Going to miss app deadline, need advice! CUNY

[boopiter]

Hi everyone! I'm going to be graduating this summer (2013) with my bs in organismal biology, and I really have my heart set on attending the EEB program at the CUNY Graduate Center. The only problem is, the deadline for the 2013-2014 year is on Jan 1st (today is Nov 11th). I haven't taken my GRE's yet, so I'm going to miss the deadline and will have to wait all the way until the 2014 year to attend (if I'm accepted). I REAAAALLY do NOT want to wait an entire year to get into grad school. The thought of having to find a job and waste an entire year seriously bums me out. I was thinking about applying to one of the other CUNY schools' master's bio programs for the a couple terms in 2013 and applying those credits toward the Graduate Center program. Has anyone ever done anything like that? Would this be frowned upon at all? Also, if anybody is in any of these programs and could give me some insight as far as what it takes to get into these programs, I would much appreciate it. Also, if anybody wouldn't mind sharing what their out-of-state tuition and financial aid totals out to I would really appreciate that too! Thank you!

[Cuse2012]

it only takes about 10 days to get your GRE results in. You still have time to apply to that school

[Pitangus]

I took a year between graduating with my B.S. and starting graduate school to work some field jobs relevant to my research interests. It was definitely not a waste; in fact, I think my applications were much stronger than they would have been if I applied my senior year of undergrad. Unless you have a lot of relevant undergrad research experience, or are considering a non-thesis M.S. program, I think it only helps to spend a year working in your field.

Of course, you can still try to apply to programs this year if you can get your GRE scores sent in time (I'm assuming you are planning to take them very soon). I just don't think you need to despair at the thought of having to work for a year.

[boopiter]

I will be taking them soon, but I haven't started studying for the general test yet, and the bio subject test is given in April. (I had major surgery back in March which has taken a few months to recover from and I was having enough trouble getting through my classes with good grades, let alone studying for the GRE's on top of everything, which is why I haven't taken them yet). I really don't think I can study for the general and do well on it within a few weeks, right? Pitangus how did you go about finding work in your field? I do have a little over a year of working on my own independent research (under the guidance of a mammalogy professor at my current school), and I will be presenting my research/findings at a few biological conferences and possibly submitting it for publication. Do you think something like that will help my chances of getting into CUNY?

[Pitangus]

Pitangus how did you go about finding work in your field?

I followed listervs and boards related to EEB, like the ECOLOG listserv and the TAMU WFSC Job Board. There are also narrower listservs if your interests are taxon-specific. I found plenty of open positions and sent out quite a few applications. Connections are helpful for actually getting the job, especially if you don't have experience with all of the skills/techniques listed in the ad. I worked two really great field jobs that each had many applicants, and I'm certain I got those jobs in large part due to my references' connections to the people/group doing the hiring.

I do have a little over a year of working on my own independent research (under the guidance of a mammalogy professor at my current school), and I will be presenting my research/findings at a few biological conferences and possibly submitting it for publication. Do you think something like that will help my chances of getting into CUNY?

Presentations and publications/submitted manuscripts definitely help. That's actually another reason why I waited a year to apply: I knew I would be presenting my senior thesis project at a national conference and preparing a manuscript in the spring of my senior year, so by waiting until the following fall to apply I was able to list that presentation and submitted manuscript on my CV. If I had applied during the the fall of my senior year, then the most I could have written was that I was finishing my thesis and planning to present it. I had a couple of other poster presentations to list, but they were at regional conferences and unrelated to my thesis work.

Edited November 14, 2012 by Pitangus