2017 EEB Applicant Profiles & Admissions Results

[beetle_lover]

I wanted to make a separate thread for EEB stats b/c the programs tend to be pretty distinctive from gen bio and I'm curious what other people are up to this season! Here's a copy of the same rubric that is used in the other threads

Undergrad Institution: (School or type of school, such as big state, lib arts, ivy, technical, foreign (what country?)... Overall Reputation in Biology?)
Major(s):
Minor(s):
GPA in Major:
Overall GPA:
Position in Class: (No numbers needed, but are you top? near top? average? struggling?)
Type of Student: (Domestic/International, male/female, minority?)

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


TOEFL Total: (if applicable, otherwise delete this)

Research Experience: (At your school or elsewhere? What field? How much time? Any publications (Mth author out of N?) or conference talks etc...)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, SPS officer etc...)

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: (Such as connections, grad classes, famous recommenders, female or minority status etc...)

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

Applying to Where:

School - Department - Research Interest
School - Department - Research Interest
School - Department - Research Interest

 2

[breadwinner]

Wishing all of you guys luck  I am having tons of fun in my EEB group and I recommend the experience to anyone who is tired of being asked "but what is the biomedical application of this?" 

[waderpanda]

Well, here goes nothing:

Undergrad Institution: Tiny liberal arts college. No rankings available
Major(s): Environmental Science
Minor(s): Biology
GPA in Major: 3.9
Overall GPA: 3.9
Position in Class: Top
Type of Student: Permanent Resident (so, in-between domestic and international)

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 157
V: 166
W: 5
B: 790 

Research Experience: Quite a bit. I worked as a research intern for a year after my undergrad, and I'm now in the second year of my Master's (UMCP). 1 publication, 1 in prep, and hopefully 2 more out of my masters. I also did two summer internships as an undergrad.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Nominated for the Goldwater scholarship, highest GPA in graduating class, PhiBetaKappa

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:Tutor and resident assistant as an undergraduate. Judiciary council and environmental council member.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: ??

Special Bonus Points: Minority status (female from a traditionally under represented racial group), first in family to pursue higher education. And my advisor is fairly well connected and well known in the field.

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

Applying to Where: This section is currently evolving, but as of now -

CUNY - Graduate Center, Biology - biogeography, spatial ecology

UCR - EEOB - biogeography, spatial ecology, community assembly/characteristics

Maybe's (pending positive recommendation from potential future advisor): UCB, UMD, University of Oklahoma, Washington University in St. Louis

 

[adventurek]

Undergrad Institution: Big school with great EEB reputation
Major(s): EEB
Minor(s): Oceanography
GPA in Major: 3.8? (4.0 in department)
Overall GPA: 3.55
Position in Class: Top 20-25%
Type of Student: Domestic male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 165
V: 169
W: 4
B:N/A

Research Experience: 

I spent over a month at sea on a research vessel, and was listed as an author in an accompanying non-peer reviewed publication. I spent a summer as research assistant at a marine lab and conducted an independent project with same lab the following school year. I've also conducted independent projects with a partner for two classes, which I wrote manuscripts for and presented, and did a two-quarter project with a whole class. Spent one school year as a part-time lab assistant in a lab mostly unrelated to my interests.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Received multiple top school awards for my major.
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Officer of ecology club for two years. Participated in a faculty search committee.
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Presented at an undergraduate research conference.

Special Bonus Points: Took one grad-level discussion class, and recommenders are well known in their sub-disciplines (though I'm not sure I want to remain in those sub-disciplines). Participated in a faculty search committee.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Taking a year off with a field-unrelated educational job

Applying to Where: Planning to apply next fall, but starting to look at potential schools.

Question: My AWA score doesn't seem that great when considering top schools. Is it worth it to retake the GRE? One school I've been looking into doesn't have any information for AWA, so I don't know if its unimportant or if they just don't think the stats are useful.

[breadwinner]

On 11/12/2016 at 10:15 PM, adventurek said:

Question: My AWA score doesn't seem that great when considering top schools. Is it worth it to retake the GRE? One school I've been looking into doesn't have any information for AWA, so I don't know if its unimportant or if they just don't think the stats are useful.

Definitely no. I had some people I wanted to work with ask specifically about my scores and they only asked about the V and Q scores. And yours are so stellar anyway. Furthermore, the AWA score only reflects your ability to write a very specific kind of non-biology-related essay. You have ample opportunity to prove your science writing abilities/essay writing abilities in your statements and in the fact that you have publications/presentations listed on your app. On top of all of this I think EEB programs do not put a lot of stock in the GRE except to throw out applicants with really low scores. Don't bother.

Edited November 16, 2016 by breadwinner

[Hr. Gore]

Undergrad Institution: Autonomous Medical School (India, not very well known) 
Major(s): Life Sciences (Medical Biotechnology)
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: First Class
Overall GPA:First Class
Position in Class: Average

Graduate Institution I: Regional University (India, not very well known)
Major(s): Biotechnology
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: Distinction
Overall GPA: Distinction
Position in Class: Average

Graduate Institution II: Top 120 Uni in the World, top 5 in London.
Major: Ecology & Evolutionary Biology
GPA in Major: Merit
Overall GPA: Merit
Type of Student: International

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:152
V:152
W:3
B:650


TOEFL: wave-able

Research Experience: Masters Thesis on Computational Microbial Omics, one semester at first grad institution, post graduate research at second grad institution on computational evolutionary genomic, independent research since 3.5 years yielding a poster at a top international workshop with travel grant from the Society for Mathematical Biology and the host institute. 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: National Fellowship as an Undergrad, Master's Scholarship from both the GradSchools. Certified for Lectureship in university nationally. 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Interning in local biology education institute to tutor highschool students since I was an Undergrad, particularly, conducted workshops on EEB and theoretical EEB and Biology Olympiad preparatory sessions.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I write formally and theoretically developed, extended and explained Sanskrit verses on fantastical evolutionary systems, published on  my website as an activity of my virtual Institute for TheorArtistry (ITA:η). This, inter alia, helps me practice my research skills in Theoretical EEB.

Special Bonus Points: N/A

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Currently doing independent study (5 OCW courses in pure and applied math and probability/Stats, all Upper Level or Grad) and learning theorem proving (Isabelle/HOL), computation and simulation techniques on my own (R, SciLab/MATLAB, Mathematica)

Applying to Where:

Harvard University- OEB- Theoretical Evolutionary Biology, Evolutionary Dynamics, Theoretical Population Genetics. (Had good response from a PI there with great research fit)

Searching for schools with theoretical EEB advisors for applying next cycle with a better profile. Any suggestions of schools and guidelines to improve my current and future applications?

Thanks a lot.

Hr.Gore

[Pitangus]

On 11/16/2016 at 9:52 AM, breadwinner said:

Definitely no. I had some people I wanted to work with ask specifically about my scores and they only asked about the V and Q scores. And yours are so stellar anyway. Furthermore, the AWA score only reflects your ability to write a very specific kind of non-biology-related essay. You have ample opportunity to prove your science writing abilities/essay writing abilities in your statements and in the fact that you have publications/presentations listed on your app. On top of all of this I think EEB programs do not put a lot of stock in the GRE except to throw out applicants with really low scores. Don't bother.

I served on my department's admissions committee for a year, and the AWA score wasn't really considered so long as it wasn't less than a 4. And no one was rejected based on GREs alone: applicants with noticeably lower scores tended to be lacking in other areas as well.

For admission, the GRE in general was less important than research experience, strength of LORs, and perceived match to the potential advisor's lab. That said, it was given more weight when nominating applicants for the college- and university-level recruiting fellowships because the selection committees for those fellowships are known to give it more weight (presumably because it's easier to compare across departments). 

[adventurek]

On 2016/11/19 at 7:07 AM, Pitangus said:

I served on my department's admissions committee for a year, and the AWA score wasn't really considered so long as it wasn't less than a 4. And no one was rejected based on GREs alone: applicants with noticeably lower scores tended to be lacking in other areas as well.

For admission, the GRE in general was less important than research experience, strength of LORs, and perceived match to the potential advisor's lab. That said, it was given more weight when nominating applicants for the college- and university-level recruiting fellowships because the selection committees for those fellowships are known to give it more weight (presumably because it's easier to compare across departments). 

Thanks, both of you!

[Hr. Gore]

Hey, so few EEB applicants this year?  and anyone getting interviews?

[Hr. Gore]

Anyone got  interview invites for EEB programs and have their dates? No signatures for them  in the Results page  , is it too early? I am specially interested in Harvard OEB.
They seem to send invites in late Jan from their history. Anyone else also waiting out till the late Jan?

[fieldbióloga]

I think that it's still a little early for interviews on our side. The biomedical & quant programs have been getting invites, but EEB typically sends them out in late December/early January based on previous years. I skyped with a POI before submitting my app and she told me interview invites would be sent in the first week of January. Still, though, the wait is killing me.

[suavesana]

29 minutes ago, dustonthedash said:

I think that it's still a little early for interviews on our side. The biomedical & quant programs have been getting invites, but EEB typically sends them out in late December/early January based on previous years. I skyped with a POI before submitting my app and she told me interview invites would be sent in the first week of January. Still, though, the wait is killing me.

 

This is good to know - thanks for mentioning it. The wait is killing me too, but it's definitely better knowing that it'll still be a while!!

[Hr. Gore]

Thanks for letting us know that dustonthedash. Hoping to hear something that time.
Good luck all!

[jmillar]

Emory PBEE is starting to send out invites!

[suavesana]

1 hour ago, jmillar said:

Emory PBEE is starting to send out invites!

Darn. I assume they sent an automated message to all invitees at the same time.  

Edited December 21, 2016 by suavesana

[jmillar]

1 minute ago, suavesana said:

Darn. I assume they had an automated message to all invitees.  

I heard from another person I know talking to admissions that they would not be sent out all at once.

[suavesana]

2 minutes ago, jmillar said:

I heard from another person I know talking to admissions that they would not be sent out all at once.

My emotions are all over the place ??? hopefully this is the case!! 

[beetle_lover]

Just heard from Berkeley ESPM for an interview and accepted into Stony Brook EEB. Anyone else immediately accepted into a program? I was not expecting that.

[Hr. Gore]

Congrats for both alexzebra!!! Still to hear from any school...

[fieldbióloga]

according to the results page WUSTL and Indiana Bloomington are starting to send out invites for their EEB programs. I still haven't seen any movement from the 6 I've applied to, but I guess no news is better than bad news (for now!)

[XYZ1234]

Does anyone know anything about UC Irvine? I already saw some rejections on the results page.

[Gandalf?]

So I originally posted this in the General Biology Board, didn't realize we had our own thread going. 

 

Kinda bored waiting to hear back from schools so I figured I would post here to see if any of you would send me an interview. Let me know what you think!

 

Undergrad Institution: Largest State School
Major(s):Biology
Minor(s):Psych
GPA in Major: 3.6
Overall GPA: 3.6
Position in Class: top ish, I graduated with honors
Type of Student: Domestic male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 161
V: 162
W: 4.0



Research Experience: 3 years undergrad research in a cancer biology lab (1 paper in peer review right now), 2 years of full time research after graduating in two different clinical labs at a hospital (2nd author on one published paper, 2nd author on another conditionally accepted paper *working on minor revisions*)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2 posters (one in an undergrad forum, another at an actual conference after graduating)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 3 years student research assistant, 2 years as full time research associate

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I've ran a few marathons?

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

So as you've probably noticed I have a lot of clinical research experience, however, I am applying to programs/labs that focus more on ecology. All of my research has been broadly in the field of molecular biology and my proposed area of study involves a combination of molecular biology and ecology. I am curious to see if this will help/hinder/not matter for my application. I should have pretty strong letters of rec from the 3 different PI's I have worked with.

Applying to Where:

I have contacted and talked with 4 different potential faculty either via phone/skype/in-person. All seemed interested and encouraged me to apply but I am concerned funding availability or student limits may leave me without any interviews. 

Washington State-Biology

University of Washington- School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences

Ohio State- Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology

Cornell- Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

 

I would greatly appreciate if anyone had more information about the timelines of these schools. I realize these are smaller programs off the beaten path and it is hard to come by helpful info about any specific stats. 

Cheers, hopefully someone else is bored over the holidays

[Forest Owlet]

On 12/23/2016 at 4:48 AM, alexzebra said:

Just heard from Berkeley ESPM for an interview and accepted into Stony Brook EEB. Anyone else immediately accepted into a program? I was not expecting that.

Woah.. Had no idea Berkeley sent out invites so early.. Were you contacted through your POI or the department, and will it be a telephonic or in person interview? I've been in regular touch with my POI, and he's said that he'll get in touch if something comes up. Now I'm beginning to get stressed out 

[fieldbióloga]

Happy New Year, all! May 2017 bring you nothing but interviews and acceptances

[Vee2111]

There's been a lot of talk on here and other threads about getting interview invites and hearing decision info already. Is it typical to hear back by now? I only applied to two grad schools and one doesn't send out interview invites until the end of January, but I haven't heard anything from the other which is my top choice. Both had application deadlines of 12/15 so I didn't think I'd hear anything for a while.