2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[kSkye]

Thanks ChimericPhoenix,  tuckbro, and Crucial BBQ, I'll consider adding a couple backups.

 

Crucial BBQ, I'm not really up for 5-6 years in Orono.  Maybe UNH.  Peeking around at backups on the east coast currently.

[kSkye]

And yes, I attended SMCC for a semester.  I transferred schools, and didn't apply to USM soon enough.

[Ekreagan]

Undergrad Institution: Liberal Arts school, fairly well known in the region but mostly for its Business and Communications schools. Not very well known for sciences.
Major(s): Biochemistry and Physics
Minor(s): Math
GPA in Major: 3.70 and 3.63
Overall GPA: 3.70
Position in Class: Honestly, I'm not sure. Probably in the top 25%?
Type of Student: Domestic female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 162/83%
V:164/93%
W:3.5/38%


Research Experience: Two years at university, in Biochemistry and Inorganic/Educational Chemistry. American Chemical Society IREU Scholar for 2014, conducted Biochem/Organic research in Scotland for 10 weeks. Publication forthcoming (hopefully).

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Excellence in General and Inorganic Chemistry from undergrad institution, ACS IREU 2014 Scholar (see above), Deans List all semesters (so far)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Physics tutor for University Tutorial Program, freelance Physics, Chemistry, Math, and SAT tutor.

Special Bonus Points: Female, come from very unusual pre-college educational background.

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

Hoping to Apply:

 

Harvard - Division of Medical Sciences - Virology
Harvard - Biological Sciences in Public Health - Immunology and Infectious Disease
Yale - Biological and Biomedical Sciences - Pharmacology, Immunobiology, or Pathology

MIT - Chemistry 

MIT - Microbiology

MIT - Biology

Stanford - Biosciences - Biochemistry, Immunology, and Genetics programs

UC Berkeley - Infectious Disease and Immunity

University of Pennsylvania - Chemistry

Columbia University - Biomedical - Pharmacology and Molecular Signaling

Johns Hopkins - School of Medicine - Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences

Johns Hopkins - School of Medicine - Immunology

Johns Hopkins - Bloomberg School of Public Health - Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Johns Hopkins - Bloomberg School of Public Health - Global Disease Epidemiology and Control

Johns Hopkins - School of Medicine - Pathobiology

Edited September 26, 2014 by Ekreagan

[Monochrome Spring]

 

 

1. That is an excessive number of applications.

2. You should check if you're even allowed to apply to so many departments within a single university.

3. You probably want to fine tune your research interests if you can't your list smaller than that.

[tuckbro]

Undergrad Institution: Liberal Arts school, fairly well known in the region but mostly for its Business and Communications schools. Not very well known for sciences.

Major(s): Biochemistry and Physics

Minor(s): Math

GPA in Major: 3.70 and 3.63

Overall GPA: 3.70

Position in Class: Honestly, I'm not sure. Probably in the top 25%?

Type of Student: Domestic female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 162/83%

V:164/93%

W:3.5/38%

Research Experience: Two years at university, in Biochemistry and Inorganic/Educational Chemistry. American Chemical Society IREU Scholar for 2014, conducted Biochem/Organic research in Scotland for 10 weeks. Publication forthcoming (hopefully).

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Excellence in General and Inorganic Chemistry from undergrad institution, ACS IREU 2014 Scholar (see above), Deans List all semesters (so far)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Physics tutor for University Tutorial Program, freelance Physics, Chemistry, Math, and SAT tutor.

Special Bonus Points: Female, come from very unusual pre-college educational background.

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

Hoping to Apply:

 

Harvard - Division of Medical Sciences - Virology

Harvard - Biological Sciences in Public Health - Immunology and Infectious Disease

Yale - Biological and Biomedical Sciences - Pharmacology, Immunobiology, or Pathology

MIT - Chemistry 

MIT - Microbiology

MIT - Biology

Stanford - Biosciences - Biochemistry, Immunology, and Genetics programs

UC Berkeley - Infectious Disease and Immunity

University of Pennsylvania - Chemistry

Columbia University - Biomedical - Pharmacology and Molecular Signaling

Johns Hopkins - School of Medicine - Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences

Johns Hopkins - School of Medicine - Immunology

Johns Hopkins - Bloomberg School of Public Health - Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Johns Hopkins - Bloomberg School of Public Health - Global Disease Epidemiology and Control

Johns Hopkins - School of Medicine - Pathobiology

Just as a word of caution,  check the results page to make sure you are in line with who has gotten admitted into these programs in the past.  At least in my area (BME), these schools pretty much require 95% plus quant and 3.9 + GPA.  I would recommend considering applications to some schools who have a lower threshold for GREs and GPA. 

[glow_gene]

Undergrad Institution: Liberal Arts school, fairly well known in the region but mostly for its Business and Communications schools. Not very well known for sciences.

Major(s): Biochemistry and Physics

Minor(s): Math

GPA in Major: 3.70 and 3.63

Overall GPA: 3.70

Position in Class: Honestly, I'm not sure. Probably in the top 25%?

Type of Student: Domestic female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 162/83%

V:164/93%

W:3.5/38%

Research Experience: Two years at university, in Biochemistry and Inorganic/Educational Chemistry. American Chemical Society IREU Scholar for 2014, conducted Biochem/Organic research in Scotland for 10 weeks. Publication forthcoming (hopefully).

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Excellence in General and Inorganic Chemistry from undergrad institution, ACS IREU 2014 Scholar (see above), Deans List all semesters (so far)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Physics tutor for University Tutorial Program, freelance Physics, Chemistry, Math, and SAT tutor.

Special Bonus Points: Female, come from very unusual pre-college educational background.

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

Hoping to Apply:

 

Harvard - Division of Medical Sciences - Virology

Harvard - Biological Sciences in Public Health - Immunology and Infectious Disease

Yale - Biological and Biomedical Sciences - Pharmacology, Immunobiology, or Pathology

MIT - Chemistry 

MIT - Microbiology

MIT - Biology

Stanford - Biosciences - Biochemistry, Immunology, and Genetics programs

UC Berkeley - Infectious Disease and Immunity

University of Pennsylvania - Chemistry

Columbia University - Biomedical - Pharmacology and Molecular Signaling

Johns Hopkins - School of Medicine - Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences

Johns Hopkins - School of Medicine - Immunology

Johns Hopkins - Bloomberg School of Public Health - Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Johns Hopkins - Bloomberg School of Public Health - Global Disease Epidemiology and Control

Johns Hopkins - School of Medicine - Pathobiology

 

I think you have reasonable chance at some of those schools but a word of caution. I know from experience that Hopkins will allow you to apply to multiple programs but the programs have little to no communication between them. I ended up with 3 interviews there and quite a cluster during interview weekend...

[bsharpe269]

Undergrad Institution: Liberal Arts school, fairly well known in the region but mostly for its Business and Communications schools. Not very well known for sciences.

Major(s): Biochemistry and Physics

Minor(s): Math

GPA in Major: 3.70 and 3.63

Overall GPA: 3.70

Position in Class: Honestly, I'm not sure. Probably in the top 25%?

Type of Student: Domestic female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 162/83%

V:164/93%

W:3.5/38%

Research Experience: Two years at university, in Biochemistry and Inorganic/Educational Chemistry. American Chemical Society IREU Scholar for 2014, conducted Biochem/Organic research in Scotland for 10 weeks. Publication forthcoming (hopefully).

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Excellence in General and Inorganic Chemistry from undergrad institution, ACS IREU 2014 Scholar (see above), Deans List all semesters (so far)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Physics tutor for University Tutorial Program, freelance Physics, Chemistry, Math, and SAT tutor.

Special Bonus Points: Female, come from very unusual pre-college educational background.

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

Hoping to Apply:

 

Harvard - Division of Medical Sciences - Virology

Harvard - Biological Sciences in Public Health - Immunology and Infectious Disease

Yale - Biological and Biomedical Sciences - Pharmacology, Immunobiology, or Pathology

MIT - Chemistry 

MIT - Microbiology

MIT - Biology

Stanford - Biosciences - Biochemistry, Immunology, and Genetics programs

UC Berkeley - Infectious Disease and Immunity

University of Pennsylvania - Chemistry

Columbia University - Biomedical - Pharmacology and Molecular Signaling

Johns Hopkins - School of Medicine - Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences

Johns Hopkins - School of Medicine - Immunology

Johns Hopkins - Bloomberg School of Public Health - Infectious Disease Epidemiology

Johns Hopkins - Bloomberg School of Public Health - Global Disease Epidemiology and Control

Johns Hopkins - School of Medicine - Pathobiology

 

Are you very unsure of your research interests or something? I understand applying to 2 different departments at the same school if the faculty overlap alot but there is certainly no reason so apply to 5 programs at the same school unless you have absolutely  no idea what you want to study (and in that case, get more research experience first!). This list also seems way to top heavy. Honestly, looking at this gives the impression that your goal is to go to a fancy school, not pursue research.

 

I would choose one program at each school that best fits your research interst and apply only to that program. If JHU notices that you are applying to this many programs there then I wouldnt be suprised if you get automatically rejected from all of them. I would then add in some more schools that fit your research interests. You are basically just applying to best ranked schools in the country here and the chance that all of them happen to excel at your reserach interest is pretty low. I would focus in your interests and apply according to that, not ranking.

[Catria]

Sometimes I have the impression that the poster that applies to so many depts at top schools really wants to get a job that requires a degree from a fancy school to obtain even if that job involves little to no research or otherwise seek a protection against poor research records once out on the job market... although I want to apply for a PhD in a different field sometimes I can't help but feel that the bottom part of my list has been built with school-wide prestige in mind.

 

Are you very unsure of your research interests or something? I understand applying to 2 different departments at the same school if the faculty overlap alot but there is certainly no reason so apply to 5 programs at the same school unless you have absolutely  no idea what you want to study (and in that case, get more research experience first!). This list also seems way to top heavy. Honestly, looking at this gives the impression that your goal is to go to a fancy school, not pursue research.

 

I would choose one program at each school that best fits your research interst and apply only to that program. If JHU notices that you are applying to this many programs there then I wouldnt be suprised if you get automatically rejected from all of them. I would then add in some more schools that fit your research interests. You are basically just applying to best ranked schools in the country here and the chance that all of them happen to excel at your reserach interest is pretty low. I would focus in your interests and apply according to that, not ranking.

 

The previous post said that the admissions committees at each department at Johns Hopkins had little to no communication between them; auto-rejection due to applying to too many depts usually require inter-departmental communication.

Edited September 27, 2014 by Catria

[Ekreagan]

1. That is an excessive number of applications.

2. You should check if you're even allowed to apply to so many departments within a single university.

3. You probably want to fine tune your research interests if you can't your list smaller than that.

Yeah, I sort of got that impression as I looked through previous posts from this year and others. I did my best to see which schools allow multiple applications: Harvard allows three total per person ever, but within certain departments you can only apply to one program. Yale allows a max of one total, MIT didn't appear to have any restrictions, Stanford allows 3, Columbia allows one, and Johns Hopkins seemed to have no maximum. 

 

The biggest problem I've found with narrowing down my search is that I have some specific diseases in mind that I'd like to research, but depending on how you classify different fields I could be well-suited to join a virology, immunology, pharmacology, pathology, biochemistry, microbiology, epidemiology, or infectious diseases program. Hence the overabundance of different applications. 

 

Just as a word of caution,  check the results page to make sure you are in line with who has gotten admitted into these programs in the past.  At least in my area (BME), these schools pretty much require 95% plus quant and 3.9 + GPA.  I would recommend considering applications to some schools who have a lower threshold for GREs and GPA.

That's good advice. I tried looking for information on average GRE scores and GPAs prior to coming to this forum but wasn't able to find any. I mistakenly assumed that they were simply not available anywhere. I'll be sure to look through them now that I know they exist.

 

I think you have reasonable chance at some of those schools but a word of caution. I know from experience that Hopkins will allow you to apply to multiple programs but the programs have little to no communication between them. I ended up with 3 interviews there and quite a cluster during interview weekend...

At this juncture, I'd rather have too many interviews on a given weekend than limit myself to only one application and miss out on a chance to join a similar department.

 

Are you very unsure of your research interests or something? I understand applying to 2 different departments at the same school if the faculty overlap alot but there is certainly no reason so apply to 5 programs at the same school unless you have absolutely  no idea what you want to study (and in that case, get more research experience first!). This list also seems way to top heavy. Honestly, looking at this gives the impression that your goal is to go to a fancy school, not pursue research.

 

I would choose one program at each school that best fits your research interst and apply only to that program. If JHU notices that you are applying to this many programs there then I wouldnt be suprised if you get automatically rejected from all of them. I would then add in some more schools that fit your research interests. You are basically just applying to best ranked schools in the country here and the chance that all of them happen to excel at your reserach interest is pretty low. I would focus in your interests and apply according to that, not ranking.

I'm not dead set on one particular, specific topic. I want to do research on either immunological or infectious diseases and their treatments. Whether that means approaching from a pharmacological standpoint or a microbiological one, I'm not too particular at this point. Apparently that level of flexibility is more of a hindrance than it is a bonus. 

 

I'm extremely interested in research. It's been my main motivation all through the second half of high school and all of my undergrad education. I'm concerned that applying to a larger number of research programs sends the opposite message of what I actually intend.

 

I appreciate your feedback. I'm the only person in my field at my university looking at graduate school, so at the moment I have very little support from my peers. It's really nice to get some perspective from others.

[Vene]

I'm not dead set on one particular, specific topic. I want to do research on either immunological or infectious diseases and their treatments. Whether that means approaching from a pharmacological standpoint or a microbiological one, I'm not too particular at this point. Apparently that level of flexibility is more of a hindrance than it is a bonus. 

I personally don't think that such flexibility is bad, but I do agree that you're focusing too much on a handful of universities. Pick one or two departments from each where you think you can get the training you really need. Also, are you looking at staying in academia afterwards or are you open to the idea of moving into industry? If you're open to industry check out the funding sources of different professors that interest you and focus on those who regularly work with different companies. Also seek out professors who write patents in addition to publishing in traditional journals.

 

I do have to ask, what is it about the universities you've listed that makes you attracted to them? What kind of environment are you looking for? It does kind of put people off as such behavior reads as prestige seeking.

[Ekreagan]

I personally don't think that such flexibility is bad, but I do agree that you're focusing too much on a handful of universities. Pick one or two departments from each where you think you can get the training you really need. Also, are you looking at staying in academia afterwards or are you open to the idea of moving into industry? If you're open to industry check out the funding sources of different professors that interest you and focus on those who regularly work with different companies. Also seek out professors who write patents in addition to publishing in traditional journals.

 

I do have to ask, what is it about the universities you've listed that makes you attracted to them? What kind of environment are you looking for? It does kind of put people off as such behavior reads as prestige seeking.

I appreciate your advice. I suppose I'll have to do a lot more research into what each program involves. I've only just recently started putting serious hours into selecting programs and the process is so completely different from finding an undergrad that my progress has been abysmally slow thus far. 

 

Choosing academia or industry has been a sticking point for me so far. From what I've heard, going into industry means that any research I do that looks promising is far more likely to be picked up and put into some sort of development pipeline, i.e. pharmaceutical discoveries are more likely to result in a drug that will actually help people. If I stay in academia, though, I'll have more freedom to choose a topic that I feel passionate about, rather than being placed on a project to develop a better medicine for heartburn or something (keeping in mind that I'm primarily interested in immunological and infectious diseases) if I'm in industry. I don't know many people in the field either way, though, so it's hard to figure out if those claims are accurate.

 

I chose those schools based on a combination of my own interest in the programs they offer and on the word of my primary research adviser for undergrad, who has told me that I stand a fair shot of getting into them. I'd prefer to stay in the northeast, (though I recognize that California has a number of excellent schools, plus a number of pharma companies have significant operations there if I choose to enter industry) and I have some friends in the grad programs at a number of these schools who have said that their molecular biology/biochemistry programs are well-suited to me.

 

I do recognize that my list could definitely come across as prestige seeking, but at the same time it's sort of hard to know about universities with good programs that just aren't as prestigious by virtue of the fact that they're not widely known.

[Vene]

This may interest you, I know it's still a ranking, but it gives a different perspective than most.

 

I can also say I did a little bit of industrial work prior to entering graduate school and they do tend the follow the money. With an infectious disease focus you'd be less likely to work on a heartburn treatment, but in industrial research your training doesn't tie you to a subfield as tightly and it's not unheard of for such a thing to happen.

[funkydays]

Second time around... Got interviews last time, accepted to one program, but it ended up not being a great fit for me, so trying my luck again this year.

 

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts college
Major(s): Theatre
Minor(s): Biology
GPA in Major: Not really applicable, but all sciences combined 3.2
Overall GPA: 3.2
Position in Class: average
Type of Student: domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 161
V: 159
W: 4.5
B: NA

Research Experience: 1 semester undergrad 

                                      1 summer research

                                      4.5 years working in a lab (genetics)

                                      6 publications (2 co-author)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: NA

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Journal club, departmental presentations 

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: graduate course work and workshops 

Special Bonus Points: 2 recommenders are well known in field of interest, VERY nontraditional student (may be a plus, may be a minus; hard to tell sometimes)

Applying to Where:

Harvard - BBS

Tufts - ISP

BU - PiBS

UMass, Worcester - IGP

Dartmouth College - MCB

Brandeis - MCB

Brown - MCB

Edited September 29, 2014 by funkydays

[bsharpe269]

I appreciate your advice. I suppose I'll have to do a lot more research into what each program involves. I've only just recently started putting serious hours into selecting programs and the process is so completely different from finding an undergrad that my progress has been abysmally slow thus far. 

 

Choosing academia or industry has been a sticking point for me so far. From what I've heard, going into industry means that any research I do that looks promising is far more likely to be picked up and put into some sort of development pipeline, i.e. pharmaceutical discoveries are more likely to result in a drug that will actually help people. If I stay in academia, though, I'll have more freedom to choose a topic that I feel passionate about, rather than being placed on a project to develop a better medicine for heartburn or something (keeping in mind that I'm primarily interested in immunological and infectious diseases) if I'm in industry. I don't know many people in the field either way, though, so it's hard to figure out if those claims are accurate.

 

I chose those schools based on a combination of my own interest in the programs they offer and on the word of my primary research adviser for undergrad, who has told me that I stand a fair shot of getting into them. I'd prefer to stay in the northeast, (though I recognize that California has a number of excellent schools, plus a number of pharma companies have significant operations there if I choose to enter industry) and I have some friends in the grad programs at a number of these schools who have said that their molecular biology/biochemistry programs are well-suited to me.

 

I do recognize that my list could definitely come across as prestige seeking, but at the same time it's sort of hard to know about universities with good programs that just aren't as prestigious by virtue of the fact that they're not widely known.

 

Choosing programs is really difficult! Do you regularly read publications in your research area? I was able to narrow my interests from a general topic to a more specific area and methods by reading lots of publications. I noticed that certain ones seemed really interesting to me and others I had to force myself to read. This is how I figured out my interests. If youre not doing this then I definitely recommend.

 

Once you figure out your interests a bit more, you should check out the well known conferences in your subfield. You can find themes in who the presenters tend to be and can look more into their departments. This is a great way to identify the good schools for your research area. For my subfield, there is very little correlation in overall rankings for my field and the top departments for my subfield.

[nutellarain]

Okay, finally picked all my schools!

 

Undergrad Institution: Large Public University, Top 20 Biology 
Major(s): Biochemistry
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.62
Overall GPA: 3.65
Position in Class: No idea, most of my classes were curved to 2.5-2.8 avg., so I suppose near top
Type of Student: Domestic female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:162 (83%)
V:165 (95%)
W: 5.0 (93%)
B: NOPE


Research Experience: 1.5 years in undergrad with a senior thesis, cannot publish thesis as the lab took over my project after I left and are still working on it. 1.5 years as lab tech where I've worked on all sorts of projects, but unlikely any publications until after application season. Will be presenting at a seminar in the spring - should I mention this.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Honors in biochemistry

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Research Associate 

Special Bonus Points: Banking on great recommendation letters, two from my PI's and one from a colleague. One of my PI's is part-time faculty at UC Berkeley and UCSF

Applying to Where:
UCSF - Biomedical Sciences

Berkeley - MCB

Stanford - Biosciences

UCLA - Biosciences

UT Austin - Microbiology

UC San Diego - Biomedical Sciences

UC Irvine - Infectious Disease 

 

I need to begin writing my SOP and emailing professors. Any suggestions for emailing professors? I was thinking I would just briefly mention what field I worked in and ask if they had any openings for a graduate student. 

[RegulationNation]

Undergrad Institution: Large Public Institution. Very good reputation in biology
Major(s): Cell and Molecular Biology
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 2.8 in science (This has actually been on an upward trend in the past year)
Overall GPA: 3.1 overall
Position in Class: Average
Type of Student: Hispanic (Don't know if gay is relevant here, too)

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 160 (78%)
V: 156 (71%)
W: 5.0 (93%)
B: n/a



Research Experience: 1 year of research experience in my lab. Within that year, have already co-authored on a paper. Will primary author on a paper by the time I graduate. 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Crossing my fingers for a small fellowship application. 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Undergraduate Research Assistant 

Special Bonus Points: Really strong recs. Pretty decent writer, so SoP should be good. 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I do have a low GPA, but it is a result of my transfer year and adjustments. I got pretty heavily involved in (light) drugs, but cleaned myself up over a year ago. 

Applying to Where:

UW- Seattle. Molecular Genetics/Cell Regulation. Applying as my reach. 
UCSF - One of my recs works here. 
UT-Austin - ICMB. 
UW-Madison - Cell and Molecular
UM- Ann Arbor - Cell and Molecular
WashU - Cell and Molecular
UNC-Chapel Hill - Cell and Molecular
UT-Southwestern - Cancer biology/Cell regulation
Baylor College of Medicine - Molecular

[RegulationNation]

Also, my lower division classes are where my grades struggled. My upper division courses are mostly As and Bs. 

[Vene]

Your GPA is going to hurt you during the application process (at least it's an upward trend, what was your junior/senior GPA?), but everything else looks good (especially publications). Is there time to take a subject GRE in biology or biochemistry? I'm not going to promise anything, but it may help you if you do well in it. I'd also recommend you look at MS programs in addition to PhD programs as a back up option. Doing well in a masters will make struggles you had in undergrad classes far less of a black spot.

Edited September 30, 2014 by Vene

[funkydays]

I chose those schools based on a combination of my own interest in the programs they offer and on the word of my primary research adviser for undergrad, who has told me that I stand a fair shot of getting into them. I'd prefer to stay in the northeast, (though I recognize that California has a number of excellent schools, plus a number of pharma companies have significant operations there if I choose to enter industry) and I have some friends in the grad programs at a number of these schools who have said that their molecular biology/biochemistry programs are well-suited to me.

 

Have you tried looking into umbrella programs?  If you are interested in many departments, but are unsure in the particulars, an umbrella program might be suitable for you so you can test the waters to see what suits you best.  There are many in the northeast, so you won't be lacking in schools.

[RegulationNation]

Your GPA is going to hurt you during the application process (at least it's an upward trend, what was your junior/senior GPA?), but everything else looks good (especially publications). Is there time to take a subject GRE in biology or biochemistry? I'm not going to promise anything, but it may help you if you do well in it. I'd also recommend you look at MS programs in addition to PhD programs as a back up option. Doing well in a masters will make struggles you had in undergrad classes far less of a black spot.

Thanks. I've been starting to dabble into MS programs. My junior/senior GPA is a 3.5. It's not spectacular. If all else fails, I'll reapply again next year with a slightly stronger GPA, two publications and a few presentations under my belt. Furthermore, I've heard mixed opinions about the subject tests. I didn't take one, and it's going to be too late for this round of admissions given that I'm still in school. 

The weird part is that my PI wants me to stay here (same school) for my Ph.D since it's a top 30 program, but not continue to work in his lab since I'm finishing all the transcription work in the lab. Haha.

Again. Thanks. 

 

[Ekreagan]

Have you tried looking into umbrella programs?  If you are interested in many departments, but are unsure in the particulars, an umbrella program might be suitable for you so you can test the waters to see what suits you best.  There are many in the northeast, so you won't be lacking in schools.

Yale appears to have a pretty comprehensive umbrella program figured out. Many of the other schools that are more well known in my fields of interest don't seem to have any umbrella-type options, unfortunately. Is there a list of that sort of thing somewhere online?

 

Choosing programs is really difficult! Do you regularly read publications in your research area? I was able to narrow my interests from a general topic to a more specific area and methods by reading lots of publications. I noticed that certain ones seemed really interesting to me and others I had to force myself to read. This is how I figured out my interests. If youre not doing this then I definitely recommend.

 

Once you figure out your interests a bit more, you should check out the well known conferences in your subfield. You can find themes in who the presenters tend to be and can look more into their departments. This is a great way to identify the good schools for your research area. For my subfield, there is very little correlation in overall rankings for my field and the top departments for my subfield.

 

I don't, but you're right: that sounds like a really good idea. When I went to the American Chemical Society national convention last year, I was able to make some connections with leading researchers in tuberculosis treatment. They gave me a few individuals that I could look into working with, but many of them are at institutions that are located far from the northeast. Still, though, attending that conference definitely gave me more perspective on the issue and gave me some names to look out for. I'll definitely look into doing this more in the future!

This may interest you, I know it's still a ranking, but it gives a different perspective than most.

 

I can also say I did a little bit of industrial work prior to entering graduate school and they do tend the follow the money. With an infectious disease focus you'd be less likely to work on a heartburn treatment, but in industrial research your training doesn't tie you to a subfield as tightly and it's not unheard of for such a thing to happen.

This has been pretty helpful. I definitely didn't know that many of those schools were so significant within my field. Thanks!

[Crucial BBQ]

Thanks. I've been starting to dabble into MS programs. My junior/senior GPA is a 3.5. It's not spectacular. If all else fails, I'll reapply again next year with a slightly stronger GPA, two publications and a few presentations under my belt. Furthermore, I've heard mixed opinions about the subject tests. I didn't take one, and it's going to be too late for this round of admissions given that I'm still in school. 

The weird part is that my PI wants me to stay here (same school) for my Ph.D since it's a top 30 program, but not continue to work in his lab since I'm finishing all the transcription work in the lab. Haha.

Again. Thanks. 

 

In general a major GPA of 2.1 is going to be a challenge but your upperclass GPA of 3.5 is solid.  Programs use GPA in different ways.  Some look at every course you have taken, some only the courses directly related to your intended course in graduate school.  Others will claim to only look at the last 60 hours and some might not care about GPA altogether; one program I am looking at flat out told me in email that they do not look at GPA at all and that what is most important is that the applicant finds a faculty member who is willing to advise/mentor (and thus, fund    ) the applicant.  That email came from the head hancho of the entire "School of..." that I am applying to.  

 

You do have some good things going for you (2.5 years of research experience, conferences, published papers, strong recs, good Q and V GRE scores).  I was in a similar situation last year, except that my GPAs were reversed (major GPA of 3.0, cumulative of 2.6).  I was wait listed to my top program because of my freshman/sophomore year grades but my SOP and LORs were so strong that they didn't want to outright deny me.  I was ultimately denied because my GRE scores were a "little" lower than they would have liked when compared against my GPA.  They said they felt it was an indication that I may not yet be ready to handle the analytical aspects of graduate school.  

 

Another program denied me for their Ph.D. program and said they would have recommended me for their Master's program had I only taken the time to explain my low grades and GPA in my SOP.  The reason why I didn't mention those grades was because I thought my transcript showed a clear upward trend.  Of course they saw the trend, they were just baffled over why I didn't mention it and without knowing the reason (they were not looking for anything fantastic, just a basic In terms of my GPA, here is what happened...). I got the impression they did not really care why, they just wanted to see an explanation...any explanation.  

 

As for the subject test:  yes, there is conflicting advice about that.  However, outside of the "advice columns" what I have found from my own research into my intended programs is that some will accept a GRE subject test in lieu of low GPA/grades and others will through the subject test scores right into the trash (not in those exact words, mind you   )  Basically, some will accept them and some will not. 

Edited October 2, 2014 by Crucial BBQ

[adran6]

I'm pretty unsure of where I stand as an applicant so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

Undergrad Institution: lower ranked private liberal arts college
Major(s): Psychology
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.42
Position in Class: top 10%
Type of Student: Domestic male

GRE Scores (revised/old version): Taking it again next week
Q: 153 (52%)    (despite tutoring statisctics and getting an A in calc 1 and 2, I cannot do high school math)
V: 158 (78%)
W: 4.5 (80%)
B: not taking any subject test


Research Experience: 2.5 years as sole research assistant in a cognitive neuroscience lab. I pretty much did everything from programming all of the experiments to running the participants to analyzing the data. Studied bilingualism, word and number representation. This lab I pretty much ran, just motivating the PI to get work done.

 

2 years in a graduate student only clinical/social psychology lab studying ego resilience and cumulative life adversity's affect on negative and positive information processing. I programmed several protocols and analyzed data. I was even asked to be the lab coordinator but I had to decline due to time restraints.

 

1 summer in an animal behavior lab studying vocalization patterns and behaviors in mating gray tree frogs. I had the abysmal job of treading through a pond every night collecting frogs and testing them in a sound chamber the next morning.

 

2 semesters of Experimental Psychology where I carried out my own research project examining the relationship between preferred music and cognitive performance as well as mood.

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Psi Chi member. Alpha Chi member and Secretary for my schools chapter. Dean's List every semester. Going to graduate summa cum laude. Member of my schools research society, The Society of Fellows.

 

1 paper in review, 2nd author.

4 papers currently being written, 2nd author on all.

Oral presentation at colleges research society annual meeting

Poster accepted to present at the International Convention of Psychological Sciences in Amsterdam in March 2015.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Research assistant in 2 different psychology labs simultaneously. Research assistant in animal behavior lab. TA for statistics and tutor for mostly all cognitive and biological psychology classes.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I am a music writer and producer but that is nothing they will find out about in the application process.

Special Bonus Points: My letters of recommendation will be amazingly good as I have cultivated very close and personal relationships with the faculty in the psychology department. They refer to me as a colleague, peer, and my nickname is superman. They often seek my consultation on experimental design and development. I can also program in python and C++ and I am proficient with SPSS.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I have been to three different colleges studying 5 different things and my first two years at the first two colleges (1 being a community college) were not so hot. I got a 3.27 studying computer science at the community college and a 2.7 studying computer science at a big state school. I have a 3.9 GPA at my current school studying Psychology for the past 2.5 years.

 

I know there is some stuff that I did not include here but I am in the lab and my cravings to post on here have finally gotten the best of me.

 

Applying to Where:  I know it's a lot of schools but I want my PhD and I'm not messing around. Any feedback on this list would be much appreciated.

 

UC Davis Neuroscience PhD

UC Berkeley Neuroscience PhD

UCLA Neuroscience PhD

USC Neuroscience PhD

UC San Diego Neuroscience PhD

UC Irvine Neurobiology and Behavior PhD

University of Colorado at Boulder Cognitive Neuroscience PhD

University of Iowa Neuroscience PhD

University of Illinois Neuroscience PhD

Penn State University Neuroscience PhD

Columbia University Neurobiology and Behavior PhD      (needs to stay on list due to SO pending job offer in NYC)

NYU Neural Science PhD                                                 (needs to stay on list due to SO pending job offer in NYC)

UNC Chapel Hill Neuroscience PhD

Duke Neurobiology PhD

Edited October 3, 2014 by adran6

[Crucial BBQ]

@adran6;

 

I know someone who was accepted into the neurobiology Ph. D. program at Duke three years ago, and her prior experiences were/are far less impressive than yours.  I also know that she didn't score too high on the GRE, either.  I am not implying anything about their admissions standards, just saying if you are worried, don't be.

 

What you got here looks really impressive.  Just be sure to write a solid SOP; you'll be golden. 

[adran6]

@adran6;

 

I know someone who was accepted into the neurobiology Ph. D. program at Duke three years ago, and her prior experiences were/are far less impressive than yours.  I also know that she didn't score too high on the GRE, either.  I am not implying anything about their admissions standards, just saying if you are worried, don't be.

 

What you got here looks really impressive.  Just be sure to write a solid SOP; you'll be golden. 

 

Thank you for the reassuring words, I appreciate it. Half of me is not worried at all for this upcoming application season and the other half is freaking out and thinking that I don't have a shot. It is hard for me to gauge my competitiveness since I come from a school that is very business and finance based and the psychology students all want to be counselors. I don't have a lot of peers with the same goals in which to compare myself too.

 

I also realize that my GRE scores are terrible and although I am taking it again, I am not expecting a much higher score at all. My shaky start to college also worries me. I am overall concerned that I will not be viewed holistically and that is exactly what I need. Considering the numbers, I am not too impressive, I just hope that they see the research and teaching experience before chucking my app in the trash.

 

I want to make sure that my school list is appropriate as well. I know I have some really good schools on that list but I also made sure to include more realistic schools.

Edited October 3, 2014 by adran6