<p>Interest: Ph.D in Biomedical Sciences (Developmental/Molecular/Cellular Biology)</p>
<p>Degree: B.Sc in two biology-related majors from U of Washington
Cumulative GPA: 3.7/4.0
GRE: Q800 / V470
Non US citizen</p>
<p>Research experience: 1/2 year as a lab aid. 2 1/2 years (on full time basis for 3 quarters) of undergraduate research in 2 UW Medicine Labs. I got research fellowships for both projects and presented the results on symposia. Currently working as a full time research tech at UW Medicine as well. It has been 4 months so far.</p>
<p>Publication: I got 2 submitted for publication. They are still in the review process. One of them can possibly get accepted in a top journal by the time I submit my application.</p>
<p>LOR: 2 decent ones from my well-known PIs. One of them once mentioned me (on my past LOR) as the best undergrad student ever work in his lab. So I guess itâs a very good thing to have. Another one from a senior lecturer who taught 3 of my upper-level undergraduate courses and knows me pretty well.</p>
<p>School List: Stanford, Rockefeller, MIT, Harvard, WUSTL, UPenn, Wisconsin, Cornell Weill, UCLA, UCSD, Duke, Columbia, and Toronto (maybe)</p>
<p>My biggest concern is my verbal GRE and my international status. I just did my GRE today and was so ****ed off with my verbal GRE. Most of the words are beyond the 1700 words that I memorized. I got 580 twice with Powerprep. I think Iâm just not lucky today. Iâm not sure whether I should retake it again. Possibly not. I doubt the score will be highly improved if I retake it on Nov 1st. Oh well.</p>
<p>Oncogene, I think weâre on the same boat (except that I didnt co-author a Nature paper). lol</p>
<p>Because Pharmagirl received an interview for Johns Hopkins Pharmacology, Iâm going to unsticky this thread, rename it âApplication Information,â and start a new official results thread.</p>
<p>You may continue to use this thread for questions about the application process.</p>
<p>@Pharmagrl, please re-post your stats, the approximate date of application, and the date of interview notification for JHU on the new results thread.</p>
<p>Wow!! Congratulations. That seems really really early haha. Anyway, good luck let us know if any other ones come in. Looks like we gotta get moving on these apps guys!</p>
<p>Okay, now that Iâm done the GRE (WEEEE :)) Iâll post my app info (for the millionth time on this board I think, lol), just to have it all in once place. </p>
<p>International (Canadian)
Undergrad: Univ. of Toronto, Hon BSc. in Neuroscience
cGPA: 3.91, major/last two years ~3.96
GRE: 670V/800Q (donât know AW obviously), subject (Biology): 96%ile (860?)
Interests (the main ones): sensory transduction, coding and early info processing. Also more general development/function/maintenance of small neural circuits in simple organisms. </p>
<p>Research: 2.5 years total. 2 labs. first lab: 3 summers and 2 schools years (including 2 summers with undergrad summer fellowships and a second year research project) in a learning&memory/cognitive neuroscience lab/mouse model system. second lab: thesis, been here since august, molecular genetics/synaptic development/c. elegans model system.</p>
<p>Publications/abstracts: 2 in prep now, most likely submitted by app time (i hope), middle-author but hopefully to good journals. sole author review paper in an <em>undergrad</em> journal (but peer reviewed). 4th author on an SfN 2009 poster.
Honors/Awards: 2 summer research ones, various ones for academic achievement and one for writing (for the review). </p>
<p>LORs: 3 PIs that know me from a lab setting. 2 directly supervised my research. Hopefully the third will be more about my personality outside of the lab (first lab was a joint lab). Not much I can do about the fact that I havenât spent too long of a time in my current lab. </p>
<p>SCHOOLS:
Stanford
Yale
Harvard
MIT
Brandeis
UChicago
Northwestern
Weill-Cornell
Columbia
Rockefeller
NYU - Sackler
Princeton </p>
<p>I have no problem staying in Toronto in my current lab for a year or two either if I donât get in anywhere or decide that I donât really want to go where I got in (hard to judge without having BEEN to the place).</p>
<p>I am also in the finishing processâonly 4/5 more apps to go âŠand just waiting to get all my recs submittedâŠits a pain to keep in track and hunt them down especially if someone like me is applying to 14/15 schoolsâŠlol! But all my reco writers have been very coordinating so farâŠlets hope it continues! </p>
<p>@Serric: I am also planning to go to UMich PIBS open-house 2 weeks from nowâŠalthough I am not a minorityâŠso I wasnt eligible for their preview weekend application. Congrats to u!! I will see you thereâŠ</p>
<p>QuestionâFor UC apps (UCSD, UCSF)âthey dont have a seperate section where applicants upload their CVs like other schools doâwhat if ppl have additional stuff to add besides research experienceâI was concerned because they might miss something that may be important. What should we do in that case? I was thinking just emailing them my CVâŠbut then I thought that this might seem a little overboard. </p>
<p>yaygrady: there should be a section for âanything else you want to tell usâ somewhere in the application, which is appropriate for other major accomplishments. My advice though is donât make it too lengthy (for example, I used one sentence to sum up a 4-year intensive leadership development program).</p>
<p>If you send in your transcript before the end of the semester, they wonât see them. However, some schools might require transcripts before you are allowed to matriculate. I think as long as you finish your degree you are good though (unless there is some specific requirement).</p>
<p>More than halfway done with my applications as of today (6 out of 11; technically 7, but the payment processing system is down). Four more to goâŠ</p>
<p>Correct me if Iâm wrong, but I think there was an early deadline for international students for Cambridge (if you wanted to be considered for funding). I think that deadline has been passed already.</p>
<p>As has been said a million times elsewhere on this forum, you need competitive GREs for the top schools (preferably over 600 V, over 700 Q, 5.0 or over AW, with differences among fields), but those scores will not get you in. Once you meet those thresholds, GREs are generally no longer important. They have little bearing on your application. </p>
<p>In short, weak GREs will keep you out, but strong GREs wonât get you in.</p>
! Received it by email today for their February interview weekend</p>