2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[Epigenetics]

3 minutes ago, Bioenchilada said:

I think they release invites the first week of January! I think that's what they did for a lot of programs last year. 

Great. I only asked because I see two people have been notified in the results feed.

[blc073]

8 minutes ago, kindsoul101 said:

I would love people who go to Harvard BBS to talk in detail about going to Harvard other than saying I went to Harvard. If you recommend certain labs/can elaborate on something other than the actual name "Harvard"...that would be appreciated...perhaps talk about the independence you have in a lab or your experiences

For example, I gave you examples of why I thought MIT was strong (ellowships/funding for independent research/in some cases you don't even have to rotate under PIs and can just choose a lab)

If you can speak about Harvard BBS more specifically and what areas you feel it is strong in and the level of independence of your research/help with postbacs/fellowships that would be appreciated.

Again, it's all an opinion but still isn't that what we are here for? To get generalizations and opinions? Since there is no objective way to prove any one correct? No, I just want an opinion.

I love being in BBS. It was my top choice, and the interview weekend confirmed every expectation. We have a cohort of 75, so it is not hard to find a group of friends. 

The coursework is amazing. We are required to take 32 credits of courses: eight credits are required (BBS 230 and BBS 330), 24 credits are for electives. I can take courses through any science department at Harvard, MIT, Brown, and Tufts. The lecturers are all leaders in their fields: I've had lectures from George Daley, Phil Sharp, Bob Horvitz, David Altshuler, George Church, etc. Contrary to popular belief, the teaching here is amazing. 

Everyone in BBS is fully funded throughout their PhD. There is no question about funding. Everyone gets the same funding regardless of how long they have been here. In addition, the stipend for Harvard BBS is around $5k higher than the stipend at other Boston universities. 

The lab work here is outstanding. There are over 800 labs in which BBS students can work. I can work in the Harvard Quad, Beth Israel, MGH, Boston Children's, Brigham, Broad, Wyss, DFCI, Harvard College, etc. The lab work itself is what you make it. I've completed two rotations and I am currently in my third. My first was in yeast genetics. I told the PI that I was interested in autophagy, so I was put on a project looking at selective autophagy. The PI was always available to chat, but he really just left me alone with a grad student and we went to work. I set my schedule and got good work done. My second rotation was in cancer biology. I told the PI I wanted to look at metabolism in cancer, so I got put on my own independent project looking at the role of a specific pathway in breast cancer. Again, the PI could meet whenever, but I was independent with the guidance of a graduate student. My third rotation is at MGH working on the human genetics of neuropsychiatric disorders. My PI does several things, but I told him my interests and now I am on a project doing exactly what I said I wanted to do. In short, research here is incredibly independent with enough guidance to learn what you need to learn. Many PIs want to train graduate students, not use them for free labor. I feel like I am in an environment to learn how to be a scientist.

Many BBS graduate students do great things. I know one who is the senior scientific advisor at the White House. Another is in Bob Weinberg's lab. My PI is a Harvard graduate. I'm also on the executive board for the Harvard Biotechnology Club, and many of the speakers we bring in are BBS graduates. 

There are a lot of student clubs. I am always being invited to free events with free alcohol and food that are put on by other students. Student life here is great. Boston and Cambridge are also amazing cities with a lot of culture. 

But anyway, it doesn't sound like Harvard BBS is right for you, so good luck at Hopkins! 

[Epigenetics]

2 minutes ago, blc073 said:

I love being in BBS. It was my top choice, and the interview weekend confirmed every expectation. We have a cohort of 75, so it is not hard to find a group of friends. 

The coursework is amazing. We are required to take 32 credits of courses: eight credits are required (BBS 230 and BBS 330), 24 credits are for electives. I can take courses through any science department at Harvard, MIT, Brown, and Tufts. The lecturers are all leaders in their fields: I've had lectures from George Daley, Phil Sharp, Bob Horvitz, David Altshuler, George Church, etc. Contrary to popular belief, the teaching here is amazing. 

Everyone in BBS is fully funded throughout their PhD. There is no question about funding. Everyone gets the same funding regardless of how long they have been here. In addition, the stipend for Harvard BBS is around $5k higher than the stipend at other Boston universities. 

The lab work here is outstanding. There are over 800 labs in which BBS students can work. I can work in the Harvard Quad, Beth Israel, MGH, Boston Children's, Brigham, Broad, Wyss, DFCI, Harvard College, etc. The lab work itself is what you make it. I've completed two rotations and I am currently in my third. My first was in yeast genetics. I told the PI that I was interested in autophagy, so I was put on a project looking at selective autophagy. The PI was always available to chat, but he really just left me alone with a grad student and we went to work. I set my schedule and got good work done. My second rotation was in cancer biology. I told the PI I wanted to look at metabolism in cancer, so I got put on my own independent project looking at the role of a specific pathway in breast cancer. Again, the PI could meet whenever, but I was independent with the guidance of a graduate student. My third rotation is at MGH working on the human genetics of neuropsychiatric disorders. My PI does several things, but I told him my interests and now I am on a project doing exactly what I said I wanted to do. In short, research here is incredibly independent with enough guidance to learn what you need to learn. Many PIs want to train graduate students, not use them for free labor. I feel like I am in an environment to learn how to be a scientist.

Many BBS graduate students do great things. I know one who is the senior scientific advisor at the White House. Another is in Bob Weinberg's lab. My PI is a Harvard graduate. I'm also on the executive board for the Harvard Biotechnology Club, and many of the speakers we bring in are BBS graduates. 

There are a lot of student clubs. I am always being invited to free events with free alcohol and food that are put on by other students. Student life here is great. Boston and Cambridge are also amazing cities with a lot of culture. 

But anyway, it doesn't sound like Harvard BBS is right for you, so good luck at Hopkins! 

I can confirm a lot of this good stuff from my labmates that are in BBS. The downside as I've understood it from them is its quite an impersonal program, because of the size and how diverse experiences are, you can get lost or not get the support one might need. And part of that does lie in having so many lab choices, it's hard for a program to address all those varied needs and experiences. 

[Neuro15]

Wayyy too much negativity in here for a Saturday people 

[blc073]

2 minutes ago, Epigenetics said:

I can confirm a lot of this good stuff from my labmates that are in BBS. The downside as I've understood it from them is its quite an impersonal program, because of the size and how diverse experiences are, you can get lost or not get the support one might need. And part of that does lie in having so many lab choices, it's hard for a program to address all those varied needs and experiences. 

I agree that it can be impersonal, but the folks in the BBS office really work to know everyone and to make it an inviting environment. 

I forgot to mention the BBS retreat. Every year everyone in BBS is invited to a free vacation (food, alcohol, hotel, transportation) in Provincetown in Cape Cod. It's quite the experience. 

[Epigenetics]

Does anyone know how long the UCSF interview weekend is? All I've gotten is 2/24, and I'm wondering how long it is, because Berkeley's weekend is 2/26-28, and I'd like to hit both.

Also how amenable are programs to switching you to another weekend? I think (from this website at least) UCSF tetrad had a second interview weekend on 2/2, which I could 100% make. 

[systemicpoisoning]

15 hours ago, AGradStudentHasNoName said:

I have been in new haven a few times. I dunno. I didn't like it. Seems like an in-between place. It's not NYC. It's not in the country. It doesn't have the culture of Boston. There are some really bad parts to it as well. It's probably great but for whatever reason I am biased against it.

Coursera stanford algos courses (2 of them) are great. MIT open courseware algos class is also great (has a bit more depth but less breadth). I find its good to group algorithmic ideas into a few paradigms (divide and conquer, dynamic programming, graph algorithms, machine learning, search methods, etc) and then when you have a new problem ask yourself if any of those might work. Not sure about the  comp bio/bioinformatics open courseware. Presumably the one by Pevsner is good, but it was too basic for me and i lost interest. CS is a fast moving culturally driven thing. Honestly just being friends with people who do serious CS and/or serious comp bio is a big part of learning and keeping up. The other thing is being okay with not knowing what you are doing. Doing a new project? Write it in a new language or framework. Having a decent project is the hardest part to learning a new language. The rest is google, trial and error, and learning. Ask questions if you dont understand something! Also stats. Take more stats. Take more math in general. Take optimization, combinatorial optimization, numerical optimization, numerical methods, statistical mechanics. Take anything graph algorithms, probabalistic/randomized algorithms, probabilistic inference, machine learning, graphical models, anything with the name Markov in it lol.

Caltech I also didn't much look into. I am aware that Lior Pachtor just moved there and he is very good. I just had too many schools already on the list at that point. Also I am not a big LA fan either lol.

UCSD is the other major program that I didn't apply to. I couldnt really find anyone besides Pevsner who I would want to work with.

 

Thanks for all your recommendations! So much to learn... 

[cosiva]

5 minutes ago, Epigenetics said:

Does anyone know how long the UCSF interview weekend is? All I've gotten is 2/24, and I'm wondering how long it is, because Berkeley's weekend is 2/26-28, and I'd like to hit both.

Also how amenable are programs to switching you to another weekend? I think (from this website at least) UCSF tetrad had a second interview weekend on 2/2, which I could 100% make. 

It's the 24-27, I believe. The other one is the 2/2-2/5.

Call Toni Hurley and talk to her about the potential conflict and she should be able to help you out. I recall that the 2nd day is the most important one because thats the interview day. The following days are encouraged but not mandatory, I believe. I had to change my weekend to 2/2 and she was very helpful.  

[ImmuGirl]

Does anyone know if all the Harvard DMS Immunology invites have been sent out yet?

[Epigenetics]

11 minutes ago, cosiva said:

It's the 24-27, I believe. The other one is the 2/2-2/5.

Call Toni Hurley and talk to her about the potential conflict and she should be able to help you out. I recall that the 2nd day is the most important one because thats the interview day. The following days are encouraged but not mandatory, I believe. I had to change my weekend to 2/2 and she was very helpful.  

Isn't the second day a Saturday then? 2/24-27 is Friday-Monday... I'm not 100% sure of this, I'm waiting bc UW Genome Sciences and UC Berkeley MCB have the same two sets of dates, so if I get the UW interview that'll preclude staying through Monday at UCSF. Don't want to be presumptuous, but I will contact her if/when I hear from UW. Thanks so much!

[cosiva]

10 minutes ago, Epigenetics said:

Isn't the second day a Saturday then? 2/24-27 is Friday-Monday... I'm not 100% sure of this, I'm waiting bc UW Genome Sciences and UC Berkeley MCB have the same two sets of dates, so if I get the UW interview that'll preclude staying through Monday at UCSF. Don't want to be presumptuous, but I will contact her if/when I hear from UW. Thanks so much!

Yeah, it's a Saturday ? and that sounds like a plan to me. I moved my weekend since it would conflict with Rockefeller, so I wanted to change it now just in case.

[Browncoat5871]

12 hours ago, spiffscience said:

Anyone on here other than me who applied to the Developmental/Stem Cell Bio program at UCSF?

I did as well. Anxiously waiting to hear back from...a lot of places. At least now there is a tentative date for invites. 

[lmb123]

1 hour ago, Epigenetics said:

Does anyone know about Stanford Biosciences admissions? It's my understanding that it's program-by-program, but I'm seeing a couple people have heard from them. Does anyone have intel on this? Thanks!

I got an email yesterday from the Micro and Immuno program and they specifically mentioned in their email that all the programs are on their own schedule, and many won't be sending invites until early next year

[spiffscience]

2 hours ago, Browncoat5871 said:

I did as well. Anxiously waiting to hear back from...a lot of places. At least now there is a tentative date for invites. 

Anxiety seems to be the uniting sentiment of everybody on here lol. At least my finals are over now so I can relax about that. Definitely post if you hear anything! Sending happy thoughts.

[haughtysauce007]

3 hours ago, blc073 said:

I love being in BBS. It was my top choice, and the interview weekend confirmed every expectation. We have a cohort of 75, so it is not hard to find a group of friends. 

The coursework is amazing. We are required to take 32 credits of courses: eight credits are required (BBS 230 and BBS 330), 24 credits are for electives. I can take courses through any science department at Harvard, MIT, Brown, and Tufts. The lecturers are all leaders in their fields: I've had lectures from George Daley, Phil Sharp, Bob Horvitz, David Altshuler, George Church, etc. Contrary to popular belief, the teaching here is amazing. 

Everyone in BBS is fully funded throughout their PhD. There is no question about funding. Everyone gets the same funding regardless of how long they have been here. In addition, the stipend for Harvard BBS is around $5k higher than the stipend at other Boston universities. 

The lab work here is outstanding. There are over 800 labs in which BBS students can work. I can work in the Harvard Quad, Beth Israel, MGH, Boston Children's, Brigham, Broad, Wyss, DFCI, Harvard College, etc. The lab work itself is what you make it. I've completed two rotations and I am currently in my third. My first was in yeast genetics. I told the PI that I was interested in autophagy, so I was put on a project looking at selective autophagy. The PI was always available to chat, but he really just left me alone with a grad student and we went to work. I set my schedule and got good work done. My second rotation was in cancer biology. I told the PI I wanted to look at metabolism in cancer, so I got put on my own independent project looking at the role of a specific pathway in breast cancer. Again, the PI could meet whenever, but I was independent with the guidance of a graduate student. My third rotation is at MGH working on the human genetics of neuropsychiatric disorders. My PI does several things, but I told him my interests and now I am on a project doing exactly what I said I wanted to do. In short, research here is incredibly independent with enough guidance to learn what you need to learn. Many PIs want to train graduate students, not use them for free labor. I feel like I am in an environment to learn how to be a scientist.

Many BBS graduate students do great things. I know one who is the senior scientific advisor at the White House. Another is in Bob Weinberg's lab. My PI is a Harvard graduate. I'm also on the executive board for the Harvard Biotechnology Club, and many of the speakers we bring in are BBS graduates. 

There are a lot of student clubs. I am always being invited to free events with free alcohol and food that are put on by other students. Student life here is great. Boston and Cambridge are also amazing cities with a lot of culture. 

But anyway, it doesn't sound like Harvard BBS is right for you, so good luck at Hopkins! 

This was very helpful - thanks for the details. Looking back I realize that this thread's focus isn't Harvard BBS so perhaps I should have started a particular thread to seek detailed information concerning Harvard BBS. 

But this is very helpful. I will of course have to decide which school is right for me after I go through interviews, get admitted, and perhaps go on a 2nd look to see. 

You shouldn't take things so personally BTW... If I can upset you, then you've got to get out more...

[haughtysauce007]

3 hours ago, Bioenchilada said:

Can you please not take over this thread with rambles? By this point, I would think that you'd know that generalizing is wrong and you should avoid doing it at all costs. Also, basing your opinion on inaccurate information and hearsay makes it rather weak and, some would say, wrong. 

lol

[geneticginger]

I'm still waiting to hear back from Duke UPGG and UNC BBSP. Some people have apparently gotten contacted from both of those programs and I'm wondering if I will get an interview invite. If I know professors from both of those programs (neither of them are on the admissions committees) should I contact them to ask if they know about if any more invites are being sent out or not?

[blc073]

40 minutes ago, kindsoul101 said:

This was very helpful - thanks for the details. Looking back I realize that this thread's focus isn't Harvard BBS so perhaps I should have started a particular thread to seek detailed information concerning Harvard BBS. 

But this is very helpful. I will of course have to decide which school is right for me after I go through interviews, get admitted, and perhaps go on a 2nd look to see. 

You shouldn't take things so personally BTW... If I can upset you, then you've got to get out more...

I think you are incredibly rude and arrogant. If you are this abrasive online, I am concerned how you will be in person. I sincerely hope you are able to adjust how you come across to people before you interview - interviewers at every institution will see right through any facade. 

[haughtysauce007]

Just now, blc073 said:

I think you are incredibly rude and arrogant. If you are this abrasive online, I am concerned how you will be in person. I sincerely hope you are able to adjust how you come across to people before you interview - interviewers at every institution will see right through any facade. 

I am rude for telling a peer not to take things so personally? Seriously? 

[nrps]

^he/she need some MILK

[biochemgirl67]

43 minutes ago, haughtysauce007 said:

I am rude for telling a peer not to take things so personally? Seriously? 

I've got one prescription... Chill pills for everyone.  For the sake of everything holy, you'll get detailed information on interview weekend.  And by the way, it's pretty true that at a certain level/caliber, the research and educational quality is equal across institutions.  A grad student at Hopkins is not guaranteed more or less success than one at Harvard.  Or Yale.  Or UCSF.  Or UPenn.  Or Rockefeller.  Or Weill-Cornell.  Or Stanford.  Or Emory.  Or Vanderbilt.  Or University of Washington.  Or several other schools.  Do you feel me yet?  So wait until interviews to assess your options.

 

 

 

Edited December 17, 2016 by biochemgirl67

[Hernandez22]

Hello!

 I applied to the P.h.D in Education program and the Rutgers Graduate of Education request my university to send official transcripts for the application process. The thing is, I was born and I live and Brazil and here universities do not send transcripts. They (my university) gave me a official transcript which I took to a certified translator and then, I uploaded through the "supporting materials" page. Do you think they might decline me because of my transcripts situation? Are they so "stricted" about it?

 

Thank you very much!

[biochemgirl67]

18 minutes ago, Hernandez22 said:

Hello!

 I applied to the P.h.D in Education program and the Rutgers Graduate of Education request my university to send official transcripts for the application process. The thing is, I was born and I live and Brazil and here universities do not send transcripts. They (my university) gave me a official transcript which I took to a certified translator and then, I uploaded through the "supporting materials" page. Do you think they might decline me because of my transcripts situation? Are they so "stricted" about it?

 

Thank you very much!

This is the biology forum.  But good luck regardless of discipline!

[blc073]

19 minutes ago, Hernandez22 said:

Hello!

 I applied to the P.h.D in Education program and the Rutgers Graduate of Education request my university to send official transcripts for the application process. The thing is, I was born and I live and Brazil and here universities do not send transcripts. They (my university) gave me a official transcript which I took to a certified translator and then, I uploaded through the "supporting materials" page. Do you think they might decline me because of my transcripts situation? Are they so "stricted" about it?

 

Thank you very much!

This forum is specific to biology, but you might have better luck here.

[Epigenetics]

Has anyone heard a date when the UW Genome Sciences may send invites? Don't see anything so far but it seems like years past it sent around now...