Biology applicants Fall 2010

[bb9931]

I got my first 2 interviews, MCB at Dartmouth the 18th of Feb and UMiami (sometime after that). Still no word from the other 8 schools, but definitely feeling a little better after the Dartmouth interview, would hope that means I get at least 2 or 3 more interviews so I know I'm going somewhere next year (would hope that means I'll at least get Umass/NYU/Tufts/BU/ or Einstein). Congrats on everyone who heard back this week, looks like this week was a big week for a lot of people. Hopefully next week brings in some more, I'm ecstatic with Dartmouth but obviously I'd like more interviews so that I don't have to worry about not getting in anywhere!

[nutmeg1284]

Just got an interview at BU Pathology/Immunology today

[MarA]

On 1/21/2010 at 9:51 PM, Tsujiru said:

Kind of late to the forum but I have found it useful reading the information others have posted and thought I ought to share as well.

GRE: 1st try: 660Q, 710V, 4.5A 2nd try: 730Q, 690V, 4A

Research: 2 years in C. elegans neuro lab, summer researching drosophila memory, summer researching effects of inhalational anesthetics on spatial reference memory in rats

Publications: None to date, but rat research was presented at an anesthesiology conference and will be published sometime this spring

Applied: Johns Hopkins, WUSTL , Tufts, Rockefeller, Columbia, UCSF, Stanford , Berkeley , Caltech 

Interviews: Hopkins, WUSTL, Tufts, WSBS

Rejections: UCSF

First to everyone hating on Harvard, yes it can be an extremely stressful place but I don't think it is especially cut-throat. In fact, for those of you applying to OEB there are some truly wonderful faculty members that you should not miss. Hopi Hoekstra who just had another publication in Nature is a rising star in the department and an incredibly friendly and nice person to boot. Naomi Pierce was the youngest tenured female professor in Harvard's history, a MacArthur "genius" fellow (seriously brilliant), and looks out for her graduate students for the rest of their careers. David Haig is a genius theoretician who is very good-hearted and who students adore. Yun Zhang is also very intelligent and ambitious scientist who is also very good to her grad students. Similarly I have heard good things about Scott Edwards and Farish Jenkins (a really entertaining lecturer if you have the chance to hear him). On the neuro-side, Nao Uchida of MCB does incredible research (he's best known for mapping the olfactory region of the brain in rats) and is very generous with his time. Josh Sanes of MCB loves what he does and that comes across in the way he teaches and the numerous and varied subjects he and his students are studying. I'm sure there are ways that someone could have a less than stellar experience at Harvard, but I honestly believe that with the right advisor that frankly wouldn't be the case!

I suspect that by now I've already heard from the places that are planning to offer me interviews, but I'm OK with that. After all, you only really need to get into one good place 

Hi Tsujiru,

Do you have any faculty members to recommend in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program?

[MarA]

This is one reason I didn't apply there. The lab tech in my lab's project got cut while she was a grad student there. Result: no PhD for no good reason. Also, (comparatively) very few faculty members have tenure there, so your mentor may not be there for the entire time that you will. Also, I've heard that the attitude towards women there in science is a bit hostile... still. The bottom line: It might be great for hyper-competitive people or if you get lucky, but I think happiness is worth more to me than reputation. Also, there are plenty of other great schools out there.

I guess it very much depends on the faculty. I have heard similar stuff happened in many schools, not just Harvard. I guess the only thing we can do is to decide very carefully on our thesis PI. We should listen to current graduate students' opinions as to which faculty members we should choose. We should definitely avoid those faculty members that keep you in their labs forever and do not let you graduate, and those who simply will just throw projects at you but never discuss science with you.

[Krypton]

There are bound to be some negative situations like the ones people are outlining at all schools. Really the only way to know the whole story is to investigate for yourself the programs you are interested in, as you alone know what your level of scrutiny is. I think deciding not to apply to a program solely based on a few others' experiences is setting yourself up for a potentially huge loss.

Edited January 22, 2010 by Krypton

[bb9931]

There are bound to be some negative situations like the ones people are outlining at all schools. Really the only way to know the whole story is to investigate for yourself the programs you are interested in, as you alone know what your level of scrutiny is. I think deciding not to apply to a program solely based on a few others' experiences is setting yourself up for a potentially huge loss.

So I just received a rejection from cancer biology at Umass, after a very exciting 2 days of getting Dartmouth MCB and Umiami. I thought after Dartmouth I'd get a few more interviews, but now I'm kinda worried I sort of thought I'd get an interview at Umass. Is anyone else finding this process rather random? The other 7 schools to which I applied are Columbia, NYU, Einstein, MIT, BU, Tufts, and Harvard. I suppose I hope I manage to get at least 2-4 more interviews, I'm going to be very nervous if I only end up getting 2 and one of them is Dartmouth.

[MarA]

So I just received a rejection from cancer biology at Umass, after a very exciting 2 days of getting Dartmouth MCB and Umiami. I thought after Dartmouth I'd get a few more interviews, but now I'm kinda worried I sort of thought I'd get an interview at Umass. Is anyone else finding this process rather random? The other 7 schools to which I applied are Columbia, NYU, Einstein, MIT, BU, Tufts, and Harvard. I suppose I hope I manage to get at least 2-4 more interviews, I'm going to be very nervous if I only end up getting 2 and one of them is Dartmouth.

The graduate school application process is, indeed, very arbitrary. Sure it depends on how strong your application is but luck also plays a huge role in it. It depends on the personality of the members of the admission committee as well as the time and the mood of them when they are reviewing your applications. Therefore, do not get upset if you get rejected - you are not rejected because of a weak application.

[bb9931]

The graduate school application process is, indeed, very arbitrary. Sure it depends on how strong your application is but luck also plays a huge role in it. It depends on the personality of the members of the admission committee as well as the time and the mood of them when they are reviewing your applications. Therefore, do not get upset if you get rejected - you are not rejected because of a weak application.

Thanks for the reassurance, to be honest Dartmouth is probably in my top 3 so I'd be thrilled to get in hopefully that interview goes well. I'll feel better if I can get at least 2 more east coast, my boyfriend is doing his residency out there and I would prefer to be in the east rather than at Miami (my only other interview).

[newbio]

I'm new to the forum and have been freaking out about interviews also. I only have 2 interview offers and am starting to feel like I should apply to more programs. Does anyone know of Biology, preferably Cell, Molecular, Microbiology or Biochemistry programs that are still taking applications?

[NeuroNerd86]

Newbio, 2 interviews is not bad at all, a lot of people don't have even that. And if you think about it, even if you get in at one of the schools you apply right now, would you really want to go there? In any case, from what I know Drexel Univ deadline is in March, Virginia Commonwealth is Feb 1st (for Neuro, don't know about other bio programs though)

[shorty06]

There are bound to be some negative situations like the ones people are outlining at all schools. Really the only way to know the whole story is to investigate for yourself the programs you are interested in, as you alone know what your level of scrutiny is. I think deciding not to apply to a program solely based on a few others' experiences is setting yourself up for a potentially huge loss.

I agree that there are negative situations at all schools. However, it's hard to consider a school when all people you talk to and respect in the field say negative things about a school. When there are so many great schools out there, I can't see myself experiencing a potentially huge loss by excluding just one. After all, learn from the experience of others, right? That being said, I agree that people should investigate and get multiple sources of experience. By no means was I trying to imply that my word is gospel... just that reputation should not be the only consideration that goes into such a large decision.

[ahm319]

got a Yale EEB invite, Feb 9-11

[newbio]

does anyone know if the following programs are done sending out invites:

northwestern IBiS

UCLA access

UCSC (biomedical sciences: MCD)

USC biology

Cal Tech biology

also, did anyone apply to UC berkeley's infectious disease and immunity program?

[microman]

does anyone know if the following programs are done sending out invites:

northwestern IBiS

UCLA access

UCSC (biomedical sciences: MCD)

USC biology

Cal Tech biology

also, did anyone apply to UC berkeley's infectious disease and immunity program?

I can say that UCLA Access is probably done, they sent out invites at the beginning of this month.

[Tsujiru]

Hi Tsujiru,

Do you have any faculty members to recommend in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program?

Hello MarA,

I don't recognize very many of the faculty but I can say a little about some of them. Fred Ausubel does really excellent microbiology work (I reference many of his papers for my thesis) and is an excellent collaborator and so has fostered a lot of good will. Craig Hunter is deservedly famous, and supposedly a good guy as well. Catherine Dulac is again quite famous for her circadian rhythms work but also good with students. Kevin Eggan is one of the up-and-coming people to know in the stem cell field. Richard Losick is a huge figure in molecular bio, and can really make a lot happen for you if he's on your side (and he tends to be very pro-student). Andrew McMahon is also both brilliant and kind to students in developmental biology. Doug Melton, when he has the time (he has a lot on his plate, pretty much running the new stem cell institute), is very good. I've also heard good things about Rachel Wilson, though she has gotten so much press lately between and HHMI award and a MacArthur that she may be especially in demand. Sorry to not know more, but I would be very excited if I were in your shoes!

[Lelouch]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if the biomedical science program at Johns Hopkins was done sending out interviews? Some people are saying that this week is crucial because it is when most invites will be sent out. Is this true? Thanks in advance.

[ddnp]

Does anyone know (or have an opinion) on which programs are the strongest in terms of graduates pivoting into industry? (biotech, pharmaceuticals, consulting, venture capital, etc) I'm thinking that maybe the best would be the ones w/ broader educational offerings (ie, business, government, etc). But I really like Caltech, I'm just not sure what type of industry recruiting and such happens on campus. Or which campuses position/advise their students best.

I'm not necessarily going into industry, just wanted to keep my options open. Sorry, this is kinda a rambling post.. but any thoughts?

[dzk]

It's easier to get into industry than it is to get into academia. Just go to the best school you can and do great research.

[psychomeatball]

Anyone heard from the following schools yet?

Columbia - Nutrition

U of Chicago - Human Genetics

Rockefeller

NYU - Immuno & Oncology

[hippobrains]

Is Rockefeller your top choice? It's mine...I've never visited but I've heard they treat grad students extremely well. And no, I haven't heard from them yet either.

So what do you think about staying with current grad students vs. staying in a hotel for MIT's open house?

I read somewhere that there's not an interview for Rockefeller, there's just a fedex package telling you you've been accepted, or a letter telling notifying you of your rejection. You've been accepted to Rockefeller, right? Can you shed any light on this?

I haven't heard anything from them yet :/

thanks!

[NeuroNerd86]

Although the question was not for me,

Rockefeller does exactly what you described, hippobrains: no interview, FedEx package for "yes", thin big envelope for "no". I have a feeling that they are done notifying their accepted students by now - there were several posts in results section from applicants who received overnight Fedex, all in one particular day. Whether or not they have a waiting list, I don't know.

[AlexM451]

What he said.

[NeuroNerd86]

Alex, it's a she:)

[AlexM451]

Sorry NeuroNerd! I should be more aware of the gender ratios in science, I'm the only guy in my 6-person lab!

[hippobrains]

Hi again, all.

Does anybody know anything about the following programs:

Chemical Biology - Harvard

BBS Pharmacology and Molecular Medicine - Yale

I haven't heard from them yet, and was wondering if they have already made their decisions about interviews, etc. The only good news i have so far is an interview at Hopkins.