<p>How about [UC</a> Berkeley MCB - Entering Graduate Class of 2009](<a href=“http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=68132274342]UC”>http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=68132274342)?</p>
<p>aradian7, I am going to Northwestern IGP. See you this fall.</p>
<p>Anyone else off to Columbia next year? Feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>Any lurkers besides me and shnjb going to Caltech?</p>
<p>I’ll join the bandwagon… anyone going to UMass Med?</p>
<p>I am posting this for my daughter (with her permission) who is finishing up her thesis… :)</p>
<p>Applied: Emory neuro, Vanderbilt IGP, Vanderbilt neuro integrative/cognitive, UVA, UGA, U Pen, NYU neural science</p>
<p>Offered interviews to: UVA, Emory, NYU, U Penn and Vanderbilt IGP;</p>
<p>Declined interviews to: UVA and Vanderbilt IGP (they offered her a large fellowship before interviewing)</p>
<p>Results:
Rejected: Vanderbilt neuro integrative/cognitive
Accpeted: UPenn, Emory, UGA (never heard from NYU)
Decision: EMORY! (was pretty much always her first choice)</p>
<p>churchmusicmom: why are you posting for your daughter? i hope you realize that it is important for your daughter to learn to be independent, expecially in grad school…
also, just out of cursioity, why did she decided on Emory? when UPenn obviously has a stronger program in neuro?</p>
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<p>I’m frankly weary of seeing people rushing to jump on parents who happen to post here. How does churchmusicmom’s post imply that her daughter needs to learn to be independent? I’m sure if her daughter had independence or maturity issues, she wouldn’t have been offered admission by selective programs like UPenn or Emory.</p>
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<p>As I think many have stressed again and again, the most important factor in selecting a grad program is goodness of fit. Overall program strength can significantly affect goodness of fit but relying on overall program strength alone probably isn’t a good way to choose a grad program.</p>
<p>As I said in my post above, my daughter told me to go ahead and post her results for her as she is finishing up her thesis and just did not have time. I have been a long timer on this site and felt it might be beneficial for future applicants to see as many results as possible. She agreed and so gave me permission. She is definitely independent. Just not as “into” CC as I am.</p>
<p>She ultimately decided on Emory because the choices of lab mentors there fit here interests better. Her mentor at her undergrad also agreed it was a better fit for her. Beyond that, I wish she would post her reasons, but as I said, she doesn’t have the time or inclination to do so.</p>
<p>Hey, aceflyer, thanks for your post!</p>
<p>You’re welcome churchmusicmom. Best of luck to your daughter. :)</p>
<p>I don’t think that parents being directly involved in the process is any different than if my wife were to post about my process. I just can’t believe the minutiae of all of this is interesting to anyone else.</p>
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<p>I agree.</p>
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<p>I think it can be. I kept my parents updated when I was applying and interviewing and I know there are others who have also kept their parents in the loop. I also know there are others whose parents had nothing more than a general rough idea of what they were doing. I think either approach is fine depending on the individual and on the parents.</p>
<p>I have tried to explain graduate school to my parents so many times but they seem to have settled on either- my son is going to college or my son is going to be a teacher. My father has been genuinely supportive about the ordeal and I have called him with each interview offer and acceptance, but nonetheless, I don’t think he appreciates the career step this represents. He seems really fixated on the fact that I won’t be a “doctor” and that my salary is dropping, again.</p>
<p>That’s unfortunate- “going to college” or “going to be a teacher” don’t seem to convey a meaning equivalent to “going to graduate school.” I am glad your father has been supportive but it is unfortunate that he is fixated about the fact that you won’t be going to medical school. As for salary dropping - 'tis always been my opinion that grad students are fortunate as is to get paid for attending school. Medical schools, for instance, not only do not pay any stipend at all, they charge hefty tuition that puts any medical student who isn’t independently wealthy into deep debt that can take a while to get out of.</p>
<p>I appreciate the different points of view represented from you all about this parents posting thing. Truly, my daughter has just never been that interested in CC until the grad school process, so then it was me telling her about this resource and suggesting that it would be a helpful one for her. And indeed it was. I am pretty sure she spent much of last summer’s spare time going through the threads like this one from years past scouring for info on students with backgrounds similar to hers and on schools in which she might be interested/qualified for. That was what I meant by posting for others’ benefit…this thread will be helpful for people who are planning to apply next year and beyond.</p>
<p>I am thankful to say that I have been involved (in her grad school application process) to the extent that my daughter has kept me up on all the steps of the process…letting me know about interviews, acceptances, fellowships and such. She even asked me to read some of her SOPs, but I never assisted on any of this other than to offer moral support. And the joy of seeing her achieve something that she has worked hard for…I really like that part. </p>
<p>Congrats to all of you here for such accomplishments. Can’t wait to see and hear about you all in the future!!</p>
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<p>Definitely… that is why I have posted on CC as much as I have, in the hope that the information and experience I have accrued might be helpful to other current or future applicants. It is, in my way, an attempt to contribute something back to CC for its help in allaying my anxieties and keeping me sane during the formative months of December ('08), January, and February ('09).</p>
<p>belevitt wrote:</p>
<p>I can speak to the Micro dept at the University of Michigan. I got rejected (pre interview) from this program. I received interviews from 8 out of the 10 places I applied including schools like Duke, UNC, Baylor, Minnesota etc. I suspect that Michigan Micro was unable to take as many students or had some other strange criteria that was inconsistent with their peer institutions. Don’t feel bad, who wants to live in the epicenter of unemployment in the frozen tundra of the midwest anyway.</p>
<p>I mean no disrespect, but the schools that you mention are not in the same league as Michigan PIBS. The strange criteria you suspect may just be a matter of the quality of experience / CV that Michigan required in order to offer an interview.</p>
<p>Wow you really dug for that post. I don’t know why you suspect that Michigan is not a peer institution to Duke, UNC, BCOM, Minnesota or the others that I was accepted to. If you check the US News Biological Sciences graduate school rankings, you will find that Michigan is rated 15, Duke is 12, UW Madison is 15, BCOM and UNC are both 26.
[Rankings</a> - Biological Sciences - Graduate Schools - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-biological-sciences-programs/rankings/]Rankings”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-biological-sciences-programs/rankings/)</p>
<p>If you look at levels of NIH funding, Michigan is 6, Duke is 5, UNC is 16.
[url=<a href=“http://report.nih.gov/award/HistoricRankInfo.cfm]NIH”>http://report.nih.gov/award/HistoricRankInfo.cfm]NIH</a> Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tool (RePORT)<a href=“all%20institutions%202005”>/url</a></p>
<p>I don’t know what your criteria is, but by objective ranking and funding criteria, Michigan is definitely “in the same league” as the other schools I was accepted to.</p>
<p>Michigan PIBS perhaps tends to have a better ‘rep’/name than Baylor or Minnesota- purely subjectively based on talking to people. But its ‘rep’ is definitely in the same league as that of Duke, UNC, or UW Madison.</p>