2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[acetylcholine]

Vene, those are exceptions to the rule rather than the rule.

 

At the very least, scores like that warrant adding several more programs to your list that are not quite so competitive.

[acetylcholine]

 

Yes, in the final round, post interview, it does come down to fit, but I would not recommend discounting a first round numbers cut.

 

Just my observation.

 

And that's if they decide to interview you.  Guess what they usually use to decide whether to interview people or even read their SOP at the programs that receive many applications?

Edited July 29, 2014 by acetylcholine

[Vene]

Vene, those are exceptions to the rule rather than the rule.

 

At the very least, scores like that warrant adding several more programs to your list that are not quite so competitive.

Isn't that what Reno and Merced are? And I never said it would be easy, just that it's possible.

[Octopus28]

Thanks for everyone's insight on my stats/list of schools. I'm curious if anyone know how community college courses work into the application process? I know that most schools would disregard the courses taken at a community college, but more than half of all my college-level courses are at a community college.

[Vene]

Thanks for everyone's insight on my stats/list of schools. I'm curious if anyone know how community college courses work into the application process? I know that most schools would disregard the courses taken at a community college, but more than half of all my college-level courses are at a community college.

I applied with a BA, but I had some classes from a community college. As far as I know they counted as much as any other undergrad coursework I had completed. Hell, some community colleges now offer bachelors degrees so I don't know why a graduate school wouldn't count them.

[acetylcholine]

Thanks for everyone's insight on my stats/list of schools. I'm curious if anyone know how community college courses work into the application process? I know that most schools would disregard the courses taken at a community college, but more than half of all my college-level courses are at a community college.

 

Same here.  As long as they are college-level, they will count.

[Octopus28]

I applied with a BA, but I had some classes from a community college. As far as I know they counted as much as any other undergrad coursework I had completed. Hell, some community colleges now offer bachelors degrees so I don't know why a graduate school wouldn't count them.

 

 

Same here.  As long as they are college-level, they will count.

Hurrah! That's really reassuring (and definitely a boost to my GPA)

[tuckbro]

And that's if they decide to interview you.  Guess what they usually use to decide whether to interview people or even read their SOP at the programs that receive many applications?

 

Agree.  At the schools I applied to there was most definitely a selet group of scores that led to interview invitations.

[GingSci]

Undergrad Institution: Large State School (Research Institution). 
Major(s): Biochemistry
Minor(s): Peace Studies
GPA in Major: 3.13
Overall GPA: 3.12
Position in Class: Average
Type of Student: Domestic Female; First Generation College Student 

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 165
V: 160
W: 6


Research Experience: 3 (will be 4) Full years at home institute: 1 year in a Freshman Research In plant sciences program. 1 year without a program. 1 summer training visiting undergrads. 1 year as a McNair Scholar. And (hopefully) will participate in a HHMI Fellowship for my senior year. I have been working in the same lab for all of those programs and I have a project that I have presented on multiple times. 

 

1 Summer at a large state School in a summer research opportunities program at a CIC school. 

Recognition/ Presentations : Paper "published" in our Regional McNair Journal. 

2 poster presentations and 1 oral presentation at my home university. 

1 poster presentation and 1 oral presentation at the Mid-SURE conference in Michigan (Undergraduate specific) 

1 poster presentation at the American Society of Plant Biologists Annual Meeting

At least one more poster presentation next year. 

1 Travel Grant to Attend a Wheat summit in Mexico 

2 Travel Grants to attend the ASPB Meeting

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Summer intern/ Educator at a Nature Center 

Special Bonus Points: Connections at 3 schools of interest. 2 VERY strong letters of recommendation and 1 good. All from faculty. 2 from faculty I have conducted research under. 

Applying to Where:

Penn State: Plant Biology and BMMB 

University of Missouri- Biochemistry 

UC Davis- PBGG 

Michigan State University- BMS and Pant Biology 

Cornell- Genetics, Genomics and Development 

UC Riverside- Botany and Plant Sciences 

 

 

[Monochrome Spring]

Color me cynical, but you got in the first round you tried; I didn't.  GPA is frequently used as a first-round cut.

 

I prefer to help people hedge their bets.  When I got 'go as long as you want!' advice, I came out with nowhere to go this fall, and as I said, Octopus28 does have very good research experience, but Octo's MS GPA is barely better than my undergrad GPA.

 

Let's revisit Octopus28's GPA and GREs, shall we?

 

Does this look like someone who's going to get admitted to UCSF, University of Washington, Cornell, or UCLA?  Does it?  The answer is no, the 2.8-3.0 undergrad GPA, even though the MS GPA is 3.7, and the low verbal score will work against Octopus28.

 

Color me dissatisfied with your response. You can have your opinion about whether or not Octopus will be admitted or not, but you are NOT an adcom.

 

Numbers are important, yes. But they are not the end all for every program. The professors Octopus decides to apply to work with may have the ability to pull him out of the applicant pool and accept him based on funding, as long as the professors can make a case. Your advice to be cautious is fine, but your negativity is unwarranted.

 

You had your own history with the adcoms for the programs that you applied to, but you can't say that your bad experience is what Octopus with also experience. You might have come off badly during interviews or in your statement. Octopus might have something, as GeoDude! has said, that resonates with the adcom. You don't know. Graduate admissions are wonky, and sometimes, things turn out differently than you expect.

 

My advice to Octopus is to ask whomever you can at each program (admissions office or potential advisor) about how big of a factor your scores are. They should be honest with you. Go from there. No one on the forums can tell you this, even if they attempt to by extrapolating from their own experiences.

[Dedi]

Actually, the Psych Applicants 2015 forum was talking about how some applicants applied for all kinds of tier programs and only got accepted for the top tier programs. The adcoms work in mysterious ways.

No graduate application experience is a one-size fits all. No need to be a Debbie Downer because your experience wasn't what you hoped for.

 

I agree with Monochrome Spring. The best advice is straight from the department's mouth.

[tuckbro]

Once again I must caution that it was my experience that GPA and GRE are in fact used to make first cuts so I believe it is good advice to add some schools with lower expectations in that area. If you get into higher ones, great, but it is very risky to apply to all top tier schools even if you have top scores.

[alanfv91]

I must agree with both sides on certain aspects.  I think you should have a balanced list of schools - a few safety schools, a few in the middle schools, and maybe one or two reach schools.  Sure, GPAs and GRE scores can be used as a primary cutoff for the applicant pools, but I do think it is a good idea to directly ask the department or the program about your certain situation/qualifications and see what they may think of it.  Sometimes they may tell you to apply while others may say otherwise.  Also, it may be a good idea to apply to a school or two in which you have a personal connection with; that may be helpful in winning acceptance in at least one school.  When I applied, I had the list of schools that was just described.  I applied to a bunch of schools, but fortunately I was able to budget it out and I ended up being accepted to a pretty good school with just a 3.0 undergrad GPA, no masters.  My last statement is to persevere, prepare your applications with professors, and do some mock interviews with faculty you know to see how well you interview.

[MacGruber]

Undergrad Institution: Para State Universiity (Brazil)
Major(s): MD
Overall GPA:8.6/10
Position in Class: 30 of 100
Type of Student: International

GRE Scores (revised/old version): The university did not require these tests (thanks god)
Q:
V:
W:
B:


TOEFL Total: 103

Research Experience: 1 year at my home university working with HIV-leprae cooninfection cytokine profile

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 1 - Honorable mention award at University of Toronto Summer research program. 2 -MITACS Globalink International Award at McMaster University

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA at home university: 2 years Histology course + 1 year Surgical Pathology course + 1 year Research Assistant (received a small stipend from each one of them)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: People say I sing very well =)

Special Bonus Points: Very good LORs 1 from vice director of University of Toronto Medical science program and another one from the Dean of my medicine school. 1 first author paper (not a high impact).

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

Applying to Where: McGill - Microbiology and Immunology Direct Entry PhD Winter 2015 - Admitted! =D

[acetylcholine]

I have finalized my schools.

[ballwera]

Is there a protocol for applying for multiple programs within the same school?

[tuckbro]

I have finalized my schools.

Good mix and good number.  Best of luck!

[Monochrome Spring]

Is there a protocol for applying for multiple programs within the same school?

 

At some schools, it's frowned upon to apply to multiple programs. Double check, although it might not be the case for you!

[jayem]

Undergrad Institution: Big state university with pretty strong research in biological sciences, has own medical school
Major(s): Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Minor(s): Chemistry
GPA in Major: Too laborious to calculate but I provide my overall
Overall GPA: 3.8
Position in Class: Top 9%
Type of Student: Domestic, Male

GRE Scores (revised/old version): revised
Q: 161 (80%)
V: 157 (74%)
W: 5.0 (93%)
B:

Research Experience: 3+ years research experience full-time in a neuroimmunology lab (2 as undergrad and 1 as a lab tech) including the summer and winter months in the medical school at my university; Co-authored 2 publications – 1 first author and 1 second author in decently known journals; possible third paper to be in-press at time of application (possibly in the middle of the paper, but a strong journal). Co-author on 4 posters at big conferences. Was able to work on many different projects within the lab and learned a variety of techniques in molecular biology/biochemistry, immunotechniques and imaging, primary cell culture, animal handling experience, etc.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Senior honors scholar and highest honors for undergraduate research thesis in major (related to immuno), Within top 10% of sophomore class at half-way point through university (an excellence award)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tutored under the table for 2 years (don’t know if I can list that)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: One pretty well-known MD in neuroimmunology; helped to write grants – may show up in my LORs

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I have to ponder this more

Applying to Where: Immunology PhD programs

UPenn, JHU, NYU, Weill Cornell? Rockefeller? Yale? Still considering many places..

Interested in pathogenesis of diseases/research with translational application; pretty open to various topics – autoimmune, infectious, allergy, tolerance/transplant; in addition, major interest in mucosal immunology/gut bacteria-host relationships and disease

 

I am open to suggestion to consider different programs based on these interests. Would like suggestions for chances, etc. Thanks!

[Chimeric Phoenix]

In regards to acetylcholine, I think his initial advice isn't bad. I had similar numbers, and ended up applying to 10 schools and declining 2 interviews. In retrospect, I would apply to 2 less schools. In general, it seems like including at least 2 safety schools is the way to go.

 

@Octopus: I don't know your financial situation, but I would definitely consider the cost of applying and then paying for flights while you wait for reimbursements if you're bankrolling your applications. Not too much though, you're going to be spending 5-6 years at this place you want to make sure you're happy.

 

 

 

 

On 8/1/2014 at 11:12 AM, jayem said:

Undergrad Institution: Big state university with pretty strong research in biological sciences, has own medical school
Major(s): Molecular Biology and Biochemistry
Minor(s): Chemistry
GPA in Major: Too laborious to calculate but I provide my overall
Overall GPA: 3.8
Position in Class: Top 9%
Type of Student: Domestic, Male

GRE Scores (revised/old version): revised
Q: 161 (80%)
V: 157 (74%)
W: 5.0 (93%)
 

 

I'd look at WashU and UWashington as well as some safety schools of course. Like I said, I think you've got a pretty competitive application wherever you apply.

[acetylcholine]

EDIT:  My reading comprehension isn't working on all 6 cylinders this morning.

[acetylcholine]

With regard to having to bankroll one's own flights, would it be a good idea to have a thread full of programs that in fact make people do this?  I'm hesitant to call it a 'name and shame', but it might be useful to know which programs do this.  Also ones that don't offer things like health insurance.

[funkydays]

Well this is terrible news. I've been avoiding a master's program since my late thesis advisor and PI advised against it.

 

If that GPA wont get past you guys, what chance to I have at an admissions panel.

 

I don't think it's unsalvageable.  Have you taken any courses post graduation?  I think that tends to help and, if you have taken some, you can highlight that fact along with the good grades. 

[breakfastea]

Anyone applying to the NSF? Some faculty I'm interested in at my dream school, UC Davis, said they'd be down to help me put together a good proposal! I'm so stoked, but I have no idea where to start with this proposal idea. Any veterans, do you have any tips?

 

Edit: Also, I should make one of those gigantic posts about all my stats and research too Maybe you all can help me realize what my possibilities are.

Edited August 8, 2014 by breakfastea

[Monochrome Spring]

Anyone applying to the NSF? Some faculty I'm interested in at my dream school, UC Davis, said they'd be down to help me put together a good proposal! I'm so stoked, but I have no idea where to start with this proposal idea. Any veterans, do you have any tips?

 

Edit: Also, I should make one of those gigantic posts about all my stats and research too Maybe you all can help me realize what my possibilities are.

 

If you have a first choice POI, ask if you can do a Skype meeting to bounce around ideas. Discuss your research background and interests and how that might work in their lab, then work on a proposal based on that.