<p>oncogene, you are money. first author in nature?! you will get in anywhere. as long as you don’t write anything crazy on your personal statement you are bound to get into most places you apply. congrats!</p>
<p>labgod its a co-author…not primary author…</p>
<p>Oncogene: Do you think that not knowing what “pulchritudinous” or equally silly words mean hinders you to be a good cancer researcher? And, honestly, would you like to work with somebody who thinks so (i.e. is nuts)?</p>
<p>What I have been told is that the most important things are: Research Experience, LoR and knowing what you want to do. For the first two you should be very well placed, and in four years of research you should have come across a couple of papers which got you excited. So, my advice would be to use your time to read some papers, identify the people you’d like to work with as a PhD candidate and contact them. Do not waste your time on memorizing hundreds of words again.</p>
<p>i agree. having your name on those publications will get you much farther than anything in your app. you are totally fine. i would focus your energy on other things. good luck!</p>
<p>Just received an invitation to the PIBS PREVIEW weekend at University of Michigan. Can’t wait to check out my first prospective school :)</p>
<p>Is that an open house or interview?</p>
<p>Is it possible to transfer from one phD program to another top phd program during the first year of grad school? Is it harder to get admitted? Can i use my same app as last year and apply to some of the same schools that i got in but declined to attend?</p>
<p>@GCN2: It’s an open house, but it’s the one for ‘historically underrepresented minorities in the sciences’. Seems pretty cool, though, and I’m looking forward to it!</p>
<p>Sounds like a good time, let us know how it goes.</p>
<p>@ada: transfers between PhD programs are rare and strongly discouraged. Usually, they only happen when an advisor leaves for the second program. That said, you should Google it and see what the odds are.</p>
<p>@momwaitingfornew: thanks for your reply</p>
<p>I am only a first year so i haven’t joined a lab yet…that said, is it okay, will it be viewed as unfavorable by admissions committee?</p>
<p>Probably – but I don’t know for sure. You might want to start a separate thread on this instead of burying it in the interviews and acceptances thread. Include why you want to transfer.</p>
<p>labgod, selpunca and Jixani…Thanks for the replies and those encouraging words…The reason I am worried is I am not thinking of applying to any safe colleges (just the top ten from the list)…and since I am an international, I might get rejections from all…</p>
<p>Oncogene - I’m not sure applying to just the top 10 programs is the best idea. You’re going to want to make sure there are people their actually doing research in which you are interested.</p>
<p>On a side note: How the hell am I supposed to tell Cornell about my research experience AND interests in one page? Thumbs down for their 1 page personal statement.</p>
<p>@GCN2: I was thinking about that too. Weill Cornell is asking the same thing. </p>
<p>I have been involved in 4 different projects and I dont know how I am gonna squeeze them into one page. When they ask about research experience, do you guys know how detailed it is supposed to be? Are we expected to explain about the general method, result, and future direction like what we usually find on a journal’s abstract?</p>
<p>I’m not sure how detailed it’ll be, but I received from feedback from the PI in the lab I work on when I wrote some stuff for my cover letter. If you’d like, I can PM it to you to give you an example.</p>
<p>Yeah, Weill Cornell’s application seems to be so much shorter than all the other schools. I started a lot of apps but I am not going to be done anytime soon and I am annoyed at their emails telling me to complete it. Do they have rolling admissions? I didn’t think so. It is not going to be done soon that’s for sure. </p>
<p>I would focus on the projects you were involved in the most. That’s what I am going to do. I would give a brief overview of the purpose of the project, I guess like in an abstract? But mainly one liner. And mainly I am going to focus on my own role and responsibilities in the project. Results for ones I am done working on/are finished but one liners for that. I don’t know, I think it depends on how much space they give you. I think the main point is to convey that you did work, you knew what you were doing and the project was important? That’s just my interpretation. Northwestern seems pretty generous though with their space requirements.</p>
<p>We’ll make it work! haha. Weill-Cornell looks like an incredible place, especially with the faculty overlap with Sloan Kettering. It’s hard to find faculty I wouldn’t want to work with.</p>
<p>I’ve take my 2 page personal statement and hacked and slashed it to one page. I’ll be including the following:
1/2 a sentence on my year of research in my organic chem lab
1 paragraph detailing the first year of work in my current land
1 paragraph detailing the second year and current honors research work
1 paragraph detailing my interests and how that relates to my upper level classwork.</p>
<p>I am trying to make a case as to why I want to do biomedical research. Since all of my experience has been in basic science, I am having to using classwork as my motivation. I figure that will be a better way of putting it than “Basic science bores me, I need action!”</p>
<p>I am hoping to get this things submitted by Sunday. I don’t think they do rolling admissions, but my apps are mostly ready, and the peace of mind will be wonderful.</p>
<p>^ lol. I’m the opposite. Weill-Cornell is one of my last choices because I don’t really have a good research fit. There are cool labs but none anymore that I am as excited about as I am in some other places. It is not too bad but my interests have changed from when I first found someone there I really liked. I think it is pretty much that it is in NYC. My main problem is from my understanding you can’t rotate with faculty outside of your program unless you are in the BCMB allied program? Is that true? Ugh. That really complicates things for me.</p>
<p>Just make sure when talking about biomedical research you don’t talk about finding a cure for cancer or something. Be realistic. (Not that I am saying you can’t, but you know… don’t like go overboard). I have the opposite problem. I am making a case for why I want to do basic science research without sounding like a complete a**hole who doesn’t care about helping people and the betterment of society, lol. </p>
<p>Good luck with your application!! Hmm, this is a miniscule question but I was going to go with reverse order in terms of labs, starting with my first and then going onto my current research. I wonder which is better.</p>
<p>Haha, I need to really edit my posts better. I am formatting mine chronologically, I just have poor editing skills. Anyway, you bring up an excellent point about faculty rotations, I need to look into that. My interests are really at the cross section of immunity and cancer bio, so if I can’t rotate through both departments, that might be bad news.</p>
<p>Anyway, I totally hear you on coming off as realistic in the personal statement. I think I’ve found a good balance so far and my advisers seem to think it’s alright. Who knows haha. I admire people who enjoy basic science, that’s true dedication to a science. It’s been great training for the future, but man I’m getting pretty tired of amoeba genetics and development.</p>