2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

[Gina]

I was a pretty lackluster student as an undergrad, but I've been working hard to fix that! Also, wish my GRE writing didn't stink. But I am really bad at writing quickly, so I'm not surprised if I had a lot of typos... hopefully they don't care about this score too much.

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

Major(s): Biology

Minor(s): NA

GPA in Major: 3.5

Overall GPA: 3.7

Position in Class: Above average

GRE Scores (revised):

Q: 156

V: 163

W: 3.5

B: NA

Research Experience: Small independent class projects as an undergrad (basically none). Did my master's thesis in a plant evolutionary genomics lab, and have been a tech since then for 1.5 years. Expecting about 3 papers out of this. Presented a poster at an international conference.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list and merit scholarship while I was in college, research grant awarded for my master's thesis.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Lab tech

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Meh?

Special Bonus Points: Nothing extreme, but I came from a low-income school and got through a fair amount of bullying and sexual harassment growing up, and have struggled with anxiety and depression. This motivated me to become a peer educator while I was in college working for Counseling and Psychological Services.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: One of my recommendation letters is really glowing (it was shown to me). Others, I'm sure are also very good.

Applying to Where:

Michigan State University - Genetics

Arizona State University - MCB

Washington University in St. Louis - Genetics and Genomics

University of Washington - Genomic Sciences

UCSD - Biology

Stanford - Genetics

I feel like I'm shooting a bit high with my test scores / lack of publications, but I'm hoping the type of lab experiences I've had as a technician will help.

[glow_gene]

Woohoo! Yay for WashU applicants .

Gina, if you get an interview at WashU, I'll be one of the students helping you out while you're in St. Louis. Best of luck!

If anyone has any questions about WashU interviews (or applying or any other schools on my list) please feel free to shoot me a message! I know how scary this process can be and would love to help in any way I can!

~glow

[Biohopeful]

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

Haha, it's all good. Thankfully I'm not a "rabid" Packers fan.

[jatomolo]

Undergrad Institution: Large Private Institution - Top 50

Major(s): Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

Minor(s): Mathematical Statistics

GPA in Major: 3.95

Overall GPA: 3.93

Position in Class: Top 5% (summa cum laude)

Type of Student: Domestic female, non-minority

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 163 (88%)

V: 157 (73%)

W: 4.5 (72%)

Biochem: 680 (93% - with subsections of 93/95/85%)

Research Experience: Undergraduate Research at my university (3yrs), 1 internship at biotech company (8wks), 1 fellowship at top medical school (10wks), and Postgraduate Research at top medical school (5 months and counting). 10+ conference posters (3 first author) and 2 papers in preparation (1 first author).

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: At University: Honors/Distinction (from 1yr senior research project), awarded prize for being at top of my major (2nd overall), Phi Beta Kappa Member, Summa cum laude honors, various merit scholarships. Outside University: Research Award from American Cancer Society

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Undergraduate Research Assistant (3 years), Teaching Assistant (2 semesters), various volunteer work

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Senior Thesis Project (Written paper, oral defense), won small grant from my university to support my senior year research

Special Bonus Points: Took 5 graduate classes (3 biology/chemistry, 2 mathematics), research connections in one of the programs to which I am applying

Applying to Where:

Harvard - Biological and Biomedical Sciences - Cancer Biology

UPenn - Biomedical Graduate Studies (CAMB) - Cancer Biology (Also, HMGS Certificate Program)

Stanford - Biosciences - Cancer Biology

My list is a tad short as I am also applying to 10 MD/PhD programs.

[piano5115]

Undergrad Institution: Top public university (go bears!)

Major(s): Integrated Bio

Minor(s):

GPA in Major: 3.00 (so low ;_

Overall GPA: 3.23

Type of Student: Permanent resident

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 167

V: 162

W: 5.0

B: 800 (87%)

Research Experience: 1 year at molecular bio lab, summer industry internship, 1 year in signal transduction lab (which is what I want to do in grad school), no publications tho >_<

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: High Honors (clearly before I took organic chem ;

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: member of women in science, Language tutor for 2 years, PR assistant for 3 years

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Young Artist Diploma in Piano (prob not going to help, but was a huge part of my life )

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Really good undergrad, good rec letters

Applying to Where: 12 schools including top choices UCSF, Stanford (Really would love to stay in the bay area!), UChicago and of course in compliance to every Asian parent.... Harvard

At the risk of sounding really nerdy, I'm glad this site exists so that we can all talk to each other about our experiences! I thought that doing the apps was the hard part but I'm finding that the waiting part is much more emotionally taxing >_< good luck everyone! And hopefully we won't spend all of the holiday season thinking about this lol

[bassish101]

Undergrad Institution: Large public research university (top 100)

Major(s): Biochemistry

Minor(s): Chemistry

GPA in Major: 4.00

Overall GPA: 4.00

Position in Class: top 1%

Type of Student: male, asian/white, domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 164/90%

V: 165/95%

W: 4.5/73%

B: biochem taken, scores not up yet

Research Experience: Molecular Genetics lab for more than a year and a half in college (and still working there), and about one year of research in a molecular neurobiology lab in high school. In my current lab, we are preparing to submit our results for publication (I will be 2nd or 3rd author on the paper, depending on how you look at it, I am immediately after the two co-first authors), and I am first author (out of two) on a textbook chapter that is in press.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Phi Beta Kappa, this past summer of research was supported by a research grant I was awarded from my college

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Two semesters orgo TA

Special Bonus Points: Undergrad lab PI (who is writing a good letter for me) is in the NAS

Applying to Where:

interests are molecular biology, genetics, and development

UC Berkeley MCB

UC San Francisco TETRAD

Rockefeller

Columbia

Harvard BBS

MIT Biology

Biology@Princeton

UChicago

UPenn Biology

Hopkins CMDB

Yale BBS

I am very stressed out about this whole process... I know that I'm applying to all super competitive programs, but I was told that these are the types of programs to which I should be applying. What do you think about all of this? Thanks!

[porge1991]

Hi, as far as i'm aware i'm the first UK student posting into this thread. Whilst i'm applying to very competitive institutions in the UK and am hopeful I will get offers, i'm completely pessimistic about my US applications, purely because the process is so different and seems so streamlined for US students.

Undergrad Institution: University of Oxford

Major(s): Biochemistry

GPA in Major: First class marks in finals (the top degree classification)

Overall GPA:

Position in Class: top 10%

Type of Student: male, white, international

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 156

V: 164

W: 4.0y

(totally underestimated the GRE - thought it looked easy when I skimmed through the book and, in all honesty, the content is, but I really should've practised at doing it faster/ the types of questions that come up)

Research Experience: 2 months in structural biology lab (GPCR) with very successful lab group at Oxford Uni. 2 months in molecular biology lab at the institute of Cancer Research, London.

Currently doing 4th year research project in membrane protein crystallography lab - hoping to publish later in the year.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Domus Scholarship (for finals marks), 2 research funding packages for above projects

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Special Bonus Points: Very working class background (although no real allusion to that in application so doesn't really make a difference)

Applying to Where:

Biochem-related programs at

The Rockefeller

Cold Spring harbor

Weill Cornell

Like I said, i'm really not hopeful about getting into these programs because I just think, as far as US admissions are concerned, that i'm not a strong candidate. Nevertheless i'll see how it goes and if I get rejected from all i'll do a PhD in the UK.

[SMcrumble]

Undergrad Institution: Small Liberal Arts College (somewhat unknown but received undergrad neuroscience program of the year at SfN this year)

Major: Chemistry

Minor: Biology

Overall GPA: 3.01

Position in Class: ?

Type of Student: Domestic White Male

GRE Scores:

Q: 156 (68%)

V: 166 (96%)

W: 4.5 (73%)

B: -

Research Experience:

2 semesters and a summer REU in molecular biology

2 semesters and a summer working on an original thesis project in medicinal chemistry

2.5 years as a full time research associate in neuropharmacology, working completely independent on projects for a reasonably well known PI

Publications: 1 first author, 1 first author in late stages of review (both journals with impact factors >3.5), 2 first authors in prog, and a second author in prog.

Presentations: Once at an ACS regional meeting, Twice at National neuroscience meetings, several local institutional poster and oral presentations.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

Won a small grant for my undergrad thesis project

Several schollerships

Special Bonus Points: Will have very strong LORs, come from a “disadvantaged background”, took two grad courses and got As in both (trying to make up for my dismal GPA), made contact with several PIs and met with several more at SfN national meeting this year.

Applying to Where:

Neuroscience or Neurobiology programs at each institution

JHU

UPenn

UTSW

Georgetown

Emory

U Chicago

Drexel

[SynBio1]

I am uber stressed this grad app season, because I am interested in a fairly narrow bit of biology( Synthetic Biology), so am applying to only a few(7) programs

Undergrad Institution: Large public research U

Major(s): Biochemistry

Minor(s):

GPA in Major: 3.6

Overall GPA: 3,67

Position in Class: ?????

Type of Student: male, white, domestic

Q: 166/94%

V: 163/91%

W: 5.0/92%

Research Experience: 2 summers doing iGEM( synthetic biology research competition). Got a best of track award 1st year, 2nd year won it all( first american team to do so). Got a first Author publication in ACS synthetic biology for 2nd year's research

Applying to:

Top synthetic biology programs:

MIT microbio

UC berkley Bioengineering

UT austin Cell BIo

Northwestern Interdepartmental biosciences

UW Biological physics, structure and design

rice Physical, systems, and synthetic biology

Boston U bioengineering

[Biohopeful]

I've altered my schools a little bit. My stats are on the first page. I decided to give up on Pitt and apply to U of Iowa instead (I think they'd be a better fit for me research wise, and their requirements on GRE/GPA are a little more lax).

Also, anyone notice the flood of rejections from U of Washington's Cell and Molecular program yet?

[virion]

I've altered my schools a little bit. My stats are on the first page. I decided to give up on Pitt and apply to U of Iowa instead (I think they'd be a better fit for me research wise, and their requirements on GRE/GPA are a little more lax).

Also, anyone notice the flood of rejections from U of Washington's Cell and Molecular program yet?

I'm a Pitt student and, while the scores aren't great, I say you should still apply if it's somewhere you want to go. I had a good application with one somewhat ugly flaw which fortunately didn't totally screw me over. Good recommendations will get you far. Edit: different program, though.

UW had a very early wave of rejections last year, which bummed me out as it was the first thing I had heard back about. Fortunately I heard back from Pitt the next day. The rest were a somewhat longer wait.

Edited December 7, 2012 by virion

[piano5115]

I've altered my schools a little bit. My stats are on the first page. I decided to give up on Pitt and apply to U of Iowa instead (I think they'd be a better fit for me research wise, and their requirements on GRE/GPA are a little more lax).

Also, anyone notice the flood of rejections from U of Washington's Cell and Molecular program yet?

Ugg I saw I'm actually kinda happy that I took that school off my list (Love seattle tho!) It's gotta be discouraging to hear a reject this early on in the game. I have friends who are hearing back about interviews from rolling admin schools, ahh I just want news already lol

[Faraday]

The flood of rejections from Washington this time of year is nothing out of the ordinary. They have a very harsh filter they put all their applicants through. If you don't come out on the other side of a certain formula of GPA/GRE scores you are automaticaly rejected no matter what the rest of your application looks like.

[MicroB2012]

The flood of rejections from Washington this time of year is nothing out of the ordinary. They have a very harsh filter they put all their applicants through. If you don't come out on the other side of a certain formula of GPA/GRE scores you are automaticaly rejected no matter what the rest of your application looks like.

Are you serious? If this is true, then the UW application process is totally bullshit.

[chemaholic]

It seems we have a rockstar applicant among us. Apparently, somebody already got interview offers from both UPenn (CAMB) and UNC-Chapel Hill (BBSP)...

[balissar]

Undergrad Institution: Large religious private university in the west

Major(s): Physiology and Developmental Biology

Minor(s): Microbiology

GPA in Major: 4.0

Overall GPA: 4.0

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 166

V: 166

W: 5.0

Bio: 990 (99%)

Research Experience: 2 summers at Children's Hospital Boston during undergrad and 2 years as a research tech at Duke Med. No publications though which kind of worries me.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Presidential Scholarship (8 semesters 150% tuition), Deans List 8 semesters, Department Valedictorian, Honored Student Speaker at my college convocation, Phi Kappa Phi

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for a huge anatomy class for 3 years, head TA for 1 year. Grad level course TA during 1 semester.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Seemingly really great letters. I am also a female from a school where men are higher achieving and girls major in home and family living.

Applying to Where: Harvard BBS, Mount Sinai, Penn CAMB, WUSTL DBBS, Michigan PiBS, UNC-Chapel Hill BBS, and BU PiBS

I have interviews at Penn, Sinai, UNC and BU so far. I got 3 of them this week and am totally freaking out. I really want Michigan and then I will be happy.

[ecoevosale]

Are you serious? If this is true, then the UW application process is totally bullshit.

I haven't heard of them having a strict cutoff, probably just anecdotal statements continuously passed through the grapevine. Especially since people with great numbers are also rejected early. Lower numbers is probably a reason for many to be rejected, but that doesn't mean they have a absolutely strict 'you shall not pass' line. It is a competitive program, many great applicants of a large range of stats are rejected.

I also wouldn't be surprised if some of them are generic rejections handed out to files that were submitted, but still incomplete passed the deadline.

Edited December 7, 2012 by pastesale

[Faraday]

Are you serious? If this is true, then the UW application process is totally bullshit.

I recall hearing it over in the College Confidential thread from last year's applicants, so obviously it should be taken with a grain of salt the size of a sugar cube...

The general consensus was that UW's program has a much more strict filter than most programs and their first week of December mass rejections is unparalelled in the world of biology graduate applications.

[bamafan]

I have interviews at Penn, Sinai, UNC and BU so far. I got 3 of them this week and am totally freaking out. I really want Michigan and then I will be happy.

Congrats. That Bio score is very, very impressive.

[Devilkiyyu]

<p>Undergrad Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology

Major(s): Biology

GPA in Major: 4.0

Overall GPA: 3.86

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 168 (97%)

V: 165(95%)

W: 4.5(72%)

Biochem: 690 (95%); Biochem: 92%, Molecular Bio: 94%, Genetics: 94%

Research Experience: 4 semesters of research in a lab. Expected 2nd author in a paper publication next year

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: National Merit scholar, Dean's List

<span style="color: #000000"><span style="font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif">Applying to Where: Stanford(Immunology), Berkeley(Immunology), UCSF(Immunology), UCLA(Immunology), USC Pibbs, UCSD Biomedical, University of Washington, Seattle(Pathobiology)

[virion]

Last year, my friend also applied to this program. He had a very similar application, with higher GRE scores. He got an interview, and is now in the program. He has since told me that there is a specific GRE score cutoff (I feel like he even told me roughly what it is, but I could be mis-remembering that), where they really don't look at applications with lower scores. I don't know if it's actually fully automated filtering, but probably only the applications which are truly exceptional in other areas outweigh this criterion.

[Lira]

Publications: 1 first author, 1 first author in late stages of review (both journals with impact factors >3.5), 2 first authors in prog, and a second author in prog.

Presentations: Once at an ACS regional meeting, Twice at National neuroscience meetings, several local institutional poster and oral presentations.

I'm sorry but I don't understand HOW you got so many publications out! Not all PhD students graduate with a package like this. As far as I understand you don't have grad eucation. Did you take some time off after your undergrad?

[porge1991]

I have a question that some of you may be able to help with.

I was originally going to apply to memorial sloan-kettering also for the biomedical sciences PhD. I didn't in the end because i'm also applying to quite a lot of places in the UK in addition to the current 3 i've applied to in the US and didn't want to spread myself too thin (/spend too much money on applications). I recently keep getting emails from the associate dean stating that they've extended the application deadline until next week for me to submit my application. Is this a good sign?

I'm actually really interested in the cancer focus of the institution (I did previous research at big cancer research institution in London) and some of the faculty's research interests me (the structural biology focus) and so if this email is an indication that they are potentially interested in me as an applicant I would go ahead and submit it. However, the pessimist in me thinks that this is probably just a generic email they use to get more money from those who have made an application but not submitted it.

Thoughts?

[SMcrumble]

I'm sorry but I don't understand HOW you got so many publications out! Not all PhD students graduate with a package like this. As far as I understand you don't have grad eucation. Did you take some time off after your undergrad?

Yeah, quite a bit of time actually, I graduated in May 2010 and started working for my PI immediately. We had to take about 6 months off of work to move our lab across the city, so all in all I’ve done about 2 years of productive full time work thus far. I have also had a bit of luck in that my PI has generally been correct in his hypotheses, so almost all of my work has produced publishable data.

[ion_exchanger]

I have a question that some of you may be able to help with.

I was originally going to apply to memorial sloan-kettering also for the biomedical sciences PhD. I didn't in the end because i'm also applying to quite a lot of places in the UK in addition to the current 3 i've applied to in the US and didn't want to spread myself too thin (/spend too much money on applications). I recently keep getting emails from the associate dean stating that they've extended the application deadline until next week for me to submit my application. Is this a good sign?

I'm actually really interested in the cancer focus of the institution (I did previous research at big cancer research institution in London) and some of the faculty's research interests me (the structural biology focus) and so if this email is an indication that they are potentially interested in me as an applicant I would go ahead and submit it. However, the pessimist in me thinks that this is probably just a generic email they use to get more money from those who have made an application but not submitted it.

Thoughts?

Hello. I also had this question, so you sort of answered it for me, and I'll do the same for you. I also applied to Sloan Kettering, and due to an unknown error, they were missing one of my documents. I received an email stating that the application would remain open until December 10. I had already submitted the application, including the fee. Either the two of us are the best of the best :-) or it is generic. I was leaning towards generic when I first received the email.