2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[Pepperoni]

20 hours ago, MCF10A said:

No. Absolute silence from the Windy City. But the Penn skype interview actually gives me some hope on UChicago. Maybe UChicago cancer bio will review the whole intl pool and send out skype interviews later (just as UPenn did)? There's hope!

yea no idea...I'm international but live and study in the USA, so I'm not sure what I'm considered as for their purposes

[SysEvo]

14 hours ago, desmond.bo said:

Pat pat. I guess it's alright since you're moving forward to MIT, Galtech or somewhere even better. It would not be a big deal even if he really damages your final score. Just wanna say those professors like him need to go back to school themselves and learn how to be behave like an adult.

Hope everything is gonna be okay. Good luck.

 

14 hours ago, Oddich55 said:

Best of luck. 

I know at my university, that's all it ever takes and problems are usually resolved. I hope they are for you as well. 

Talked with the academic advisor, he refused to do anything about it. Haven't heard back from the director. Should I bring up this issue to the dean?

[cancergirl]

Hey you guys, after almost giving up hope and crying..I finally got my first interview for Molecular Cell Biology & Genetics, PhD at Drexel University. I'm so excited. Don't ever give up hope, everyone's time is coming! Interview dates are Feb 6-7, Feb 16-17 and Feb 27-28.

[Katyya]

Rejected from Yale. Oh well. Chilling in NYC hotel room right now Mount Sinai tomorrow morning. Good luck to other applicants! 

[medstudent]

Whoops wrong thread. Deleted!

Edited January 18, 2017 by medstudent
wrong thread!

[Mdamb231]

Did anyone else get invited to U of Pittsburgh - IBGP interviews?

[BadWolf1321]

5 hours ago, Kvothe~ said:

Early December. Around when all the Dec1st applications were to be sent for me.

Dang. I submitted mine in November because I got the dates mixed up. If they're going alphabetically I still have a chance (last name starts with W), but if they go in order of date submitted I think I got rejected. That sucks because it was my top choice

[CoffeeFueledAnxiety]

1 hour ago, cancergirl said:

Hey you guys, after almost giving up hope and crying..I finally got my first interview for Molecular Cell Biology & Genetics, PhD at Drexel University. I'm so excited. Don't ever give up hope, everyone's time is coming! Interview dates are Feb 6-7, Feb 16-17 and Feb 27-28.

Congrats! You're right, hope is all we have now, so I'm never giving it up.

[pitchfork]

3 hours ago, Mdamb231 said:

Did anyone else get invited to U of Pittsburgh - IBGP interviews?

I just did

[Kvothe~]

3 hours ago, Mdamb231 said:

Did anyone else get invited to U of Pittsburgh - IBGP interviews?

I'm guessing mine's a reject, since I looked into the portal, and under the "Confirm interview" tab it says " You have not been invited to an interview."

[hockeyref24]

13 minutes ago, Kvothe~ said:

I'm guessing mine's a reject, since I looked into the portal, and under the "Confirm interview" tab it says " You have not been invited to an interview."

That's what mine says.  The school said more invites are going out. Still 2 more interview dates.

[Oddich55]

6 hours ago, SysEvo said:

 

Talked with the academic advisor, he refused to do anything about it. Haven't heard back from the director. Should I bring up this issue to the dean?

If you're invested in the interview- I would keep asking. It's not like something bad will happen to you because of it. But I would maybe super-carefully think about the way you phrase it and ask it. 

[kevinrhinoceros]

6 hours ago, SysEvo said:

 

Talked with the academic advisor, he refused to do anything about it. Haven't heard back from the director. Should I bring up this issue to the dean?

If the director doesn't help you, go to the dean. Trying to further yourself after you graduate is a totally legitimate reason to miss class, I don't see how some high and mighty professor expects you to negotiate with half-a-dozen schools to get them to work around his silly bravado.

[SysEvo]

30 minutes ago, Oddich55 said:

If you're invested in the interview- I would keep asking. It's not like something bad will happen to you because of it. But I would maybe super-carefully think about the way you phrase it and ask it. 

 

30 minutes ago, kevinrhinoceros said:

If the director doesn't help you, go to the dean. Trying to further yourself after you graduate is a totally legitimate reason to miss class, I don't see how some high and mighty professor expects you to negotiate with half-a-dozen schools to get them to work around his silly bravado.

My research mentor called the director and the director emailed the lecturer, asking him to consider adjustments. The director called what the instructor has done as unreasonable and said the faculty should not hinder students' success. Don't know if this will irritate the instructor and exacerbate the tense...

[Oddich55]

10 minutes ago, SysEvo said:

 

My research mentor called the director and the director emailed the lecturer, asking him to consider adjustments. The director called what the instructor has done as unreasonable and said the faculty should not hinder students' success. Don't know if this will irritate the instructor and exacerbate the tense...

Hah. There you go. You'll be fine and be able to go to your interview. 

Only problem is, you may have to deal with a dick of a professor the rest of the semester... but... you get to interview!

[SysEvo]

49 minutes ago, Oddich55 said:

Hah. There you go. You'll be fine and be able to go to your interview. 

Only problem is, you may have to deal with a dick of a professor the rest of the semester... but... you get to interview!

The instructor still can say no or mess up my scores... I am seriously consider dropping this, and I feel I can find a programming job with a PhD degree from any of the institutes I applied to.

[desmond.bo]

1 hour ago, SysEvo said:

 

My research mentor called the director and the director emailed the lecturer, asking him to consider adjustments. The director called what the instructor has done as unreasonable and said the faculty should not hinder students' success. Don't know if this will irritate the instructor and exacerbate the tense...

That sounds like good news to me. At least you are not on your own now. You got some higher but reasonable professors trying to help you. And you got us.

[Oddich55]

15 minutes ago, desmond.bo said:

That sounds like good news to me. At least you are not on your own now. You got some higher but reasonable professors trying to help you. And you got us.

Yes

Better than you started!

[MCF10A]

18 hours ago, Pepperoni said:

yea no idea...I'm international but live and study in the USA, so I'm not sure what I'm considered as for their purposes

Same same. So we're on the same boat

[Mdamb231]

14 hours ago, pitchfork said:

I just did

Were you notified through the portal or by email?

[Bubbles_L]

Hi, are there some international students residing outside US who got GSK interview here？ Have you heard about their skype interview arrangement so far？ Not hearing anything makes me anxious, and I am afraid this coming arrangement would have time conflict with another skype interview（which will conduct in four different times）. And both programs are my top choices now…lol

 

Another thing is, does anyone know if baylor college of medicine-MCB program has sent interview invitation or not？In the result, someone has posted rej through email. I guess they should have sent their interviews by now, but I haven't heard anything. Am I waitlisted？I uploaded a two-page research description as the research statement in the application（but BCM required a one-page RS）, not sure if this is the thing that's gonna hurt me.

[mtonji]

Hey everyone! I'm currently a junior getting the process started for graduate school applications. I'm graduating a semester early mainly for financial reasons and I'm also applying to begin Fall of 2018 or Spring of 2017 (if the school allows it by chance). I posted my qualifications down below and I was hoping you could give me an idea of how realistic the schools I'm interested in are and also places where I could improve my application. I already realize my GPA is pretty low but some of that stems from a bad semester freshman year (including a C- in an Intro Econ course) and since then, my GPA has had an upward trend. Let me know what you guys think and also may some other schools I would be interested in. I want to primarily stay in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic region and my big research interest really is anything involving molecular or genetic mechanism behind neurodegenerative disorders, so any schools that are particular strong in Alzheimer's research and the such would be a big interest to me. Thanks!

Undergrad Institution: #12 ranked Liberal Arts School current junior, graduating a semester early
Major(s): Neuroscience
Minor(s): Biology
GPA in Major: 3.03
Overall GPA: 3.06
Position in Class: Slightly above Average
Type of Student: Domestic, male, white

GRE Scores (revised/old version): Officially taking them this Saturday (fingers crossed!) but these were my scores from the latest official practice test I took and I'm still hoping to bump them up another couple of points each
Q: 162
V: 163
W:4

Research Experience: (copied and pasted from my CV minus any personal info)

 

Behavioral Genetics Lab, Research Assistant, Department of Neuroscience, Colgate University                    August 2016-present

·         Responsible for ordering of laboratory supplies and lab maintenance

·         Created and maintained roster of zebra finches present within lab

·         Utilized Cryostat for the sectioning of avian brain tissue

·         Collaborated with lab PI to develop an independent research project studying the effects of various drug treatments for Huntington’s disease within a transgenic Zebra Finch model

**   ***I've only been in this lab for a semester so far but I will have been a part of it consistently for 1.5 years by the time I graduate, the professor and I have a very good rapport and also wants to write a letter of rec for me

Rutgers Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, Research Assistant, Department of Psychology, Rutgers University             May 2016-August 2016

·         Independently collected histological data from a Zebra Finch model for learning and memory

·         Utilized Vibratome to section brain tissue

·         Captured images of induced lesions within the NCM region of the brain using staining techniques involving Cresyl Violet and optical microscopy

·         Participated in weekly care of Zebra Finches and overall maintenance of the lab

Colgate Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, Lab Assistant, Department of Neuroscience, Colgate University                 January 2016-May 2016

·         Studied the effects of maternal care and early postnatal clomipramine treatment on offspring anxiety and miRNA-16 expression in the adult rat brain

·         Collected behavioral data from elevated plus and open field mazes

·         Responsible for performing daily injections of saline or drug into rat pups

·         Participated in weekly lab meetings to collaborate with fellow students and lab PI on the direction of the project and future directions for the lab

Animal Psychology Lab, Research Assistant, Department of Psychology, Colgate University       February 2015-May 2015

●     Conducted research about social dominance in specific settings among zebra finches through observation and qualitative metrics

●     Performed a literature review using Pubmed, Google Scholar and PsycINFO in order to find metrics with which to study social hierarchy among zebra finches

·                          Formulated a hypothesis and experiment based on past research in order to study this phenomenon

Rutgers Behavioral Neuroscience Lab, Lab Assistant, Department of Psychology                     June 2014-August 2014

●     Trimmed raw data files of birds song samples and analyzed files to compare their similarities using Goldwave and Sound Analysis Pro

Supported graduate students by helping set up experiments and observing qualitative metrics of study

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's Award (Spring 2016), Eagle Scout (may be a bit old but I've heard including it certainly doesn't hurt and depending on the person reading my CV it could help!)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: paid Tutor for ACT, volunteer SAT tutor through school to help impoverished high school students in area, Volunteer EMT-B (certified), was elected to serve on executive board for school's Model UN club the entirety of last year 

Special Bonus Points: already paid a visit to U of Rochester and talked with a number of professors and admission committee members, current PI says he knows people on Columbia admissions committee and a letter of rec from him can carry weight


Applying to Where:

University of Rochester- Biochemistry- Molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders
Columbia University-CMBS program- same research interest above (this would be my #1 pick, but is probably a bit of stretch)

UPenn-Neuroscience- same as above

Yale-BBS-same as above

UMass Worchester- same as above

Rutgers- Neuroscience- same as above (same program as the lab I worked over the summer participates in so I know a handful of professors there and have a good relationship with them as well)

Rockefeller- Biosciences- same as above (also a big stretch but the professor I work with now recently moved from there and may have connections)

 

[pitchfork]

3 hours ago, Mdamb231 said:

Were you notified through the portal or by email?

Email

[GradSchool13579]

Has anyone heard back from Johns Hopkins CMM yet? When I called last Friday they said they were still making decisions and have not once picked up the phone this week nor have they responded to my emails. 

[charmquarkz]

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