2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[SysEvo]

43 minutes ago, charmquarkz said:

Anybody applied to the Georgia Tech Biology PhD program? If so, has anyone heard back?

I applied to Gatech qBioS with my Biology be my host department. but the admission processes probably are different.

[charmquarkz]

8 minutes ago, SysEvo said:

I applied to Gatech qBioS with my Biology be my host department. but the admission processes probably are different.

Ah, yes I wonder if the process is different for the subtracks. I applied to EEB. There are some entries for just general Biology in the results section from previous years and it looks like the interview offers could come in a little later this month. Fingers crossed!

Edited January 19, 2017 by charmquarkz
Typo

[DesperadoBio]

I have only gotten one interview from my safe school among all five schools I applied to. I am assuming the rest of them will reject me because it is late January already.

I have a question for people applied in previous cycles: if your application results suck, what choices did you make? Did you quit the field permanently, find a lab technician job and work for a few more years, or go to the only school (your safety school) and spend five years there?

[cancergirl]

13 minutes ago, DesperadoBio said:

I have only gotten one interview from my safe school among all five schools I applied to. I am assuming the rest of them will reject me because it is late January already.

I have a question for people applied in previous cycles: if your application results suck, what choices did you make? Did you quit the field permanently, find a lab technician job and work for a few more years, or go to the only school (your safety school) and spend five years there?

what are the other schools?

[DesperadoBio]

9 minutes ago, cancergirl said:

what are the other schools?

Stanford, Rice, UCSD, and WashU.

WashU just rejected me actually.

[Epigenetics]

27 minutes ago, DesperadoBio said:

I have only gotten one interview from my safe school among all five schools I applied to. I am assuming the rest of them will reject me because it is late January already.

I have a question for people applied in previous cycles: if your application results suck, what choices did you make? Did you quit the field permanently, find a lab technician job and work for a few more years, or go to the only school (your safety school) and spend five years there?

I didn't apply out of undergrad because I did not want to go straight from undergrad to grad school. I would say get a research tech position and work in a lab full time, it's a completely different world from undergrad research and programs really care about your LOR and research experience, both of which will be aided by post-grad research experience.

[DesperadoBio]

11 minutes ago, Epigenetics said:

I didn't apply out of undergrad because I did not want to go straight from undergrad to grad school. I would say get a research tech position and work in a lab full time, it's a completely different world from undergrad research and programs really care about your LOR and research experience, both of which will be aided by post-grad research experience.

How many years did you do post-grad research? Did you do it in an industry setting or a university setting?

[cancergirl]

30 minutes ago, DesperadoBio said:

Stanford, Rice, UCSD, and WashU.

WashU just rejected me actually.

you should have applied to more schools..

[Epigenetics]

18 minutes ago, DesperadoBio said:

How many years did you do post-grad research? Did you do it in an industry setting or a university setting?

I've been working as a computational biologist for ~18months now. I was also lucky that my undergraduate research was completely independent, my professor pretty much gave me a project and said "do it". It's an academic setting.

[DesperadoBio]

38 minutes ago, cancergirl said:

you should have applied to more schools..

Yeah I kinda regret that now but I was having like the most volatile time when i applied because my research got scooped. I was also advised against applying to mor than 5 schools by my advisor in college. Also given my field is in plant bio there wasn't a lot of choices. 

I am currently thinking either quitting the field of life science becuase the application result shows that I am probably not good enough to stay in the field, or just quit plant biology and extend to other fields by finding a lab technician job,

[Epigenetics]

26 minutes ago, DesperadoBio said:

Yeah I kinda regret that now but I was having like the most volatile time when i applied because my research got scooped. I was also advised against applying to mor than 5 schools by my advisor in college. Also given my field is in plant bio there wasn't a lot of choices. 

I am currently thinking either quitting the field of life science becuase the application result shows that I am probably not good enough to stay in the field, or just quit plant biology and extend to other fields by finding a lab technician job,

Don't overinterpret one set of failures, the application process doesn't mean you aren't good enough, it can mean a lot of things. Getting more experience is always good, especially post-graduate, and you don't have to be committed to a field yet.

[Psyentist]

Just heard back from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, so excited! I applied right on the deadline Dec. 15, I was feeling kind of hopeless about that one because I saw so many people had interviews already.

Now I'm just waiting on CU-Boulder.. So happy rn

[abcd1]

Anyone here applied to the Purdue integrative life sciences (Pulse) program? Haven't heard anything from them and no one here seems to have gotten any invites.

 

[DesperadoBio]

1 hour ago, Epigenetics said:

Don't overinterpret one set of failures, the application process doesn't mean you aren't good enough, it can mean a lot of things. Getting more experience is always good, especially post-graduate, and you don't have to be committed to a field yet.

 

Thanks. It is just really hard because I spent every college summer in the United States to do research instead of flying home to spend time with my family. I am really tired.

[charmquarkz]

51 minutes ago, biowligist said:

Now I'm just waiting on CU-Boulder.. So happy rn

Did you apply to MCDB or another program?

[SysEvo]

5 hours ago, charmquarkz said:

Ah, yes I wonder if the process is different for the subtracks. I applied to EEB. There are some entries for just general Biology in the results section from previous years and it looks like the interview offers could come in a little later this month. Fingers crossed!

Good luck!

[BadWolf1321]

5 hours ago, DesperadoBio said:

I have only gotten one interview from my safe school among all five schools I applied to. I am assuming the rest of them will reject me because it is late January already.

I have a question for people applied in previous cycles: if your application results suck, what choices did you make? Did you quit the field permanently, find a lab technician job and work for a few more years, or go to the only school (your safety school) and spend five years there?

I can't speak from experience, but I'm pretty sure that if the only school I get accepted to is my safety school, I'm just going to work. I think I would be pretty miserable spending five to six years there. I'd work for a year, improve my application materials, and reapply next year. 

[Psyentist]

 

2 hours ago, charmquarkz said:

Did you apply to MCDB or another program?

Hey charmquarkz! I applied to the IQ Bio program with MCDB as my primary dept. of interest. I think they started reviewing after the new year. Do you know MCDB's interview dates by any chance? I know I can't make IQ bio's (feb 16-18) so I'll probably go to an MCDB weekend.. if I get one

[CoffeeFueledAnxiety]

2 hours ago, DesperadoBio said:

Thanks. It is just really hard because I spent every college summer in the United States to do research instead of flying home to spend time with my family. I am really tired.

The fact that you did all that tells me that you are dedicated and passionate about your field. I hope one application cycle failure won't make you let go of something you have spent your whole college years working on.

Regarding acceptance to safety school I am also still applying this cycle, but for me even if it is a safety school I have chosen to apply to that school because I know it would be one worth attending. I am sure you did not just choose a random program for your safety, either. I would totally attend my safety school if they accept me.

But then again, that's just me, if you decide that another year would give you enough boost to get into your dream school next year, then it might also worth the wait

[charmquarkz]

25 minutes ago, biowligist said:

 

Hey charmquarkz! I applied to the IQ Bio program with MCDB as my primary dept. of interest. I think they started reviewing after the new year. Do you know MCDB's interview dates by any chance? I know I can't make IQ bio's (feb 16-18) so I'll probably go to an MCDB weekend.. if I get one

Hey! Thanks for the info. I have no clue about the MCDB interview dates but would love to know! I've searched all over the website for an email contact so I could ask but no luck. Have you seen an email address by any chance?? I'll keep you posted if I find anything!

[Oddich55]

Acceptance to report!

University of Washington- biomedical informatics!

[L543]

Guess I'm giving up hope on Wisconsin biochem 

[Vee2111]

Undergrad Institution: medium-sized top tier research university
Major(s): Biology, Marine Science
Minor(s): Chem, Math
GPA in Major: 3.8
Overall GPA: 3.6
Position in Class: no idea
Type of Student: domestic female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 162
V: 162
W: 5.0


Research Experience: two semesters in one lab followed by 5 semesters+summers in chair of bio dept's lab, poster presentation at large national conference

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: member of relevant honor society, a bunch of grants and scholarships

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: leader of large outreach event on campus, executive board of another org

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: EMT-B certified, a bunch of SCUBA certs

Special Bonus Points: great relationship with PI from undergrad lab I worked in for five semesters who is also the chair and probably wrote a good letter

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: only applied to two grad programs but I have good relationships with both PIs and have corresponded a lot

Applying to Where:

Rutgers-Ecology and Evolution-PhD

Richard Gilder grad school-American Museum of Natural History-Comparative Biology-PhD

 

***I have been offered interviews for both and would really like to know if anyone has experience at either of these schools and how formal the interviews are and if there is a dress code I should know about***

   2

Edited January 20, 2017 by Vee2111

[AGradStudentHasNoName]

17 hours ago, Oddich55 said:

Acceptance to report!

University of Washington- biomedical informatics!

Congrats!

I also have an acceptance to report!

CMU computational biology!

[dresdencodak]

Just got my rejection email from Stanford Cancer Biology  Was expecting one since I didn't hear from them earlier when everyone else did so not too surprised.

Chances are looking slim now! But still hoping