2018 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[devbioboy]

Accepted to Duke DSCB!

[devbioboy]

On 2/27/2018 at 1:11 AM, ChallengerSwimmer23 said:

How do you ship your car? what company did your roommate use? I wonder how much those POD cost. I am moving from Texas to Indiana in late July. 

 

Have you ever seen the tractor trailers/big rigs that carry vehicles on them on the highway? That's what my roommate used to ship her car from NC to TX (sorry I mixed that up in my original posting.) I can PM you the company that she used once I find out. 

Also, you can go to the POD site here and find out how much it'll cost to ship from Texas to Indiana. I am not sure how much they'd cost (because there are probably so many factors that go into it.) I think that there's a way for you look up PODS locations/facilities near where you'll be moving to and your current location.

[FishNerd]

3 hours ago, adig said:

Does anybody know when the official acceptance/rejection notices for Fall 2018 go out from Harvard OEB and if they're email or snail mail?

I'd take a look at the results and see what usually happens in years past (see link below). By a brief skimming it looks like a lot of correspondence on interviews and official and unofficial acceptances/rejections happen over email.

http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=harvard+oeb

[Hoo4697]

Do you guys have any news from U of Iowa, U of gerogia, U of Arizona, UC santa barbara, UC Santa cruz, U of Miami, Iowa state U?

Please share your news

I am so nervous!!!

[LiaLuver]

4 hours ago, Hoo4697 said:

Do you guys have any news from U of Iowa, U of gerogia, U of Arizona, UC santa barbara, UC Santa cruz, U of Miami, Iowa state U?

Please share your news

I am so nervous!!!

Which programs did you apply to?

[Hoo4697]

8 hours ago, LiaLuver said:

Which programs did you apply to?

U of Iowa - Microbiology

U of georgia - Microbiology

U of Arizona - ABBS 

UC santa barbara - Neuroscience

UC Santa cruz - BSEM (MICRO)

U of Miami - Microbiology&Immunology

Iowa state U - Microbiology

 

 

Thanks for sharing.

[siliconchins]

Very happy to say that I've officially committed to MIT! Congrats to those who are in the same position, and good luck to those still waiting. I'm still waiting on a few fellowship decisions so the season isn't completely over for me, but it is a relief to know where I'll be for the foreseeable future. I hope everyone can experience this feeling!

[StemCellFan]

22 minutes ago, siliconchins said:

Very happy to say that I've officially committed to MIT! Congrats to those who are in the same position, and good luck to those still waiting. I'm still waiting on a few fellowship decisions so the season isn't completely over for me, but it is a relief to know where I'll be for the foreseeable future. I hope everyone can experience this feeling!

That is awesome!!!  Congratulations!

[LiaLuver]

18 hours ago, Hoo4697 said:

U of Iowa - Microbiology

U of georgia - Microbiology

U of Arizona - ABBS 

UC santa barbara - Neuroscience

UC Santa cruz - BSEM (MICRO)

U of Miami - Microbiology&Immunology

Iowa state U - Microbiology

 

 

Thanks for sharing.

As for U of Miami I applied to the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology program and when I called to check my status they said I will be notified before April 15th. 

[Budeer]

Hi guys,

I would like some advises regarding making decisions. Any comments or advises will be appreciated!

So I was accepted by Northwestern DGP and UT Southwestern. I'm very impressed by both schools and I really don't know how to choose. My research interests are stem cell and cancer biology. Both Northwestern and UTSW have a number of faculties I'm interested in working with. UTSW is a larger program with more faculties to choose from, but it's dominated by many huge labs with big name PIs (Who I happened to be interested in). Northwestern DGP is a smaller program with mostly small labs so it's probably easier to interact with your PI regularly. But in general, these 2 are both great programs and I don't know which one I like more. I know that Northwestern is a very prestigious school, but I don't know whether its biomedical research is also well recognized. On the other hand, UTSW is a medical center who specialize in biomedical research, however it is not very well known outside of the medical field (In fact I've never heard of UTSW before I applied).   What do you guys think? In terms of research ability, prestige, and recognition in the field, which one is better? Thank you! 

[Dan-BlackHole]

9 minutes ago, Budeer said:

Hi guys,

I would like some advises regarding making decisions. Any comments or advises will be appreciated!

So I was accepted by Northwestern DGP and UT Southwestern. I'm very impressed by both schools and I really don't know how to choose. My research interests are stem cell and cancer biology. Both Northwestern and UTSW have a number of faculties I'm interested in working with. UTSW is a larger program with more faculties to choose from, but it's dominated by many huge labs with big name PIs (Who I happened to be interested in). Northwestern DGP is a smaller program with mostly small labs so it's probably easier to interact with your PI regularly. But in general, these 2 are both great programs and I don't know which one I like more. I know that Northwestern is a very prestigious school, but I don't know whether its biomedical research is also well recognized. On the other hand, UTSW is a medical center who specialize in biomedical research, however it is not very well known outside of the medical field (In fact I've never heard of UTSW before I applied).   What do you guys think? In terms of research ability, prestige, and recognition in the field, which one is better? Thank you! 

Hi,

UTSW is a great medical school also known for its great researches, its especially well-known in the Texas region.  I just know Northwestern is a ivy-level school but it's mostly known for its business school and engineering etc. Feinberg is also a high ranked medical school so I assume its graduate program is very good as well, but I'm not very familiar with it. 

[siliconchins]

21 hours ago, StemCellFan said:

That is awesome!!!  Congratulations!

Thanks! I'm pretty excited. Congrats to you too! 

7 hours ago, Budeer said:

Hi guys,

I would like some advises regarding making decisions. Any comments or advises will be appreciated!

So I was accepted by Northwestern DGP and UT Southwestern. I'm very impressed by both schools and I really don't know how to choose. My research interests are stem cell and cancer biology. Both Northwestern and UTSW have a number of faculties I'm interested in working with. UTSW is a larger program with more faculties to choose from, but it's dominated by many huge labs with big name PIs (Who I happened to be interested in). Northwestern DGP is a smaller program with mostly small labs so it's probably easier to interact with your PI regularly. But in general, these 2 are both great programs and I don't know which one I like more. I know that Northwestern is a very prestigious school, but I don't know whether its biomedical research is also well recognized. On the other hand, UTSW is a medical center who specialize in biomedical research, however it is not very well known outside of the medical field (In fact I've never heard of UTSW before I applied).   What do you guys think? In terms of research ability, prestige, and recognition in the field, which one is better? Thank you! 

Also something to keep in mind is that the DGP is aggressively expanding right now and hiring tons of new faculty. So by the time you would pick a lab, they would have a lot of new research directions/mentors to choose from.

[Budeer]

4 hours ago, siliconchins said:

Thanks! I'm pretty excited. Congrats to you too! 

Also something to keep in mind is that the DGP is aggressively expanding right now and hiring tons of new faculty. So by the time you would pick a lab, they would have a lot of new research directions/mentors to choose from.

That’s good to know. Thanks! What do you think of UTSW? 

[siliconchins]

25 minutes ago, Budeer said:

That’s good to know. Thanks! What do you think of UTSW? 

I'm not as familiar with UTSW other than that it's a great research institution, so I can't really comment on it. If you have any questions about the DGP or life in Chicago, though, I can answer those. 

[Budeer]

Great thanks! Did you work at DGP before? Looks like you are also interested in cancer biology. I interviewed with Marcus Peter, I think he’s doing very interesting research, it’s just his students said it’s very stressful working for him. I also liked Hans George Simon, who does stem cell and regeneration. Is there anyone else you’d recommend or familiar with? I’m more of a big picture guy and I’m not particularly interested in stuff like focusing on a single molecule or protein or pathway that’s important for this one specific cancer etc. I’m more into cancer stem cell, p53, cell fate control, telomere etc. Thank you for your input!

[siliconchins]

6 minutes ago, Budeer said:

Great thanks! Did you work at DGP before? Looks like you are also interested in cancer biology. I interviewed with Marcus Peter, I think he’s doing very interesting research, it’s just his students said it’s very stressful working for him. I also liked Hans George Simon, who does stem cell and regeneration. Is there anyone else you’d recommend or familiar with? I’m more of a big picture guy and I’m not particularly interested in stuff like focusing on a single molecule or protein or pathway that’s important for this one specific cancer etc. I’m more into cancer stem cell, p53, cell fate control, telomere etc. Thank you for your input!

I didn't work at the DGP but had a lot of chances to talk to faculty while I've been in Chicago. If you're interested in big picture things, I can suggest people like Marc Mendillo and Dai Horiuchi who are interested in the tumor microenvironment (i.e. interactions of tumor cells with surrounding stromal tissue, which would have some relevance to cancer immunology) as well as labs like the Platanias, Kiyokawa, and Wan lab who are interested in large scale cellular changes in tumorigenesis. 

[Budeer]

6 minutes ago, siliconchins said:

I didn't work at the DGP but had a lot of chances to talk to faculty while I've been in Chicago. If you're interested in big picture things, I can suggest people like Marc Mendillo and Dai Horiuchi who are interested in the tumor microenvironment (i.e. interactions of tumor cells with surrounding stromal tissue, which would have some relevance to cancer immunology) as well as labs like the Platanias, Kiyokawa, and Wan lab who are interested in large scale cellular changes in tumorigenesis. 

Thanks a lot! I’ll look into these PIs. 

[Otinogonnyo]

22 hours ago, Budeer said:

Hi guys,

I would like some advises regarding making decisions. Any comments or advises will be appreciated!

So I was accepted by Northwestern DGP and UT Southwestern. I'm very impressed by both schools and I really don't know how to choose. My research interests are stem cell and cancer biology. Both Northwestern and UTSW have a number of faculties I'm interested in working with. UTSW is a larger program with more faculties to choose from, but it's dominated by many huge labs with big name PIs (Who I happened to be interested in). Northwestern DGP is a smaller program with mostly small labs so it's probably easier to interact with your PI regularly. But in general, these 2 are both great programs and I don't know which one I like more. I know that Northwestern is a very prestigious school, but I don't know whether its biomedical research is also well recognized. On the other hand, UTSW is a medical center who specialize in biomedical research, however it is not very well known outside of the medical field (In fact I've never heard of UTSW before I applied).   What do you guys think? In terms of research ability, prestige, and recognition in the field, which one is better? Thank you! 

Hi,

I was offered an acceptance offer from UTSW and I did accept it. I was speaking to my current Mentor in Harvard and he seemed to think pretty highly of UTSW and insisted on taking up the offer. Well, I am interested in Cancer Biology too but I found UTSW wanting in areas related to cancer biology(in comparison to Harvard-affiliated hospitals I have been working for the past 3 years).But the words of my PI helped me a lot(I am an international student), so I accepted UTSW offer.I am fixated on working with a couple of  their PIs and from the little I have heard they are expanding too! 

So overall,I am happy to choose UTSW but again I did not apply to Northwestern,so I may not have given a balanced perspective on the better of the two programs.

[AnhPH]

I have like 2 months right after graduation to complete my application, including taking the tests. So I only share it after receiving admission offer. 

Undergrad Institution: International University - Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City

Major(s): Biotechnology (focus on Marine and Environmental Biotechnology)

Overall GPA: 3.29

Type of Student: Asian, male

GRE Scores (revised)
Q: 160 V: 148 W: 3.5
B: 570 (believe me, i want to bury this, but I asked to have it reported before taking the test due to lack of experience)

TOEFL Total: 105

Research Experience: 3.5 years of undergraduate research in microalgae physiology and application, 2 co-author publications. Summer internship at Institute of Oceanography, focusing on harmful algae blooms. Got A+ for thesis research on microalgal lipid synthesis capacity.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2 times merit-based scholarship as top 10% of class, award for student good at: ethics, academic accomplishment, physical fitness, volunteer, and integration

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 2 years TA in Molecular Biotechnology

Special Bonus Points: worked with POI during summer intern, my professors gave me really strong LORs

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: volunteer at Regional Centre of Expertise on Education for Sustainable Development, Applied Informatics certificate, PADI Advanced Open Water Diver certificate

Applying to Where:
Georgia Institute of Technology - Ocean Science and Engineering - Marine living resources (accepted, will attend)
University of South Carolina - Marine Science - Biological Oceanography (decision pending)

Edited March 7, 2018 by AnhPH

[Budeer]

3 hours ago, Otinogonnyo said:

Hi,

I was offered an acceptance offer from UTSW and I did accept it. I was speaking to my current Mentor in Harvard and he seemed to think pretty highly of UTSW and insisted on taking up the offer. Well, I am interested in Cancer Biology too but I found UTSW wanting in areas related to cancer biology(in comparison to Harvard-affiliated hospitals I have been working for the past 3 years).But the words of my PI helped me a lot(I am an international student), so I accepted UTSW offer.I am fixated on working with a couple of  their PIs and from the little I have heard they are expanding too! 

So overall,I am happy to choose UTSW but again I did not apply to Northwestern,so I may not have given a balanced perspective on the better of the two programs.

Thanks for your reply! Yes I agree UTSW doesn't have as many cancer related labs as Harvard related hospitals, but it's still huge compare to lots of other program. It's good to hear Harvard PI thinks highly of UTSW haha. 

[StemCellFan]

12 minutes ago, BabyScientist said:

Help me decide!

I'm deciding between two neuroscience PhD programs. I honestly loved both. School A is in my perfect location, and has a huge emphasis on neuroimmunology, which I love and would like to get into. School B is in a less perfect but still good location, and is very prestigious/would definitely provide resources and benefits for later on. There are faculty at both that I would love to work with. School B doesn't have any specific faculty emphasis, but it has top faculty I could work with in a whole range of fields.

So school A with a focus on the subfield I'm very interested in, or school B which is very broad and prestigious?

It sounds like you can't go wrong with either, but I'm partial to school B.  But I like programs that have research diversity, which means there is potential for collaboration with individuals who have different research backgrounds and focuses that could provide input into a project.  This will also open you up to a wider variety of research, assuming that the research being done here is research you are interested in.  I would also consider what your goals are after the PhD and try to decide which of the two programs would set you up nicely for the next step afterwards (which it sounds like school B would provide).

This is just how I would decide.  They both sound like great programs.  Best of luck and congrats your acceptances!

Edited March 7, 2018 by StemCellFan

[hurryskurry]

42 minutes ago, BabyScientist said:

Help me decide!

I'm deciding between two neuroscience PhD programs. I honestly loved both. School A is in my perfect location, and has a huge emphasis on neuroimmunology, which I love and would like to get into. School B is in a less perfect but still good location, and is very prestigious/would definitely provide resources and benefits for later on. There are faculty at both that I would love to work with. School B doesn't have any specific faculty emphasis, but it has top faculty I could work with in a whole range of fields.

So school A with a focus on the subfield I'm very interested in, or school B which is very broad and prestigious?

I think you should also consider how enjoyable each location is, and the students you met there, because you're going to be spending half a decade there. 

[siliconchins]

43 minutes ago, BabyScientist said:

Help me decide!

I'm deciding between two neuroscience PhD programs. I honestly loved both. School A is in my perfect location, and has a huge emphasis on neuroimmunology, which I love and would like to get into. School B is in a less perfect but still good location, and is very prestigious/would definitely provide resources and benefits for later on. There are faculty at both that I would love to work with. School B doesn't have any specific faculty emphasis, but it has top faculty I could work with in a whole range of fields.

So school A with a focus on the subfield I'm very interested in, or school B which is very broad and prestigious?

Something to consider is that your research interests may change as you do rotations/take classes and get exposure to other kinds of work. I know a big consideration for me was to find a program that had strengths in multiple fields that I have potential interest in.

[Otinogonnyo]

9 hours ago, Budeer said:

Thanks for your reply! Yes I agree UTSW doesn't have as many cancer related labs as Harvard related hospitals, but it's still huge compare to lots of other program. It's good to hear Harvard PI thinks highly of UTSW haha. 

Well, the department I work in Harvard-affiliate hospital is Cardiology and UTSW undoubtedly has among the top 5 programs in cardiology and related research (Brown, Goldstein,Hobbs, Eric Olsen, Joe Hill to name a few. lnfact the entire Editorial Board of Circulation has been shifted to UTSW from Boston).So my PI may be biased in his opinion as well. But overall, I have heard good things about UTSW and although it is not a top-tier school, I would like to believe that it comes high on the Tier-II schools. 

All the best with your choice!!

Edited March 7, 2018 by Otinogonnyo

[gaga1994]

Hey everyone! For people with Harvard BBS acceptances who are not planning on joining the program... please let them know ASAP! They implemented a waitlist this year and they said they are waiting for some more spots to clear up. Thank you!!