<p>Though it would seem to be helpful to know stats for acceptances, it might not really be all that pertinent, year to year. I know that last year, when my d was applying to Emory for Neuroscience, they could only have a maximum class size of 13 students. It’s very different this year, though. They can offer acceptance to 30 students, I believe, this year. </p>
<p>I of course do not know if most schools have had this much variation year to year. </p>
<p>Also, when my d was going through the process of applying it was kind of therapeutic to peruse the long, long discussion for pertinent results and info. Plus, searches work pretty well. </p>
<p>I agree with the above poster that said cc-ers tend to move on once they have reached a decision. I know my daughter never comes on here any more!</p>
<p>Information like the above about Emory’s expansion of its neuroscience program would have been helpful at the beginning of the cycle, just as news of shrinking acceptances at other places might have guided applicants. Unfortunately, this information is often known too late to be of any help.</p>
<p>So, I have been out of school for 7 years now, but I have been working in varies research labs. I have been published 8 times, all second other. I have 2 first author papers that are being review and 2 second author papers that should be going out for review in the next couple of weeks. I want to hear all you that have been accepted and that havent been accepted, your advice for next year. I graduate college with a not so good GPA and my GRE score is not the greatest. I didnt apply to grad school earlier because I thought that working in a lab and getting publish might help my GPA and GRE score and my wife started med school. I applied to Sloan Kettering and was rejected and I am still waiting to hear from UTHSC Houston and USF Cancer Biology. Please Help!!!</p>
<p>your publication record is really impressive!! it’s amazing you could get multiple first author publications as a lab tech (I’m a tech now too). don’t be too discouraged by not getting into Sloan Kettering, I’m sure they turn down tons of really amazing people every year, and I’m sure most of us didn’t get into all of our top choices this year, I bet you’ll get in somewhere. If not though, what are your career goals that need a PhD? If you’re not bent on becoming a professor I’m sure you could still have a great career (with lots of publications as you’ve shown!) in industry or as a lab manager with your current training or a masters.</p>
<p>My career goal is to one day run my own lab and teach. I dont want to come off that I dont enjoying working for other people, but its time for me to get my PhD so that I can do the research that I want to do and not someone else research.</p>
<p>TP53geek, if you don’t get in anywhere this year, try again next year – but be more aggressive with your applications. Retake the GRE to get a high score; although GRE scores won’t get you in, high scores will show adcoms that you’re not the same person who had a so-so GPA. Also, plan on applying to 8-10 programs, maybe more. The biomedical sciences are ridiculously competitive (some areas more than others), and you need to spread out your chances.</p>
<p>Also, make sure that you apply to several larger programs in your area, again to increase your odds. Programs that have, say, ten spots are naturally tougher to get into than those that have fifty. </p>
<p>Make sure your SOP adequately expresses your area of interest and that the programs you apply to have at least three PIs doing that kind of work. </p>
<p>Decide whether your LOR writers were your best choices. Do you have someone else you can sub in for the person you feel might be the weakest? If possible, speak with your PI to see where you might have gone wrong.</p>
<p>Last, go back through this thread to identify those who have similar backgrounds/stats. Where did they apply? What were their results? </p>
<p>And good luck! All is not lost if you don’t get in this year. Delayed, yes, but not lost.</p>
<p>Heard from Hopkins CMM yesterday with an acceptance! They held true to their word about notifying before the end of the month. Anyone who has yet to hear will likely be hearing very soon. Good luck to all in the future.</p>
<p>I was in a similar situation TP53geek: very poor undergrad at a 3rd tier school (as bad as you can imagine), worked as a tech for a few years & had success with pubs (all co-author)/talks/patents/grants, then returned to get a masters (with a redeeming GPA). Nothing special for GRE score, but not bad either. Applied to 8 or so programs and got into my top 2 so far, one of which is a top 3 school.</p>
<p>I found the most important thing for me was personally communicating with programs to make sure they considered my entire application. I think the ones I didn’t talk to didn’t look past my undergrad GPA. For the “top 3” school, I communicated with a specific PI and proposed a research project before applying.</p>
<p>I hate to say it, but try not to look too old (in person or on paper). Of course every program claims not to discriminate based on age, but they do, so omit that assistant manager position at KFC in 1991 from your CV ;-)</p>
<p>Momwaitingfornew: the point is we did not KNOW that Emory’s neurosci program was going to take more people until the visitation weekend. </p>
<p>The point I was trying to make is that all anyone would have been able to post is that last year they only could take 12 students (they took 13 because one came with their own funding). That info for this year would have been inaccurate.</p>
<p>Ok so I have been hearing back from schols and so far the news hasn’t been that great. I got accepted to VCU’s immunology program, wait listed at umaryland(meaning rejection), and rejected at UVA. I did have a god interview with UTMB but hey haven’t contacted me back so that is also iffy. I think my major problem is that I don’t have any experience in the immunology field. I called UVA and they said to take a year of research, but I don’t want to paricularly do that. What should I do? I did get into VCU </p>
<p>Wow! I havent posted here in a while! Heres my update!!</p>
<p>Research Interests: Molecular Medicine/Cancer Bio/Immunology
Interviews: Upenn CAMB, Northwestern IGP, Michigan PIBS, Baylor, UVA(did not like their program so much), did not go to UT southwestern, and Maryland
Attending: UPenn (loved the program and ppl), but Northwestern IGP, and Michigan PIBS were amazing too…I loved the programs and Northwestern’s chicago medical campus is beautiful…definitely two of the top contenders for Post doc institutions!
Rejects: Stanford, UCSF–definitely schools for postdoc consideration --If I get in that is–I really wanna move out to the west coast later! </p>
<p>Congrats to everyone on acceptances and good luck with decisions–I know its hard to pick when you have so many good choices!!</p>
<p>Hi guys, can people give me some info on UT Southwestern? I’m wondering how the environment is and whether its competitive or friendly.
Thanks :)</p>
<p>Acceptances from Brandeis (MCB) and Weill Cornell (BCMB) today [didn’t think I’d get this because seriously, I think the faculty were confused as to why the hell I applied there, and frankly, I am too]… what the hell is taking Princeton so long! I interviewed there way before all the others. Grr.</p>
<p>I haven’t heard back from Princeton neuro either. Their second interview weekend was around the 18th I think so even if they were waiting for that, it still seems like a long delay.</p>