2014 RD decisions: discussion thread

[molliebatmit]

<p>

@CalAlum

I interpreted Mollie’s point to be simply that it’s important to present your strengths fully and completely in an application.</p>

<p>Adcoms don’t see the person, they see the file. So if you are not admitted, that decision is not based on whether or not you are intrinsically a unique, interesting person who could add a great deal to the campus. It’s based on whether your paperwork presents you that way, or not. Part of your paperwork consists of your essays, but don’t forget, it also consists of letters of recommendation and (ideally) a report from an interviewer. A variety of people have the chance to weigh in on your strengths. I think that on CC, when everyone just looks at the stats, many people forget about this aspect.

Precisely.</p>

<p>Although a grant application may ask for different information from an undergraduate application, both applications require the applicant to figure out what the application readers want and to arrange his qualifications to best make the case that he is the one to pick.</p>

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@CanaryK

Unless I’m mistaken, when you apply for a grant, you try to convince someone that what you’re working on is important and feasible. When you apply for a college, you’re trying to convince them that you’re an interesting/creative/all-around-awesome person (among other things, but that’s the big one that’s probably going to get me), and those are two totally different styles of writing.

When applying for a grant, you are trying to convince the reader that your work is interesting and important, and that you are the best person in the world to do it. The science isn’t the whole story – it’s also about what you bring to the table. </p>

<p>Any application process is about convincing someone to spend limited resources on you, because you are the best person on whom to spend the resources. The exact qualities being examined will vary by the particular application, of course, but proficiency in presenting the best possible application for the particular application process is a generalizable skill.</p>

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@collegealum314

Even applying for faculty positions is not the same. It’s not like a university will look at two guys, one who is a superstar and another who is merely competent in the lab, and take the second guy because he wrote a heartwarming essay about how he kept trying even though he came in last in math competitions. This sort of thing sometimes happens in admissions.

But, as I said above, it’s a lot easier to sort faculty candidates based on achievement than it is to sort high school seniors based on achievement. </p>

<p>My grant is an NIH F31 – a predoctoral training grant. I’ve been going around the lab saying I’m on the dole now. :)</p>