2015 Ecology/Evolution/Organismal/Marine Biology Applicants

[Enhydra]

Basically anyone in this forum not applying to a biomedical program. Our deadlines are later and we get lost in the main thread so I thought I'd start a new one.

 

How's everyone's application season going? I just submitted my last application over the weekend (yay!) but I had one of my LOR writers miss a deadline (>.<).

[backtoschool13]

No official interview offers, but I've had introductory skype/phone interviews at most places I applied. It's hard to stay patient even though many of the deadlines just passed!   I did apply to UMich's EEB program with a Dec 1 deadline, but still haven't heard anything.

Good Luck!!

[mayanway]

EEB/Zoology applicant here. I submitted all applications in November, but most of my programs notify pretty late. This waiting game is getting old already!

[shadowclaw]

Good idea for starting our own thread. I'm starting to get grumpy about all of the neuroscience and microbiology people posting their invites while we wait for our adcomms to meet

My applications are all in except for Utah State. They don't have a deadline, and I've been thinking about not applying. I really can only go if I receive the NSF GRFP or I manage to snag a university fellowship, because my POI lacks funding. However, I think chances of getting a university fellowship are slim, and if I get the NSF fellowship, there are other programs I'd rather attend.

I feel really good about my applications to my top 3 choices (University of Tennessee, University of North Carolina, and Oregon State University), because I feel like I made a really good impression on the POIs there. My top choice hands down is UT because it's basically a perfect fit for my research interests.

OSU doesn't do interviews, so I don't expect to hear from them until March. UT and UNC won't be sending out invites for about 2 weeks, so it's more waiting. IU should be sending out invites this week, though!

[cephalotes]

I applied to a mix of MS and PhD, most of the MS deadlines are still open.

 

I applied to Emory PBEE PhD, deadline was 12/1. I haven't heard anything, has anyone here? According to the admissions results thread they have notified interviewees anywhere between December and February in the last five years. 

[Rivers]

Hey everyone!

 

I'm an aspiring plant ecophysiologist. I've applied to a bunch of PhD programs (Stanford EESS, Harvard OEB, Duke Ecology, and a few others) and have heard back from one so far (Minnesota EEB - interview!). Anybody apply to/hear anything from Stanford or Harvard?

 

Good luck to all!

[shadowclaw]

Rivers - if I didn't get rejected from all of the PhD programs I applied to 2 years ago, I would also be focusing on plant physiology as well as chemical ecology. Secondary metabolites are really cool, and allelopathy is just plain awesome. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. Instead, I was accepted to a masters program and I got to do some research in one of my other areas of interest - ornithology. So I've really switched gears! Plants, especially invasive ones, still hold a special place in my heart.

Does anyone know anything about the biology program at Florida International University (or even the school itself)? I've never heard of the school before, but a professor there just posted a PhD position to Ecolog to study songbirds along urban gradients. Their deadline is January 15, so I don't know why he waited so long to post the ad. The only funding comes from a TA position with what seems like a low salary for Miami ($21k). I'm not sure if I want to bother applying if I'm going to have to teach every semester until I graduate.

[backtoschool13]

Does anyone know anything about the biology program at Florida International University (or even the school itself)? I've never heard of the school before, but a professor there just posted a PhD position to Ecolog to study songbirds along urban gradients. Their deadline is January 15, so I don't know why he waited so long to post the ad. The only funding comes from a TA position with what seems like a low salary for Miami ($21k). I'm not sure if I want to bother applying if I'm going to have to teach every semester until I graduate.

 

I actually met a postdoc last month who was visiting my prof's lab who recently did her PhD at Florida International University. She studied algae and I believe did a lot of molecular work. She seems to be successful after the program and is a post-doc at one of the LTER sites. I know this may not be the most useful information about the program, but if you want another option and aren't too burned out on applications, I would say go for it!

[cephalotes]

Rivers - if I didn't get rejected from all of the PhD programs I applied to 2 years ago, I would also be focusing on plant physiology as well as chemical ecology. Secondary metabolites are really cool, and allelopathy is just plain awesome. But alas, it wasn't meant to be. Instead, I was accepted to a masters program and I got to do some research in one of my other areas of interest - ornithology. So I've really switched gears! Plants, especially invasive ones, still hold a special place in my heart.

Does anyone know anything about the biology program at Florida International University (or even the school itself)? I've never heard of the school before, but a professor there just posted a PhD position to Ecolog to study songbirds along urban gradients. Their deadline is January 15, so I don't know why he waited so long to post the ad. The only funding comes from a TA position with what seems like a low salary for Miami ($21k). I'm not sure if I want to bother applying if I'm going to have to teach every semester until I graduate.

Coincidentally, I spoke with a Miami native today who equated FIU to an over glorified community college. But if they are producing successful grads, it's worth a look.

[shadowclaw]

I actually met a postdoc last month who was visiting my prof's lab who recently did her PhD at Florida International University. She studied algae and I believe did a lot of molecular work. She seems to be successful after the program and is a post-doc at one of the LTER sites. I know this may not be the most useful information about the program, but if you want another option and aren't too burned out on applications, I would say go for it!

 

That's good to know!

Coincidentally, I spoke with a Miami native today who equated FIU to an over glorified community college. But if they are producing successful grads, it's worth a look.

A lot of people view my undergrad college this way, but I still loved it. So perhaps I will look further into it.

[shadowclaw]

So the adcomms for UNC and UT should be meeting sometime this week or next, and I got a few views on my ResearchGate profile in the past few days. I wonder if they are Googling me for more information or if it's just a coincidence.

[Enhydra]

So the adcomms for UNC and UT should be meeting sometime this week or next, and I got a few views on my ResearchGate profile in the past few days. I wonder if they are Googling me for more information or if it's just a coincidence.

 

Hmm, hopefully they are!

[Solanus]

I was directed here for some guidance. I'll be joining you guys soon, I suppose! I had a few questions though...

 

For background:

• I'm an Ecology graduate with interest in Marine Science (spatial modeling) for MS/PhD.
• I was recommended into, and had an offer to a PhD program which I turned down due to lack of interest in both the school and program. I first had contacted the PI who THEN told me to apply to the school.

 

Thus, I thought this was the status quo for graduate school applications:

1) Find POI(s) -> 2) Contact -> 3) POI Approval -> 4) School Application -> 5) School Approval

 

However, looking through the way you all are handling things, it seems to be more like:

1) Find POI(s) -> 2) School Application -> 3) School Approval -> 4) ??? -> 5) Profit

 

I haven't had much success with the bridge between contacting a POI and even getting a response, let alone an approval. I just don't apply to these schools at that point, because I don't have an interest in other professors' work.

 

Am I confused because this forum is for Biology as a whole; not just Ecology/Marine Science, which are "different"?

 

Or am I just doing it wrong?

[pachydermatus]

Good idea for starting our own thread. I'm starting to get grumpy about all of the neuroscience and microbiology people posting their invites while we wait for our adcomms to meet

 

 

Hey! Not all of us micro people are BBS! 

 

Regardless, I'm glad there's a place for non-BBS people to congregate. Good luck to everyone!

[backtoschool13]

 

I was directed here for some guidance. I'll be joining you guys soon, I suppose! I had a few questions though...

 

For background:

• I'm an Ecology graduate with interest in Marine Science (spatial modeling) for MS/PhD.
• I was recommended into, and had an offer to a PhD program which I turned down due to lack of interest in both the school and program. I first had contacted the PI who THEN told me to apply to the school.

 

Thus, I thought this was the status quo for graduate school applications:

1) Find POI(s) -> 2) Contact -> 3) POI Approval -> 4) School Application -> 5) School Approval

 

However, looking through the way you all are handling things, it seems to be more like:

1) Find POI(s) -> 2) School Application -> 3) School Approval -> 4) ??? -> 5) Profit

 

I haven't had much success with the bridge between contacting a POI and even getting a response, let alone an approval. I just don't apply to these schools at that point, because I don't have an interest in other professors' work.

 

Am I confused because this forum is for Biology as a whole; not just Ecology/Marine Science, which are "different"?

 

Or am I just doing it wrong?

 

For ecology programs, I feel the first route you listed (contact POI, then apply) is definitely the way to go. Many admission sites state that without communicating with an advisor ahead of time, you will not be considered. When I applied to MS programs I did not really take this step seriously...and it definitely hurt me. When applying to PhD programs, I probably put more time into contacting POI's ahead of time and speaking with them early than I did on the actual applications. It can be frustrating when you don't receive a response and hear a lot of "no's."

 

I started contacting POIs in late September and continued until mid-November. It felt like I emailed so many people! But it ended up being ~26. Of these I heard back from about 20, but many of these responses were basically, 'thanks for your interest but no' (didn't have funding, wasn't taking on students, etc). Only about 10 of the responses were overall positive, in other words the POI either encouraged the application or wanted to speak with me more. I also either skyped or had a phone call with a professor before applying in 5/9 programs I applied to. I also targeted my search to people who were looking for students by searching grad student positions on ecology job boards.

 

It seems like you have a good idea of what you are interested in researching, which I think is helpful. It makes it easier to find specific POI to contact and you will be able to articulate why you want to work with them.

 

It's likely that timing of contacting POIs can influence whether they respond. When have you been contacting them, early in the semester? Near any breaks? For example, my MS advisor recommended waiting several weeks into the semester because profs are swamped early on. Making contact around holidays like Thanksgiving may also make it more likely your email gets lost in their inbox.

[mayanway]

Solanus - my experience was more like the first scenario you brought up.  That said, I think there's some variation between schools/departments, so read the instructions on the department website carefully.  Most of my programs either explicitly require a professor that is willing to take you into their lab to be considered for admission, or state that having one greatly increases your chances.  I applied to 6 schools and contacted POIs at all of them.  2 invited me to talk to them by phone/skype (and I ended up helping with fieldwork for one of them based on our phone conversation, but that's another story), 1 I had met and talked with at a conference, and the other 3 just sent emails back saying they are taking students this year and encouraged me to apply.  I contacted a LOT of people to get those 6 schools (many had full labs or no funding), and like you was typically only interested in the work of 1-2 at each school. 

Edited January 8, 2015 by mayanway

[shadowclaw]

Hey! Not all of us micro people are BBS! 

 

Regardless, I'm glad there's a place for non-BBS people to congregate. Good luck to everyone!

My apologies! You are absolutely right.

 

I was directed here for some guidance. I'll be joining you guys soon, I suppose! I had a few questions though...

For background:

• I'm an Ecology graduate with interest in Marine Science (spatial modeling) for MS/PhD.
• I was recommended into, and had an offer to a PhD program which I turned down due to lack of interest in both the school and program. I first had contacted the PI who THEN told me to apply to the school.

Thus, I thought this was the status quo for graduate school applications:

1) Find POI(s) -> 2) Contact -> 3) POI Approval -> 4) School Application -> 5) School Approval

However, looking through the way you all are handling things, it seems to be more like:

1) Find POI(s) -> 2) School Application -> 3) School Approval -> 4) ??? -> 5) Profit

I haven't had much success with the bridge between contacting a POI and even getting a response, let alone an approval. I just don't apply to these schools at that point, because I don't have an interest in other professors' work.

Am I confused because this forum is for Biology as a whole; not just Ecology/Marine Science, which are "different"?

Or am I just doing it wrong?

 

You are certainly doing it right! There are EEB and similar programs that do lab rotations and don't require you to have a commitment from a POI. However, I think the vast majority of them work as you initially indicated, which involves contacting a POI and getting approval to apply to the program. I think part of this has to do with funding and part of it has to do with how ecological research is done. For example, a neuroscience project might be working with mouse brains and they can pretty much get a steady stream of lab mice all year long. In contrast, a population ecology project might be looking at the breeding behaviors of fish or the migration ecology of birds... these kinds of projects have small windows when you can conduct research, so lab rotations aren't really an option. On the other hand, molecular ecology and some aspects of plant ecology can be done in a lab setting or greenhouse, making them more appropriate for lab rotations. In fact, I think almost all of the EEB programs I've come across that do lab rotations have most of their research in these kinds of areas.

 

Getting back to your post, since you are interested in marine science, I think that you'll likely have to take the route of contacting POIs for all of your applications. If you are having trouble with getting responses from POIs, you might be approaching them the wrong way. Could you post a general outline of your e-mails? Even if you are writing great e-mails, sometimes you just don't get responses from doing a "blind e-mail," which is basically when you find a POI and e-mail them when they don't have any advertisements out. Personally, I've gotten much better responses by seeking out advertisements.

 

There are a number of ways for you to find advertised positions. First, you can brose university websites until you find someone with similar research interests, and then check out their website. If they are actively recruiting students, professors often make note of this on their websites and provide a list of information they'd like you to send along. Another option is to sign up for the Ecolog listserv. I'm signed up and have it set to send me a daily digests of posts, and every night at midnight, I get an e-mail filled with all sorts of ecology-related announcements, such as jobs, upcoming conferences, field courses, and graduate positions. If you go to the Ecolog website, they also list the posts each week, so you can look back at previous posts: https://listserv.umd.edu/archives/ecolog-l.html The Texas A&M wildlife job board is also a great place to find graduate positions. In fact, I find that there are quite a few more positions posted there than to Ecolog: http://wfscjobs.tamu.edu/job-board/

 

At this point, if you are looking to start in the fall, you will have to get moving if you want to apply to a PhD program. Many deadlines have passed, and the next big one is January 15. If you are considering masters programs, too, they usually have later deadlines. I believe someone posted an ad for a parrotfish project in the biology forum. Do check it out. I know it was posted a few days ago to Ecolog as well. Check it out if that's something that you are interested in. Good luck!

[shadowclaw]

Solanus - my experience was more like the first scenario you brought up.  That said, I think there's some variation between schools/departments, so read the instructions on the department website carefully.  Most of my programs either explicitly require a professor that is willing to take you into their lab to be considered for admission, or state that having one greatly increases your chances.  I applied to 6 schools and contacted POIs at all of them.  2 invited me to talk to them by phone/skype (and I ended up helping with fieldwork for one of them based on our phone conversation, but that's another story), 1 I had met and talked with at a conference, and the other 3 just sent emails back saying they are taking students this year and encouraged me to apply.  I contacted a LOT of people to get those 6 schools (many had full labs or no funding), and like you was typically only interested in the work of 1-2 at each school. 

 

This is especially important! I also have a short list of schools (or at least short compared to some of the lists I've seen in the general applicants thread), but I think I started out with something like 25 programs that had faculty working in areas that I'm interested in (usually with 1 or 2 POIs at each). I quickly cut a few off of my list because the lab websites specifically said they weren't taking students. I did a bunch of blind e-mails, and I got many responses of, "I'd be interested, but my lab is full/I have no funding." I also had a few that didn't respond at all, and a few who took 2 or 3 months to write back that their labs were full. A few on my list had advertisements out, and those e-mails generated the best responses and are also the applications that I feel best about. So my 25 or so programs got whittled down to 6 (and I'm thinking of adding another if the POI gets back to me).

 

[Usmivka]

If you are having trouble with getting responses from POIs, you might be approaching them the wrong way.

Seconded. Also, a single email may not cut it. I frequently have to email scientists twice before they respond (eg the first one got buried, came at a bad time, they didn't respond right away and then forgot), and these are people I work with on a regular basis.

 

There are threads specific to how to go about contacting PIs in the application subforums. My personal experience is that when someone sees a long email, they subconsciously feel like they have to write a long reply. And if they don't have time then and there, it often doesn't get written at all. I personally advocate writing a concise, clear email fo no more than 2-3 lines before your signature. You can finish by saying something to the effect of "more details below," and then after your signature write all the minutiae you want to share on the offchance the person cares. That way the reader focuses on the important bit (you want to be their student) and gets back to you.

Edited January 8, 2015 by Usmivka

[shadowclaw]

I also agree that short and sweet is a good way to go (unless you are responding to an ad that wants lots of info). Attaching a CV is a good way to provide your POI with lots of good info about yourself and what you've worked on without cluttering up your e-mail. If you haven't been doing it already, it's also a good idea to mention the POIs research in the e-mail (such as referencing a specific paper or research descriptions posted on his/her website) and briefly comment on how your research experience or ideas fit in with it.

[pachydermatus]

If you haven't been doing it already, it's also a good idea to mention the POIs research in the e-mail (such as referencing a specific paper or research descriptions posted on his/her website) and briefly comment on how your research experience or ideas fit in with it.

 

I feel like this is crucial. Even something as simple as "I was looking at your website, and found your project on X really intriguing. My background in Y is closely related and I was wondering if you were accepting grad students" has worked for me. If you don't do this, they're probably less likely to see a point to your email in the first place.

 

Also, having a little website that lists my CV and talks about my interests outside of science has helped, too.

Edited January 8, 2015 by pachydermatus

[sfrie]

I started off around a year ago looking for PIs that had similar interests to me (I had a very good idea of what I wanted to study beforehand). I basically sent all POIs emails stating my interests, a sentence about my experience, their research focus (i.e. some sort of proof that I knew who they were/what they did) and inquiring if they would be taking graduate students in the next year. Something that hugely helped was attaching a copy of my CV to every email and offering more details upon request. I got very positive responses from everyone I emailed and ended up having informal skype interviews with all POIs prior to sending out applications to their respective universities. I'm really hoping it will pay off when I hear back about my applications since I've already heard from multiple POIs that I'm their top pick! 

 

Best of luck with the whole process. Can't tell you how happy I am that applications are done, though this waiting period is quite suspenseful.

[Pitangus]

Just to add in regards to EEB programs that do first-year rotations: it's still a good idea to contact POIs and get a sense of whether they are planning to take on new students within the next year or so. For example, when I applied, I learned via the graduate director at IU that even though their EEB program does rotations, they still accept applicants based on whether or not there is at least one lab that could definitely take the applicant.

 

And as others have already said, if a program encourages contacting faculty and/or identifying a faculty sponsor, then definitely do so. For example, the review committee for MSU Zoology doesn't even review applications that don't have a faculty sponsor, and faculty are unlikely to sponsor an applicant with whom they have not communicated. 

[alejandromolina]

I applied to the MSU Zoology program. Before doing that I contacted a POI and had several e-mails with her during the whole process. I really think that will improve my chances, although I'm getting nervous... haven't heard anything back...

[shadowclaw]

I decided to go for the FIU position and sent an e-mail to the professor who posted the ad. I guess he liked what he saw, because he replied asking for a phone interview tomorrow morning. If he tells me to apply, I sure hope the school doesn't have a hard deadline for receiving materials. Aside from GRE scores taking a while to get there, they require transcripts to be mailed, and it will be a very close call since the deadline is the 15th.

 

I also did some digging around for more info on the school, and got some interesting results. I found some reviews on Yelp (which were generally about the school from an undergrad perspective). They ranged from "FIU is where dreams go to die" to "the best place ever!" Most of the negative comments were about parking, unnecessary fees, and not graduating on time because no one helped them schedule their classes. It also appears to be a bit of city within a university. People were commenting on getting their nails done at the school's salon, picking up video games at the GameStop, and eating at McDonalds. Gee, all my school has is a Starbucks (and it sucks).

 

Edit: @alejandromolina - the results search shows that invites have gone out from MSU between January 7 and 20, so you still have almost two weeks to hear from them!

Edited January 9, 2015 by shadowclaw