Microbiology PhD Programs- Applications are beginning...

[MicroGeek]

Hey! So applications are starting to open up. I have been reading through quite a few posts/forums here and have been seeing where I "stand" compared to other students. I am wondering how competitive I appear or at least compared to the places I am looking at. Here is the general form that I have seen posted and it includes my stats.

Undergraduate School: Smaller university- offers Bachelor degrees only

Major: Biology with emphasis in Microbiology

Overall GPA: 3.92

Position in Class: My school doesn't post this statistic. I receive competitive academic scholarships though so I should be higher up in my class.

Graduate School: None. I intend to apply strictly to PhD programs rather than do a masters then switch.

Type of student: domestic, male, Caucasian (Nothing too special :P) 

GRE scores:

Q: 153

V: 158

A: 5.0

I am retaking the GRE in a few weeks. I didn't have much time to prep for it/ did it right after finals week (I recommend NOT doing that haha)

Research Experience:

This is the area I would say I feel I struggle with. Because of the size of my university, there are no official labs that I can join. I just create my own research projects outside of class and have a faculty member advise me along the way. I don't have the convenience of really writing any publications either because of that either. I know publications look a whole lot better, but I know somebody who got into UW in Seattle without any of those and I keep seeing forum posts that say they are nice, but not necessary. However, despite that, here is the experience that I do have. I worked with MRSA and did various research/epidemiological research on its presence for about 6 months. I dipped my feet into some tissue culturing before that before my faculty advisor wanted me to switch to the MRSA project. I am working with him again this fall during school. I will do more cell culturing and will be doing research with miRNA and HSV-1. I also had research that was done with a class, but I was selected by my professor and presented the data and results at a Tribranch American Society of Microbiology conference.

Awards: None.

Special Bonuses: Currently a microbiology tutor, volunteer as a general biology tutor, was a Chemistry lab TA at one point, current President of the Microbiology society at my school 

Any other Info that might help: I have done several different extracurricular activities not related to microbiology (such as new student orientation, student activities, and intramural sports) and speak a foreign language (Romanian)

Applying to:

CU Denver- Microbiology Program

Colorado State University

University of Michigan

Emory University

Johns Hopkins

Albert Einstein School of Medicine

WashU

University of Pennsylvania

 

I don't think I will apply to all those schools. Anybody know anything about any of the programs or schools? I am pretty open about receiving other recommendations too. I am really into virology and figure that will be the area of microbiology I will go into. How are other people feeling right before we start these applications? What are other people's stats? Might as well give each other as many tips as we can to help us all out. I have heard also that CV is better than a Resume. Anybody else heard similarly?

 

 

[peachypie]

I'd be happy to answer any questions you have regarding Emory.  I think typically you upload a CV but it all depends on what you have to put in it.  Many people when they are starting out early in their research careers there isn't much of a difference between a CV and a resume in terms of breadth and length.  Over time your CV grows.  If you have relevant items to add then do so, and don't worry about length.  Obviously if you start to tailor a longer CV make sure to remove the items that are not related to your field, i.e. difference between resume and CV would be not putting in miscellaneous jobs you held years ago.  Hope this helps.