<p>Has anyone made decisions as to where they are going? Can you guys explain why you chose that school? I really am going to have a hard time choosing, so I wanted to see how everyone else is making their decisions. </p>
<p>Did you base it on a “feeling” you had when you were there? Or was it based more on what you thought of the place before you visited?</p>
<p>Hey roxanne,</p>
<p>I did the grad application circuit last year, then ended up deferring for one year because I received a special fellowship to live abroad. I’m technically the entering class of Berkeley MCB 2009, though, and I can tell you how I came to that decision. A lot of it was absolutely was about the “feeling” I had at the school - to the recruits, the current students, the school, the program, and the location.</p>
<p>Of my schools, I decided to interview at UWash (MCB), Yale (MCDB-BBS), UWisc (CMB), UChicago (Mol Bio), and UC-Berkeley (MCB). </p>
<p>I made my decision first by process of elimination, as I went around the circuit. Yale and Chicago were eliminated pretty easily for me - I hadn’t clicked with the schools, cities, current grad students or my fellow recruits. What’s more, the current grad students at these schools had seemed a little unhappy or unenthusiastic, and they didn’t seem to socialize much. </p>
<p>Once it was narrowed down to UWash, UWisc, and Berkeley, I started thinking positively. At all three of these schools, the grad students had seemed really happy, and they seemed to know and be good friends with each other. I’d had the best time at my UC-Berkeley weekend - most of the recruits were people I could easily see becoming friends with, and I loved the large size of the program. It had plenty of professors doing research that interested me. I loved the town and the weather, and I had felt comfortable the whole weekend, talking to either professors, students, or recruits. </p>
<p>Finally, Berkeley was by far the most diverse group of recruits and current PhD students of any school - very culturally diverse, and probably the only recruitment weekend where I had observed recruits that were gay or even marginally counter-culture. Diversity in perspective is extremely important to me, and a place like UWisc seemed a little mayonnaise-y in comparison.</p>
<p>Everybody’s priorities will be different - but you shouldn’t make your decision based exclusively on “research available” because you feel it’s a more legitimate metric. You’ll be at this school for 6 years, take your future life into account. Could you find potential friends among your fellow recruits or the current students? Did you like the city/climate? How comfortable would you be on your stipend in this town?</p>
<p>You have until mid-April, no need to rush!</p>
<p>Found out yesterday I’ve been officially accepted to Duke University-Biology Ph.D. program. Absolutely PERFECT fit for me—felt right at home during my visit and had this intuition that this is where I belong and it’s completely meant to be. Incredible students stripped of ego, friendly, wonderful professors, noncompetitive atmosphere, flexible interdisciplinary program, incredibly ground-breaking research, beautiful campus and competitive stipend. What more could you possibly ask for!? Hope to see some of you next fall at Duke and good luck with your decisions!!</p>
<p>Has anyone heard from MIT Chemical Engineering yet? I am going bonkers.
Got into CalTech, Berkeley, Princeton, and still waiting on MIT. What gives?</p>
<p>If Hopkins MMI has given out interviews… I didn’t recieve an email either way and their website removed my application! The site had said that decisions would be posted to the site, so I don’t know where that leaves me…</p>
<p>is there only one interview weekend?</p>
<p>any feedback would be cool. Have an interview at Columbia Biological Sciences in 2 weeks…will any of you be there?</p>
<p>@n7el </p>
<p>hey! i did heard from BU bioinformatics…attend the recruiment weekend this weekend…four interviews… the school is reaLLY nice…the hotel they put you in is sweet!!!..got to wait 3 weeks for results…BU has moved up too the top of my list!!</p>
<p>Has anyone heard from Stony brook BME and NYU computational Biology???</p>
<p>Forgive me for the stupid question, but which university is the “BU” so many people are referring to? I can think of several notable universities whose initials are BU so I have no idea which one you mean.</p>
<p>Boston University</p>
<p>I thought so. Frankly I’m surprised it’s so popular. I did consider applying there but there wasn’t really anything about the program or the university that attracted me. Perhaps I didn’t look hard enough.</p>
<p>I am on the other hand hoping to get into a different BU in the same city… Brandeis U!</p>
<p>BU = Boston University!!!</p>
<p>hey buffkitten, what do you mean by “counter-culture” at Berkeley?</p>
<p>Can anybody else explain? I have an idea what it might mean, but it’d be nice to hear someone else’s explanation.</p>
<p>When I say counter-culture, I don’t mean hippies or anything. I’m actually using the word wrong - usually someone who is “counter-culture” is reacting to and rejecting the dominant culture. I just mean people who aren’t really a part of the dominant culture - the dominant culture here referring to a middle class/upper middle class, Anglo, post-Dr. Spock upbringing, most often with two parents who went to college, and an end goal of marrying and being an upper middle class person with a nice house and kids.</p>
<p>I’m not trying to put down that lifestyle. But at some of my interviews, the recruitment pool felt very homogenous - everyone wore the same sorts of clothes, everyone talked in the same way, everyone seemed to have similar backgrounds. At Berkeley I saw a greater diversity of style, manner of speaking, values and interests. I don’t know if it’s a self-selecting thing - a certain type of person chooses to apply to Berkeley and not Yale - but I definitely felt it. And as I said, Berkeley was the only school I saw even one student who openly identified as GLBT/Genderqueer. YMMV of course - for all I know it could be as simple as an east coast/west coast thing - I had the same vibe, to a lesser degree, at UWash.</p>
<p>sahel, i’m going the weekend before i think to mt sinai</p>
<p>buffkitten,</p>
<p>thanks for the advice about choosing a school. i have that “feeling” for two schools i visited. i just felt at home at each, and was excited about the atmosphere and the program too. although, i was offered special “prestigious” fellowship awards at other schools but don’t feel the same way about them…should i just go for the “feeling” instead?</p>
<p>Do the fellowships increase your stipend? If the fellowship is the same as the stipend, but with a name, I wouldn’t allow that to affect your decision. I remember I got a few “prestigious fellowships” as an undergrad - where they took my need-based aid and put a donor’s name on it… but I certainly never put those on my resume. </p>
<p>However, if the fellowship get you an extra $5000 or so on top of your stipend, you should consider how that will affect your quality of life, and if it’s worth it to you.</p>
<p>No one can decide for you, everybody has a different idea of what they want out of grad school. I met a few people who chose not to go to Berkeley because they worried the nice weather would distract them from their lab work. If you want to use graduate school to make a name for yourself so you can snag a top-rate postdoc with Mike Levine or Sean Carroll or Carolyn Bertozzi, you will use different criteria to choose. I maintain what I said earlier - 6 years is a really long time to be somewhere every day, and you need to make sure it’s a place where you can be comfortable and happy, and making friends.</p>
<p>Buffkitten,</p>
<p>The fellowships don’t increase my stipend. They are exactly what you mentioned - a donor’s name put on the same amount of money. Given that perspective, I think I will have an easier decision to make. </p>
<p>At this point, I am lucky enough to be drawn to three schools I have visited (I know I said two earlier, but that meant the ones to which I have been accepted - one of them I haven’t heard back from yet). I can see myself living at each and every one of those places, doing research and talking with the faculty, and interacting with the students. I know I would be happy if I attend any of these. So, I will base my decision on the “feeling” for the school because that’s what I’m inclined to do.</p>
<p>You’ve been so helpful - thanks!</p>
<p>Berkeley as counter-culture? That is the funniest thing I have heard in a long time. Thanks.</p>
<p>Thanks buffkitten for the answer, very interesting. I must admit… it would be refreshing to meet more people who didn’t fit the same pattern you described.</p>
<p>Got into Loyola University in Maywood, IL and I just interviewed at UIC in Chicago. I like both programs a lot and it will be a tough decision if I’m accepted to UIC also. Does any one know which is better for biomedical pHD programs? Microbiology in particular??</p>
<p>Hi Icalla3,</p>
<p>I interviewed at UIC in the biomedical program too (Pathology) on 6th Feb. I’m not sure how to answer your question, but I just wanted to say ‘Hi’ to a fellow UIC interviewee. Congrats on your acceptance to Loyola!</p>