2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[ERR_Alpha]

I second whoever said research fit is the most important. I cast a wide net last season with really no goal or direction. I lucked out that Penn State happened to like me at a pre-interview weekend and was looking for more students fresh out of undergrad. If I did it again, I'd reach out to profs beforehand and look for programs where I could be in the biochemistry program, but still research with chemistry profs.

[Bonez]

Undergrad Institution: Tiny liberal arts college (about 900 students), not well known at all
Major(s):Biology
Minor(s):
GPA in Major:3.6
Overall GPA:3.5
Position in Class: College did not list class rank
Type of Student: domestic, male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:154 (56%)
V: 163 (92%)          I know these scores aren't particularly good, but I'm hoping my research experience will balance these out.
W: 4.0
B: (76%)

Research Experience: 

--2 years years working on undergraduate thesis research in ecological modeling, not possible to publish but I did present my findings at an undergraduate research symposium. This is not at all related to my current research interests.

--Summer REU at small directional state school on stem cell/ developmental biology. Results presented at a conference poster session.

--1.5 years as research technician at same school as REU. My current research investigates neural/immune interactions using a rodent model of sepsis. Our current research is mostly descriptive, but this fall we'll be moving toward preclinical drug testing, essentially running clinical trials with mice. I also have an interest in cardiac pharmacology during sepsis. So far I have 1 first author publication and a conference poster presentation from this work. I should have 2-3 second author papers submitted by the time I submit my applications. 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list at undergraduate institution

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Currently employed as a research technician

Special Bonus Points: One of my recommenders has collaborators at a few places I'm applying.

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

I'm a very skilled confocal microscopist

Applying to Where:

Vanderbilt--Biomedical Sciences

Emory--Molecular & Systems Pharmacology, Neuroscience

University of Cincinnati--Immunology 

Hofstra-Northshore LIJ--Molecular Basis of Medicine

UVA--Biomedical Sciences

UCLA--Medical Pharmacology

I'll be adding a few more to this list closer to application time.

 

[acetylcholine]

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q:154 (56%)

V: 163 (92%)          I know these scores aren't particularly good, but I'm hoping my research experience will balance these out.

W: 4.0

B: (76%)

 

...

Applying to Where:

Vanderbilt--Biomedical Sciences

Emory--Molecular & Systems Pharmacology, Neuroscience

University of Cincinnati--Immunology 

Hofstra-Northshore LIJ--Molecular Basis of Medicine

UVA--Biomedical Sciences

UCLA--Medical Pharmacology

I'll be adding a few more to this list closer to application time.

 

1) Bring up that Q score.  Your research experience is STELLAR, but GRE is often used as an initial weedout.

 

2) I'd be cautious of UCLA for 2 reasons:  see above, and eating ramen for dinner every night of the week.  At least, that's what I have heard from nearly everybody I've talked to who's gone there.

[Sylvia88]

I will also be more than happy to provide advice or information regarding the application process, especially with Harvard’s Systems Biology. I am also an international student. Please feel free to PM me with any questions you may have

[tuckbro]

Yes, but what were their other stats?

 

Also of note may be the fact that I spent my first two years at a community college, which something tells me Yalevard Institute of Stanfordogy doesn't like even if you have competitive stats.

Agreed, if you have great stats, recs, research etc. you do not need to be published. I was not at time of application and got into top schools.

[elanorci]

This thread is bringing back memories!! Hello to all my wonderful gradcafe friends from last year's thread I hope you're all doing well and are excited to start at all of your wonderful programs soon! 

 

Throwing my hat into the ring: if you current applicants have any questions, feel free to drop me a pm. Keep calm - everything will be fine! 

[nns91]

Have not been here for so long! As another "former applicant" who was lucky, I would be more than happy to help out in anyway that I could. Feel free to PM me!

[Orims]

 

 

Things I learned last year:  Don't apply to top 10 programs unless your GPA is 3.8+ or 3.6+ from the Ivies, you have several first-author pubs, and you've cured cancer, and APPLY TO AS MANY PROGRAMS AS YOU CAN AFFORD.  I applied to Harvard BBS, Columbia, UCSD, Arizona, and Baylor College of Medicine Neuro, and Vanderbilt Bio, got interviews at the latter three, and got admitted to none.  Arizona has a habit of admitting mostly Arizona grads, Baylor is having a shit time with regards to money and apparently I would have gotten in if they hadn't admitted half the students they usually do, and Vanderbilt was my Everybody Gets Rejected From At Least One Program program.

 

I applied to mostly top 10 programs as an international who studied in an unknown state school and was able to get into half of the schools I applied to. Also, during my interviews I met many people who were from state schools, unknown liberal arts schools and who had no publications whatsoever, very rarely would I meet someone who had published. Publications aren't a requirement to get into top 10, 20 or whatever schools  IMO.

Good luck!

[tuckbro]

I applied to mostly top 10 programs as an international who studied in an unknown state school and was able to get into half of the schools I applied to. Also, during my interviews I met many people who were from state schools, unknown liberal arts schools and who had no publications whatsoever, very rarely would I meet someone who had published. Publications aren't a requirement to get into top 10, 20 or whatever schools  IMO.

Good luck!

 

Quite a few of the students in my incoming BE PHD program at MIT are coming from state schools.

[acetylcholine]

Agreed, if you have great stats, recs, research etc. you do not need to be published. I was not at time of application and got into top schools.

 

What were your stats?

[acetylcholine]

I applied to mostly top 10 programs as an international who studied in an unknown state school and was able to get into half of the schools I applied to. Also, during my interviews I met many people who were from state schools, unknown liberal arts schools and who had no publications whatsoever, very rarely would I meet someone who had published. Publications aren't a requirement to get into top 10, 20 or whatever schools  IMO.

Good luck!

 

Somehow I suspect you probably had a 3.8+ GPA and top GREs.

[acetylcholine]

Also, what I was told was that you can't be overly specific about your research interests.  You have to be a LITTLE vague, but not overly so.

 

I was told my interests were a little TOO well developed, last time.

 

Also, a point that I think may be being neglected here is that EVERYBODY with great records is applying to these top places.

Edited July 15, 2014 by acetylcholine

[Dedi]

Also, what I was told was that you can't be overly specific about your research interests.  You have to be a LITTLE vague, but not overly so.

 

I was told my interests were a little TOO well developed, last time.

 

Also, a point that I think may be being neglected here is that EVERYBODY with great records is applying to these top places.

 

...That's stupid. You should have well developed research interests. Which university said that they rejected you for have too specific of research interests?

I have very specific research interests (I even have my aims for my graduate dissertation for the purposes of scholarships) and I think it actually helps. The grad students at my top choice POI's lab told me that they like hearing about people that have set goals.I don't see the problem with knowing exactly what you want to do (even if it narrows your school choices a bit).

[Gvh]

...That's stupid. You should have well developed research interests. Which university said that they rejected you for have too specific of research interests?

I have very specific research interests (I even have my aims for my graduate dissertation for the purposes of scholarships) and I think it actually helps. The grad students at my top choice POI's lab told me that they like hearing about people that have set goals.I don't see the problem with knowing exactly what you want to do (even if it narrows your school choices a bit).

 

My guess is that IF your very specific research interests align perfectly with the goals and orientation of the lab you want to work in, then that's great. But on the flip side, having very specific interests may make someone come off as unyielding and potentially "un-coachable" in a lab that prefers someone who may have targeted interests but is still open-minded. 

Edited July 15, 2014 by Gvh

[acetylcholine]

My guess is that IF your very specific research interests align perfectly with the goals and orientation of the lab you want to work in, then that's great. But on the flip side, having very specific interests may make someone come off as unyielding and potentially "un-coachable" in a lab that prefers someone who may have targeted interests but is still open-minded. 

 

Precisely.  I even tried to explain that I wasn't closed-minded about my research interests, but I still got told 'look, we can't find anyone who seems to fit well with you' despite the fact that at least from my perspective several people did, and I suspect that I was being overly specific, especially with respect to model organisms; the ones that I want to study most as an independent investigator are poorly established and still under considerable development (sequencing a representative genome is still in the works) and I will ultimately end up playing a part in establishing them as a model, probably, but for graduate school, I absolutely will have to work on different organisms, and I may not even be able to do a 100% compatible topic with my interests because evo-devo neurobiology is a very young field and investigated by very few people.  Combined with the fact that not every person you want to work with will be able to take a new trainee on, finding a research mentor as far as I can tell is not without getting a hard dose of NIH/NSF-funded reality at times.

 

I'm almost positive I sound like a major downer here but I might as well toss in the second-time-applicant perspective.  Because most non-first-time applicants everyone is hearing from in this thread so far have already gotten the success; mine is on its way.

Edited July 15, 2014 by acetylcholine

[Gvh]

Precisely.  I even tried to explain that I wasn't closed-minded about my research interests, but I still got told 'look, we can't find anyone who seems to fit well with you' despite the fact that at least from my perspective several people did, and I suspect that I was being overly specific, especially with respect to model organisms; the ones that I want to study most as an independent investigator are poorly established and still under considerable development (sequencing a representative genome is still in the works) and I will ultimately end up playing a part in establishing them as a model, probably, but for graduate school, I absolutely will have to work on different organisms, and I may not even be able to do a 100% compatible topic with my interests because evo-devo neurobiology is a very young field and investigated by very few people.  Combined with the fact that not every person you want to work with will be able to take a new trainee on, finding a research mentor as far as I can tell is not without getting a hard dose of NIH/NSF-funded reality at times.

 

I'm almost positive I sound like a major downer here but I might as well toss in the second-time-applicant perspective.  Because most non-first-time applicants everyone is hearing from in this thread so far have already gotten the success; mine is on its way.

 

Yeah, I think you're right. Additionally, if you lay out an extremely specific and detailed plan, you are more likely to set yourself up for showing holes in your thinking. After all, we are all still amateurs (presumably) in our fields, and we are likely to make mistakes along the way. Unless you are 1000% sure your research plan is air-tight, it's probably not a smart idea to lay it all out like a dissertation proposal. In other words, what is supposed to make you look focused and driven could make you look naive and sloppy.

Edited July 15, 2014 by Gvh

[Orims]

Somehow I suspect you probably had a 3.8+ GPA and top GREs.

My GPA was indeed above 3.8, however my GRE scores were horrible for a top 10 (<75% on all categories). 

[Vene]

I think people overestimate the importance of gre scores

[tuckbro]

What were your stats?

3.96 92% verbal 98% math. Recs are not a deal breaker, no one component is. It's a wholistic thing.

[Dedi]

My guess is that IF your very specific research interests align perfectly with the goals and orientation of the lab you want to work in, then that's great. But on the flip side, having very specific interests may make someone come off as unyielding and potentially "un-coachable" in a lab that prefers someone who may have targeted interests but is still open-minded. 

Ah, I see. So it's a double-edged sword, I'm guessing. That makes sense.

[Dedi]

Yeah, I think you're right. Additionally, if you lay out an extremely specific and detailed plan, you are more likely to set yourself up for showing holes in your thinking. After all, we are all still amateurs (presumably) in our fields, and we are likely to make mistakes along the way. Unless you are 1000% sure your research plan is air-tight, it's probably not a smart idea to lay it all out like a dissertation proposal. In other words, what is supposed to make you look focused and driven could make you look naive and sloppy.

The thing is, many scholarships that I'm looking into require sufficient background into what you want to research and even a brief research method.

 

Also, I don't think anyone's research plan is 1000% air-tight. Even profs make mistakes. We are human, after all.

[Gvh]

The thing is, many scholarships that I'm looking into require sufficient background into what you want to research and even a brief research method.

 

Also, I don't think anyone's research plan is 1000% air-tight. Even profs make mistakes. We are human, after all.

 

True! Though I was talking mostly about standard SOPs to join a lab, not necessarily scholarships. It makes sense that a scholarship require you to be pretty specific, but when joining a new lab, I would expect them to want you to be open to flexibility even if you do have particular interests. 

[Dedi]

True! Though I was talking mostly about standard SOPs to join a lab, not necessarily scholarships. It makes sense that a scholarship require you to be pretty specific, but when joining a new lab, I would expect them to want you to be open to flexibility even if you do have particular interests. 

Makes sense. Good to keep in mind.

 

I'll have to double-check my SOP but I think it's flexible enough. I know I'm pretty set on my goals for the scholarships I can apply to.

[Yuanyang]

I need advice so this is a good place to start.

Also, yes I posted this in Gov Affairs; I cant read forum tags at 1AM.

 

Desired Program: Neuroscience/Neurobiology PhD, Fall 2015

Goal: A job where I'm paid to act like I'm the smartest person in a room (professor)

Undergrad: Private Liberal arts college, B.A. class of 2011

Major: Biology

Minor: Mathematics (no real computer science minor)

GPA: 2.3 (Major GPA ~3.3). Bad freshman-sophmore year grades and very low grade inflation.

Position in Class: No clue, there is no ranking system at the college and everyone in my class thinks they have the worst grades.

GRE: 160 Math, 161 verbal, 5 AW

Quant-related coursework: Statistics, computational macroeconomics, data-structures and algorithums

Research Experience: 3 Years at MIT as a research technican in a neuroscience labratory, 2 publications as a middle author,  and some summer programming experience in bioinformatics with 1 middle author publication.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: none

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Odd jobs as a tutor, signator for brewing club, SCUBA certified, better traveled than Rick Steves

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Miscellaneous?

Special Bonus Points: On good personal terms with Dr.E Boyden and Dr.K Tye. Reccomendation from Dr.A Graybiel. Took 2 grad courses at Harvard Extension School and one Summer lab course in electrophysiology at UW Friday Harbor Lab.


Schools I'm looking into:

Reach Tier: Columbia, Stanford, John Hopkins, MIT, Harvard (the latter two is the result of explaining to idiot relatives that just because i work for and know the professors there doesnt mean I'll be easier to get in. nevertheless they expect me to apply)

Likely Tier: UCSD, U of Washington, UT Huston, UT Southwestern Medical, Boston U, U of Arizona

Letters of Recommendation: 2-3 letters from my workplace, the PI's name holds some weight in the field but she urges me to get my undergrad professors to write one as well. The problem is, the best letter from my undergrad college is from a professor whom recently passed away and im not sure who else to go to.

 

I'm looking for other good programs in neuroscience. Also, thinking of taking the GRE again. And finally, can anyone vouch for application "tutor" services for help with writing the SOP?
 

[glow_gene]

Hello! 

 

Super fast intro! Second year (almost 3rd year) student in the Molecular Genetics and Genomics program at WashU (Washington University in St. Louis)! 

 

Please feel free to PM me about WashU (any DBBS programs) or any of the schools where I interviewed (listed in my sig).

 

Best of luck everyone!

 

~glow

Edited July 16, 2014 by glow_gene