2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[gliaful]

Neuroscience applicants -- this appeared the other day:

started by NWFreeheel11.

 

That topic has a link to this one, but not vice versa (until now).

[lzerimar]

Oh man this is my first time applying to graduate schools, the waiting is definitely a stresser! I'm applying to mostly top schools and honestly I'm a little intimidated since I come from very humble beginnings but its ok to dream right 

 

Undergrad Institution: State school

Major(s): Cellular and Molecular Biochemistry
GPA in Major: 3.87
Overall GPA: 3.74
Position in Class: Near top
Type of Student: male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 158 71%
V: 156 71%
W: 4 56%

Research Experience: 3 years SUMO-Influenza research experience (5 publications: 1 published 2nd authorship, 3 pending co-authorships, 1 pending 1st authorship),

A summer at Rockefeller with the 1999 Nobel Prize winner on nuclear pore complex research

3 poster presentations

Special Bonus Points: Minority status, first-generation college student, MARC student, research with 1999 nobel prize winner for HHMI EXROP program at Rockefeller, glowing letters of recommendation, interesting life story...

Applying to Where:

MIT

Harvard

Rockefeller

Scripps

Columbia

Baylor College of Medicine

Edited December 4, 2014 by lzerimar

[chibimolinero]

And I just realized that I'm a complete moron. I had written down that Columbia's deadline was December 15. Taking my time editing my SOP. Check the application today and find that the deadline was December 3. Fuck.

[tuckbro]

And I just realized that I'm a complete moron. I had written down that Columbia's deadline was December 15. Taking my time editing my SOP. Check the application today and find that the deadline was December 3. Fuck.

LOL, I did that with Georgia Tech - already paid to mail my transcript and GRE's, stupid mistake.  Move on, that's all you can do.  NYC is super expensive anyway! 

[shadowclaw]

And I just realized that I'm a complete moron. I had written down that Columbia's deadline was December 15. Taking my time editing my SOP. Check the application today and find that the deadline was December 3. Fuck.

My condolences. I haven't done this for an application, but I have done this for important assignments before, and sometimes lost points because of it. This happened for a midterm in an undergrad course, too. I swore the professor said in class that our midterm was on on a certain day, but it was actually a week earlier. Thankfully I review material as I go and aced it.

You could always ask if you can submit a late application. I don't know anything about Columbia, but I have seen different schools and programs that mention you can submit after the due date but won't be considered with the first round of applicants.

Things are looking better in my arena. After trading some e-mails and writing samples with a POI at the University of Tennessee, she's told me to apply. The research opportunities are super exciting! The POI at Yale finally got back to me, but had some questions for me. Hopefully he doesn't take as long to write back this time, because the Yale deadline is coming up fast.

[Appsitude]

For those waiting, expect to hear back from programs either in ~2 weeks (for example: UCSF BMS committee is meeting on the 17th, Harvard BBS and Yale BBS meet around the same time) or after the holidays starting second weekend in January. 

 

Good luck!

[chibimolinero]

LOL, I did that with Georgia Tech - already paid to mail my transcript and GRE's, stupid mistake.  Move on, that's all you can do.  NYC is super expensive anyway! 

 

That sucks. Sometimes you just gotta pay to learn a lesson I guess, haha.

 

My condolences. I haven't done this for an application, but I have done this for important assignments before, and sometimes lost points because of it. This happened for a midterm in an undergrad course, too. I swore the professor said in class that our midterm was on on a certain day, but it was actually a week earlier. Thankfully I review material as I go and aced it.

You could always ask if you can submit a late application. I don't know anything about Columbia, but I have seen different schools and programs that mention you can submit after the due date but won't be considered with the first round of applicants.

Things are looking better in my arena. After trading some e-mails and writing samples with a POI at the University of Tennessee, she's told me to apply. The research opportunities are super exciting! The POI at Yale finally got back to me, but had some questions for me. Hopefully he doesn't take as long to write back this time, because the Yale deadline is coming up fast.

 

I emailed the program coordinator and she said I did have some leeway, but to hurry. So I went ahead and submitted my app immediately. Hopefully they still give it fair consideration, but who knows!

[Octopus28]

That sucks. Sometimes you just gotta pay to learn a lesson I guess, haha.

 

 

I emailed the program coordinator and she said I did have some leeway, but to hurry. So I went ahead and submitted my app immediately. Hopefully they still give it fair consideration, but who knows!

Yay! That's great to hear. I know OHSU has a "hard deadline" of Dec 1st, but didn't even update status of supplemental documents till Dec 2nd (meaning they probably didn't even start look at apps yet). You should be in the clear for a fair consideration! 

[chibimolinero]

Yay! That's great to hear. I know OHSU has a "hard deadline" of Dec 1st, but didn't even update status of supplemental documents till Dec 2nd (meaning they probably didn't even start look at apps yet). You should be in the clear for a fair consideration! 

Fingers crossed

[gliaful]

OHSU sent me this just now:

This email is to confirm receipt of your application of admission to the Vollum Institute/OHSU Neuroscience Graduate Program.  Our Admissions Committee will be meeting on December 15th and the results of their application review will be sent do applicants via email shortly after that date.

[person5811]

INTERVIEW AT UTSW (DBS)!!!!! Got an email earlier this afternoon! Super stoked!

[rbear91]

INTERVIEW AT UTSW (DBS)!!!!! Got an email earlier this afternoon! Super stoked!

 

Congrats!! 

[person5811]

Congrats!! 

Thank you

[jezzie05]

So excited to join in!

 

 

Undergrad Institution: top-5 liberal arts college

Major(s): Chemistry
GPA in Major: 3.73
Overall GPA: 3.7
Position in Class: top quarter
Type of Student: domestic female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 161 / 80%
V: 167 / 97%
W: 5.5 / 98%

Research Experience: 2 years at undergraduate school's lab working 8 hours/week, 12 weeks at UCSF lab, 12 weeks at undergraduate lab one summer

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: ASM undergraduate research fellowship

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: O-Chem TA, leadership role in Chem department

Special Bonus Points: one rec letter is from a long-time UCSF professor that I worked for one summer


Applying to Where:

UCSF - Biomedical Sciences

UC Berkeley - Molecular and Cellular Biology

Stanford - Biosciences (Microbiology)

U of Washington - Molecular and Cellular Biology

UCSD - Biosciences

UC Davis - Microbiology

Scripps Research Institute - Chemical and Biological Sciences

Edited December 5, 2014 by jezzie05

[jezzie05]

Weird thing happened today.

 

Got email from UCSF Tetrad, asking me to complete and submit my application past the deadline, which was Monday. (I initially started applying to Tetrad, but had a change of heart and went with BMS, and you can only apply to one program.) They said they look through the not-submitted apps and decide based on general info (GPA, GRE I guess) whether they want to persuade applicant to complete it.

 

What I'm wondering is why???? Do they not have enough apps already? Bad year for Tetrad, I guess.

[neuronsbeyondneurons2]

either that or it's a general email and they get a little extra $$$ for convincing you to apply.

[username1824]

either that or it's a general email and they get a little extra $$$ for convincing you to apply.

Nah, they would probably convince an extra 50 applicants to apply, and even if the app fee was $100, that's only an extra $5K for them. Not significant at all. They're probably genuinely interested in reading your application.

[poweredbycoldfusion]

@jezzie05 You worked in a UCSF lab; that's probably why.

[ballwera]

Weird thing happened today.

 

Got email from UCSF Tetrad, asking me to complete and submit my application past the deadline, which was Monday. (I initially started applying to Tetrad, but had a change of heart and went with BMS, and you can only apply to one program.) They said they look through the not-submitted apps and decide based on general info (GPA, GRE I guess) whether they want to persuade applicant to complete it.

 

What I'm wondering is why???? Do they not have enough apps already? Bad year for Tetrad, I guess.

Most likely, don't realize you submitted your other app. They probably have  program that looks through applications that were open but not submitted. I'd call the admissions office. 

Edited December 5, 2014 by ballwera

[ballwera]

I just realized I didn't mention that I am a 1st gen college grad anywhere in my SOP or any apps. Is that a mistake?

[Dedi]

I just realized I didn't mention that I am a 1st gen college grad anywhere in my SOP or any apps. Is that a mistake?

I don't think it matters as much as when applying for undergrad. You'll be fine.

[Ivey0126]

I just received an email from UC Davis saying they never received my transcripts. For some reason I thought they wanted electronic copies as many of my schools asked for that instead of hard copies. I just contacted my schools to send out transcripts right away. Is this going to pretty much kill my chances at UC Davis???

[ballwera]

I just received an email from UC Davis saying they never received my transcripts. For some reason I thought they wanted electronic copies as many of my schools asked for that instead of hard copies. I just contacted my schools to send out transcripts right away. Is this going to pretty much kill my chances at UC Davis???

 

Sounds odd. Every program I applied to wanted electronic copies and if accepted they needed hard copies. I really wish there was some type of central application like there is for med school. It's way too much work to keep track of what every school needs and when they need it. 

[Chimeric Phoenix]

I just realized I didn't mention that I am a 1st gen college grad anywhere in my SOP or any apps. Is that a mistake?

 

Probably would've been good, but no sense in worrying about it now

[gliaful]

I just received an email from UC Davis saying they never received my transcripts. For some reason I thought they wanted electronic copies as many of my schools asked for that instead of hard copies. I just contacted my schools to send out transcripts right away. Is this going to pretty much kill my chances at UC Davis???

I don't think it kills your chances -- why would UC Davis bother telling you about your transcripts if they weren't interested? I would email them a thank-you for notifying you of this and that you just arranged for them to be sent. You could attach an electronic copy of your transcript to that email as a temporary aid for their adcom meetings.