2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[pot8o]

Undergrad Institution: A Top Public School

Major(s): Cell Biology
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.83
Overall GPA: 3.81
Position in Class: Upper 10%
Type of Student: male, domestic

GRE Scores (will take October, TBA):
Q:
V:
W:

B: not taking


Research Experience: (Total: 2 academic years + 3 summers)

-Worked sophomore year thru junior year +1 summer in regenerative/stem cell lab. (2013-2014)

First author on Publication, however, paper is not yet submitted, and likely wont before I apply.

 

-Worked 1 summer+ senior year in molecular biology lab (2014-present)

An author on a publication (third author), but paper is not yet submitted and likely wont before I apply. 

-Currently an honors MS student at same university (you start research in a lab your senior year and get your masters one year after your B.S degree)

 
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

-Magna cum laude 

-Deans list honors nearly all my undergrad quarters

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)
Undergraduate TA for upper division biochemistry course

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: 

-Helped run an summer experimental biology workshop at my school, where I mentored high school  students with small summer bench projects related to biology

 

Special Bonus Points: 

-My current PI has connections with some faculty in Harvard and Caltech, who I am also interested in working for (not sure how much this actually helps)

-One of my LORs is kind of famous in his field.

Applying to Where:

Harvard (BMS)

UCSF (Tetrad)

MIT 

Stanford (Biosciences)

Caltech

UC Berkeley (MCB)

Johns Hopkins

Rice (Biosciences)

UT Austin (MCB)

 

Out of curiosity, could someone estimate what I would need to get on my GRE to have a good shot at these schools? I am a bit disappointed that none of my papers end up getting submitted, and hope it will not hurt me too much.  

 

Best of luck to everyone!

Edited September 28, 2015 by pot8o

[Ferroportin]

Undergrad Institution: A Top Public School

Major(s): Cell Biology
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.83
Overall GPA: 3.81
Position in Class: Upper 10%
Type of Student: male, domestic

GRE Scores (will take October, TBA):
Q:
V:
W:

B: not taking


Research Experience: (Total: 2 academic years + 3 summers)

-Worked sophomore year thru junior year +1 summer in regenerative/stem cell lab. (2013-2014)

First author on Publication, however, paper is not yet submitted, and likely wont before I apply.

 

-Worked 1 summer+ senior year in molecular biology lab (2014-present)

An author on a publication (third author), but paper is not yet submitted and likely wont before I apply. 

-Currently an honors MS student at same university (you start research in a lab your senior year and get your masters one year after your B.S degree)

 
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

-Magna cum laude 

-Deans list honors nearly all my undergrad quarters

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)
Undergraduate TA for upper division biochemistry course

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: 

-Helped run an summer experimental biology workshop at my school, where I mentored high school  students with small summer bench projects related to biology

 

Special Bonus Points: 

-My current PI has connections with some faculty in Harvard and Caltech, who I am also interested in working for (not sure how much this actually helps)

-One of my LORs is kind of famous in his field.

Applying to Where:

Harvard (BMS)

UCSF (Tetrad)

MIT 

Stanford (Biosciences)

Caltech

UC Berkeley (MCB)

Johns Hopkins

Rice (Biosciences)

UT Austin (MCB)

 

Out of curiosity, could someone estimate what I would need to get on my GRE to have a good shot at these schools? I am a bit disappointed that none of my papers end up getting submitted, and hope it will not hurt me too much.  

 

Best of luck to everyone!

IMO, I think if you shoot for 160+ on both V & Q you should be fine. From what I've heard, GRE scores are usually just used to weed out applications early on and don't play as much of a role later on in the process.

[shadenitro]

Undergrad Institution: University of Delhi, India
Major(s): Biotechnology
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: ~3.9/4.0 (We do not have a GPA system. I got this from the WES online calculator)
Overall GPA: ~3.9/4
Position in Class: In the Top 2 (Unsure if I'm rank 1 or 2)
Type of Student: International, male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 162
V: 161
W: 4.0
B: Not taking


TOEFL Total: Will take this week

Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)

2 years research experience at the computational biology lab. Initially assisted a PhD scholar, then got an independent project. Publication under review (1st author).
2 months at a plant biotechnology lab in Taiwan.
3 months at a BSL3 facility (worked on anthrax) in my home city. 
Accepted to 1 conference (to be held in October) and attended 1 workshop while in Taiwan.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)

Dean's merit list awardee
One of the top 100 teams in the Shell Ideas360 Challenge (out of 1000+ teams worldwide) 
Acknowledged in the Research paper written by the PhD scholar.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)
My PI when I worked with anthrax is one of the best in the world in his field.
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:
Research interest - looking for an integrative approach between computational and hands-on methods.

Schools for Computational biology courses:

MIT (we all dream!)
Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL)
UCLA
UCSF (TETRAD)
CMU
Boston University
 

For Biology/Mol Biology courses

Columbia U
Cornell - BCMB
UPenn

Integrative Biology

UCB

 

I really need to cut down on the Uni list (and add realistic ones!)

Any help will be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[adiJ]

To those of you applying to top schools, I was given some insider information by rather influential and involved people in the admission process about the importance of numbers.

The GRE becomes more and more relevant as you GPA decreases; thus, if you have a low GPA (<3.5), doing well in the GRE is almost a must. If you have a high GPA (>3.75), getting an average score won't hurt you that much, if at all.

In terms of specific numbers, I can use my own as an example. I got a 155V/159Q/4W and was told that these scores were fine, but I must point out I have a 3.96. As expected, math is more important, so getting a score higher than the 70th percentile should be the goal. I will be applying to graduate school in this round, so I really can't tell you that these scores worked for me; however, this information came from people I had a very good connection with, so they would have told me that my app is shit if it were. 

Hopefully, this info helps. 

 

(Also, I found the attached information on the Stanford biosciences admissions page)

 

Thanks for this. My GPA is only 3.48 but my GREs are decent 162V 167Q 5.5AW, does this constitute as "doing well"? My school has incredible grade deflation as well, so I'm sure they take this to account but I guess a heads up should be nice.

Also my stats:

Undergrad Institution: Top 2 state school
Major(s): Molecular biology
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.43
Overall GPA: 3.48 (strong increasing trends)
Position in Class: above average
Type of Student: domestic Asian male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:167
V:162
W:5.5
B: No


Research Experience: 3 years of human genetics with 1 summer of structural biology, learned a lot but one should send manuscript by the end of this year (a bit too late) and the other is still in the process of writing
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Not much, made 3 quarters of deans list
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Co-founded a club, board member and takes up a lot of time, currently as a senior supervising a masters student
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: 2 Extremely strong letters of rec and one weaker one
 

Applying to Where:

UCSF (pharmaceutical chemistry), Harvard (BBS and pub health), Duke (mol bio), Columbia (nutritional and metabolism) Penn (Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics,BMB) and Princeton (mol bio)

[Gram Neutral]

So I'm getting to my personal statement. Some of the schools I am applying to, I have applied to before and been rejected. Should I acknowledge this in my SOP?

[pot8o]

IMO, I think if you shoot for 160+ on both V & Q you should be fine. From what I've heard, GRE scores are usually just used to weed out applications early on and don't play as much of a role later on in the process.

Thanks for replying! That was along the lines of what I had in mind too.  

[pot8o]

So I'm getting to my personal statement. Some of the schools I am applying to, I have applied to before and been rejected. Should I acknowledge this in my SOP?

IMO, I don't think it is appropriate to mention it your SOP. However, you should definitely mention what you have been doing the past year (assuming you have already finished undergrad), and how it has made you a stronger and more prepared candidate for entering grad school. 

Edited September 29, 2015 by pot8o

[Gram Neutral]

IMO, I don't think it is appropriate to mention it your SOP. However, you should definitely mention what you have been doing the past year (assuming you have already finished undergrad), and how it has made you a stronger and more prepared candidate for entering grad school. 

Thanks for your opinion. I'll probably skip mentioning it. Just wasn't sure if I should say something like "I've been rejected before, but that hasn't slowed down my desire for a PhD" etc. I've been working the last 2 years and taking grad classes, so I'm obviously highlighting all of that. 

[Infinito]

Thanks for your opinion. I'll probably skip mentioning it. Just wasn't sure if I should say something like "I've been rejected before, but that hasn't slowed down my desire for a PhD" etc. I've been working the last 2 years and taking grad classes, so I'm obviously highlighting all of that. 

My SOP reviewers always recommend to keep everything in a positive light, whether it was adversity, a grade, or even not being accepted into school. Personally, I would appreciate your line, but not all readers may be as open. But, yes, you should absolutely mention how those last two years have impacted you, and prepared you for the rigors of graduate school.

[Bioenchilada]

Thanks for this. My GPA is only 3.48 but my GREs are decent 162V 167Q 5.5AW, does this constitute as "doing well"? My school has incredible grade deflation as well, so I'm sure they take this to account but I guess a heads up should be nice.

Also my stats:

Undergrad Institution: Top 2 state school
Major(s): Molecular biology
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.43
Overall GPA: 3.48 (strong increasing trends)
Position in Class: above average
Type of Student: domestic Asian male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:167
V:162
W:5.5
B: No


Research Experience: 3 years of human genetics with 1 summer of structural biology, learned a lot but one should send manuscript by the end of this year (a bit too late) and the other is still in the process of writing
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Not much, made 3 quarters of deans list
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Co-founded a club, board member and takes up a lot of time, currently as a senior supervising a masters student
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: 2 Extremely strong letters of rec and one weaker one
 

Applying to Where:

UCSF (pharmaceutical chemistry), Harvard (BBS and pub health), Duke (mol bio), Columbia (nutritional and metabolism) Penn (Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics,BMB) and Princeton (mol bio)

I sent you a PM. 

[ilovelab]

So I'm getting to my personal statement. Some of the schools I am applying to, I have applied to before and been rejected. Should I acknowledge this in my SOP?

If you're applying to the same schools again they will already have your previous application on file. There is no point wasting space in your SOP to talk about it since they already know you applied and were rejected. 

[AtomDance]

Hello all, I'm a long-time lurker and am finally plucking up the courage to post. Mainly because I could use some advice on whether to retake the GRE for a third time or not. Here's my profile for reference:

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts college
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.28
Overall GPA: 3.28
Position in Class: -
Type of Student: domestic female

GRE Scores (revised version):
Q: attempt 1 (149/37%); attempt 2 (153/52%)
V: attempt 1 (162/90%); attempt 2 (168/98%)
W: attempt 1 (4.5/80%); attempt 2 (TBA)
B: N/A
Research Experience: 1 year thesis research at my undergrad institution (senior year). Currently I'm 1 year into a 2 year research training fellowship which has resulted in 1 first author peer reviewed publication (and another in the works), and a 1st author poster presentation at a big conference this month (October 2015).

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: My current research project is at a large national research institution for biomedical research (to be intentionally vague...) that awards postbac research fellowships
Special Bonus Points: Expecting strong to very strong letters of recommendation from my undergrad adviser and from my current lab mentor
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I have a chronic illness that I am planning to discuss in my essays to help explain my low GPA
Applying to Where: Human Genetics/Molecular Medicine/Umbrella programs at:
Johns Hopkins - U Maryland, Baltimore - UNC Chapel Hill - Duke - Vanderbilt - U Colorado, Anschutz - Baylor College of Medicine, WUSTL

The weak points in my application are my clearly my quant GRE score and my GPA. My strategy thus far has been to explain the GPA in my essay, and otherwise have a solid GRE with strong letters of rec, strong personal statement, apply only to good fit programs, etc. Unfortunately, despite a great deal of studying (Magoosh, primarily) and a second attempt at the test earlier today, I did not manage to raise my quant GRE score significantly from the lackluster 149 I got the first time. 

The obvious answer to this problem is to take the GRE again at the end of October, since the official scores should get to the schools before ~Dec 1st deadlines. However, this October is going to be a very busy and hectic month for me even without more studying for the GRE, and I could really, really use the time to work on my essays. I'm not sure taking the GRE again, when it's likely I still won't do better than mid-60%ile with more studying, while potentially weakening the quality of my essays, is a worthwhile strategy. And honestly, I'm just straight out tired of studying for the GRE. 

I'm open to the idea of taking it again and just dealing with the pressure for another month or so, but before I throw away another $200, I thought I'd post here for any insight/wisdom anyone would be willing to share for my situation. 

[pax6pax6]

Undergrad Institution: University of Toronto, (Canadian Instituition, known for Biology within Canada)
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): Physiology and Immunology
GPA in Major: ~3.8
Overall GPA: ~3.78
Position in Class: Probably near the top, no statistics like this available at my institution outside of the Dean's List
Type of Student: International white male

GRE Scores:
Q: 160
V: 166
W: Haven't gotten score back yet
B: Not taking, (missed the last date to write in Canada)

Research Experience:

One summer at a research hospital in Toronto doing developmental biology, which led to a poster presentation and accompanying poster prize. One year at the same research hospital in another developmental biology lab, which has a poster presentation at the end of the year. Outside of actual research projects I spent the past three years working in two different labs at my school and at the same research hospital doing work-study positions, but they weren't really research intensive but more-so just assisting in general lab duties.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

- Poster Award from independent research project at a major research hospital in Toronto
- Dean's List each year of undergrad
- F.M Hill Scholarship in Biology from my undergrad institution

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

- Activities director of the Ontario Genomics Institute, (was responsible for organizing general interest lectures about genetics in the Toronto area)
- Editor for the undergraduate microbiology journal at my university

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

Prior to attending my current institution, I went to a small school for the fine arts for one year, but left half way through the second semester, resulting in several zeros for final marks. This posed a problem when it came to applying to my current institution for my undergraduate, is there anyone who could speak to how this may effect my admission chances? I attended this school when I was 17, and am now 24, so I feel like it would be trivial to explain as irrelevant to my current capabilities. Still, given the amount of trouble it caused with my undergraduate admissions, I am concerned it may impact my current applications. Can anyone give insight on a situation like this?

Second, for my first year and a half of undergrad, I only studied part time due to money issues. My final two years of study were full-time. How does spending time as a part time student impact your admission chances?

Applying to Where:

All schools for various biological science programs:

Princeton
University of Wisconsin Madison
Scripps
Yale
Stanford
University of Chicago
University of Washington in St. Louis
Harvard
Columbia

I know this list reads as very ambitious, but I am also applying at my home institution, (University of Toronto), and am quite certain I will be accepted, so I only wanted to apply to US schools that are notably better than my home institution.

I would appreciate any feedback on my profile. Thanks!

Edited October 5, 2015 by pax6pax6

[Ferroportin]

Hello all, I'm a long-time lurker and am finally plucking up the courage to post. Mainly because I could use some advice on whether to retake the GRE for a third time or not. Here's my profile for reference:

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts college
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.28
Overall GPA: 3.28
Position in Class: -
Type of Student: domestic female

GRE Scores (revised version):
Q: attempt 1 (149/37%); attempt 2 (153/52%)
V: attempt 1 (162/90%); attempt 2 (168/98%)
W: attempt 1 (4.5/80%); attempt 2 (TBA)
B: N/A
Research Experience: 1 year thesis research at my undergrad institution (senior year). Currently I'm 1 year into a 2 year research training fellowship which has resulted in 1 first author peer reviewed publication (and another in the works), and a 1st author poster presentation at a big conference this month (October 2015).

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: My current research project is at a large national research institution for biomedical research (to be intentionally vague...) that awards postbac research fellowships
Special Bonus Points: Expecting strong to very strong letters of recommendation from my undergrad adviser and from my current lab mentor
Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I have a chronic illness that I am planning to discuss in my essays to help explain my low GPA
Applying to Where: Human Genetics/Molecular Medicine/Umbrella programs at:
Johns Hopkins - U Maryland, Baltimore - UNC Chapel Hill - Duke - Vanderbilt - U Colorado, Anschutz - Baylor College of Medicine, Washington U, St. Louis

The weak points in my application are my clearly my quant GRE score and my GPA. My strategy thus far has been to explain the GPA in my essay, and otherwise have a solid GRE with strong letters of rec, strong personal statement, apply only to good fit programs, etc. Unfortunately, despite a great deal of studying (Magoosh, primarily) and a second attempt at the test earlier today, I did not manage to raise my quant GRE score significantly from the lackluster 149 I got the first time. 

The obvious answer to this problem is to take the GRE again at the end of October, since the official scores should get to the schools before ~Dec 1st deadlines. However, this October is going to be a very busy and hectic month for me even without more studying for the GRE, and I could really, really use the time to work on my essays. I'm not sure taking the GRE again, when it's likely I still won't do better than mid-60%ile with more studying, while potentially weakening the quality of my essays, is a worthwhile strategy. And honestly, I'm just straight out tired of studying for the GRE. 

I'm open to the idea of taking it again and just dealing with the pressure for another month or so, but before I throw away another $200, I thought I'd post here for any insight/wisdom anyone would be willing to share for my situation. 

I think your research experience is the strongest part of your application right now - and it sounds like your GPA might be able to be explained in your SOP. However, because schools often use GRE scores as a filter to weed out applicants, I feel like you should try to get that quant score to a 160+. It sounds like you have a relatively decent application, I'm just wary that the GRE scores might be a roadblock to getting your application looked at. Not sure if schools look at a combined Q+V score or if they look at the sections independently...perhaps others could weigh in here. 

[Ferroportin]

Quick question: for those that have abstracts, poster presentations, manuscripts, etc. that you're submitting soon but won't know whether or not it's accepted by the time apps are due - are you including these in your CV as submitted or in review? Or are you just leaving it out and planning to talk about it during your interviews? 

I have an abstract submission and poster presentation for a conference happening next year; I'm leaning towards including it on my CV since I don't have any other poster presentations or publications currently...any thoughts on this?

[Bioenchilada]

I think your research experience is the strongest part of your application right now - and it sounds like your GPA might be able to be explained in your SOP. However, because schools often use GRE scores as a filter to weed out applicants, I feel like you should try to get that quant score to a 160+. It sounds like you have a relatively decent application, I'm just wary that the GRE scores might be a roadblock to getting your application looked at. Not sure if schools look at a combined Q+V score or if they look at the sections independently...perhaps others could weigh in here. 

Dartmouth and Cornell look for above 310 and 308 combined, although they state that it should be equally distributed among the parts (155 each). Nevertheless, they state that a lower score won't take your app out of the pool. Personally, I think that the GRE cutoff is an outdated practice given that most schools say that they do not use one. 

 

PS: I assume that schools like Harvard and MIT also have a similar cutoff.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Bioenchilada

[sqxz]

Definitely list them on your CV! If you'll be submitting them soon and know where they'll be submitted, I'd just list them as "submitted." It's perfectly acceptable to include unpublished works on your CV (and elsewhere in applications) so long as you use the right terminology to indicate where you are in the publication process, and posters, presentations, and publications are definitely things admissions committees want to know about.

Quick question: for those that have abstracts, poster presentations, manuscripts, etc. that you're submitting soon but won't know whether or not it's accepted by the time apps are due - are you including these in your CV as submitted or in review? Or are you just leaving it out and planning to talk about it during your interviews? 

I have an abstract submission and poster presentation for a conference happening next year; I'm leaning towards including it on my CV since I don't have any other poster presentations or publications currently...any thoughts on this?

[AtomDance]

Thanks for the responses. After spending the weekend thinking about it, I decided to give the GRE one more shot in the first week of November. I'm going to try to make it my 2nd priority and really focus on my essays, but I think if I can raise my quant score even a small amount, it will be worth it. 

[123hardasABC]

Posting this to make you guys feel better about yourselves and your stats... I'm applying small. I'm at a point in my life where I want to settle down for now. I will get my PhD and I'm aware I'll need to apply more than once. I did not retake my GRE because I've been working on my Masters. I'm applying with my old GRE scores that I used to get into my Masters program. 

 

Undergrad Institution: Public, large state school; okay place for biology; still somehow 5-0.....
Major(s): Molecular Toxicology (BS)
Minor(s): -
GPA in Major: -
Overall GPA: 2.85
Position in Class: Owner of the Bay Area Struggle Transit
Type of Student: Domestic, female, Asian

Graduate Institute: Big name hospital in NYC
Major(s): Occupational and Environmental Medicine (MPH)
Minor(s): -
GPA in Major: -
Overall GPA: 3.78
Position in Class: -
Type of Student: Gender and ethnicity unchanged

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 159/75%
V: 155/67%
W: 4/56%
B: -

Research Experience: 1 year in a cardiovascular lab, contributed to one abstract and one poster (did not attend conference); 1 year graduate practicum/internship surveying community health clinics

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: -

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: led a DeCal; volunteered 1 year at the American Cancer Society (planning committee); worked 1 year at a gastroenterology practice; school stuff: president of the Public Health Interest Group, on two committees in Student Council, graduate student mentor

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: taught art for a year (I know it's an unrelated subject, but I just like teaching)

Special Bonus Points: I have a Masters degree? I have a LOR from an undergraduate professor who can vouch for me (I had a rough first two years in undergrad). Other two LORs are from my Masters advisor and my practicum advisor.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I've written a thesis on my research interests. Hopefully this shows that it's something I'm dedicated and passionate about.

Applying to Where:
Washington University in St. Louis -- DBBS (I'm aware this is a long shot but the application was free)
St. Louis University -- Biomedical Sciences (Top choice)
University of Missouri (Columbia) -- Biomedical Sciences

Edited October 6, 2015 by 123hardasABC
Missed an apostrophe

[Gram Neutral]

Posting this to make you guys feel better about yourselves and your stats... I'm applying small. I'm at a point in my life where I want to settle down for now. I will get my PhD and I'm aware I'll need to apply more than once. I did not retake my GRE because I've been working on my Masters. I'm applying with my old GRE scores that I used to get into my Masters program. 

 

Undergrad Institution: Public, large state school; okay place for biology; still somehow 5-0.....
Major(s): Molecular Toxicology (BS)
Minor(s): -
GPA in Major: -
Overall GPA: 2.85
Position in Class: Owner of the Bay Area Struggle Transit
Type of Student: Domestic, female, Asian

Graduate Institute: Big name hospital in NYC
Major(s): Occupational and Environmental Medicine (MPH)
Minor(s): -
GPA in Major: -
Overall GPA: 3.78
Position in Class: -
Type of Student: Gender and ethnicity unchanged

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 159/75%
V: 155/67%
W: 4/56%
B: -

Research Experience: 1 year in a cardiovascular lab, contributed to one abstract and one poster (did not attend conference); 1 year graduate practicum/internship surveying community health clinics

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: -

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: led a DeCal; volunteered 1 year at the American Cancer Society (planning committee); worked 1 year at a gastroenterology practice; school stuff: president of the Public Health Interest Group, on two committees in Student Council, graduate student mentor

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: taught art for a year (I know it's an unrelated subject, but I just like teaching)

Special Bonus Points: I have a Masters degree? I have a LOR from an undergraduate professor who can vouch for me (I had a rough first two years in undergrad). Other two LORs are from my Masters advisor and my practicum advisor.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I've written a thesis on my research interests. Hopefully this shows that it's something I'm dedicated and passionate about.

Applying to Where:
Washington University in St. Louis -- DBBS (I'm aware this is a long shot but the application was free)
St. Louis University -- Biomedical Sciences (Top choice)
University of Missouri (Columbia) -- Biomedical Sciences

You and I are somewhat similar. Make sure to focus on your later years with a higher GPA than your earlier years. Some schools definitely look at your last 60 credits more than your first 60. There's no point in applying to so few schools your first time. You never know what could happen. My GPA was a 3.01 with no masters and I got two interviews the first time I applied. 

[yolk]

I want to drop in and wish the best of luck to those applying this season. It can be a stressful, exciting, rewarding - transforming experience. Interviews are a blast and before you know it you will be in graduate school

If anyone has questions feel free to message me. I'm rooting for you!

[StrongTackleBacarySagna]

Further polluting the thread. Sorry if I detract from other posts but I can't really offer any useful advice ?

For a neuroscience Ph.D.

Undergrad Institution: Decent, big state school. The neuro grad program is top notch. Undergrad is pretty good but it's still new so has little reputation
Major(s): Neuroscience
Minor(s): Philosophy
GPA in Major: About the same as...
Overall GPA: 3.65 (Converted from 4.3 scale. Fuck you +/- system)
Position in Class: Don't know. Upper quartile for sure, maybe top 15%
Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?)

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 157 (Such conflicting opinions on this)
V: 160
W: Don't know
B:



Research Experience: 2 years at a lab in our neuro institute, working on a couple different projects by myself. Honors thesis in neurophilosophy, which I can get published in my school's undergrad journal. Neuro lab class with poster presentation. No publications but 5 poster presentations and an oral presentation, all in the institute

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Two different summer research fellowships from two different programs in my institution (one of which I got twice but declined the second time), one special scholarship awarded by the honors college, nominated by my school to apply for Goldwater (Didn't win or honorable mention haha), and a university assistantship awarded by the honors college (Not sure how to explain what that is)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: No pertinent ones

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Several president's and dean's lists over the three years. Think that's it

Special Bonus Points: My LORs should all be solid gold and they're pretty well rounded

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: The two B's that I've gotten were in physics and neurostatistics as opposed to some nonsense classes no one cares about. Not sure if I'd be asked about this 

Applying to Where:

Reaches: UC Berkeley, Northwestern, WashU

Not reaches: UT Austin, UMass Amherst, Ohio State (kind of a reach in a way), UT Houston. Not sure if I'll actually apply to all of those though so I might need to keep digging for more suitable programs and/or "safeties"

[insaneinthemembrane]

Hello everyone! 

 

I just went through the application process last year, if anyone has any questions about any of the schools I visited or my current institution, feel free to ask me! 

 

Best of luck to everyone applying!! 

[Microburritology]

Undergrad Institution: Top Tier International Private School - Ranked #1 in Private Biotech Research Schools in India.
Major(s): Biotech
Minor(s): We don't even have such options.
GPA in Major: 3.7
Overall GPA: 3.6
Position in Class: Top 5%
Type of Student: International but Domestic? Been working in a multinational Biotech company for 2 years now in the US - also got my green card sponsored, so I now apparently fall into the pool of US Citizens/Permanent residents?

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 166
V: 162
W: 4.5 (I wrote 5 f***ing paragraphs)
B: 92%


Research Experience: Umm, where to start.

1) Got selected after undergrad into an international science leadership program (12 selected every year out of 2500+ applications from around the globe) in a US Biotech company, who relocated me from India to the US (gave me a visa, car, home, etc.), been working in their microbial research lab for two years now. During my research here discovered a new combination of antifungal lipopeptides to control/eliminate an epidemic disease of Banana plantations worldwide, Black Sigatoka, without the pathogen developing resistance . First author publication, working now on its commercial formulation. 

2) 3 years research experience during undergrad, rotated in a couple of labs, but still mainly sticking to microbiology, microbial enzymes, and studying the entire process of  interaction of microbial antibiotics with pathogen cells.

3) A 6 month internship right after undergrad, before I landed this opportunity, working on similar plant diseases, studying plant responses and gene expressions after artificial infection.

4) Two three month internships during undergrad summer vacations, one at Novozymes India, other at National Institute of Mycobacterial Diseases.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Full ride. Dean's List. External & Internal Scholarships. Tonnes of awards from extra-curriculars was heavily into them- from Debates to Spelling competitions. Oh and I played soccer for my university, equivalent of Division 1 athlete here.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: I use to voluntarily tutor Math, Chemistry and Physics at a local mosque.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I also liked building databases and coding, so I actually built a database housing all the gene sequences of enzymes (to weaken the host immunity, create pores in the cell wall, etc.) secreted by the pathogen during the first stages of host pathogen interaction. I did this for the National Center of Mycobacterial Diseases where I interned. Apparently they licensed it later and gave me no due credit. Ho - hum.

Special Bonus Points: I'm sure these "Bonus Points"  and "connections" are those which finally give domestic students the final edge. Someone show me how to get a renowned Harvard scientist back my research skills please?

Applying to Where: Being ambitious here, please feel free to critic, need some real-life advice.

MIT Microbiology - can anyone from this program please critique my profile, and answer some on my questions?

Harvard BBS

Yale BBSB

John Hopkins BCMB, or even Cellular and Molecular Physiology.

Princeton Molecular Biology

Rockefeller - Oh I love their campus. 

UC Berkeley Microbiology

U Chicago Biomedical Sciences

Cornell Plant Microbe Biology (I'll cry if I get into this one)

Oxford.

Above everything else, I just had one question: Is it really okay to ask the senior scientists I worked under for 10 recommendation letters? Like does that piss them off, or is it normal?

[123hardasABC]

Above everything else, I just had one question: Is it really okay to ask the senior scientists I worked under for 10 recommendation letters? Like does that piss them off, or is it normal?

It should be fine. From my understanding, the letter writers usually write one letter and just change the addressee according to the school it's meant for.