2018 EEB Applicants: Profiles, Results, etc

[TheScienceHoney]

53 minutes ago, TheScienceHoney said:

14 hours ago, lyndyloohoo said:

I would email the prof and ask! I know it feels like you are bothering them (I'm the queen of avoiding these type of interactions), but people tell me it's a good thing to do. You'll also get a direct answer. And/or email the department contact point.

I thought about it! I've heard mixed advice about emailing the prof directly though, that it can be seen as annoying. I reeeally want to ask but I also don't want to ruin my chances, lol. Not even sure how I would phrase it.

Well, I did it anyways. No idea if this was the right thing to do or not. Just said "Hi Dr. __, I hope all is well. Just wanted to check in on your decision timeline for graduate applications. I'm still very excited about the potential opportunity to join your lab. Please let me know if there is any more information you need from me. I look forward to hearing from you again soon!"

I re-read our old email chain and she mentioned in November that she would get back to me by the end of the quarter which I guess I assumed was December, but I realize now that I actually don't know since I've always attended schools that have a semester-based system. So maybe the quarter ended in January? Anyways, she said that interviews would likely be in February and since that's just a week away I figure it was appropriate to check in...

I'm probably way over thinking this. Send good juju my way guys, I hope I didn't just sabotage my application

[Marshall]

You didn't! Good luck, I hope the response is positive. 

[mochamocha73]

21 hours ago, TheScienceHoney said:

Well, I did it anyways. No idea if this was the right thing to do or not. Just said "Hi Dr. __, I hope all is well. Just wanted to check in on your decision timeline for graduate applications. I'm still very excited about the potential opportunity to join your lab. Please let me know if there is any more information you need from me. I look forward to hearing from you again soon!"

I re-read our old email chain and she mentioned in November that she would get back to me by the end of the quarter which I guess I assumed was December, but I realize now that I actually don't know since I've always attended schools that have a semester-based system. So maybe the quarter ended in January? Anyways, she said that interviews would likely be in February and since that's just a week away I figure it was appropriate to check in...

I'm probably way over thinking this. Send good juju my way guys, I hope I didn't just sabotage my application

Which lab are you applying for in EEMB if you don't mind my asking? I applied to UCSB in IGPMS, not EEMB, but when I visited the school a few months ago I met a lot of the EEMB grad students and professors (and my POI is cross-listed in EEMB). Everybody I talked to was super nice, and the whole department/school gave me a really friendly, open, and collaborative feeling. With that in mind, I really don't think any of them would be annoyed by your reaching out about your application status! You could also ask Azure, the graduate advisor, who was very helpful with my questions and with coordinating my visit.

Best of luck on your application, and hope you hear back soon!

[TheScienceHoney]

4 hours ago, mochamocha73 said:

Which lab are you applying for in EEMB if you don't mind my asking?

Her initials are EW, she's a new faculty member (started last fall!) I definitely got the feeling from Skyping with her in November that she was super chill and the whole department was really just a great environment to be in overall. I haven't heard back since I emailed her yesterday, but if I don't hear back within a week I will probably reach out to the graduate advisor like you mentioned. Good luck to you too! If we both end up there I hope we run into each other!

[prospective_ecology]

Undergrad Institution: High Ranked State School
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.5
Overall GPA: 3.5
Position in Class: n/a
Type of Student: Domestic Male

GRE Scores:
Q: 159 
V: 162 
W: 5.0 

Research Experience: 

1 summer of field research

2 years of field research culminating in honors thesis

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

Honors Thesis

School Fellowship for Undergraduate Research

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Volunteer for local aquarium

Biology instructor for a year

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Two poster presentations at international conferences

Proficient in R, GIS, and Python

Special Bonus Points: 

3 outstanding letters of rec from professors who lead their field. In every interview, all the interviewing professors knew my letter writers personally or by reputation. The professor I talked to at Scripps actually told me that there was a lot of buzz around my app just because of the letter writers, however the professor who I want to work with may not be able to take me on in their lab

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

Contacted professors at every school before applying - did not apply unless a professor said to put in an application

Weaknesses: relatively lower GPA

Applying to Where:

Areas of interest:

Spatial and movement ecology

 

Applying for programs in:

University of Pittsburg (PhD)

Stony Brook University (MS)

Washington State University (PhD)

Miami University (MS)

University of Nevada, Reno (MS)

UCSD - Scripps (PhD)

[mochamocha73]

On 1/26/2018 at 3:09 PM, TheScienceHoney said:

Her initials are EW, she's a new faculty member (started last fall!) I definitely got the feeling from Skyping with her in November that she was super chill and the whole department was really just a great environment to be in overall. I haven't heard back since I emailed her yesterday, but if I don't hear back within a week I will probably reach out to the graduate advisor like you mentioned. Good luck to you too! If we both end up there I hope we run into each other!

I didn't meet her while I was there, but I looked into her research before and it definitely sounds super cool! It looks like we're kind of going for the same field/area too (microbial ecology and biogeochemistry), so I'm hoping you hear good news. It's a great school and a great department!

[Cameryn]

Undergrad Institution: UC
Major(s): Zoology
Minor(s): n/a
GPA in Major: 3.62
 Overall GPA: 3.62
Position in Class: n/a
Type of Student: Female

GRE Scores:
Q: 160 (76%)
V: 160 (86%)
W:  4.5 (82%)

Research Experience: 

Study abroad with biodiversity & conservation program, included independent research project

1 year genetics lab assistant (ended up being semi irrelevant)

Behavioral ecology field job with Cornell University 

Conservation ecology field job with Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University

Banding assistant with Tahoe Institute for Natural Sciences

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

Dean's list

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Above? 

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

NSF applicant

Area(s) of Interest: Conservation ecology, ornithology

Applying to Where: 

UC Davis

Princeton University

University of Florida

Tulane University

should I receive the NSF, also plan to apply to Oregon State University

 

[FishNerd]

Thought I'd add my info to the thread since there are so few of us EEB people on here it seems and I need to distract myself while waiting to hear back from places!

Undergrad and grad (M.S.) Institution: each school is a small state school ranked fairly well regionally
Major(s):  B.S. Biology with concentration in Environmental Science; M.S. Biology
Minor(s): none
GPA in B.S. : 3.98
GPA in M.S. : 4.00
Position in Class: n/a
Type of Student: Domestic Female

GRE Scores:
Q: 152 (47%)
V: 162 (91%)
W: 4.5 (82%)

Research Experience: 

Have been involved with research since the end of my freshman year of undergrad. Did a couple of months on a project that never led to anything (water quality sampling work) but then did two different projects (one that was a mark-recapture study lasted about 2 years and another that lasted about a year that was survey for a species of interest in the state where we also investigated it's preferred habitat) with my undergraduate research advisor that led to many conference presentations (both posters and oral).

Master's research on population and conservation genetics of a federally endangered species (about 2.5 years). During my master's I also helped generate microsat. data for pop. gen. of a federally threatened sp.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

Dean's list every year

School award for Outstanding Environmental Science student my junior and senior years of undergrad.

Competitive 4 year full ride scholarship at my undergrad.

I have also won 7 different awards (placing in the top 3 presentations in my section both posters and oral) for my presentations at the many conferences I've presented at (from my first project to my current masters project). The conferences have been of varying sizes (from small state conferences, to regional, and a couple national) if that matters.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Biology intern for 2 summers where I mist netted bats (also gained some radio telemetry experience)

Field assistant for several trips over 2 years surveying for a threatened species

Volunteer experience at a nature preserve and for point counts of bird on a master's student's project

Club officer for my master's institution's subunit for the American Fisheries Society

I have trained new undergrads and grads in methods of molecular ecology and conservation genetics

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Have been able to pick up the stats I needed for my master's thesis pretty much independently from my advisor and have been working on learning R and other programs that will be useful for genomic based stats. 

Have received a grant for my master's research through my school.

The first project I worked on during my undergrad. has been accepted for publication (2nd author) and the publication for my master's thesis is in prep. (1st author)

Special Bonus Points: 

I'm confident that my letters of rec should be strong - one is from my undergrad research advisor who I am still regularly in contact with, the 2nd is from my master's advisor and the 3rd is another professor I have worked closely with in a research capacity at my master's institution (she is the one I did the second set of pop. gen. data generation for and I will be able to be coauthor on that eventual publication; she is also on my thesis committee)

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

I have been in contact with at least one PI at each school I applied to and they all encouraged me to apply and agreed to be my sponsor/prospective advisor for my application and so I mentioned them in my SOPs. I think I fit well in each of their labs either by falling into their research interests well or because I think their research is extremely interesting and close enough to what I would like to do during my PhD.

Weaknesses: I do worry that my SOP is lousy but I don't think it's bad - my master's advisor did look over it but I worry that it isn't personalized enough and is just a bit boring. I am also self conscious about my GRE Quantitative score (especially the percentile) and the relatively unknown names of my institutions but my master's advisor has told me multiple times that I shouldn't worry about it because I'm a very strong applicant overall and she said that the names of my schools really shouldn't matter.

Applying to Where:

Areas of interest:

 - Aquatic systems and organisms; molecular ecology and evolutionary genomics

I really like investigating spatial genetic structure in species and how it might be impacted by intrinsic (life history, dispersal ability) and extrinsic (physical barriers, geographic distance) variables. I'm also very interested in how organisms are adapted to local environments and how genetics/genomics can be used for conservation.

Applying for PhD programs in:

University of Arkansas - Fayetteville (Biological Sciences program)

University of Denver (Biology, Ecology and Evolution program)

University of Massachusetts - Amherst (Organismic and Evolutionary Biology program)

At Arkansas the PI I have been speaking with there has been in contact with me about the potential dates for their recruitment weekend and he let me know last week that I have been nominated for a competitive higher paying fellowship there. So nothing official there but it does kinda seem like I may be unofficially accepted at Arkansas. I have yet to hear anything after applying at the other 2 schools.

[MadiRai]

Sorry if this has already been asked, but I'm new here lol Has anyone heard back from UCLA, UC-Davis, or UCSB for their EEB Master's programs yet? I received my rejection from UCSD, but am super anxious waiting on the others...

[lambda]

14 hours ago, MadiRai said:

Sorry if this has already been asked, but I'm new here lol Has anyone heard back from UCLA, UC-Davis, or UCSB for their EEB Master's programs yet? I received my rejection from UCSD, but am super anxious waiting on the others...

UCLA EEB told me all interviews have been sent out for the PhD program. Not sure about masters. Just email them!

[FishNerd]

I'm now unofficially accepted into my top two places which is super exciting!

Unfortunately my excitement is tempered with nerves because I applied to all my schools with my partner and he has yet to hear anything. I really think this is because in this field we have to secure a potential advisor before applying and my potential advisors are the one's who have sent me updates on my application status. I haven't received my official acceptances yet, so it does track that my partner hasn't heard back because his field doesn't really have to secure a potential advisor first and because of this he doesn't have anyone who can let him know unofficially that he's in. I really hope that's the case at least.

[Paradoxin756]

Undergrad Institution: Well ranked private university
Major(s): Environmental Science
Minor(s): Bioinformatics, Sustainability in the Built Environment
GPA in Major: 3.85
 Overall GPA: 3.14
Position in Class: n/a
Type of Student: Domestic Male

GRE Scores:
Q: 158 
V: 156
W: 4.5

Research Experience: 

4 years of systematics and biogeography research with insects in a prominent natural history museum

1 year of research in metagenomics

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

School award for undergraduate research

Fulbright

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Total of 4 years work experience in the field I'm interested in. 6 months internship in industry field related to environmental science.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Advanced knowledge of R, GIS, and other computer  languages including Java, C++, PHP, and SQL.

Special Bonus Points: 

Really strong recommendation letters from 2 professors in my undergrad, and 1 PhD from another university.

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

Founded an EEB club for undergraduates at my undergrad university.

I've been in contact with each potential PI since early in the application process.

Weaknesses: No publications, very low GPA compared to other applicants. 

Applying to Where:

Areas of interest:

- insect biogeography, citizen science, biological informatics

 

Applying for PhD programs in:

Arizona State University, PhD Evolutionary Biology

Georgetown University, PhD Biology

[10001Alpacas]

Thought I'd put this here as a reference (especially for international students)

Undergrad Institution: Private top 10 university
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): Chemistry, evolutionary anthropology
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA: 3.8
Position in Class: n/a
Type of Student: International Female

GRE Scores:
Q: 166 (91%)
V: 167 (98%)
W: 4.5 (82%)

Research Experience: 

Undergraduate research since second semester sophomore year in plant phenology lab, with second research position in entomology lab started summer of sophomore year. 

Two summer programs on big data research.

Currently working on senior thesis in entomology lab.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

Dean's list, dean's list with honors every semester but one.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Exec board member of Bio Majors union.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Teaching experience, both in tutoring and teaching classes locally and overseas.

Some experience in Python and Java programming, good background in mathematics.

4 presentations and 2 poster sessions with summer research.

Special Bonus Points: 

Both PIs that I work with are well known in their fields. All three of my letters are from academic faculty and as far as I know are fairly strong.

 

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

Contacted all POI's through email and phone/skype before the writing process.

Fairly confident in SOP writing in general - not that it matters but fun fact: third place in national creative writing competition back home once 

 

Areas of interest:

Biogeography, big data, effects of anthropogenic change on plant and/or insect interactions and evolution.

 

Applying for PhD programs in (updating with results when I remember):

U Minnesota EEB (Interviewed, received offer letter - Feb)

UC Irvine EEB (Interviewed, received offer letter - Feb)

U of Florida Biology (Interviewed)

UW - Madison Entomology/Integrative Biology (Interviewed)

Harvard OEB (Interviewed)

Stanford Biology (Rejected)

[FishNerd]

Just here to give an update to any current or future lurkers/anyone interested.

I am officially accepted at the University of Denver with a standard TA stipend package and the department is flying me out to visit in a couple of weeks.

I am unofficially accepted the University of Arkansas and have been told I have received their competitive highest paying fellowship and they will also be flying me out to visit soon.

No news on UMass which I feel like at this point means it is likely out since that deadline was the earliest (Dec. 1st).

[potentiallylovely]

@10001Alpacas  Shoot, have you already heard back from Minnesota?  How recently was it?  Interview weekend was three weeks ago, and I haven't heard anything yet.  

 

Also, has anyone heard from University of Washington Biology?  I'm anxiously waiting for decisions from those two schools.  

[10001Alpacas]

@potentiallylovely I just heard back today! Got an email from Sally late afternoon with attached offer letter. I doubt that they're done sending out stuff though since I couldn't open the file type, emailed about it, and have yet to hear a reply - it is likely that they just sent some out and left for the weekend  

[potentiallylovely]

1 hour ago, 10001Alpacas said:

@potentiallylovely I just heard back today! Got an email from Sally late afternoon with attached offer letter. I doubt that they're done sending out stuff though since I couldn't open the file type, emailed about it, and have yet to hear a reply - it is likely that they just sent some out and left for the weekend  

Thanks!  Congrats on your acceptance!  

 

I guess there isn't anything I can do now; I'll just have to wait and see.  Hopefully I'll hear something on Monday...

[fossilsrcool]

Hi all, bit late in the process, but I still want to share my profile and results so far.

Undergrad Institution: Public, top 10 research university
Major(s): Ecology, Evolution & Biodiversity; Earth and Environmental Sciences
Minor(s): none
GPA in Major: 3.8
Overall GPA: 3.7
Position in Class: top 25%
Type of Student: domestic female

GRE Scores:
Q: 159 (73%)
V: 170 (99%)
W:  5.5 (98%)

Research Experience: 

4 years in paleontology lab as an undergraduate

NSF REU at Rutgers in marine biology

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

Dean's list every semester but one, awards from both departments I majored in, High Honors and distinction 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

multiple science outreach jobs and volounteering

tutoring

officer/founder of college EEB club

Currently serving with Americorps in environmental education

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Teaching experience

applied for NSF GRFP

presented at 4 national conferences

Special Bonus Points: 

the PI I worked for is well known and wrote a good rec letter. 2 other strong rec letters as well.  

Areas of interest:

Biogeography, paleoecology, mammals, climate change impacts on ecology

 

Applying for PhD programs in (updating with results when I remember):

UT Austin (interviewed and accepted)

UC Merced (accepted, paid-for visit soon)

University of New Mexico (interview in a couple weeks)

Georgia Tech (interview next weekend)

Oregon State (no response yet, heard that they were behind in the process)

University of Maine (phone interviewed)

[Regswilson]

Hey everyone!!

I applied for the MS in Bio but haven’t heard back yet. I know this isn’t the right thread, but it’s really exciting here all you guys talk about your backgrounds in Ecology! Really excited to be in your shoes one day going for a PhD :-)

Wishing you all the best of luck!

Edited February 23, 2018 by Regswilson

[Vaudevillain]

So far, mostly good news! Accepted to Miami and they've nominated me for fellowships so I'm awaiting a funding package there, and was accepted to both Minnesota EEB and Michigan State Plant Bio and awarded fellowships for both! I don't expect to hear back from Northwestern but I applied on a whim and wasn't super enthused about it and it's a tiny program so I'm honestly not surprised or particularly bothered. Now just crossing my fingers to hear from Arizona... it's been a week or so since the interview and I'm on tenterhooks!

[potentiallylovely]

For everyone else following this thread, how are things going for you?  

 

I personally have been rejected post-interview from Cornell, and accepted to ASU and UNC-Chapel Hill.  But I'm going crazy waiting for answers from Washington and Minnesota, my two top choices.  

[fossilsrcool]

On 3/4/2018 at 1:22 PM, potentiallylovely said:

For everyone else following this thread, how are things going for you?  

I've gotten offers from Georgia Tech and New Mexico.  I'm visiting New Mexico this weekend and Merced next weekend.  I am really freaking out about having to make this decision soon.  

@potentiallylovely ASU and UNC are both great! Fingers crossed for UW and UMN for you

[bluemonday]

I've gotten offers from Cornell, IU, and University of Arizona, so it's going to be a hard decision process! There are a lot of factors to think about and it's lowkey giving me a lot of anxiety. I'm still waiting on one more (which should be coming next week I think), but other than that I'm done. 

@fossilsrcool good luck on your visits!  @potentiallylovely, hope you hear back from UW and UMN soon!

[Vaudevillain]

@bluemonday  when did you hear back from them? also, do you know of anyone who's gotten an outright rejection from Arizona? I have yet to hear back from them and I've heard from a couple people who have gotten accepted, so I'm hoping I'm somewhere in a middle tier that will be given an offer once people start declining the offers... fingers crossed!

[bluemonday]

@Vaudevillain I got the email last Monday (2/26). I haven't heard of anyone who's gotten outright rejected though...hopefully you hear back from them soon!