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2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results


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On 6/1/2017 at 6:52 AM, abhisheks94 said:

Thanks a lot! I'll definitely do that. Did you reach out to any PIs before applying? Thanks!

I reached out to a few PIs, but I'm not sure it helped.  It definitely did solidify what I wanted to do though, and what types of projects I'd be interested in.  Before I interviewed though, a PI reached out to me though (before I knew I was even going to interview).

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Hello! I am a rising senior who is freaking out about PhD applications in the coming year (Fall 2018)... I'm not sure if there's a thread for the coming year yet, but I would really appreciate your opinion on my stats. I'm especially looking to see if my school list is good enough, and if I should have more/less middle-tier schools. I'd also really appreciate suggestions for middle-tier schools! I'm mainly interested in studying chromatin biology / epigenetics / stem cell and tissue engineering for my PhD. Thank you so much in advance!

Undergrad Institution: New York University Abu Dhabi, a recent branch of NYU that boasts 4% admit rate from 11,000+ applicants
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): -
GPA in Major: 3.85
Overall GPA: 3.92
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: International Asian Female

GRE Scores (revised/old version): Taking it this summer!

Research Experience: 

Summer 2016 on DNA Repair at NYU New York

Summer 2017 full-time (present), projected to be a year-long work on my Capstone thesis about nuclear myosin and nuclear reprogramming (doing high content screening, will be doing ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, etc.), possibility to publish paper based on this thesis

5 months research as the 2017 student leader on the NYUAD iGEM team (developing a device to detect E. coli in food using LAMP amplification methods)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Full scholarship for all 4 years at NYUAD

NYUAD does not do Dean's List, but projected to graduate with highest honors and NYU Founder's Day Award for my GPA

Awarded $5,000 NYUAD Research Funding, GNU Summer Undergraduate Research Program, NYU Dept. of Chemistry (2016)

Awarded $1,300 NYUAD Research Funding at NYUAD (2017)

Aiming for Gold Medal on the 2017 iGEM Synthetic Biology competition

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Third Place in Public Health Think Tank 2016, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2015 Communications Internship at Pfizer Africa Middle East (AfME), Dubai, UAE (way before I knew I wanted to do research)

Special Bonus Points: Southeast Asian female international student? I'm also the fifth graduating class at my school. My school is super young, and although it is affiliated with NYU, the fact that its students are thriving internationally shows its standards of excellence.


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

Mentorship Coordinator for Women Empowered in STEM at NYUAD

Volunteer for 2 years (3 years by the time I graduate) at the Abu Dhabi Science Festival for children 5-12 years old


Applying to Where:

Rockefeller

NYU Biology (looking at the Abu Dhabi fellowship as well)

Duke

UNC-Chapel Hill BBSP

UCSF Tetrad

UCSD

USC PIBBS

The Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research

CSHL Watson School of Biological Sciences 

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3 hours ago, mentarisemesta said:

Hello! I am a rising senior who is freaking out about PhD applications in the coming year (Fall 2018)... I'm not sure if there's a thread for the coming year yet, but I would really appreciate your opinion on my stats. I'm especially looking to see if my school list is good enough, and if I should have more/less middle-tier schools. I'd also really appreciate suggestions for middle-tier schools! I'm mainly interested in studying chromatin biology / epigenetics / stem cell and tissue engineering for my PhD. Thank you so much in advance!

Undergrad Institution: New York University Abu Dhabi, a recent branch of NYU that boasts 4% admit rate from 11,000+ applicants
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): -
GPA in Major: 3.85
Overall GPA: 3.92
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: International Asian Female

GRE Scores (revised/old version): Taking it this summer!

Research Experience: 

Summer 2016 on DNA Repair at NYU New York

Summer 2017 full-time (present), projected to be a year-long work on my Capstone thesis about nuclear myosin and nuclear reprogramming (doing high content screening, will be doing ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, etc.), possibility to publish paper based on this thesis

5 months research as the 2017 student leader on the NYUAD iGEM team (developing a device to detect E. coli in food using LAMP amplification methods)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Full scholarship for all 4 years at NYUAD

NYUAD does not do Dean's List, but projected to graduate with highest honors and NYU Founder's Day Award for my GPA

Awarded $5,000 NYUAD Research Funding, GNU Summer Undergraduate Research Program, NYU Dept. of Chemistry (2016)

Awarded $1,300 NYUAD Research Funding at NYUAD (2017)

Aiming for Gold Medal on the 2017 iGEM Synthetic Biology competition

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Third Place in Public Health Think Tank 2016, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2015 Communications Internship at Pfizer Africa Middle East (AfME), Dubai, UAE (way before I knew I wanted to do research)

Special Bonus Points: Southeast Asian female international student? I'm also the fifth graduating class at my school. My school is super young, and although it is affiliated with NYU, the fact that its students are thriving internationally shows its standards of excellence.


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

Mentorship Coordinator for Women Empowered in STEM at NYUAD

Volunteer for 2 years (3 years by the time I graduate) at the Abu Dhabi Science Festival for children 5-12 years old


Applying to Where:

Rockefeller

NYU Biology (looking at the Abu Dhabi fellowship as well)

Duke

UNC-Chapel Hill BBSP

UCSF Tetrad

UCSD

USC PIBBS

The Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research

CSHL Watson School of Biological Sciences 

As a former PhD student in an excellent science program whose adviser was chair of the program, I can say that your stats and research experience look very strong. But your field tends to get a lot of applicants, and you will have a lot of competition. Therefore, it's extra crucial that you don't skimp on your statements and letters of recommendation. Get killer letters from tenured faculty who've seen your research, know where you stand academically, know the standards and conventions of writing a decent letter, and who are known in the field or at least are active and well-respected in the community. And make sure to bring attention to your research in your statement of purpose.

Provided that you work hard on your application and check your statements over with professors who've been on admissions committees in the past, I don't think you'll be denied admission based on your qualifications alone. The main issue is how many slots they have and how many are applying. I'd even venture to say that you might stand a better chance of getting into a more prestigious but larger program than a less prestigious but smaller program. I think you've got a good list and a good mix there. Good luck on your application!

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On 6/6/2017 at 11:38 PM, ThousandsHardships said:

As a former PhD student in an excellent science program whose adviser was chair of the program, I can say that your stats and research experience look very strong. But your field tends to get a lot of applicants, and you will have a lot of competition. Therefore, it's extra crucial that you don't skimp on your statements and letters of recommendation. Get killer letters from tenured faculty who've seen your research, know where you stand academically, know the standards and conventions of writing a decent letter, and who are known in the field or at least are active and well-respected in the community. And make sure to bring attention to your research in your statement of purpose.

Provided that you work hard on your application and check your statements over with professors who've been on admissions committees in the past, I don't think you'll be denied admission based on your qualifications alone. The main issue is how many slots they have and how many are applying. I'd even venture to say that you might stand a better chance of getting into a more prestigious but larger program than a less prestigious but smaller program. I think you've got a good list and a good mix there. Good luck on your application!

Thank you so much for your answer! Do you have examples of these prestigious but larger programs that I should look into?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi all. I couldn't find a page for 2018 yet, so I thought I'd tack on my stats here. I am starting to look for programs to apply to in the fall and was wondering if Stanford Biosciences and UCSF Tetrad would be a stretch. Let me know what y'all think. Thank you!

 

Undergrad Institution: Top state school in California 
Major(s): Biochemistry
Minor(s): NA
GPA in Major: 3.93
Overall GPA: 3.94
Position in Class: top 5%
Type of Student: domestic, white male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
I am taking a GRE prep course this summer and will take the GRE at the end of the summer. 
 

Research Experience: 

Amgen Scholar at UCLA for the summer in cancer biology and metabolism. Several poster presentations.

Two years at my home institution in natural products chemistry. No publications, but I did a couple poster presentations and won a research award. 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Undergraduate Research Award - American Society of Pharmacognosy

Outstanding First Year Biochemistry Student and Award in Computational Chemistry (home institution) 

Chemistry Faculty Scholarship at my home institution

Dean's List all three years.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

RA for two years.

TA for general chemistry (multiple quarters)

Grader for biochemistry 

Special Bonus Points:  I'm trilingual. 
 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Letter of rec from UCLA mentor in Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology

Two letters of rec from home institution (one of them is my research advisor; she did her Postdoc at Stanford if that means anything)
 

Applying to Where:

Stanford - Biosciences - Biochemistry
UCSF - Tetrad - BMB
UCLA - Biosciences - Cancer biology 

More to come, these are just reach schools I am curious about. 

   3
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  • 2 weeks later...

Undergrad Institution: A "public ivy" in California
Major(s): Neurobiology
Minor(s): Professional Writing
GPA in Major: 3.2
Overall GPA: 3.4
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: domestic, white female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Just took it, still waiting for AW and percentiles
V: 162
Q: 159
 

Research Experience: 

4 years, 3 labs:
2 summers and the past year in a neuroscience/stem cell lab with a world renowned stem cell scientist
2 years in college at my undergrad university in developmental neuroscience/biochemistry - included a mini-thesis project
3 months at the NIH in a neurogenetics lab

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Community Service Award


Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

1 year at a KO mouse core

I don't know about pertinent, but...
3 years volunteer at a homeless shelter (exposure to mental illness)


Special Bonus Points: 

3 publications so far, 1 as second author. Expect another 2-3 in the next year or so, possibly a first author publication.

Presented a poster at an undergraduate research conference and will be presenting another poster at SfN this year.

My current PI will definitely write me a killer letter of rec.
 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
I have 5-7 people who I could have write a letter of rec - not sure who I'll ask yet. Mixture of professors and PIs.

My GPA isn't great, but it greatly improved during my last 2 years (straight A's my last year).

 

Applying to Where:

Northwestern

University of Washington

University of Pennsylvania

Boston University

Planning on applying to 6-8, but haven't finalized the list yet.

 

How screwed am I?

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Can anyone advise on my list for neuroscience PhD programs Fall 2018? Too ambitious for my resume? Plan on trimming a couple of the programs. Looking to do neuroimmune research. 

 

Undergrad Institution: University of Maryland
Major(s): General Biology
Minor(s): Neuroscience
GPA in Major: not sure
Overall GPA: 3.40
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: domestic, caucasian male 

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
V: 158
Q: 161

W: 4
 

Research Experience: 

2 years as a volunteer/class credit at a neuroplasticity lab on campus.

Intern for summer at AstraZeneca subsidiary doing autoimmune research (1 publication non first author, in Science translational med). Continued part time for senior year of college.

1+ year (currently employed) as a full time research assistant in a neuroimmunology lab at University of Texas MD anderson cancer center, with 3 well-known PIs in the field (1 publication currently, 2 more in prep. 2 more posters/abstracts). 

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 


Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

See experience.


Special Bonus Points: 
 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Will be getting a very strong letter of rec from my internship, and then 3 from my current job (one from a PI, 2 from Post docs who I work closely with daily and should write glowing reviews)

 

Applying to Where:

Ohio State University

University of Pennsylvania

Illionois Urbana

Oregon Health and Science University

Miami University

Columbia University

University of Chicago

Georgetown University

University of Virginia

West Virginia University

University of California-Davis

 

 

 

 

Edited by Philsgross
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On 6/22/2017 at 4:42 PM, TLNCP said:

Hi all. I couldn't find a page for 2018 yet, so I thought I'd tack on my stats here. I am starting to look for programs to apply to in the fall and was wondering if Stanford Biosciences and UCSF Tetrad would be a stretch. Let me know what y'all think. Thank you!

 

Undergrad Institution: Top state school in California 
Major(s): Biochemistry
Minor(s): NA
GPA in Major: 3.93
Overall GPA: 3.94
Position in Class: top 5%
Type of Student: domestic, white male

With your stats, I think you're a competitive applicant as long as you score decently on the GRE.

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12 hours ago, Philsgross said:

Can anyone advise on my list for neuroscience PhD programs Fall 2018? Too ambitious for my resume? Plan on trimming a couple of the programs. Looking to do neuroimmune research. 

 

Undergrad Institution: University of Maryland
Major(s): General Biology
Minor(s): Neuroscience
GPA in Major: not sure
Overall GPA: 3.40
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: domestic, caucasian male 

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
V: 158
Q: 161

W: 4
 

Research Experience: 

2 years as a volunteer/class credit at a neuroplasticity lab on campus.

Intern for summer at AstraZeneca subsidiary doing autoimmune research (1 publication non first author, in Science translational med). Continued part time for senior year of college.

1+ year (currently employed) as a full time research assistant in a neuroimmunology lab at University of Texas MD anderson cancer center, with 3 well-known PIs in the field (1 publication currently, 2 more in prep. 2 more posters/abstracts). 

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 


Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

See experience.


Special Bonus Points: 
 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Will be getting a very strong letter of rec from my internship, and then 3 from my current job (one from a PI, 2 from Post docs who I work closely with daily and should write glowing reviews)

 

Applying to Where:

Ohio State University

University of Pennsylvania

Illionois Urbana

Oregon Health and Science University

Miami University

Columbia University

University of Chicago

Georgetown University

University of Virginia

West Virginia University

University of California-Davis

 

 

 

 

I think you have a pretty diverse list of potential schools. Your stats, though your GPA is not that great, are pretty strong since you have a lot of experience, have publications, and will (hopefully) get really good letters from the PIs you have worked with. I would be surprised if you didn't get a couple of offers; however, I must warn you that Neurobiology programs, as opposed to umbrella programs, tend to be smaller and more competitive, so I would keep that in mind. 

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13 hours ago, Philsgross said:

Can anyone advise on my list for neuroscience PhD programs Fall 2018? Too ambitious for my resume? Plan on trimming a couple of the programs. Looking to do neuroimmune research. 

 

Undergrad Institution: University of Maryland
Major(s): General Biology
Minor(s): Neuroscience
GPA in Major: not sure
Overall GPA: 3.40
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: domestic, caucasian male 

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
V: 158
Q: 161

W: 4
 

Research Experience: 

2 years as a volunteer/class credit at a neuroplasticity lab on campus.

Intern for summer at AstraZeneca subsidiary doing autoimmune research (1 publication non first author, in Science translational med). Continued part time for senior year of college.

1+ year (currently employed) as a full time research assistant in a neuroimmunology lab at University of Texas MD anderson cancer center, with 3 well-known PIs in the field (1 publication currently, 2 more in prep. 2 more posters/abstracts). 

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 


Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

See experience.


Special Bonus Points: 
 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
Will be getting a very strong letter of rec from my internship, and then 3 from my current job (one from a PI, 2 from Post docs who I work closely with daily and should write glowing reviews)

 

Applying to Where:

Ohio State University

University of Pennsylvania

Illionois Urbana

Oregon Health and Science University

Miami University

Columbia University

University of Chicago

Georgetown University

University of Virginia

West Virginia University

University of California-Davis

 

 

 

 

I think you should be ok, your numeric stats aren't the greatest but your research experience and LOR should compensate. A strong and targeted SOP/PS will also help you and will help alleviate any worries about the lower stats. As bioenchilada said, neurobio programs tend to be pretty competitive so I would try to keep the prestige diversity you currently have. If you trim schools off the list keep that in mind. 

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On 7/2/2017 at 1:01 PM, BabyScientist said:

Undergrad Institution: A "public ivy" in California
Major(s): Neurobiology
Minor(s): Professional Writing
GPA in Major: 3.2
Overall GPA: 3.4
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: domestic, white female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Just took it, still waiting for AW and percentiles
V: 162
Q: 159
 

Research Experience: 

4 years, 3 labs:
2 summers and the past year in a neuroscience/stem cell lab with a world renowned stem cell scientist
2 years in college at my undergrad university in developmental neuroscience/biochemistry - included a mini-thesis project
3 months at the NIH in a neurogenetics lab

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Community Service Award


Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

1 year at a KO mouse core

I don't know about pertinent, but...
3 years volunteer at a homeless shelter (exposure to mental illness)


Special Bonus Points: 

3 publications so far, 1 as second author. Expect another 2-3 in the next year or so, possibly a first author publication.

Presented a poster at an undergraduate research conference and will be presenting another poster at SfN this year.

My current PI will definitely write me a killer letter of rec.
 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:
I have 5-7 people who I could have write a letter of rec - not sure who I'll ask yet. Mixture of professors and PIs.

My GPA isn't great, but it greatly improved during my last 2 years (straight A's my last year).

 

Applying to Where:

Northwestern

University of Washington

University of Pennsylvania

Boston University

Planning on applying to 6-8, but haven't finalized the list yet.

 

How screwed am I?

GRE score edit:

Q: 159 - 73rd percentile
V: 162 - 91st percentile
AW: 4.5 - 82nd percentile

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Hey! First time posting on this. Wondering if anyone could give me their thoughts/opinions/feedback on my stats and ambitions (probably aiming way too high?!). I want to do a pathology/experimental medicine PhD program. :) 

Undergrad Institution: large public research university
Major(s): Microbiology; Genomics and Molecular Genetics (double major)
GPA in Major: not sure
Overall GPA: 3.72
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: domestic multiracial female

GRE Scores: taking in September!

Research Experience: 

1 semester volunteering in a soil microbiology lab

1 semester in a genetic engineering lab

1 year in an epidemiology lab. Where I did my senior project and getting a third author publication out of it.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Full-ride scholarship for undergrad

Dean’s List for all of undergrad

First Place Award from presenting senior project in University Research Forum

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Interned at state public health department

Currently working at an ivy league university (TA and research)

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

Letters of recs coming from PI, director of undergrad research, and senior seminar prof

Applying to Where: dreaming big, ya know? I’m waiting until I have my GRE scores to whittle the list down to 10, but please let me know if there are any obvious outliers.

University of Pennsylvania

Columbia

University of Virginia

Baylor College of Medicine

Emory

Harvard

Stanford

University of Colorado

University of Michigan

UNC

University of Pittsburg

University of Maryland

Dartmouth

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 6/6/2017 at 11:30 PM, mentarisemesta said:

Hello! I am a rising senior who is freaking out about PhD applications in the coming year (Fall 2018)... I'm not sure if there's a thread for the coming year yet, but I would really appreciate your opinion on my stats. I'm especially looking to see if my school list is good enough, and if I should have more/less middle-tier schools. I'd also really appreciate suggestions for middle-tier schools! I'm mainly interested in studying chromatin biology / epigenetics / stem cell and tissue engineering for my PhD. Thank you so much in advance!

Undergrad Institution: New York University Abu Dhabi, a recent branch of NYU that boasts 4% admit rate from 11,000+ applicants
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): -
GPA in Major: 3.85
Overall GPA: 3.92
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: International Asian Female

GRE Scores (revised/old version): Taking it this summer!

Research Experience: 

Summer 2016 on DNA Repair at NYU New York

Summer 2017 full-time (present), projected to be a year-long work on my Capstone thesis about nuclear myosin and nuclear reprogramming (doing high content screening, will be doing ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, etc.), possibility to publish paper based on this thesis

5 months research as the 2017 student leader on the NYUAD iGEM team (developing a device to detect E. coli in food using LAMP amplification methods)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Full scholarship for all 4 years at NYUAD

NYUAD does not do Dean's List, but projected to graduate with highest honors and NYU Founder's Day Award for my GPA

Awarded $5,000 NYUAD Research Funding, GNU Summer Undergraduate Research Program, NYU Dept. of Chemistry (2016)

Awarded $1,300 NYUAD Research Funding at NYUAD (2017)

Aiming for Gold Medal on the 2017 iGEM Synthetic Biology competition

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Third Place in Public Health Think Tank 2016, Abu Dhabi, UAE

2015 Communications Internship at Pfizer Africa Middle East (AfME), Dubai, UAE (way before I knew I wanted to do research)

Special Bonus Points: Southeast Asian female international student? I'm also the fifth graduating class at my school. My school is super young, and although it is affiliated with NYU, the fact that its students are thriving internationally shows its standards of excellence.


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

Mentorship Coordinator for Women Empowered in STEM at NYUAD

Volunteer for 2 years (3 years by the time I graduate) at the Abu Dhabi Science Festival for children 5-12 years old


Applying to Where:

Rockefeller

NYU Biology (looking at the Abu Dhabi fellowship as well)

Duke

UNC-Chapel Hill BBSP

UCSF Tetrad

UCSD

USC PIBBS

The Graduate School of the Stowers Institute for Medical Research

CSHL Watson School of Biological Sciences 

One concern I have is the length of your research experience. Before you submit your application this December, you'll have one 3-month summer research, one ~6-month thesis research, and one 5-month iGEM project. None of these can be counted as "significant" in terms of length. Do you think you understand these projects very well, be able to write about them in depth in your SOP, and get great letters from your mentors? If so, you're probably good to go. The rest of your profile is solid. 

For your school selection, I would simply cross off UCSF Tetrad unless you can secure ur own funding, since they rarely take any international students. UCSD has limited spots for international students so it can get very competitive too. 

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  • 1 month later...

Hey guys, 

I posted my profile before but have a couple questions and updates.. I'm planning on applying this coming cycle - fall 2018. 

Any and all help would be super duper appreciated!! - thanks in advance 

 

Undergrad Institution: University of Texas at Austin graduated this past may 2017

Major(s): Public Health Infectious Diseases

Minor(s): none

GPA in Major: 3.6

Overall GPA: 3.55 (4.0 in my last semester) 

Position in Class: top quarter? I'm not sure. 

Type of Student: domestic, male, LGBT

GRE Scores (New):

Q: 151 (51st) :,(

V: 157 (76th)

W: 4.5 (82nd)

So this is the second GRE i've taken and I know my quant score is low, I really, really struggle at math. But is it too low where schools will filter out my application by that statistic? Should I retake it again?

I have taken the MCAT and scored at the 87th percentile on the "Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems". - i know it's MCAT and i don't know if graduate schools even care about it, but it's there.  

 

Research Experience: 

Behavioral neuroscience lab for 3+ years that investigates rehabilitation in animal models (rat and mouse models) after ischemia to the motor cortex. The lab does a lot of studies into vasculature and dendritic spine recovery during neurorehabilitation and neuralrepair after infarct. so it's much more neuro oriented than the "behavior" part. 

I just finished the draft of my manuscript and submitted it to my PI for review. Our goal is to submit it for publicaiton soon, we have a journal in mind and one that she has a good history with. For the same research, I presented it at the Clinically Applied Rehabilitation Engineering symposium at my university. I was also one of five abstracts selected to present orally at the American Society for Neurorehabilitation annual meeting in san diego. co-poster presentation at the society for neuroscience annaul meeting, also in san diego. 

I just graduated from UT this past may and in my gap year I'm currently hired on as a microbiologist (class: II) at the Texas Department of State Health Services in a survelliance Arbovirus lab in Austin, Texas. I work with Zika, Dengue, Chikunguna, WEE, EEE, and West Nile virus. A lot of the work I do is along side people who are 10-15 years older than me that hold Masters and PhD's in the field - to give you perspective. We do RT-PCR and a combination of cellular work to survey for these viruses. 

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

like dean's list once or twice and I got an honors scholarship ($1000) at the end of my freshman year. 

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

-TA for Genetics for 2 semester, I got really good reviews from the students course-instructor surveys at the end of it. 

-clincial observership program at MD Anderson in houston for 1 summer. I did rotations in leukemia and surgery. This was mostly for when I was pre-med so idk how pertinent this is for grad school. 

 

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

I was an officer and team captain of the Polo team at my school. it's just a fun thing i did on the side. 

I have a significant amount of community service in a couple different organizations. 

 

Special Bonus Points: being gay? it's 2017 and idk if it counts for anything anymore. I probabbly won't "declare" this on the app specifically unnless there is a specific part where they might ask. 

I'll also have a very strong rec letter from the PI that i work for.

 

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

I had to Q drop two classes but I can explain my way through those. I got a C+ in calculus. I can't do math to save my life SOS. 

 

Applying to Where:

Looking into applying at the molecular virology/microbiology programs at these schools. 

- weill cornell 

- columbia 

- NYU biology 

- NYU sackler (anyone know what the pro's and con's are of doing a traditional university based Ph.D. or one at a med school? I'm assuming the clinically applied research there?) 

- baylor college of medicine 

- UT Health Science Center Houston 

maybe UTMB galveston. 

 

So in short, does my GRE quant score stick out too much? is it going to be a deal breaker? I know there are cut offs and I won't be as competitive but is my score lethal? :( 

 

Baylor, Columbia, and cornell are dream schools but now with my GRE I don't know if I can get there anymore... 

 

Let me know what you guys think, thanks for for time, 

OT

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On 8/28/2017 at 4:03 PM, strugglebus2k17 said:

Hey guys, 

I posted my profile before but have a couple questions and updates.. I'm planning on applying this coming cycle - fall 2018. 

Any and all help would be super duper appreciated!! - thanks in advance 

 

Undergrad Institution: University of Texas at Austin graduated this past may 2017

Major(s): Public Health Infectious Diseases

Minor(s): none

GPA in Major: 3.6

Overall GPA: 3.55 (4.0 in my last semester) 

Position in Class: top quarter? I'm not sure. 

Type of Student: domestic, male, LGBT

GRE Scores (New):

Q: 151 (51st) :,(

V: 157 (76th)

W: 4.5 (82nd)

So this is the second GRE i've taken and I know my quant score is low, I really, really struggle at math. But is it too low where schools will filter out my application by that statistic? Should I retake it again?

I have taken the MCAT and scored at the 87th percentile on the "Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems". - i know it's MCAT and i don't know if graduate schools even care about it, but it's there.  

 

Research Experience: 

Behavioral neuroscience lab for 3+ years that investigates rehabilitation in animal models (rat and mouse models) after ischemia to the motor cortex. The lab does a lot of studies into vasculature and dendritic spine recovery during neurorehabilitation and neuralrepair after infarct. so it's much more neuro oriented than the "behavior" part. 

I just finished the draft of my manuscript and submitted it to my PI for review. Our goal is to submit it for publicaiton soon, we have a journal in mind and one that she has a good history with. For the same research, I presented it at the Clinically Applied Rehabilitation Engineering symposium at my university. I was also one of five abstracts selected to present orally at the American Society for Neurorehabilitation annual meeting in san diego. co-poster presentation at the society for neuroscience annaul meeting, also in san diego. 

I just graduated from UT this past may and in my gap year I'm currently hired on as a microbiologist (class: II) at the Texas Department of State Health Services in a survelliance Arbovirus lab in Austin, Texas. I work with Zika, Dengue, Chikunguna, WEE, EEE, and West Nile virus. A lot of the work I do is along side people who are 10-15 years older than me that hold Masters and PhD's in the field - to give you perspective. We do RT-PCR and a combination of cellular work to survey for these viruses. 

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

like dean's list once or twice and I got an honors scholarship ($1000) at the end of my freshman year. 

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

-TA for Genetics for 2 semester, I got really good reviews from the students course-instructor surveys at the end of it. 

-clincial observership program at MD Anderson in houston for 1 summer. I did rotations in leukemia and surgery. This was mostly for when I was pre-med so idk how pertinent this is for grad school. 

 

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

I was an officer and team captain of the Polo team at my school. it's just a fun thing i did on the side. 

I have a significant amount of community service in a couple different organizations. 

 

Special Bonus Points: being gay? it's 2017 and idk if it counts for anything anymore. I probabbly won't "declare" this on the app specifically unnless there is a specific part where they might ask. 

I'll also have a very strong rec letter from the PI that i work for.

 

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

I had to Q drop two classes but I can explain my way through those. I got a C+ in calculus. I can't do math to save my life SOS. 

 

Applying to Where:

Looking into applying at the molecular virology/microbiology programs at these schools. 

- weill cornell 

- columbia 

- NYU biology 

- NYU sackler (anyone know what the pro's and con's are of doing a traditional university based Ph.D. or one at a med school? I'm assuming the clinically applied research there?) 

- baylor college of medicine 

- UT Health Science Center Houston 

maybe UTMB galveston. 

 

So in short, does my GRE quant score stick out too much? is it going to be a deal breaker? I know there are cut offs and I won't be as competitive but is my score lethal? :( 

 

Baylor, Columbia, and cornell are dream schools but now with my GRE I don't know if I can get there anymore... 

 

Let me know what you guys think, thanks for for time, 

OT

 

I think you are correct in your assessment that your GRE is the biggest thing holding you back. If there's anything you could do to bring that quantitative score up, even if it means dishing out $500 for one of those Kaplan classes, I think it would be worth it. I say that because your research experience is really solid and your PI (I also went to UT and I think I know who you are talking about) is going to have a very weighty letter. Other than that quantitative score, I don't see any reason why you wouldn't get into some of those programs you mentioned as dream schools. 

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On 8/28/2017 at 5:03 PM, strugglebus2k17 said:

Hey guys, 

I posted my profile before but have a couple questions and updates.. I'm planning on applying this coming cycle - fall 2018. 

Any and all help would be super duper appreciated!! - thanks in advance 

 

Undergrad Institution: University of Texas at Austin graduated this past may 2017

Major(s): Public Health Infectious Diseases

Minor(s): none

GPA in Major: 3.6

Overall GPA: 3.55 (4.0 in my last semester) 

Position in Class: top quarter? I'm not sure. 

Type of Student: domestic, male, LGBT

GRE Scores (New):

Q: 151 (51st) :,(

V: 157 (76th)

W: 4.5 (82nd)

So this is the second GRE i've taken and I know my quant score is low, I really, really struggle at math. But is it too low where schools will filter out my application by that statistic? Should I retake it again?

I have taken the MCAT and scored at the 87th percentile on the "Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems". - i know it's MCAT and i don't know if graduate schools even care about it, but it's there.  

 

Research Experience: 

Behavioral neuroscience lab for 3+ years that investigates rehabilitation in animal models (rat and mouse models) after ischemia to the motor cortex. The lab does a lot of studies into vasculature and dendritic spine recovery during neurorehabilitation and neuralrepair after infarct. so it's much more neuro oriented than the "behavior" part. 

I just finished the draft of my manuscript and submitted it to my PI for review. Our goal is to submit it for publicaiton soon, we have a journal in mind and one that she has a good history with. For the same research, I presented it at the Clinically Applied Rehabilitation Engineering symposium at my university. I was also one of five abstracts selected to present orally at the American Society for Neurorehabilitation annual meeting in san diego. co-poster presentation at the society for neuroscience annaul meeting, also in san diego. 

I just graduated from UT this past may and in my gap year I'm currently hired on as a microbiologist (class: II) at the Texas Department of State Health Services in a survelliance Arbovirus lab in Austin, Texas. I work with Zika, Dengue, Chikunguna, WEE, EEE, and West Nile virus. A lot of the work I do is along side people who are 10-15 years older than me that hold Masters and PhD's in the field - to give you perspective. We do RT-PCR and a combination of cellular work to survey for these viruses. 

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

like dean's list once or twice and I got an honors scholarship ($1000) at the end of my freshman year. 

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

-TA for Genetics for 2 semester, I got really good reviews from the students course-instructor surveys at the end of it. 

-clincial observership program at MD Anderson in houston for 1 summer. I did rotations in leukemia and surgery. This was mostly for when I was pre-med so idk how pertinent this is for grad school. 

 

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

I was an officer and team captain of the Polo team at my school. it's just a fun thing i did on the side. 

I have a significant amount of community service in a couple different organizations. 

 

Special Bonus Points: being gay? it's 2017 and idk if it counts for anything anymore. I probabbly won't "declare" this on the app specifically unnless there is a specific part where they might ask. 

I'll also have a very strong rec letter from the PI that i work for.

 

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

I had to Q drop two classes but I can explain my way through those. I got a C+ in calculus. I can't do math to save my life SOS. 

 

Applying to Where:

Looking into applying at the molecular virology/microbiology programs at these schools. 

- weill cornell 

- columbia 

- NYU biology 

- NYU sackler (anyone know what the pro's and con's are of doing a traditional university based Ph.D. or one at a med school? I'm assuming the clinically applied research there?) 

- baylor college of medicine 

- UT Health Science Center Houston 

maybe UTMB galveston. 

 

So in short, does my GRE quant score stick out too much? is it going to be a deal breaker? I know there are cut offs and I won't be as competitive but is my score lethal? :( 

 

Baylor, Columbia, and cornell are dream schools but now with my GRE I don't know if I can get there anymore... 

 

Let me know what you guys think, thanks for for time, 

OT

 

I think you should definitely retake the GRE at a minimum and see if you cant get your quant score up even a little bit. I think even 3 or four points would make a lot of difference in that regard. That being said, I am not familiar with what the curriculum looks like for an infectious diseases BS, and I know grad committees look at that as well, so while your gpa is high enough for some of the schools you listed, I wonder if an equivalent gpa but in a more focused degree e.g. biochem, chem etc. would be more heavily weighted. All of this being said I do think Weill, Baylor, and Columbia might be a reach. I definitely think you should still apply to all three however, because there is a lot of chance to this whole process and if they are you're dream schools you could definitely still get into one of them. I do think you should have a few more mid-range programs on your list as well. 

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  • 1 month later...

Hello! I am a student from the Philippines that wishes to see where he can reach with his current credentials. I'm not too familiar with the landscape in the US, and I hope that some of you can offer me a hand in my decision-making. Specifically, I would like to find out how far my credentials will go from the context of a 3rd world country that, clearly,  isn't really the best in research.

Undergrad Institution: University of the Philippines Diliman - (foremost research university in the Philippines)
Major(s): Molecular Biology
Minor(s): -
GPA in Major: ~3.85 (we use a 1 to 5 scale and there is really no clear cut conversion from that system to the 4.0 system used in the US)
Overall GPA: ~3.85
Position in Class: Second
Type of Student: International Asian Male


GRE Scores (revised/old version):

V: 160

Q: 166

AW: 5.5



Research Experience: 

Worked for 2 years in a laboratory inside our institute, one year as an apprentice and another as a full-fledged thesis student


Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

Phi Sigma Biological Honors Society Student of the Year - highest GPA/GWA of all Biology/Biology-related undergraduates in the country.

An unheard-of award given to the top 2 students in a batch.

summa cum laude - top 30 in the entire undergraduate graduating batch of ~3600 students

Consistent dean's lister throughout undergrad

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 
N/A -very worried how this will impact my application


Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

N/A

Special Bonus Points: Southeast Asian male. I'm not sure how much this matters though. One of my professors tell me that some universities give some priority to international students but i'm not sure how far that will get me. 


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

Member of an organization that aims to promote molecular biology to the country. Actively helped in events that pertains to this goal.

May also get a recommendation from our institute director/head


Applying to Where:

Boston University

NYU Biology (looking at the Abu Dhabi fellowship as well)

University of Michigan Ann Arbor

Columbia University

Baylor College of Medicine

NYU

 

Can anyone tell me if these universities are huge reaches? I'm well aware of my disadvantage, coming from a country not very developed in research, so I would really appreciate honest opinions on where I stand with regards to competitiveness and the universities I will have a better chance with. Thank you so much!

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi All, 

I planning to apply for the fall 2018 cycle of application to various chemistry programs (synthetic organic).  I trying to apply to top tier US schools but I'm worried that I'm reaching too high and was just wondering what you guys think are my chances, who have gone through the application cycle or who are going through it.

 

Undergrad Institution: University of Toronto

Major(s): Double major Chemistry and Biochemistry

Minor(s): none

GPA in Major: 3.95

Overall GPA: 3.92 

Position in Class: top 5-10% I think but not sure

Type of Student: canadian, female

GRE Scores (New):

Q:  165 (89th)

V:  164 (94th)

W: 6 (99th)

 

Research Experience: 

2nd year research project in an inorganic lab

Summer after 2nd year in an organic lab doing methodology (funded by an NSERC USRA) a Canadian grant for undergrads to do research over the summer, not sure what the american equivalent is

Summer after 3rd year in an organic lab again methodology catalysis focused (funded by NSERC agian)

Completing an undergraduate thesis right now, same lab as summer after 2nd year but working on more of a biological application of a project

Total about 3 years research experience in three different labs

I have presented posters twice for the NSERC awards within the university

*No publications or conference presentations, this is what I'm really worried about*

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

NSERCs mentioned before, a scholarship every year in undergrad for deans list, some other awards within the university to fund research, a travel grant, a couple of athletic awards  for academic atheletes as well as skilled based athletic awards

 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Employed by two different universities as a tutor for chemistry and biochemistry

Peer mentor for first year students

 

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Played on a varsity team for 2 years, captained a basketball team all four years of undergrad

Should have two strong letters of recomendation and one decent one

 

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

I did well in all the organic courses?

 

Applying to Where:

Looking into applying to chemistry at

- Harvard

- MIT

- Caltech

- Stanford 

- Scripps

- U of T or other Canadian schools as safety

So basically do I have a chance at these top programs without publications or real conference presentations?  I think my statement of purpose will be fairly strong and tailored to each school, I know who I want to work with at each of these places

 

Let me know what you guys think...

Many thanks

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