<p>
NO. If you’re going to pick based on prestige, you should pick based on program prestige, not school prestige. “Going to an Ivy” does not mean anything for graduate school.</p>
<p>Following on what molliebatmit said, you can look at USNews rankings of different types of programs/departments. [Best</a> Science Schools - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/sciences.html]Best”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/sciences.html)</p>
<p>If you scroll down you can look at more specific departments.</p>
<p>ada711911: I was just there for a couple of months, but I loved the research and the environment there. The lab had a very collaborative environment, whenever I had a question I could go to any of the post docs or grad students. Princeton is an undergrad oriented institution as a whole obviously, since it has no medical school or law school, but I haven’t heard of that negatively affecting anyone’s grad school career. That was actually one of my concerns when deciding where to go, and everywhere else I applied had a medical school. But as long as you don’t want to go into really translational stuff I’m sure you could find a lab doing research that interests you. I plan to rotate with the PI I worked with, from there we’ll see. </p>
<p>When I was there and from the people I still keep in touch with, I think that grad students definitely have a life outside of the lab. That was one thing I liked about Princeton, people seem to actually hang out together. </p>
<p>Hope that helps- obviously when I was there I was looking at it from an undergrad perspective, but I liked it enough to go back.</p>
<p>hey guys…</p>
<p>I got accepted from UTMB. Any opinions or advice about the program?
Should the hurricane Ike have any impact on my decision?? (being an international applicant, it is kinda difficult to take all these into consideration).
Thanks</p>
<p>Applied: Tufts Medical, Tufts Grad School, Boston Univ. Sch. of Medicine, Boston Univ. Graduate School, RPI, Harvard, MIT, UMass Medical, Northeastern</p>
<p>Accepted: Tufts Grad School, Boston Univ. Sch. of Medicine, Boston Univ. Graduate School, RPI, UMass Medical, Northeastern</p>
<p>Decision: UMass Medical </p>
<p>I just finalized the decision, but have pretty much known for the past month and a half. It came down to BU Medical and UMass Medical, but I liked the program better at UMass. Plus the facilities are gorgeous and the research is awesome. I was/am a little nervous about how UMass releases 1st years who do not succeed in the courses, but I am confident that my undergraduate background has prepared me for the academic rigor.</p>
<p>I’ve seen a couple posts now about UMass dismissals. Are the details actually known? I find it surprising that 1st years (at any school) would be dismissed for failing coursework. Please PM if you don’t want to post on the forum.</p>
<p>PS I hope everyone else is mailing their decisions! I know adcoms are getting worried about class size and some recruits are in limbo because they haven’t gotten an offer or rejection due to an unofficial waitlist.</p>
<p>Obviously I don’t know everything about the UMass dismissals, but when I was at the recruitment weekend, the dean did tell us that he had just dismissed three 1st years the previous week. If you receive two C’s in the courses, you are dismissed. I was really quite worried about this, and talked to a lot of the graduate students about it. The general consensus seemed to be that as long as you put the work in, you’d be ok. Apparently they have upperclass students hold review sessions and professors are willing to clarify issues, but that was only if the students sought out help. The dean also mentioned that the students who have been dismissed in the past were all students who either didn’t realize how much work was required or realized that a PhD wasn’t for them (he mentioned that one of the students already had a job lined up before she was dismissed for academic reasons). </p>
<p>That’s all I know, and it was from current UMass students/the Dean. Then again, I was also a prospective at the interview weekend, so they likely held back on most of the details.</p>
<p>@ maryannmanavalan</p>
<p>The effects of the hurricane Ike can only be seen at certain part of the coast by now. Houston is pretty much the way it was before.</p>
<p>@ maryannmanavalan</p>
<p>My boyfriend is working in Galveston. Actually, Cell Biology program is pretty good. The only one concern is that if You want to work in translational research - it’s hard now, since they closed several hospitals there and access to patients samples is limited. Although for basic research there are still many good options. </p>
<p>As for town - they recover pretty fast. And beach is so close… But you definitely will need a car, cause living there without going to Houston is a kind of torture and public transportation in Texas is terrible.</p>
<p>So what does everyone think of doing a summer rotation? I’ll be finishing up my master’s by the end of June, and if I do a summer rotation, it would probably start July 1st. I’m debating because although I really want a break (even if it is only a month or two to sit around and relax), I could get a better shot at the student housing I want, get paid, and get used to the new city/living situation before classes start. What should I do?!</p>
<p>Hey All, </p>
<p>Thought I would do the update. These are all Neuro or Umbrella programs.</p>
<p>Applied: Mount Sinai, Harvard, Yale, UPenn, UPitt, Einstein, UMD - Baltimore, Tufts Sackler, Scripps, Boston University.</p>
<p>Accepted: Mount Sinai, UPenn, UPitt, Einstein, UMD, Tufts Sackler, Boston University
Rejected: Harvard, Yale, Scripps</p>
<p>Attending: Mt. Sinai… wooooooooooot!</p>
<p>Is anyone else on this forum planning on attending Sinai?</p>
<p>Ya know, every grad program has a point where they can drop people, this isn’t unique to UMass. At the University of Colorado, they can get rid of people at Comps or at prelims. Furthermore, all graduate programs reserve the right to eject people if they are not living up to their standards at any point in the program. There probably is a good reason why these people were kicked out. The whole admissions process is intended to weed out people before they get far enough that this kind of thing has to happen.</p>
<p>@411SL- I was definitely thinking of doing a summer rotation. I think it will be great to get a head start on research without having classes and was planning on getting a sublet for the summer so I am able to find good housing for the fall. Does your program offer funding for a summer rotation/do a big percentage of students do one? I am going to the University of Chicago and asked them about summer rotations and they said I would have to work out funding with a specific faculty member. Does anyone have any advice about asking faculty to fund them for the summer? I kind of feel bad asking when they could have me do a summer rotation during the year at no cost to them. Or does anyone have ideas for getting external funding for the summer?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is definitely true. However, it is also true that some programs historically tend to drop more people than others do. Also, some programs will have remediation procedures in place to help students stay in the program; other programs may elect to just drop students if they don’t conform to the standards.</p>
<p>I’m not saying any of the above in reference to this specific case; I just wanted to somewhat add to belevitt’s point.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I’m really glad my program is more lenient than just getting two C’s before getting kicked out. I am not a slacker, but some things are incredibly hard to learn in a short period of time. Oh and small piece of advice, take your undergrad textbooks with you! They should help clarify basic concepts and get you up to speed.</p>
<p>I highly recommend summer rotations, especially if you’re relocating. Labs should know that they will need to fund summer students, so all you need to ask is if there is time/space for them to accept a summer rotation student.</p>
<p>Got a reject from Graduate Division of Biomedical Sciences, Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
NOOOOO!!!
I so wanted to go there.
But I guess being an international, always has its share of disadvantages.
Duuuhuuuuh, just trying to console myself.</p>
<p>I’m sorry Microphage, that must really sting. It’s their loss! But at least you got in at some good schools - I know it’s really hard for internationals this year, so I’ve observed.</p>
<p>yeah i agree…so hard for internationals this year.</p>
<p>btw, i have a question here:</p>
<p>would you guys choose UCSD Bio or UMass Med, given that in both places there are fantastic labs attracting you? i’m on UCSD’s waitlist and accepted by UMMS. not familiar with UCSD, but i know that UMMS has funding, has top labs and has lots of collaboration between labs. is UCSD very competitive among students and labs?</p>
<p>btw, if you are accepted by UCSD Bio and not feel like going, please reject the offer as soon as possible, so that the people on waitlist can have a chance! thannnnnnnnnks!</p>
<p>Does anyone know if UCLA’s ACCESS program and UC Berkeley’s MCB program allow you to accept/decline offers online? Where? I’ve been looking around and I can’t find it - there is something wrong with snail mail at my apartment so I never received some of the letters with the forms/instructions.</p>
<p>danielge, I would choose UCSD just for the location & weather - but I’m a biased Californian. I’ve heard UCSD has a great bio program - but I’m not sure how competitive it is. There’s also an extensive network of research institutions and biotech companies down there.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and I was weighing my options between UC Berkeley MCB and UCSD BMS… very tough. Any input?</p>
<p>Sorry for the double post.</p>
<p>I found the UC Berkeley site for the SIR. Now just have to find the one for UCLA.</p>