biochem2012

Finishing up my undergrad. at a large, top 10 research institution
Biochemistry major
3.7 GPA
167V (98%), 165Q(93%), 4.0W (48%)
2+ years of research in Neuroscience lab, published as co-author on 1 paper
~10 months of research in Biochem/Biophys lab. PI is well-known.
3 Letters of recommendation from my 2 PIs, and an additional from a Chemistry professor I have worked under for nearly 2 years (but not doing research). All letters should be good because each professor knows me personally.

Applying to biochemistry, cell, and molecular biology programs
Applying to:
Northwestern University
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Johns Hopkins University
Harvard University
Yale University
Stanford University
University of Washington
University of California, Berkeley
CalTech
UPenn

Potential weaknesses: my third letter of rec. is from a chemistry prof, GRE writing score is low (not too worried about it though), my publication is a not explicitly related to biochemistry.

hairyelephant

so uh... this thread is kinda quiet this year. :|

bombthesystem

Question for you guys: How specific are guys being about your research interests in your Statement of Purpose? Is it specific to a research area (ie. Autoimmunity, Cancer Immunology) or specific to faculty members? I was thinking about keeping general to the point of talking about experimental approaches (ie. molecular immunology, signaling, etc.).

denizen

Sorry. At this point in the season, I will only wish you 'good luck' out of the spirit of competition.

hairyelephant

I hope denizen isn't in my cohort... I went pretty general on my statement. Didn't mention faculty unless specifically asked in the application. Best of luck!

NeuroTheory

It depends on which schools you are applying to. Smaller programs look at how close your research interests match faculty interests; so being too general will probably hurt you.

rocafella

i don't think i would view denizen as "competition" by any means. in any case, i would be pretty specific with your research in the personal statement. the more calibrated and the less poetic you come across, the better.

virions

I was quite specific about faculty I'm interested in. 4-6 mentioned depending on the school. Whenever possible, tried to make it not sound like I'm just listing people off (grouping into paragraphs generally with faculty that share focus on a particular pathogen, or other common interests i.e. latency, etc).

As for the general theme of these threads, I'll give a proper update once I've flicked the submit button on the last of my applications (3 down, 8 to go).

biochem2012

Yes, be specific. You can always change your mind later. Remember that most programs are interdisciplinary and require you to perform rotations for one year; even if you hone in on a specific field (e.g. cancer biology) in your personal statement, then you are not condemned to actually carrying out your Ph.D. in that field.

denizen

I don't suggest mentioning any faculty, but you should at least be specific about your interests. When you mention faculty, you unnecesarily rile up inter-office politics. It's risky and may turn off some people in the admissions committee. But you don't close any doors by mentioning interests. This is what one program coordinator told me.

virions

I phrased it in such a way that it should be clear that I'm interested in more than the ones I've mentioned but - here are some that I am interested in and here is why their work appeals to me. If that's risky, then oh well, it's how I've decided to format my statement for most schools (I'll do it differently next year if need be ).

I'm sure there is a way to do it in a way that could stir up drama in the committee (denizen, I could see why someone might have said that to *you* specifically :P j/k ). But given that some applications have specific fields where you list 3-6 faculty members whose work interests you, I don't think the idea is quite so risky if done right. Whether or not I did it "right"... I suppose I'll find out.

biochem2012

Denizen is wrong, and perhaps intentionally providing misinformation.

Anyone involved with Grad School apps will certainly come across applications that encourage you to choose specific faculty. In doing so, the admissions committee will be able to assign faculty for you to interview/meet with.

langerhans

not really sure what denizen meant. I'm pretty sure committees haven't even started looking at applications yet...

virions

If you can't mention faculty members without 'dissing' (sp?) other ones, perhaps you should steer clear.

denizen

Biochem2012 is right actually. In many applications there are fields to choose professors you'd like to work with, so it's a good idea to re-mention them in your SoP in case the committee missed it the first time. I'd do exactly what Biochem2012 says.