2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

[MicroB2012]

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

[Neurono]

Undergrad Institution: Private Liberal Arts, pretty good reputation

Major(s): Neuroscience

Minor(s): Economic

GPA in Major: 3.5

Overall GPA: 3.5

Position in Class: top 20%

Type of Student: Domestic female, not a minoirity

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 165 92%

V: 164 93%

W: 5.5 96%

B: 760 79%

Research Experience: 2 summer internships, senior thesis, research technician, presented at national conference, 1 LOR mentions that I will soon be a primary author

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: cum laude, deans list, undergrad scholarship, best thesis

Applying to Where: Either neuro, pharma or umbrella programs

NYU Sackler Yale Cornell UCLA Weill Cornell Pitt Rockefeller Harvard Columbia Johns Hopkins Tufts BU

Good luck to everyone!

[chemaholic]

Undergrad Institution: German top-tier research univeristy (strong in biomedical sciences)

Major(s): Molecular Biomedicine (Undergrad), Life and Medical Sciences (Master's)

Overall GPA: 3.67 (Undergrad), 3.93 (Grad)

Position in Class: near top (Undergrad), top (Grad)

Type of Student: International male

GRE Scores (revised version):

Q: 164 (90th percentile)

V: 159 (80th percentile)

W: 4.0 (49th percentile)

B: not taken

TOEFL Total: 104

Research Experience:

Several research projects at my university starting from first year of undergrad, undergraduate thesis, summer research internship in North America, graudate research, master's thesis; all in biochemistry or cell biology

One publication in a good journal of the ACS, acknowledged in another publication

Poster presentation at a regional meeting

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: One award inside the school for research, one award from DAAD for summer research

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Several jobs at the university (administrative tasks and teaching), membership in different organizational committees, Volunteer work outside of the university (public health related)

Special Bonus Points: Two of the recommenders are well known in their respective field; All recommenders might write strong LoRs

Applying to Where:

UPenn - Biomedical Graduate Studies (CAMB)

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis - IBMG

University of Wisconsin-Madison - IPiB

UCSF - Tetrad

UMass Medical School Worcester - BBS

I think I might have a good profile (lots of research experience, good grades and references, many activities in academia) but of course applying as an international student seems to be hard...

[MicroB2012]

[undergrad. University] Large Research university

[undergrad. Major(s)] Biochem and Economics

[undergrad GPA] 3.3

[Grad. Major(s)] biotech

[Grad GPA] 3.8

[Years of Research Experience] 3 years microbiology

 

one 1st author published, one textbook chapter in press, 3 more papers in preparation.

 

[GRE Scores] 620+780 Biochem 650

[Prospective Graduate Program] Microbiology

[Prospective Graduate Schools]

MIT

Harvard

Stanford

Yale

Columbia

Brown

Princeton

Tufts

UCSF

UTsouthwestern

CSHL

MSK

Cornell

Rockefeller

UChicago

Northwestern

BCM

UPenn

Duke

WashU

NYU

UNC

Tufts

UBC

[Biohopeful]

Undergrad Institution: Small state school

Major(s): Biology Honors/Psychology

GPA in Major: 3.6

Overall GPA: 3.68

Type of Student: Domestic, female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 610/149

V: 500/153

W: 3.5

B: 750 (76% - 88% in my specialty)

Research Experience: Undergraduate: 2 years behavioral neuroscience, 1.5 years developmental biology (undergraduate honors thesis, 3rd or 4th author in spring, 3 poster presentations - 1 published abstract in Developmental Biology) Post-graduate: 1 year in clinical diagnostic laboratory

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Two undergraduate research grants. Graduated magna cum laude and completed university honors program.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 3 years experience tutoring statistics and biology courses, 1 year leading discussions for non major biology course, 1 semester TA for introductory biology laboratory. Co-founded an organization on campus to promote undergraduate research.

Special Bonus Points: Made connections with some faculty members at a conference... and I'm female, but not sure how that counts in the grand scheme of things. First generation college student.

Applying to Where:

Northwestern IBiS - Developmental Biology

University of Illinois Chicago - Biological Sciences

University of Wisconsin Madison - CMB program

Purdue University - Biological Sciences

University of Notre Dame - Biological Sciences

University of Pittsburgh - Biological Sciences

University of Massachusetts Amherst - Cell Molecular Biology

SUNY Albany - Biological Sciences

University of Wisconsin Milwaukee - Biological Sciences

Good luck everyone!

Edited November 29, 2012 by Biohopeful

[ecoevosale]

You all have some impressive profiles, good luck to everyone!

Guess I'll be the first EEB poster here.

Undergrad Institution: Large state school

Major(s): Biology with Genetics

Minor(s): Chemistry

GPA in Major: 3.86

Overall GPA: 3.78

Type of Student: Domestic minority female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 790/164 (90%)

V: 600/160 (83%)

W: 5.0 (87%)

B: 840 (94%)

Research Experience: Three years in evolutionary biology lab, three conferences, one 1st author.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Presidential scholar (at school), Research Fellowship (at school), Excellence in Science Education (local)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Two years as TA, two years as teacher at Kaplan, two years as peer tutor

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I suppose, experience in field research, with animal husbandry, and teaching Internationally.

Special Bonus Points: Only one graduate level course, minority female if that matters, first in family to pursue higher degree.

Applying to Where: Listed in signature, all Ecology and Evolutionary Biology PhD Programs, some Integrative/Organismal/General Biology with EEB track.

[Biohopeful]

Everyone's profiles are really good this year. It's making me a bit nervous, haha. (My GRE scores don't help)

Could anyone recommend any safety-like schools for my GRE: 149Q, 153V, 3.5AW? GPA: 3.68, years of undergrad and post grad experience, some presentations, coming from a smaller, lesser known state school.

Edited November 29, 2012 by Biohopeful

[MicroB2012]

You guys are scaring me, how do I compete with you people

[Faraday]

Everyone's profiles are really good this year. It's making me a bit nervous, haha. (My GRE scores don't help)

Could anyone recommend any safety-like schools for my GRE: 149Q, 153V, 3.5AW? GPA: 3.68, years of undergrad and post grad experience, some presentations, coming from a smaller, lesser known state school.

You guys are scaring me, how do I compete with you people

Don't worry. People who tend to post their stats often have pretty good numbers and are not necessarily a representative sample of everyone applying... Even then, numbers are not the most important factor the adcoms look at.

Edited November 29, 2012 by Faraday

[Chim]

Undergrad Institution: UC Irvine

Major(s):Microbiology and Immunology, Concentration in Virology

Minor(s): None

GPA in Major:

Overall GPA: 3.18

Position in Class:

Type of Student: Domestic Dude

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 161 (83%)

V: 159 (80%)

W: 4.0 (49%)

B:

Research Experience: 1 year Undergrad Research in a Tumor Virology Lab, 2 years at an autoimmune diagnostics company, 1.5 years developing instrument systems, no publications.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 6 quarters deans honor list, excellence in research.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Peer tutor

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: 3.8 GPA final 2 years, 3.8 GPA in Bio courses.

Applying to Where:

Stanford - Immunology

UW - Pathobiology

Dartmouth - PEMM

Harvard - Virology

UM Rackham - Immunology

UC Denver - Immunology

UC Santa Cruz - PBSE

UC San Diego - Biology

UC Los Angeles - Immunology

WUStL - Molecular Microbiology & Microbial Pathogenesis

[Crucial BBQ]

Okay, I'll play.

Undergrad Institution: Small (roughly 4K) private LAC. Awesome rep in-state. Virtually unknown out-of-state.

Major(s): Biology

Minor(s):

GPA in Major: 3.4

Overall GPA: 3.7 (I know, most usually have it the other way around, but I am really good with writing, not so much so with rote memorization, so my core courses, humanities and the like, were a heck-of-lot easier for me to earn As in) For some reason, I cannot turn of the bold. Sorry.

Position in Class: I have no idea. I will say this: first, I am a transfer student. Second, roughly 70% of the bio students at my school are pre-med, maybe 10% are pre-vet, and maybe 10% are pre-dental. So there is an extreme amount of competition, which I really don't care for (in particular since most of them take the easier courses. I have yet to meet one pre-med who took Calc II or higher).

Type of Student: Domestic, male. non-Hispanic white.

GRE Scores (revised/old version): Would rather not say I'll just say Q and V are middle-of-the-road, not too competitive, and AW is above the 90th percentile. I'm tired of the naysayers and will reveal my scores when all decisions come in.

Q:

V:

W:

B:

TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this)

Research Experience: One year in chemistry at my previous university. Worked alone, for the most part. Two semesters in biology at the university I transferred into. So, two years total. No name on papers, though. I also have semesters worth of experience working on/from a research vessel. I mostly helped deploy and retrieve equipment, did a little bit of lab work, but nothing pertaining to actual research in a meaningful manner. It was more of an internship-like experience, except it wasn't an internship.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: My first college held yearly "student recognitions" for some reason (probably to help retain students, would be my guess. Or perhaps it was just a feel-good thing?) for students who were not seniors or were not yet in their final year. Anyways, I was nominated Student of the Year (didn't win) and a handful of Recognition of...certs for various contributions to campus.

I participated in a poster-presentation, got 3rd place. There are others, but nothing academic or "prestigious"

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Lab assistant (you know, maintained and set-up labs), lab safety inspector, volunteer as a water-quality monitor for one of the Water Alliance members, invasive (marine, invertebrate) species monitoring.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Help what? My acceptance by you people Seriously though, sure. Despite my mediocre GRE scores, I am an over-all strong applicant. For example: Calc I and statistics were the only math courses required by both biology departments at both schools (remember, I am a transfer). Yet, I went on to Calc II, Calc III, and Differential Equations as electives, which should trump my Quant score (seriously, it was low. I just do not do well on standardized tests. Never have). I would have done Linear Algebra, but couldn't fit it into my schedule.

Special Bonus Points: Uh, no.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I can probably write better than 90% of all biology students. I know, arrogant. My SOP, AW score, and (hopefully) LORs reflect that.

Applying to Where:

MIT

BROWN

University of Rhode Island

U.C. Davis

University of Maine

University of Alaska

University of New England

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[pghbioteacher]

Undergrad Institution: Large semi-private research U

Grad Institution: Same

UGrad Major(s): Microbiology, Neuroscience

UGrad Minor(s): Chemistry

Grad Degree: MEd in Science Education

UGrad Overall GPA: 3.25

Grad Overall GPA: 3.64

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 158

V: 165

W: 5

B: 900

Research Experience: 1.5 yrs in pharmacology lab, 2 yrs UGrad thesis project, 1 year Masters thesis project (latter 2 in education)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Chancellor's teaching and research fellowships. Presented UGrad work at national conference.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA in chem and bio depts since my sophomore year, taught as an adjunct at community college

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Abstract reviewer for ASM for a couple of years.

Applying to Where:

Carnegie Mellon, Pitt, Pitt Med, Pitt Pharm

Molecular Virology/Pathogenesis

[bamafan]

Yet, I went on to Calc II, Calc III, and Differential Equations as electives

Sorry if I seem daft, but what exactly is Calc 3? My school only had two, the second being multivariable.

[Chai_latte]

Sorry if I seem daft, but what exactly is Calc 3? My school only had two, the second being multivariable.

Calc 3 is usually multivariable. Your school probably lumps calc 1 and parts of calc 2 together. And throws a little bit of calc 2 into your multivar course.

[Chai_latte]

Quick question: Quite a few of you are applying to a lot of schools. Is bio a super-competitive field (with respect to admissions) like med school or psych programs? In chem, for instance, we don't usually apply to 15+ schools b/c most places (harvard et al. included) accept btwn 20-30%.

[MicroB2012]

Quick question: Quite a few of you are applying to a lot of schools. Is bio a super-competitive field (with respect to admissions) like med school or psych programs? In chem, for instance, we don't usually apply to 15+ schools b/c most places (harvard et al. included) accept btwn 20-30%.

Bio-related programs are very competitive, mainly because the numbers of applicants.

[dendy]

Undergrad Institution: big state school - reasonably well respected

Major(s): neurobio

Minor(s):

GPA in Major: 3.73

Overall GPA: 3.76

Position in Class: idk, I ended up cum laude?

Type of Student: Domestic female, white as the driven snow

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 166

V: 164

W: 3.5 - pretty confident I made up for this with well written SOP

B:

Research Experience:1 year for undergrad thesis, 1 year as research assistant after graduation--both for neurobio,

2 papers as millionth author

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: nope

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: i'm a research assistant now?

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: my PI is kind of a superstar in our field and many of my POIs are her former mentees so we'll see if that helps...

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

Applying to Where:

all neuroscience: UCSD, UCSF, Columbia, Stanford, Harvard, UW, JHU, mebbe Duke

Edited December 2, 2012 by dendy

[Crucial BBQ]

Sorry if I seem daft, but what exactly is Calc 3? My school only had two, the second being multivariable.

Calc 3 is usually multivariable. Your school probably lumps calc 1 and parts of calc 2 together. And throws a little bit of calc 2 into your multivar course.

Yeah, calc III was multivariable.

Quick question: Quite a few of you are applying to a lot of schools. Is bio a super-competitive field (with respect to admissions) like med school or psych programs? In chem, for instance, we don't usually apply to 15+ schools b/c most places (harvard et al. included) accept btwn 20-30%.

My original list was around 20 schools/programs. If I had the money and the time I would apply to them all. But honestly, after doing research into each program, I probably would be miserable at ten of those schools.

[Biohopeful]

We share the Chicago schools in common, except I'm trying for Northwestern's IBiS instead of DGP. We're applying to the same program at UIC, and I'm a bit worried about my GRE as I was perusing through the Graduate Student Handbook and noticed the GRE requirement is at least 2 scores above 50th percentile, and I only managed to get one of them above that. I've noticed I have extreme testing anxiety when it comes to standardized testing (I botched my ACTs too), so I'm not surprised if I don't meet the "cut offs" for many schools. It's a bit intimidating seeing everyone here with very good GRE scores. I also left U of Chicago out of my list. Northwestern is my dream school with UIC in second at this point.

Good luck to you as well!

Edited December 3, 2012 by Biohopeful

[virion]

Quick question: Quite a few of you are applying to a lot of schools. Is bio a super-competitive field (with respect to admissions) like med school or psych programs? In chem, for instance, we don't usually apply to 15+ schools b/c most places (harvard et al. included) accept btwn 20-30%.

It's competitive, but not nearly as bad as med school (I don't know anything about psych). I feel that 15+ is way too much. I did 10, and it turned out to be just the right amount. In retrospect I would have probably dropped one reach (Ivy) that was no chance and, if I were honest with myself, I would have been miserable at. There was another that I declined the interview at, and would have only made sense if my application season was a complete bomb. But, of course, at the time I thought it could have been!

[mybiologyblog]

We share the Chicago schools in common, except I'm trying for Northwestern's IBiS instead of DGP. We're applying to the same program at UIC... I also left U of Chicago out of my list. Northwestern is my dream school with UIC in second at this point.

are you from chicago? I was born and raised there, and I feel like Northwestern has always been the dream! Just make sure your SOP and LOR are stellar and I am sure everything will work out.

This is all so exciting now!

[Lira]

I'm on the weak side here...Just to make people feel more confident:-)

Undergrad Institution: Public Ivy school

Major(s): Cellular & Molecular Bio

Overall GPA: 3.3

Position in Class: average

Type of Student: International political refuge (US permanent resident)

GRE Scores:

Q: 156 (64%)

V: 147 (24%)

W: 3.5 (30%)

B: still waiting

TOEFL Total: 99 out of 120

Research Experience:

3 years at Vet school (non US)

2 years in the genetics lab (about 25hrs/week throughout academic year, full time during summers).

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2 presentations at the international conferences with one prize for the best student presentation, 1 payed summer fellowship in the US school.

Special Bonus Points: Pretty dramatic background, experience of living in 4 countries, minority in my homeland country, political asylum in the US

Applying to Where:

Scripps-FL - epigenetics, genetics

Columbia - Pathology - Gene regulation in disease

NYU - Pathology - Gene regulation in disease

UF - IDP

UMiami - PIBS

FAU - Integrative Biology

[saddams]

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts; well respected in the region, but not well known nationally

Major(s): Biology

Minor(s): Chemistry

GPA in Major: 3.56

Overall GPA: 3.62

Position in Class: Above average

GRE Scores (revised):

Q: 169 (98%)

V: 169 (99%)

W: 4.5 (72%)

B: N/A

Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)

Virtually none in undergrad, aside from a small ecology project completed as part of a lab. I currently work in a lab. My title is "research technician" but when I was hired, my PI knew my future plans and agreed to treat me like a graduate student-giving me my own project, etc.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Nation Merit Finalist, Dean's list in college, member of Beta Beta Beta

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Lab assistant for 3 years in college

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: 1st generation high school grad on dad's side, 1st generation college grad on mom's side. From a rural area in a midwestern state.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I am older than most applicants. After college, I spent 5 years teaching high school chemistry and physics, then 1 year as a research technician.

Applying to Where: Harvard-Biology-MCB; Stanford-Biology-Cell Biology; MIT-Biology-Cell Biology; UT Southwestern-Division of Basic Sciences

I currently live in Dallas and work at UT Southwestern. I applied to the Harvard, Stanford, and MIT (all of which I consider out of my league) because they are the schools I would consider leaving Dallas for. I hadn't looked at my college transcript in over 5 years, and my major GPA was lower than I remembered. I kind of wish I had taken the GRE subject test to make up for that and for the fact my school is not especially well know.

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Applied to (4/4):Harvard, Stanford, MIT

Interview (0/4):

Accepted (0/4):

Rejected (0/4):

[Biohopeful]

are you from chicago? I was born and raised there, and I feel like Northwestern has always been the dream! Just make sure your SOP and LOR are stellar and I am sure everything will work out.

Nope, I was born and raised in southeastern Wisconsin, but Chicago seems like a lot of fun. Plus, I'll still be able to see family on weekends if I so choose. Crossing my fingers and hoping everything works out!

[bamafan]

Nope, I was born and raised in southeastern Wisconsin, but Chicago seems like a lot of fun. Plus, I'll still be able to see family on weekends if I so choose. Crossing my fingers and hoping everything works out!

Ew, Packers fan. Go away. Just kidding, I'm from Chicago and am just bitter about yesterday.