Biosciences: Application information (old results thread)

Graduate School
361

<p>@Oncogene</p>

<p>In general, yes. You can waive it but it’s kinda complicated. Here’s the answer that they gave me:</p>

<p>“We cannot waive the TOEFL requirement outright nor does a period of study at a U.S. institution exempt you from having to submit an official TOEFL score. Any request for a waiver can be considered only after we have an otherwise complete application in hand for our review. If you would like to apply for a waiver, please submit a written request along with your application materials outlining your proficiency with the English language (previous TOEFL scores, GRE verbal scores, education received in the United States or other English speaking country, etc.). Your request for a waiver will be examined in conjunction with your application. That is, if you are offered admission, it will be offered with the TOEFL requirement waived, or it will be offered conditionally , based on successful passing of the TOEFL.”</p>

<p>Also, do you know that Weill Cornell (Cornell-Sloan) and MIT also require TOEFL regardless your US degree? I just took the test last week for the sake of those three schools.</p>

362

<p>so, waht they are tryin to say is that you can apply without TOEFL scores, but if you are accepted, it would be based on you taking the exam afterwards and successfully passing it. Does this mean TOEFL score is not required for you to get accepted but you are going to need it if you want to attend DUKE?</p>

363

<p>“Does this mean TOEFL score is not required for you to get accepted but you are going to need it if you want to attend DUKE?”
–> I think it depends on your application. They can either completely waive it or require you to take it after being accepted.</p>

364

<p>selpunca, apparently MIT and Cornell-Sloan do accept applications without TOEFL. I just talked to a grad student at MIT Bio(from my home country). He said they do say it in their website but it is not an absolute requirement unless you did your undergrad from outside of US/Canada.
Did you contact them for a waivier?</p>

365

<p>I’m not sure about MIT but I did contact Weill Cornell. They said that I would still have to take TOEFL.</p>

366

<p>**** whats this TOEFL problem…</p>

<p>Does Duke require the TOEFL even though you did undergrad in the US/Canada?</p>

367

<p>Choijae, duke and cornell require toefl scores from those whose native language is not english regardless of where you did your undergrad. But they may waive it depending on your applications.</p>

<p>how’s everyone doing with the apps? I still haven’t submitted a single app yet?</p>

368

<p>I submitted one and I paid using my Canadian Visa… because I’m from Canada. (So I paid $60 CAN for the $60US app). And immediately thought “Doh!” (it was to Weill Cornell which is pretty much second last on my list). I send a money order to UChicago because that’s the only school I wasn’t sure I could pay for online (it doesn’t say anywhere so I didn’t want to find out last minute I couldn’t). Now I don’t know what I should do about paying. It went through and it says it is fine, but my application isn’t complete yet (GRE haven’t arrived and one LOR isn’t done)… I sent an email to them (the appropriate person) but I don’t know what to do. </p>

<p>Uuuuugggggggh. The Canadian dollar is pretty much equivalent to the US anyyway. I just exchanged $1400US and got 1435$ CAN. Haha.</p>

369

<p>I wasnt thinking of TOEFL as a problem…
but seems if ur in they’ll either waive it or you can do it for entrance or something. Gotta ask fast for a waiver
and Im still not done either. All 3 of my referees havent wrote anything yet :S. Its gonna be a close call for me I say.</p>

<p>I found this at the cornell graduate school website</p>

<p>“TOEFL
Applicants whose native language is not English must take the TOEFL and have the official score reported to Cornell from the Educational Testing Service (ETS). Only students who have studied full-time for two or more years at a college or university where English is the language of instruction located in a country where English is the native language are exempt from the TOEFL.”</p>

<p>but I guess its different for weil cornell</p>

370

<p>Safetypin, when you use a card abroad, which you are essentially doing when you pay for a US application fee, the credit card company does the conversion and then usually charges you a small foreign transaction fee. It’s no different than if I went to Canada with my VISA card and bought an item in Canadian dollars. The retailer gets the correct amount, and I’m charged for it appropriately.</p>

371

<p>I am still working on my statement but almost done. Its so much pain when you have it read by many people, going through each and every comments.</p>

<p>My new GRE scores wont reach the schools until after deadline (additional reporting ones). But they will have my old one. Some of the schools say that its fine as long as you mention the rough arrival date but the others don’t have anything mentioned in their website. I am prolly gona call them and let them know abt the situation.</p>

372

<p>Ive sent all my transcripts and gre scores before I submitted my application. It doesnt matter right??</p>

<p>Deadlines are rolling up and its getting so nervous now.</p>

373

<p>Choijae, a lot of schools have a checker on their application where you can log in and verify if they’ve received something (University of Wisconsin does this). If not, just call either the department or the office of graduate admissions, give them your name, and double-check if they’ve received it.</p>

<p>I did it with all of mine, and with all but one exception they were happy to notify me well in advance of the deadlines.</p>

374

<p>MWFN: Thanks! I was hoping for that because I must’ve used it to buy things from US before, for sure… the teller at the bank when I was getting my money order told me that it wouldn’t go through and I can’t do that, so I got all confused. Ugh. This makes life so much easier.</p>

<p>Choijae: doesn’t matter. Like two hours after I submitted my Cornell application the website showed that my transcript had arrived (but this info wasn’t available prior to submitting it).</p>

375

<p>Hey everyone, I’m looking for some feedback on my application. I’m applying to umbrella biology programs, specifically looking at pharmacology and biochemistry. </p>

<p>I’m from a small, no-name liberal arts college with majors in Chemistry and Mathematics and a GPA of 3.99, science GPA 4.0. My GRE scores are 800Q, 610V, 4.5AW.</p>

<p>I have two summers of mathematics research experience. One mathematics paper reviewed and accepted for publication, and a LOR from my professor at that REU.</p>

<p>I also have one summer of pharmacology research experience, with a LOR from my PI from that summer as well. No publications here, but I did create and present a poster on my findings at a conference that my PI was at.</p>

<p>Here are the schools I’m applying to:</p>

<p>University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
University of Iowa
Northwestern University
University of Chicago
Washington University, St. Louis
University of Pittsburgh</p>

<p>My biggest question is whether I have enough research experience to have a shot at these schools. I am curious how you think my math background and research will be received by biological research programs, if they value the inquiry and discovery process or whether it is just not applicable enough. If this math research is not “counted” toward my research experience, will my one summer of pharmacology research be enough?? </p>

<p>Thank you in advance for your help! :)</p>

376

<p>I think math is always a big plus in biology, but that’s just my opinion.</p>

377

<p>Hello everyone, I cant believe how much, I learnt just from reading the stuff on here.</p>

<p>I have found the ‘what are my chances’ kind of posts extremely helpful in attempting to gauge my own options. However, as much I have tried, I have not been able to come up with a complete list of universities, as at this point I am lacking any ounce of self esteem whatsoever, and being international is not helping either. so I am looking for help, suggestions, advice, anything.</p>

<p>My profile:</p>

<p>Undergrad: Transferred from an Indian university to a state university in the u.s., in Biotechnology
GPA: 4.0 throughout
Aiming for programs in: Biomedical sciences, genetics and molecular biology
GRE general : Verbal-740, Quant-760, AWA- 4.5
Research experience: 1.5 years in a plant molecular biology lab with a possible pending publication, working on genetic mapping of wheat chromosomes, 8 months including a summer undergraduate fellowship (and another 6 months after graduation as lab technician) in a molecular biology plant lab performing gene transformations and genotyping plant populations. 4 months in an Animal sciences lab performing Western blots and protein analysis.
Recommendations: 2 from research advisors one of them with a publication in science magazine, expecting at least one to very good, 1 from a professor with whom I have had only minimum research experience, but she will certainly have a very good recommendation for me, she is well known in her field too.
My biggest concern though, is the lack of publications.</p>

<p>Universities applying to:</p>

<p>Dartmouth -MCB
U of Wisconsin
Northwestern
U of Pittsburgh
Penn state
U of Chicago
U of Texas, southwestern medical unit
I am still debating applying to hopkins, even as a dream school as I see the chances to be pretty slim (I did get through the pre-application though, but I don’t know if they actually screen at the pre-apps)
Purdue
Wake forest
I am still looking for safe schools, but the problem is I don’t know how low i need to look into the rankings to find a school that is safe for me, or ones that I should even have a chance of getting into.</p>

<p>It would be of immense help at this point if any of you could help me make a decision, or suggest some slightly less ambitious places I could try applying to.</p>

378

<p>Despite what people on CC say, publications are not required for admission into top programs. Yes, if you have them, it’s going to work in your favor; however, few students coming directly from undergrad have them. As long as you have research, strong LORs, good grades, solid GREs, and a compelling SOP, you’ll have positive results. </p>

<p>@Christine: Biology is becoming more and more quantitative every year, so your background in math, including the publication, is likely to be a huge plus. Your stats and experience look good. </p>

<p>@Takshila: Your profile looks good, too. You’re right that your international status might make acceptances more difficult than they would be if you were domestic, simply because of funding issues. I suggest that you look at your choices on phd.org to see what percentage of the students are international. If several have 15% and above, then you might be okay with your selections as is. Also, if you haven’t already, go to the program web pages to see what they say about internationals. Sometimes you can read between the lines about whether they encourage or discourage international students. </p>

<p>The best universities want to attract the best internationals because they want to be renowned not only in the US but in the world. The only question is how many they can afford to support.</p>

379

<p>What do you guys think: Can a good GRE Subject score (940, 99 percentile in both total and all subsections), somewhat compensate a meager Undergraduate GPA (3.1)? My masters GPA is fine (3.9), so please tell me that this is somewhat compensatory. (Yeah, being paranoid here)</p>

<p>btw. Why is it so well hidden that you can actually see your scores online and do not need to pay 12$ or wait for this stupid letter to arrive? I could have known so much earlier…</p>

380

<p>It’s just one test; it’s not going to compensate for four years of coursework. It probably has some mitigating effect, though. (Of course, there are plenty of people who have high undergrad GPAs and good subject GRE scores, so who knows; it probably depends on the competitiveness of the programs to which you’re applying.) Your master’s GPA probably compensates more than the subject score.</p>