS program! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brainchild Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Reject from Brandeis Uni - PhD Neurosciences. Reason: No funds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fosgfp Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Interview from NIH/OxCam. Just waiting on Rockefeller now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OldGrad2012 Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Just got rejected through email from the University of Washington- Genome Science. Is this program as competitive as Stanford Bioscience, UCSF tetrad, Scripps, USC PibS, UC Berkeley, Vanderbilt, UC Irvine, UC Davis MCB, Baylor School of Medicine, and UCLA Access? If so, then I would assume I will be rejected from these schools because it's already Jan. 17 and I have not heard from them yet. What do you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olfactorybulb Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Just got rejected through email from the University of Washington- Genome Science. Is this program as competitive as Stanford Bioscience, UCSF tetrad, Scripps, USC PibS, UC Berkeley, Vanderbilt, UC Irvine, UC Davis MCB, Baylor School of Medicine, and UCLA Access? If so, then I would assume I will be rejected from these schools because it's already Jan. 17 and I have not heard from them yet. What do you think? As far as I know, UCLA already sent out all interviews. I don't know about the other programs. Sorry about that.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now