Reapply next year?

[NeurosciNerd]

I got rejected from my top choice school (UCSD Neuro), and haven't heard from some of my other favorites, so I am assuming I will be rejected. I have interviews only at what I considered my "safe" schools. I'm currently debating on whether to go to one of my safe schools (assuming I am accepted after the interviews) or try again next year.

At the time I submitted my applications, the only "publications" I had were abstracts from conferences. In the next week or so, my PI will be submitting a paper for review on which I am 3rd co-author. I am also tying up loose ends on my 1st author, and another 3rd co-author paper. All of these are being submitted to mid-tier journals, and I expect that, perhaps after revision, they will be accepted.

Additionally, I did not know what to expect from the GRE so I prepared for it like the SAT (on which I did really well), which meant I just did a few practice questions, but no real studying. My verbal score was very high, but I ended up with only a 159 Q and a 4.5 AW. I feel I can bring these up now that I know what to expect.

My GPA in undergrad was not terrible, but not great (3.4).

Anyway, I was hoping for some advice. If I stay in the kind of research I've been doing, one of my "safe" schools would be an excellent choice. I was hoping to branch out more into neuroendocrinology though. If I decide to wait another year, would it be a good idea to continue working in the same lab, find a new lab to show I can do different research (I've been here for almost 3 years), or do a post-bac to raise my GPA?

What would you do in this situation? Do you think I could get into the top-tier schools if I tried again?

[goldenbuff]

If I were you, I would go on the interviews to your "safety schools" anyway. You never know what you might find and you would still be able to decline any offers later. At the very least, that would allow you some more time to consider your final decision without closing off any opportunities. At best, you might find that you would be really happy at one of your safety schools.

[spew]

Definitely go to those interviews. At the very least, the conversations you have with professors there may enlighten you and give you a better idea of what you intend to research.

If you actually reapply next year, focus on making your personal statement GREAT and maybe even find new letter writers who could write you solid letters - hint: this is NOT always from your PI or supervisor. Anyways, a great personal statement will stand out to ALL tiers of schools.

[aberrant]

I think you'll need to consider a few things before you make the decision.

1. I read it somewhere in tgc that the chemistry program from Stanford receives 15% more applications than last year, and it is an all-time high. That being said, it may be possible that next year has a larger, possibly more competitive applicant pool based on the global economy.

2. As you are applying UCSD, I am sure you aware that the CA budget cut significantly affects a lot of public universities in Cali. It is inevitable that multiple programs will be affected (just imagine UCSD closed down 2 libraries in the past 1-2 years).

3. You would like to identify what makes your application not strong enough for this program. could it be your GRE performance or SOP? if you can't identify where the problem is, it is difficult to boost your chance to get into the program even with publications. If the program is small (i.e. accept very few students each year), then you will have to be perfect in every aspects in your application.

4. Although the program maybe top-tier, I firmly believe that the education you receive in most grad schools are about the same. In other words, what makes a program top-tier / other tiers is the quality of research. Therefore, I would agree the common opinion that the reputation of the school (in research) is less important when you study for a PhD. It may be more important for your work as a post-doc.

If I were in your shoes, I would go to the interviews and see what happen.

Edited January 28, 2012 by aberrant

[greenertea]

Definitely go to the interviews as others would say. I would focus your energy now in going through faculty at the schools you have interviews and looking for professors you could potentially rotate with. From the interviews I've gone to, the general consensus between professors is that the quality of your adviser is going to determine your success better than the rank of the school.

Go to the interviews, ask questions about professors you're interested with (I think the grad students will have the best feedback in terms of this), look at the publications for those professors and see if grad students get to be authors on them. If you find a school with a good number of professors you'd be interested in working with, I wouldn't hesitate to go there. It's better to be at a "safety school" with an adviser that will really commit to your graduate training than be at a top ranking school and be stuck with a professor who couldn't care less about you and only focuses on their post docs.