2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

[shadowclaw]

Undergrad Institution: small private school

Major(s): Environmental Biology
Minor(s): Chemistry, Mathematics
GPA in Major: 3.8
Overall GPA: At my current school, 3.5, but overall (made several transfers and major changes), 2.65 (I was a screw up in my early college years)
Position in Class: Probably top 15%

Type of Student: Domestic, female

 

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 155 (64%)
V: 160 (83%)
W: 4.5 (73%)
B:

Research Experience: One semester-long research project on invasive plants, plus my senior project on allelopathy.

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List and President's List, plus I was the winner of our first annual Chemistry Lab Skills Olympiad

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutor in Chemistry, Biology, Algebra, and Statistics; Field assistant for a project for the PA Fish Commission

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Got an A in almost every science and math course I've taken, and nothing less than a B

Special Bonus Points: I'm certain all of my recommenders gushed about my ability to write well, plus I think my SOP also reflects this. One of my recommenders isn't exactly famous, but is well known for birding and had received some environmental awards. He also seems to know a lot of people at a lot of different schools. Also, I've gotten some very positive responses from potential advisers at a few schools. Hopefully that helps.

 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: The above mentioned recommender once told me (and my entire class) that I can write better than any of the faculty in our science department (including himself), so if he happened to mention that in his letter, I think that would really work in my favor. Also, my math minor (and my good grades in math) should overshadow my slightly low Quantitative score

Applying to Where:

Penn State

Pittsburgh

Cornell

Syracuse

Washington U in St. Louis

Drexel

[flat_rhino]

First interview offer! Yes! Johns Hopkins BCMB! Was e-mailed -- interviews are Feb. 21 - 23.

[diamedic17]

Undergrad Institution: Coastal Carolina University (Marine Science Reputation)
Major(s): Interdisciplinary (Cell Bio/Organic Chem)
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.88
Overall GPA: 3.77
Position in Class: Magna cum Laude (not sure of position)
Type of Student: Domestic Male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 162/770 (87%)
V: 155/530 (69%)
W: 4.5 (72%)
B: N/A


Research Experience: 2 years with a single/first author publication submitted

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's List 4/5 semesters, President's list 1/5 semesters, Magna cum Laude

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Chemistry Tutor

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Golden Key Honor Society

Special Bonus Points: none that I know of

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

Applying to Where:

Drexel University-Microbiology/Immunology-Malaria, Influenza

Penn State-Biochemistry, Microbiology, Molecular Biology-+ssRNA viruses, novel antibiotic development

Penn-CAMB (MVP)-Ebola, Influenza

Cornell-Infectious Disease-Virology

Cornell-Microbiology-Virology

Einstein-Biomedical Graduate Studies-Biodefense

NIH OxCam-Biodefense

 

What are my chances??  Already been rejected at Cornell (ID), interviewed at PSU and invited to interview at Drexel.  Still waiting to hear from Penn, Cornell (Micro), Einstein, and NIH

[diamedic17]

@Shadow Claw

 

Where at PSU, Drexel, and Cornell did you apply?  We have very similar stats and applied to the same schools!!

[biotechstudent]

Interview at Duke CMB! Interview dates are Feb 1-2 and Feb 15-16

[MicroB2012]

I have a question for those who received interview offers from Sloan-Kettering. Do you guys get reply from Ms. Maria Torres after you confirm your attendance? Thanks

[porge1991]

I have a question for those who received interview offers from Sloan-Kettering. Do you guys get reply from Ms. Maria Torres after you confirm your attendance? Thanks

I didn't get a response - but I only emailed yesterday and I imagine they're done working until after xmas.

[shadowclaw]

@ diamedic

I applied to the Ecology (PhD) program at PSU, EEB (PhD) at Cornell, and Environmental Science (MS) at Drexel.

[diamedic17]

@ diamedic

I applied to the Ecology (PhD) program at PSU, EEB (PhD) at Cornell, and Environmental Science (MS) at Drexel.

 

Gotcha!!  I applied to the biochem at PSU and Microbiology at both Cornell and Drexel...Good luck!!!

[mnat]

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts in CA, great pre-dentistry program, so hard bio classes, but virtually unknown and only has Masters, no PhD in biology.
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): none
GPA in Major: 4.00
Overall GPA: 3.96
Position in Class: top/very close to top
Type of Student: white female, domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 168 (97%)
V: 166 (96%)
W: 5.5 (96%)
B: didn't take the test


Research Experience: Two labs at my school for over a year each, one at a summer REU at Rockefeller. Two publications, third and 13th author. Three small conferences, 2 undergrad at my school, 1 at the end of the summer program.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Phi Beta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, honors program, dean's list, Regents Scholarship, essay competition, GE scholarship.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tons of tutoring and workshop-leading.

 

Applied:

Stanford, Cornell, Berkeley, Yale, Princeton, Washington University in St. Louis, Brown, DOE CSGF (fellowship), Cold Spring Harbor, MIT, UCSD

All computational biology/bioinformatics/quantitative biology. WUStL is Human and Statistical Genetics.

[MicroB2012]

Weill Cornell School of Medical science, Immunology And Microbial Pathogenesis interview invitation received. Best Christmas present. Feb-13-15

[ion_exchanger]

Congratulations MicroB2012!!!!! I predict that you will build an extremely impressive interview list!

[MicroB2012]

Congratulations MicroB2012!!!!! I predict that you will build an extremely impressive interview list!

Thanks man, hope everybody will get more interview invitation in the near future. Happy holiday.

[biotechstudent]

Interview at UNC Chapel Hill BBSP for Feb 14-16

[Biohopeful]

Congrats on your interview invites, everyone!  I have two more applications to submit for January (waiting for my next paycheck) and I'm done with applications.  All I've been hearing are crickets and hoping I'll hear something soon, after the new year.  I'm getting worried now, especially since my GRE scores are crap.  :|

[Gina]

Congrats on your interview invites, everyone!  I have two more applications to submit for January (waiting for my next paycheck) and I'm done with applications.  All I've been hearing are crickets and hoping I'll hear something soon, after the new year.  I'm getting worried now, especially since my GRE scores are crap.  :|

Yeah, I'm also worried.. especially checking the results pages where I see people have gotten interviews to the programs I applied to already. I have one interview invite to Michigan State, but haven't heard back from the rest... good luck!

[biotechie]

Undergrad Institution: Public, rural Tier I Research University
Major(s): Microbiology
Minor(s): Chemistry
Overall GPA: 3.70
Position in Class: Top 20

Master's Institution: Same public university, under same PI, but in medical school

Master's Concentration: Cellular and Molecular Physiology
Type of Student: US, non-minority female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 156 (68%)
V: 157 (73%)
W: 4.5 (73%)

Research Experience: 1 summer working in an agricultural research lab in high school, three semesters working in a zoology lab performing genotyping and sequencing for a phylogenetics project, two years as an undergrad in a physiology lab running the mouse colony (4-6 strains, 400ish mice) and breeding schemes + a project, two years for a master's in the same lab with my own standalone thesis project... so nearly 6 years of experience in the lab.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Undergraduate Full tuition, room, and board scholarship, student employee of the year, won prizes at three poster sessions, funded Master's studies, somehow have survived so far with no student loans. One third author publication, three-four in progress, potentially one more before graduation.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: GA/TA for two years, plus I tutored a ton during undergrad. I was paid as an undergraduate researcher my junior and senior years as well.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Lots of experience working in diversity organizations on campus, but because I'm Asian, the ill-fated "over-represented minority" in science fields it probably doesn't mean much, especially for the UC schools I'm applying to.

Special Bonus Points: Three recommenders have been research mentors. The two I work under now told me I wasn't allowed to leave until I completed my masters, plus my project was cool. The fourth recommender is the university chancellor who is very active in maintaining undergraduate research on our campus.

Applying to Where: All of these are long shots for me!
 

University of Washington, Seattle: Immunology

University of Florida College of Medicine: IDP, probably Molecular Biology based

Baylor College of Medicine: Interdepartmental Program in Cell and Molecular Biology, Immunology backup

UCSD: Biomedical Sciences (Worried about this one)

WashU St. Louis: Molecular Cell Biology

 

 

[w8inggame]

Undergrad Institution: BU
Major(s): BA: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; MA: Biotechnology
GPA in Major: 3.8
Overall GPA: 3.8
Position in Class:  Top 5%
Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 161
V: 161
W: 5


Research Experience: 2 years

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Academic Award at graduation

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 1 year lab tech

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Presented a poster at conference

Applying to Where:
Cell and Mol Bio Programs to the following: MIT, Columbia, Cornell Weill, Mount Sinai, NYU, Stony Brook

[biotechie]

Whoops. I am not Asian. I guess that is what I get for copying a post and filling it in. 

 

 

Applying: Baylor, UW, WashU StL, UCSD, UF
Interviews: Baylor

Accepted: UW

Rejected:
 

[MicroB2012]

So quiet here.

[biotechie]

I think everyone is either prepping for New Year's Eve or we're all dying of anticipation... or both.

[ion_exchanger]

Definitely dying of anticipation. Admissions committees are enjoying their holiday break before they have to dive in to eager students awaiting invites, interviews, acceptances, and rejections. There is going to be so much activity starting again next week that we all are relaxing waiting for it to hit the fan.

[MicroB2012]

It is a good idea to relax before the up coming intensive traveling and interviews. But I don't think I can relax at all at this time. I'm just so anxious now.

Edited December 29, 2012 by MicroB2012

[ion_exchanger]

I can't relax, because while I am on my first interview, according to past trends on grad cafe I will be expecting to get email invites for the majority of my programs. I'm so nervous and anxious. I've been on a six person, 3 and a half hour interview before, but it was not as important as this interview.

[bamafan]

It's the calm before the storm. Pretty much only early app deadline results are out and even then, many schools haven't sent out anything yet. Over the next month though, virtually every school will send out invites. The general rule of thumb is that if you didn't get an invite by the end of January, you probably won't, so next month will be a crush of notifications.