yaygrady

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum and I just wanted to gather some thoughts from people thinking of applying to fall 2010 biosciences PhD programs.

I have read couple of threads on this forum, and it has been quite helpful in providing ideas and tips for the upcoming admissions cycle. I have created a list of questions (below) and I would love to get your feedback and/or thoughts based on your individual profiles so to get a general idea of where and when to apply.

But, first, let me provide a little background of my own. I graduated in May 2008 with a cum GPA of 3.5 from University of Maryland, College Park with a BS in Biology. I have extensive research experience (~2-3years) but no publications in Immunology/Molecular Biology. I worked in a faculty lab during my undergraduate years on a Mol.Bio research project, and after graduation, I joined a non-profit research organization, working in the immunology research lab testing new TB vaccines on animal study samples. I also worked one summer at NCI (whose PI has promised to write a good LOR for my applications).

1. Which schools and/or programs are you thinking of applying to? I am mainly interested in biomedical research fields.
2. I have yet to take my GRE, but if you guys could share how you have performed, that would be helpful.
3. What is the GPA range required for decent schools -- I am looking into applying to schools and/or programs that have good funding and resources to do quality research.
4. Is anybody taking the subject GRE Test, if so how are you studying for it? I know some schools require it (UCSF).
5. When is the good time to apply? I know they say earlier the better.

I am sure I will have more questions as the year goes by.
Thank you for all the input, guys!!

Good luck with the application process.

MasterMoe

Whether I apply or not this fall will depend on how I do on my upcoming exams as well as how I do on my GREs this summer.

A bit early no?

Chiasmus

Personally, I didn't think the actual material of the GRE was too bad, moreso the format annoyed me. (Can't skip questions! Augh!)

I'll probably be making my list of places to apply over the summer then cutting it down -- how many places are you planning to apply to?

Thinking about applying earlier is better than later :P
Yay Fall 2010!

mtlve

I am a current grad that is at ~ top 10.

Here is my answer to your questions:
GPA and GRE: If you have above 3.3(?) and a 1200 (~500+ in each section) then you should get in somewhere. If you are really high in one section and okay in the other, you have a good chance at top10-20. If you are high in both of them, you may get in to top 5. A lot of this is luck so apply to a bunch of schools and broadly (dont submit to only schools on the coast!).

Subject test: I did not take it, but some of my classmates did. For the bio subject test I was told to just read my intro book cover to cover. The people I know that did this all scored in the top10%. If you do not do well, do not submit the score since it may hurt you. Unless you really want to apply to places like UCSF, I would not even bother with the test. You can get into other top10s without it.

Application time: I thought earlier was better, but I do not think it matters since most places dont look at your app until Dec or the 1st of the year. The exception is WashU who sent out a lot of the interview invites in Nov (before I even submitted mine). If schools have January deadlines, I would still get your stuff in to them by mid-Dec because they will invite interviewees before the January deadline.

Good luck

belevitt

Frankly you sound like you are on the right track. You have research experience as an undergrad, you have professional research experience, good grades, specific projects to talk about and a defined area of interest.

1. Which schools and/or programs are you thinking of applying to? I am mainly interested in biomedical research fields.

At the risk of appearing partial, I suggest you apply to Duke (it's among the best in immunology and infectious disease) and it's warm, never snows, cheap to live in etc

2. I have yet to take my GRE, but if you guys could share how you have performed, that would be helpful.

I took the GRE and scored 780 on math and 640 on verbal. I put in a minimal amount of preparation (lets say 12 hours) using a commercially available GRE prep book. I want those 12 hours back, nobody cares about these scores.

3. What is the GPA range required for decent schools -- I am looking into applying to schools and/or programs that have good funding and resources to do quality research.

I was admitted to nearly everywhere I applied with a 3.3 to 3.4. Any major flagship university or large private university will have labs with good funding. Focus more on the labs than on the university when you talk about funding. Every major university also has resource cores (histology, sequencing, transgenic, hplc, ms, etc)

4. Is anybody taking the subject GRE Test, if so how are you studying for it? I know some schools require it (UCSF).

The subject test was challenging. I took the biochem/genetics/molecular one. I used the only book out there for this and was well prepared. I scored in the top ten percentile.

5. When is the good time to apply? I know they say earlier the better

I applied around Thanksgiving. If you're PI is like mine, he won't bother sending in the recommendation until the weekend preceding the deadline. Give him an earlier deadline. You will be happier.

mtlve

belevitt- You dont sound partial at all! It does snow here. It snowed twice this year and supposedly at least once/year.

Like belevitt, I recommend Duke. I would also recommend you apply to other top/ middle schools that are not in Boston, NYC, and S Cali. There are a lot of excellent schools like Duke, Michigan, Wisconsin, U Washington, etc that get a lot fewer applicants than Harvard, MIT, etc.

If you dont mind TX, I would also recommend Baylor and UT Southwestern. They send out invites in December and acceptances in January, so they made things a lot less stressful during application season. UT had like 60+ faculty I was interested in and most of them had HHMI funding or were academy members.

molliebatmit

I have a firm policy of giving PIs a one-week-early fake deadline, which has saved me several times.

On the subject of recommendations, it's a good idea to put together a packet for each recommender containing your CV, a draft of your statement of purpose, and a list of all the programs for which they are writing letters with addresses and due dates. And don't forget to send a nice thank-you note afterward.

belevitt

We just got 31 inches since yesterday morning here in the foothills (of Colorado). Durham has gotten that much snow since the beginning of time.

mtlve

Quote: " just got 31 inches since yesterday morning here in the foothills (of Colorado). Durham has gotten that much snow since the beginning of time."



Yeah, but we did get like 4-8 inches this year. I know that this is not much (I am use to Colorado type snow too). People need to stop saying that it does not snow in Durham. I took this as the truth, and I was shocked when I woke up to inches one day! This amount of snow is not unusual each year.