2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[thezonehunk]

@Bioenchilada and @kimmibeans do you think it's worth taking a different subject test if we're not completely confident in our GPA?

[ballwera]

1 hour ago, thezonehunk said:

@Bioenchilada and @kimmibeans do you think it's worth taking a different subject test if we're not completely confident in our GPA?

Not sure what your numbers are like, but I'd really only worry about it if you are sub 3.0 with no upward trend on your transcript. 

[thezonehunk]

As a follow-up, wondering about how to narrow down programs I'm looking at

 

Undergrad Institution: Ivy League
Major(s): Biochemistry
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.3-ish
Overall GPA: 3.55
Type of Student: Domestic male

GRE Scores (revised):
Q: 170
V: 164
W: 5
B:


Research Experience: 3 years of research in a pathology/immunology lab at my school doing cancer immunotherapy work. Currently working on a manuscript right now (2nd author). Looking to attend conferences in the fall.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: N/A

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: N/A

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: The PI that's the head of the consortium my lab is a part of is a very well-known researcher. 

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

Applying to Where: I'm interested in research with translational applications. Although my background is in cancer, I'm not deadset on pursuing it in grad school.

Stanford Biosciences
UCSF - TETRAD/BMS
Johns Hopkins
WashU in St. Louis

Harvard
Columbia
Yale
WashU in St. Louis
UCSD
UC Berkeley 

 

[blc073]

1 hour ago, thezonehunk said:

@Bioenchilada and @kimmibeans do you think it's worth taking a different subject test if we're not completely confident in our GPA?

I would not take the subject test for any reason. 

A subject test is not going to make up for a low GPA. Research experience and great LORs are the only things that matter for grad school. Someone with a 3.2 GPA and a low GRE with four years of solid research experience and great LORs will get into a top school over someone with a 4.0 GPA and a perfect GRE with only a summer or even a year of research experience and mediocre LORs.

If you have clear interests with experience and LORs that support your interests, you will be fine. 

To get an interview at a top school: have several years of experience in a specific area, write your SOP about your research in that area, then get three LORs that support your experience in that area. 

[ballwera]

 

1 minute ago, blc073 said:

I would not take the subject test for any reason. 

A subject test is not going to make up for a low GPA. Research experience and great LORs are the only things that matter for grad school. Someone with a 3.2 GPA and a low GRE with four years of solid research experience and great LORs will get into a top school over someone with a 4.0 GPA and a perfect GRE with only a summer or even a year of research experience and mediocre LORs.

If you have clear interests with experience and LORs that support your interests, you will be fine. 

To get an interview at a top school: have several years of experience in a specific area, write your SOP about your research in that area, then get three LORs that support your experience in that area. 

Wish I would have gotten that advice before I applied. I kinda wish I would have applied to some more "prestigous" schools.

[Effloresce]

6 hours ago, thezonehunk said:

@Bioenchilada and @kimmibeans do you think it's worth taking a different subject test if we're not completely confident in our GPA?

nope, it's not worth taking it imo.

i had this same thought when i was applying. for comparison, my stats were ~3.1 GPA, 158V 160Q GRE, 4.5 years research experience (2 at NIH, 2.5 at my college including an honors' thesis + a summer internship), and a second author paper in cell reports. I assume that my LORs were pretty good, and I wrote a solid SOP. i fared pretty well in my application cycle, and my only regret is not applying to more top tier schools. honestly, research experience, LORs and a great SOP can heavily offset a lower GPA. good luck!

[kimmibeans]

I think everyone else hit the nail on the head, but I'll add my two cents. The subject test won't help much unless you score in the top 10%. It's far easier and looks better to recoup a low GPA with research and publications/presentations. 

[Yuanyang]

On 6/8/2016 at 2:42 PM, Bioenchilada said:

I suggest your cast a wide net and apply broadly, hopefully your Masters will help

What do you mean "broadly"? as in apply to lots of programs? (think 2 years ago I applied to about 22 schools in total)

I'm concerned that the Masters wont help at all since some professors say it doesn't count as research experience. Moreover, i have one more semester left but its likely that whatever grades I make this fall wont be seen in the application.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Yuanyang

[Bioenchilada]

4 hours ago, Yuanyang said:

What do you mean "broadly"? as in apply to lots of programs? (think 2 years ago I applied to about 22 schools in total)

I'm concerned that the Masters wont help at all since some professors say it doesn't count as research experience. Moreover, i have one more semester left but its likely that whatever grades I make this fall wont be seen in the application.

Why do you think you didn't get in? Was it your GPA? SOP? LORs? And 22 is a lot, I don't think you can possibly be interested in THAT many schools to the extent that you can write a strong SOP. Also, interviewing would be a hassle. Was your Master's course based, or did it have a thesis component? Why is your Master's GPA also low? 

 

And, by wide net I mean apply to different kinds of program (umbrella and specific) or even schools across different calibers. However, I don't think you should apply to more than 8.

 

[c-guzman]

I posted a topic prior to realizing that this existed. So I'll post appropriately here and delete my old topic.

 

Undergrad Institution: Public, small university, Not relatively well known. I live in the southern tip of Texas near Mexico.
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): English
GPA in Major: 3.6
Overall GPA: 3.28
Position in Class: Not sure
Type of Student: Male / Hispanic

Masters Institution: Public, small university, Not relatively well known. I live in the southern tip of Texas near Mexico.
Major(s): Biology
GPA in Major: 3.58
Overall GPA: 3.58

GRE Scores (revised/old version): Have not taken, but expecting:
Q: 160
V: 160
W: 5

Research Experience: 3 years total. 2 years as a graduate assistant as part of my masters thesis. 1 year (2 years before programs start) at a R1 Top 20 University where I will be working until programs start. 4 publications (all first or co-first author), 1 published, 3 submitted.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Bioinformatics Fellow at R1 Top 20 University

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Research Assistant II

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Not really

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...) My current PI is a relatively new but well connected and known player in his field.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Have a decent GitLab filled with programming projects, 1 of which is potentially publishable.  2 really strong letters of recommendation. Working on a third. A really good idea of what I want to study and with who within each university.

Applying to Where:

MIT - Computational Biology - Enhancer Biology 
University of Washington - Genome Sciences - Enhancer Biology
University of Michigan - Computational Biology / Bioinformatics - Enhancer Biology

Edited August 16, 2016 by c-guzman

[c-guzman]

5 hours ago, PlanB said:

The programs you have listed are really competitive programs. You should consider UT-Southwestern's computational biology program. UT-southwestern allows you to add a major in computational biology to another program of your choice.  This seems perfect given your background. Also, you may want to consider UT-Houston's/MD Anderson program's program in bioinformatics. And Case Western also has a solid program in systems biology and bioinformatics. This may sound counter-intuitive, but you should not limit yourself to programs based on your current research interests(enhancer biology). Your research interest may change in the future as you progress in your program.

Interestingly I actually work as a computational biologist at UT Southwestern right now. I'll probably drop the majority of the top tier schools from my applications and stick to lower tier ones then.

[AGradStudentHasNoName]

On 8/16/2016 at 6:57 AM, c-guzman said:

I posted a topic prior to realizing that this existed. So I'll post appropriately here and delete my old topic.

 

Undergrad Institution: Public, small university, Not relatively well known. I live in the southern tip of Texas near Mexico.
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): English
GPA in Major: 3.6
Overall GPA: 3.28
Position in Class: Not sure
Type of Student: Male / Hispanic

Masters Institution: Public, small university, Not relatively well known. I live in the southern tip of Texas near Mexico.
Major(s): Biology
GPA in Major: 3.58
Overall GPA: 3.58

GRE Scores (revised/old version): Have not taken, but expecting:
Q: 160
V: 160
W: 5

Research Experience: 3 years total. 2 years as a graduate assistant as part of my masters thesis. 1 year (2 years before programs start) at a R1 Top 20 University where I will be working until programs start. 4 publications (all first or co-first author), 1 published, 3 submitted.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Bioinformatics Fellow at R1 Top 20 University

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Research Assistant II

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Not really

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...) My current PI is a relatively new but well connected and known player in his field.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Have a decent GitLab filled with programming projects, 1 of which is potentially publishable.  2 really strong letters of recommendation. Working on a third. A really good idea of what I want to study and with who within each university.

Applying to Where:

MIT - Computational Biology - Enhancer Biology 
University of Washington - Genome Sciences - Enhancer Biology
University of Michigan - Computational Biology / Bioinformatics - Enhancer Biology

 

6 hours ago, PlanB said:

The programs you have listed are really competitive programs. You should consider UT-Southwestern's computational biology program. UT-southwestern allows you to add a major in computational biology to another program of your choice.  This seems perfect given your background. Also, you may want to consider UT-Houston's/MD Anderson program's program in bioinformatics. And Case Western also has a solid program in systems biology and bioinformatics. This may sound counter-intuitive, but you should not limit yourself to programs based on your current research interests(enhancer biology). Your research interest may change in the future as you progress in your program.

 

I agree that these are very competitive programs, but 3 years of research and 4 papers with some of them first author is quite good. If they are in top journals, you are probably set. If one of your mentors is connected to one of these programs or is well known by them, then I wouldn't rule any of them out. But you probably need a safety or two and just a few more to increase your overall chances. I don't know anything about the programs planB mentions, but given your research history I suspect you can do a bit better. And your biology major in bioinformatics might be a slight downside actually. I might be wrong, but I think the best bioinformatics programs put a lot of weight on technical abilities. Focus a bit on your projects and technical abilities in your PS and CV and put that gitlab link at the top of your CV assuming it is good.

[AGradStudentHasNoName]

Now I'll do my own. Applying in computational biology/bioinformatics/ some CS programs with comp bio within them.

Undergrad Institution: Ivy
Major(s): Computational biology/CS
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 3.8
Overall GPA: 3.4
Position in Class: Not sure
Type of Student: Male / White

Other Institution: I actually went to medical school. Ivy. After getting my MD I decided I preferred computational biology.
Major(s): ... Medicine
GPA in Major: N/A (we didn't have gpa's)
Overall GPA: N/A

GRE Scores:
Q: 167
V: 164
W: 4.5

Research Experience: 5 years algorithmic research and development in genomics industry. 3 startups, one of which is well known in the genomics industry. 2 first/coauthor patents. 2 non first author papers in good journals. And I did some computational research in undergrad and some wet lab genetics research in the summers in undergrad and med school.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: not really

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: see research experience. But I guess those industry jobs involve a lot of software development which is also quite valuable.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: One of my projects is used by a fair number of people.

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...) One of my writers is famous in the field. Readers will know him or know of him. Also I've already been contacting potential advisors and have gotten very high response rate and many meetings set up. Not sure if they can do anything for me, but at least it's positive feedback.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: My github is pretty good. It's clear that I spend most of my time programming.

Applying to Where: My list is long and embarrassingly high end. But if I don't get in anywhere, I have a good career in industry already. Some labs that I am applying to send their students to work at my company (at the same level I'm at now). All the same, give me your critique.

Harvard (BIG, HST, possibly CS)

MIT (CSBi, CS, HST)

Stanford (biomedical informatics)

UWashington (genome sciences, CS)

Berkeley (comp bio)

CMU (comp bio)

Princeton (CS)

UCSD (comp bio)

Columbia (comp bio, possibly CS)

 

 

 

[ballwera]

16 hours ago, c-guzman said:

Interestingly I actually work as a computational biologist at UT Southwestern right now. I'll probably drop the majority of the top tier schools from my applications and stick to lower tier ones then.

I wouldn't do that because you need to have reach schools on your application as well. You have more research experience and publications than the majority of students applying. Adcoms tend to favor exp. and letters more than gpa in my experience. 

[ballwera]

On 8/17/2016 at 5:43 PM, AGradStudentHasNoName said:

Now I'll do my own. Applying in computational biology/bioinformatics/ some CS programs with comp bio within them.

Undergrad Institution: Ivy
Major(s): Computational biology/CS
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 3.8
Overall GPA: 3.4
Position in Class: Not sure
Type of Student: Male / White

Other Institution: I actually went to medical school. Ivy. After getting my MD I decided I preferred computational biology.
Major(s): ... Medicine
GPA in Major: N/A (we didn't have gpa's)
Overall GPA: N/A

GRE Scores:
Q: 167
V: 164
W: 4.5

Research Experience: 5 years algorithmic research and development in genomics industry. 3 startups, one of which is well known in the genomics industry. 2 first/coauthor patents. 2 non first author papers in good journals. And I did some computational research in undergrad and some wet lab genetics research in the summers in undergrad and med school.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: not really

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: see research experience. But I guess those industry jobs involve a lot of software development which is also quite valuable.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: One of my projects is used by a fair number of people.

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...) One of my writers is famous in the field. Readers will know him or know of him. Also I've already been contacting potential advisors and have gotten very high response rate and many meetings set up. Not sure if they can do anything for me, but at least it's positive feedback.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: My github is pretty good. It's clear that I spend most of my time programming.

Applying to Where: My list is long and embarrassingly high end. But if I don't get in anywhere, I have a good career in industry already. Some labs that I am applying to send their students to work at my company (at the same level I'm at now). All the same, give me your critique.

Harvard (BIG, HST, possibly CS)

MIT (CSBi, CS, HST)

Stanford (biomedical informatics)

UWashington (genome sciences, CS)

Berkeley (comp bio)

CMU (comp bio)

Princeton (CS)

UCSD (comp bio)

Columbia (comp bio, possibly CS)

 

 

 

Just out of curiosity, why go back for a PhD at all? It's not really necessary if you already have an MD, I'd save yourself the 5 years and go do a postdoc. 

[AGradStudentHasNoName]

2 hours ago, ballwera said:

Just out of curiosity, why go back for a PhD at all? It's not really necessary if you already have an MD, I'd save yourself the 5 years and go do a postdoc. 

I think you can answer this for yourself. If I have an MD, why go back and do a PhD at all? The only answers I can come up with are "to get a faculty position" and "for shits and giggles".

If I really want a faculty position, let alone a good faculty position, I need a better publication history. I *might*, fingers crossed, be able to get into a good/top phd program, but I don't have the publication history to get a post doc position at a top lab.

[Data-Analysis]

34 minutes ago, AGradStudentHasNoName said:

I think you can answer this for yourself. If I have an MD, why go back and do a PhD at all? The only answers I can come up with are "to get a faculty position" and "for shits and giggles".

If I really want a faculty position, let alone a good faculty position, I need a better publication history. I *might*, fingers crossed, be able to get into a good/top phd program, but I don't have the publication history to get a post doc position at a top lab.

Take this with a grain of salt, but typically Ph.D graduate have 3-4 publications after 5 years of work. You already have two, and a MD. Universities like to hand out faculty positions to MDs like candy.

Your best bet is to apply to a couple of post doc positions, and crank out papers. The majority of papers are obtained two years after obtaining your Ph.D in a good post doc lab. You definitely have the experience to be accepted to several good labs. Work on your resume and cover letter and think about contacting faculty you wish to work with.

A Ph.D is not what you need. 

[blc073]

 

@AGradStudentHasNoName So no residency? Are you just completely uninterested in clinical work? 

@Data-Analysis Without a residency, I think he needs a PhD to have any chance at a faculty position.

MD+Post-Doc ~= PhD+Post-Doc & MD+Residency == PhD+Post-Doc 

 

Edited August 18, 2016 by blc073

[AGradStudentHasNoName]

I'd rather spend 5 years in a PhD than 3 in residency + 2 fellowship and/or 2 in a post doc. What you learn in residency has very little to do with what I want to do in my career. You might be able to get a fellowship in which you do 80% research / 20% clinical. But residency is Hospitalist training mostly.

I have talked to mentors and potential advisors about this stuff. They think it is very reasonable.

@Data-Analysis My two papers are not first author. 

@blc-073 MD+Residency+Research Fellowship == PhD + Post-Doc. Maybe if you somehow get 3 papers during residency while pulling 60-80 hour clinical work (you might be able to get 1 month research rotation a year, 2 months the last year) then maybe the fellowship wouldn't be necessary.

Edited August 18, 2016 by AGradStudentHasNoName
clarification

[blc073]

2 hours ago, AGradStudentHasNoName said:

I'd rather spend 5 years in a PhD than 3 in residency + 2 fellowship and/or 2 in a post doc. What you learn in residency has very little to do with what I want to do in my career. You might be able to get a fellowship in which you do 80% research / 20% clinical. But residency is Hospitalist training mostly.

I have talked to mentors and potential advisors about this stuff. They think it is very reasonable.

@Data-Analysis My two papers are not first author. 

@blc-073 MD+Residency+Research Fellowship == PhD + Post-Doc. Maybe if you somehow get 3 papers during residency while pulling 60-80 hour clinical work (you might be able to get 1 month research rotation a year, 2 months the last year) then maybe the fellowship wouldn't be necessary.

There are plenty of residency programs in different specialties that allow for more than a year of primarily research. If you had done a residency with a faculty position in mind, you would be in a really nice position, especially with Ivy networking. At this point, you are effectively making your MD useless. Nobody cares how well you understand the human body and pathophysiology if you cannot practice medicine. 

I'm agreeing with you. You need to get a PhD if you want to have a future in serious research. However, I am noting that you have wasted a good medical degree and a spot in medical school that could have gone to someone who actually wanted to practice medicine. 

[AGradStudentHasNoName]

23 minutes ago, blc073 said:

There are plenty of residency programs in different specialties that allow for more than a year of primarily research. If you had done a residency with a faculty position in mind, you would be in a really nice position, especially with Ivy networking. At this point, you are effectively making your MD useless. Nobody cares how well you understand the human body and pathophysiology if you cannot practice medicine. 

I'm agreeing with you. You need to get a PhD if you want to have a future in serious research. However, I am noting that you have wasted a good medical degree and a spot in medical school that could have gone to someone who actually wanted to practice medicine. 

You are, of course, largely correct. If I had known that I did not want to practice medicine, I would not have gone to medical school. It is a professional school. I am where I am now and am looking to maximize my chances of doing what I know I enjoy long term.

[fitzgradschool]

Undergrad Institution: State School, Big 10
Major(s): Molecular Biology
Minor(s): Microbiology
GPA in Major: 3.30 
Overall GPA: 3.33 (really crappy freshman year...)
Position in Class: No idea
Type of Student: Domestic Female
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 159 (73%)
V: 154 (64%)
W: 4.0 (59%) >> (has been 4.5 on a previous test ~ (82%)) 
B: Not taking


Research Experience: Two summers of research at an industrial lab- helped to create a successful product selling on the market now involving isolating plant DNA

Two years of experience (including summers) at a competitive university lab with a prestigious PI, studying mutations in picornaviruses including the poliovirus and EV71. Possibility of a name on a paper. 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Deans list both semesters during junior year (3.8 and 3.7 GPA for fall and spring semester respectively)

Special Bonus Points: My PI is very well known in the field of Virology and the Family Chair of my college at the University, next door neighbor writing a recommendation has several good connections at esteemed universities like Harvard and Cornell. 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Going to have about 5 letters of recommendation

Applying to Where:

UC Berkeley
Harvard
Rockefeller
CalTech
Princeton
Scripps
WashU. St. Louis
UChicago
UCSD
UCLA
U Mich Ann Arbor
Cornell (Weill)
UNC Chapel Hill
Vanderbilt
Emory
UC Irvine
Carnegie Mellon
UVA
NYU

Im very aware that I'm not very good at standardized testing but I'm hoping my research experience, my vast improvement in GPA since freshman year, and glowing recommendations will make me a desirable candidate.

[Bioenchilada]

1 hour ago, fitzgradschool said:

Undergrad Institution: State School, Big 10
Major(s): Molecular Biology
Minor(s): Microbiology
GPA in Major: 3.30 
Overall GPA: 3.33 (really crappy freshman year...)
Position in Class: No idea
Type of Student: Domestic Female
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 159 (73%)
V: 154 (64%)
W: 4.0 (59%) >> (has been 4.5 on a previous test ~ (82%)) 
B: Not taking


Research Experience: Two summers of research at an industrial lab- helped to create a successful product selling on the market now involving isolating plant DNA

Two years of experience (including summers) at a competitive university lab with a prestigious PI, studying mutations in picornaviruses including the poliovirus and EV71. Possibility of a name on a paper. 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Deans list both semesters during junior year (3.8 and 3.7 GPA for fall and spring semester respectively)

Special Bonus Points: My PI is very well known in the field of Virology and the Family Chair of my college at the University, next door neighbor writing a recommendation has several good connections at esteemed universities like Harvard and Cornell. 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Going to have about 5 letters of recommendation

Applying to Where:

UC Berkeley
Harvard
Rockefeller
CalTech
Princeton
Scripps
Wash U. St. Louis
UChicago
UCSD
UCLA
U Mich Ann Arbor
Cornell (Weill)
UNC Chapel Hill
Vanderbilt
Emory
UC Irvine
Carnegie Mellon
UVA
NYU

Im very aware that I'm not very good at standardized testing but I'm hoping my research experience, my vast improvement in GPA since freshman year, and glowing recommendations will make me a desirable candidate. 

 2

First, I think you're applying to too many schools. You should apply to 8 at most since interviewing will be a hassle and I don't think you can write a convincing SOP when you're trying to cover all of your bases. Also, why 5 rec letters? That seems excessive. 

[Yuanyang]

@Bioenchilada

I actually applied to 14 PhD programs in the fall and after getting rejection letters from each one of them I hastily applied to any program that was still open and landed on Georgia Tech's program. The reasoning was that doing a masters was better than doing nothing for a year (I was also unemployed). I was very desperate at the time, probably just chose all the wrong places to apply to. 

The MS in Bioinformatics at GT does not have a Thesis component, its course based with an internship component (I fulfilled that by working at the lab I'm in right now). Low GPA is due to SNAFU with credit reporting; I had earned less credit hours for research experience that was graded. I will get this corrected so it should bring me up to a 3.3 GPA which does not help much.  Also, I had to return to Singapore because I heard that my father is dying, this was 3 weeks before finals last semester (I regret this decision only because, today, my father is still alive) . I returned right in the middle of reading week jet-lagged and behind in my studies.

I would not want to explain all this to an AdCom, this makes me look disorganized and prone to making excuses (both are true).

@PlanB

Any suggestions in Psychology? I heard from my predecessor in my lab that they're easier, he's currently studying for his PhD at UCSD.

 

 

Edited August 19, 2016 by Yuanyang

[Bioenchilada]

11 hours ago, Yuanyang said:

@Bioenchilada

I actually applied to 14 PhD programs in the fall and after getting rejection letters from each one of them I hastily applied to any program that was still open and landed on Georgia Tech's program. The reasoning was that doing a masters was better than doing nothing for a year (I was also unemployed). I was very desperate at the time, probably just chose all the wrong places to apply to. 

The MS in Bioinformatics at GT does not have a Thesis component, its course based with an internship component (I fulfilled that by working at the lab I'm in right now). Low GPA is due to SNAFU with credit reporting; I had earned less credit hours for research experience that was graded. I will get this corrected so it should bring me up to a 3.3 GPA which does not help much.  Also, I had to return to Singapore because I heard that my father is dying, this was 3 weeks before finals last semester (I regret this decision only because, today, my father is still alive) . I returned right in the middle of reading week jet-lagged and behind in my studies.

I would not want to explain all this to an AdCom, this makes me look disorganized and prone to making excuses (both are true).

@PlanB

Any suggestions in Psychology? I heard from my predecessor in my lab that they're easier, he's currently studying for his PhD at UCSD.

 

 

What about your SOP? Did you have people look at it and tell you their most honest criticism? Do you think that it was an accurate and honest reflection of yourself and your research? Were you close enough to your recommenders for them to tell you how much of a good letter they could write?