2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[biochemgirl67]

1 minute ago, Gram Neutral said:

Not to like...cause anyone to enter freakout mode, but last year Vanderbilt (which you applied to right?) sent out their first two rounds of interviews on December 4th and 10th.

OMG I KNOW.  Don't worry, we're all in freakout mode anyway!

[Gram Neutral]

3 minutes ago, biochemgirl67 said:

OMG I KNOW.  Don't worry, we're all in freakout mode anyway!

I fully expect not to be getting any e-mails on Dec 4th haha. That would one of the top 5 shocks of my life. I certainly don't see myself as a First Tier candidate haha. This is my 3rd time applying to graduate school, and although my application is like 100x stronger than the last time I applied (international internship, 1.5 years full time research, 12 credits of 4.0 master's work), the whole process has tempered my expectations greatly. My first time applying I got 2/8 interviews. I didn't get my first until February. 

[Azia]

I submitted my applications weeks ago and put it out of my mind that it was done. Phew, what a relief right? Except, since today was the deadline I decided to double check everything. I forgot to submit official transcripts to Stanford! STANFORD of all schools, it had to be my top choice! 

I overnighted them and am really hoping they are a little lenient on mail delivered items. 

Queue freak out mode now!

[ruckaround]

3 minutes ago, Azia said:

I submitted my applications weeks ago and put it out of my mind that it was done. Phew, what a relief right? Except, since today was the deadline I decided to double check everything. I forgot to submit official transcripts to Stanford! STANFORD of all schools, it had to be my top choice! 

I overnighted them and am really hoping they are a little lenient on mail delivered items. 

Queue freak out mode now!

My GRE's won't get to them until tomorrow(I hope, side note: FUCK ETS) so I sent a quick email. They basically replied with "no biggie" we'll work off the unofficial until it gets here.

[Azia]

1 minute ago, ruckaround said:

My GRE's won't get to them until tomorrow(I hope, side note: FUCK ETS) so I sent a quick email. They basically replied with "no biggie" we'll work off the unofficial until it gets here.

Okay, that is a sight relief. Thank you! I have been panicking for the past 5 hours. I called sent email, but as expected no response given today is the deadline. I'll try calling again tomorrow to check again.

[ruckaround]

Just now, Azia said:

Okay, that is a sight relief. Thank you! I have been panicking for the past 5 hours. I called sent email, but as expected no response given today is the deadline. I'll try calling again tomorrow to check again.

I feel you! First I was worrying about the GRE, then switched to worrying about my MIA letter writer. I've come to terms with that (and that it hopefully won't really have an impact assuming he sends it tomorrow or otherwise asap). But I spent all day/night obsessively checking my email and am not looking forward to emailing the programs tomorrow.

Oh well. Hopefully in a couple months we'll all look back and laugh about how stressed we were.

[Azia]

9 minutes ago, ruckaround said:

I feel you! First I was worrying about the GRE, then switched to worrying about my MIA letter writer. I've come to terms with that (and that it hopefully won't really have an impact assuming he sends it tomorrow or otherwise asap). But I spent all day/night obsessively checking my email and am not looking forward to emailing the programs tomorrow.

Oh well. Hopefully in a couple months we'll all look back and laugh about how stressed we were.

Good luck! It's never fun chasing down a recommendation! I was fortunate enough to have my LOR writer's be as on top of their game as I was... Until I dropped the ball today.

[Bioenchilada]

1 minute ago, Azia said:

Good luck! It's never fun chasing down a recommendation! I was fortunate enough to have my LOR writer's be as on top of their game as I was... Until I dropped the ball today.

Some of my schools have not linked my GRE scores with my application, and I sent those in August.  :X 

[Azia]

15 minutes ago, Bioenchilada said:

Some of my schools have not linked my GRE scores with my application, and I sent those in August.  :X 

UPitt did that with mine, but I called last week and they said it isn't a big deal. The department should have them even if the application has not been updated.

Good luck! This is such a stressful time. I even told myself I wouldn't panic this application cycle... Which is clearly not the case.

Edited December 2, 2015 by Azia

[Gram Positive]

1 minute ago, Bioenchilada said:

Some of my schools have not linked my GRE scores with my application, and I sent those in August.  :X 

Same here (I'm looking at you, Pitt IBGP! LOL ) 

Fortunately, I checked with Pitt, and I was told self-reported scores are okay at this point (big relief). I will probably check on that again. Maybe the application page just hasn't been updated. @Azia - have you had the same issue with Pitt IBGP?

[Extra Espresso]

Note, I am applying to BioE/BME PhD programs even though my undergrad is ChemE

Undergrad Institution: Large state school, known for chemical engineering but not particularly prestigious
Major(s):  Chemical Engineering
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 4.00
Overall GPA: 4.00
Position in Class: I'm assuming around top 2-3% (as far as I know, there are three people with a 4.0)
Type of Student: Domestic White Female

GRE Scores (revised/old version): revised
Q: 170
V: 170
W: 6


Research Experience: 

3 years in my undergraduate research lab, Pharmacy School, not particularly well-known PI: independent project on chemotherapeutic drug delivery using liposomes and nanoparticles, 9 first-authored presentations, 3 national conferences, 2 regional conferences with one award, 4 school presentations (all official symposiums), 7 second-authored presentations, 4 national conferences with two awards, 1 regional conference, 2 school presentations

3 summer research internships, all different labs: specialized NIH internship (not the general SIP), two at a biomedical institute near home, worked on a polymer lyophilization project, a metabolomics project, and a proteomics project, four symposium presentations

First-authored publication from NIH internship

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Goldwater, two Undergraduate Research Fellowships from school and one from an outside organization, Top Chemical Engineering Student Award (chosen by department), Phi Kappa Phi Top Student Awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years, several departmental scholarships

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Peer Tutor through library program, help found BMES chapter at school and served as VP for two years, Tau Beta Pi, Omega Chi Epsilon (ChemE honor society), Phi Kappa Phi, AIChE

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: President of service sorority chapter, band for four years (first chair on instrument for most semesters), traveled for one week internationally in two semesters on concert tours, took one chemical engineering lab abroad last summer

Special Bonus Points: Applied to NSF, super strong LOR (PI from undergrad, PI from NIH internship/publication, professor and research collaborator with undergrad research PI), large variety of research skills (but not a lot directly related to tissue engineering which worries me), took 5 years to complete degree because of band/research 

Applying to Where:

All BioE/BME

Hopkins, UCSD, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley/UCSF, U Penn, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, U Virginia, U of Washington

 

Worried about the fact that I want to do tissue engineering research but I don't have a background in it - thoughts? I'm afraid that the broadness of my undergraduate research combined with the fact that I want to go into tissue engineering will make me look flaky or unfocused, but that's not the case at all. 

Also worried about being in school for 5 years. I haven't addressed it all in my personal statement- should I?

[Azia]

1 minute ago, Gram Positive said:

Same here (I'm looking at you, Pitt IBGP! LOL ) 

Fortunately, I checked with Pitt, and I was told self-reported scores are okay at this point (big relief). I will probably check on that again. Maybe the application page just hasn't been updated. @Azia - have you had the same issue with Pitt IBGP?

Yes! They told me that a lot of times it is just a lack of communication between the department which receives the scores and general graduate admissions. They said if it becomes a problem or they don't actually have them I'll get an email. Which is a huge relief!

UPitt is one of my top choices too, I hope we both hear good news from them!

[Gram Neutral]

3 minutes ago, bioeng2016 said:

Note, I am applying to BioE/BME PhD programs even though my undergrad is ChemE

Undergrad Institution: Large state school, known for chemical engineering but not particularly prestigious
Major(s):  Chemical Engineering
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 4.00
Overall GPA: 4.00
Position in Class: I'm assuming around top 2-3% (as far as I know, there are three people with a 4.0)

I stopped reading right there. Only top 3% in your class? That just isn't gonna cut it.

Jk. I wouldn't worry about anything in your application as you are probably far ahead most other applicants. You aren't really expected to have already narrowed in on the field you will spend the rest of your life on by age 19. Sometimes being too specific is actually a bad thing.

[Bioenchilada]

5 minutes ago, bioeng2016 said:

Note, I am applying to BioE/BME PhD programs even though my undergrad is ChemE

Undergrad Institution: Large state school, known for chemical engineering but not particularly prestigious
Major(s):  Chemical Engineering
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 4.00
Overall GPA: 4.00
Position in Class: I'm assuming around top 2-3% (as far as I know, there are three people with a 4.0)
Type of Student: Domestic White Female

GRE Scores (revised/old version): revised
Q: 170
V: 170
W: 6


Research Experience: 

3 years in my undergraduate research lab, Pharmacy School, not particularly well-known PI: independent project on chemotherapeutic drug delivery using liposomes and nanoparticles, 9 first-authored presentations, 3 national conferences, 2 regional conferences with one award, 4 school presentations (all official symposiums), 7 second-authored presentations, 4 national conferences with two awards, 1 regional conference, 2 school presentations

3 summer research internships, all different labs: specialized NIH internship (not the general SIP), two at a biomedical institute near home, worked on a polymer lyophilization project, a metabolomics project, and a proteomics project, four symposium presentations

First-authored publication from NIH internship

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Goldwater, two Undergraduate Research Fellowships from school and one from an outside organization, Top Chemical Engineering Student Award (chosen by department), Phi Kappa Phi Top Student Awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years, several departmental scholarships

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Peer Tutor through library program, help found BMES chapter at school and served as VP for two years, Tau Beta Pi, Omega Chi Epsilon (ChemE honor society), Phi Kappa Phi, AIChE

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: President of service sorority chapter, band for four years (first chair on instrument for most semesters), traveled for one week internationally in two semesters on concert tours, took one chemical engineering lab abroad last summer

Special Bonus Points: Applied to NSF, super strong LOR (PI from undergrad, PI from NIH internship/publication, professor and research collaborator with undergrad research PI), large variety of research skills (but not a lot directly related to tissue engineering which worries me), took 5 years to complete degree because of band/research 

Applying to Where:

All BioE/BME

Hopkins, UCSD, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley/UCSF, U Penn, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, U Virginia, U of Washington

 

Worried about the fact that I want to do tissue engineering research but I don't have a background in it - thoughts? I'm afraid that the broadness of my undergraduate research combined with the fact that I want to go into tissue engineering will make me look flaky or unfocused, but that's not the case at all. 

Also worried about being in school for 5 years. I haven't addressed it all in my personal statement- should I?

My god, you are what people would call the "perfect" candidate. I'm certain that you'll get plenty of interviews given that you were able to effectively connect your previous research to your current goals in your SOP and have strong LORs.  (By the way, I don't think that doing research in a different field will hurt you at all) 
Good luck! 

[Gram Positive]

2 minutes ago, bioeng2016 said:

Note, I am applying to BioE/BME PhD programs even though my undergrad is ChemE

Undergrad Institution: Large state school, known for chemical engineering but not particularly prestigious
Major(s):  Chemical Engineering
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 4.00
Overall GPA: 4.00
Position in Class: I'm assuming around top 2-3% (as far as I know, there are three people with a 4.0)
Type of Student: Domestic White Female

GRE Scores (revised/old version): revised
Q: 170
V: 170
W: 6


Research Experience: 

3 years in my undergraduate research lab, Pharmacy School, not particularly well-known PI: independent project on chemotherapeutic drug delivery using liposomes and nanoparticles, 9 first-authored presentations, 3 national conferences, 2 regional conferences with one award, 4 school presentations (all official symposiums), 7 second-authored presentations, 4 national conferences with two awards, 1 regional conference, 2 school presentations

3 summer research internships, all different labs: specialized NIH internship (not the general SIP), two at a biomedical institute near home, worked on a polymer lyophilization project, a metabolomics project, and a proteomics project, four symposium presentations

First-authored publication from NIH internship

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Goldwater, two Undergraduate Research Fellowships from school and one from an outside organization, Top Chemical Engineering Student Award (chosen by department), Phi Kappa Phi Top Student Awards for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd years, several departmental scholarships

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Peer Tutor through library program, help found BMES chapter at school and served as VP for two years, Tau Beta Pi, Omega Chi Epsilon (ChemE honor society), Phi Kappa Phi, AIChE

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: President of service sorority chapter, band for four years (first chair on instrument for most semesters), traveled for one week internationally in two semesters on concert tours, took one chemical engineering lab abroad last summer

Special Bonus Points: Applied to NSF, super strong LOR (PI from undergrad, PI from NIH internship/publication, professor and research collaborator with undergrad research PI), large variety of research skills (but not a lot directly related to tissue engineering which worries me), took 5 years to complete degree because of band/research 

Applying to Where:

All BioE/BME

Hopkins, UCSD, MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley/UCSF, U Penn, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, U Virginia, U of Washington

 

Worried about the fact that I want to do tissue engineering research but I don't have a background in it - thoughts? I'm afraid that the broadness of my undergraduate research combined with the fact that I want to go into tissue engineering will make me look flaky or unfocused, but that's not the case at all. 

Also worried about being in school for 5 years. I haven't addressed it all in my personal statement- should I?

OMG! 5 years! How could you?! :D

I don't think that will hurt at all. I'm applying to micro programs and know of lots of people with 5 years as undergraduates or lots of time off who have gotten in at my programs of interest. And just scanning through your post, I think you will probably get an interview just about everywhere (if not everywhere).

Switching fields should not be a problem (I would not think). A friend of mine switched from BME undergrad to EE for grad school (he told me it's been a big jump). I did enzymology research (lots of chemical kinetics, hehe) and now microbial ecology/bioinformatics research, but I am applying to micro programs to do microbial pathogenesis/infectious disease research. The thing I used to tie my research together was my broader interest in antibiotic resistance and (even more broadly) bacterial diseases. 

Hope we both hear good news about the GRFP in March/April :D

[Gram Positive]

10 minutes ago, Azia said:

Yes! They told me that a lot of times it is just a lack of communication between the department which receives the scores and general graduate admissions. They said if it becomes a problem or they don't actually have them I'll get an email. Which is a huge relief!

UPitt is one of my top choices too, I hope we both hear good news from them!

Excellent! It is not just me  

Indeed! Good luck! 

[Extra Espresso]

First of all, @Gram Positive and @Gram Neutral, I <3 your names. I took microbio last fall, and it was seriously one of my favorite classes ever. 

And thank you all!! I'm finishing UW's app right now (due in ~4.5 hours), and this is helping me procrastinate and feel more confident about my apps! I intend to scour the rest of this thread tomorrow AFTER this app (and my digital controls project) are done.  It's so easy to be super paranoid about all of this, especially as the deadlines loom closer!!

25 minutes ago, Bioenchilada said:

Some of my schools have not linked my GRE scores with my application, and I sent those in August.  :X 

Gah, I sent my scores a week ago..... I'm a procrastinator, and I'm so paranoid they won't get up in time. I'm pretty much hoping for leniency/mercy with that. 

[floatingjellyfish]

HELP HELP HELP!

So the Boston University PiBS program deadline is december 2nd? but my friend and i just got worried - does that mean dec.1 end of heading into dec.2nd (as in an hour from now) OR the end of dec. 2 - going into dec. 3rd

....clearly ive had too much coffee today

[Extra Espresso]

1 minute ago, floatingjellyfish said:

HELP HELP HELP!

So the Boston University PiBS program deadline is december 2nd? but my friend and i just got worried - does that mean dec.1 end of heading into dec.2nd (as in an hour from now) OR the end of dec. 2 - going into dec. 3rd

....clearly ive had too much coffee today

floatingjellyfish, check the website - most sites have the specific time when the application is due posted on the site! All of my are either 5 PM or 11:59 PM local time on the deadline, so I believe your assumption of tomorrow night is correct, but you should check to be sure.

[Gram Neutral]

Also, just a friendly reminder to make sure you check your spam folders. I had an interview invite get sent to my spam the last time I applied and I didn't know until I got a followup phone call a week later asking if I had ever gotten the email. 

[Extra Espresso]

4 minutes ago, Gram Neutral said:

Also, just a friendly reminder to make sure you check your spam folders. I had an interview invite get sent to my spam the last time I applied and I didn't know until I got a followup phone call a week later asking if I had ever gotten the email. 

Oh lord. I can see myself now doing that exact same thing! Thank you for the reminder. :)

[Sarahjc]

51 minutes ago, Gram Positive said:

Excellent! It is not just me  

Indeed! Good luck! 

Yeah I had the same problem with Pitt and emailed them as well. They took a little longer to get back, probably because so many people are emailing about the same thing.  They should have a disclaimer on their website at the very least.

[Gram Neutral]

So I have an opinion question. One of my schools I am applying to I went to undergrad for. One of my old professors is on the admissions committee. I did not do well in their class. In fact, I got a C-. However, my grade was higher than 50% of the class and advisers had to step in so people could graduate etc etc. It was a mess. It's a huge black mark on my transcript, and so I sort of explained it in my SOP since it ruins my whole upward trend GPA thing. This class was 3 years ago though, and so I don't really think the Professor would remember all of that, and without the explanation would just see the bad grade and go wow that kid stank in my class. However, I also don't want to offend them or their teaching skills by saying even though I got a C-, it was still better than half the class. Do I leave it in, or take it out?

[Extra Espresso]

1 minute ago, Gram Neutral said:

So I have an opinion question. One of my schools I am applying to I went to undergrad for. One of my old professors is on the admissions committee. I did not do well in their class. In fact, I got a C-. However, my grade was higher than 50% of the class and advisers had to step in so people could graduate etc etc. It was a mess. It's a huge black mark on my transcript, and so I sort of explained it in my SOP since it ruins my whole upward trend GPA thing. This class was 3 years ago though, and so I don't really think the Professor would remember all of that, and without the explanation would just see the bad grade and go wow that kid stank in my class. However, I also don't want to offend them or their teaching skills by saying even though I got a C-, it was still better than half the class. Do I leave it in, or take it out?

I'd rephrase it. Put in it a positive light "I didn't do particularly well; however, I learned from the experience and this is how it made me a better person." (But obviously not exactly that). Assuming you have other strong connections at your home school, I can't imagine it will hurt you that much at all, but you also certainly don't want to offend someone on the committee, even if the class was objectively unfair. 

[biochemgirl67]

9 minutes ago, Gram Neutral said:

So I have an opinion question. One of my schools I am applying to I went to undergrad for. One of my old professors is on the admissions committee. I did not do well in their class. In fact, I got a C-. However, my grade was higher than 50% of the class and advisers had to step in so people could graduate etc etc. It was a mess. It's a huge black mark on my transcript, and so I sort of explained it in my SOP since it ruins my whole upward trend GPA thing. This class was 3 years ago though, and so I don't really think the Professor would remember all of that, and without the explanation would just see the bad grade and go wow that kid stank in my class. However, I also don't want to offend them or their teaching skills by saying even though I got a C-, it was still better than half the class. Do I leave it in, or take it out?

For a second I maybe thought you went to my undergrad and had to suffer through BBMB 301 where the poor students have 40% averages on exams.  (It's for non-majors)  But I don't think you graduated from ISU.    As long as it's the one bad grade, it's not worth the time to explain.  I didn't explain my C+ in Physics I.  I let my A- in Physics II speak for itself.  I still hold it against the physics department though.