<p>My best advice for SOP writing is to have lots of conversations with your friends/family before you start writing. Tell them you want to talk to them about why you want to go into your chosen field to help flush out your ideas. You’ll likely find something far more compelling than a story about your childhood, such as why research and science bring a spark into your life, and your qualifications for acceptance (what you’ve learned from research, etc). When you go to actually start writing, you’ve already said everything, so the words will come more far more easily and naturally. Mostly, you want to show programs that you’re a solid investment as a future researcher, so keep a strong focus on your preparation and enthusiasm for a life of science.</p>
<p>This might be a stupid question…but will schools still accept Subject GRE scores if you took it in November of the year you are applying? Would you be able to find out your score before you decide if you even want to send it to schools?</p>
<p>phDhopeful - You should definitely ask your research PI or a biology professor to read it over to help put things into perspective. Biology PhD programs are not looking to read a story or an essay that begins with, “Ever since I was in elementary school, I knew I wanted to do experiments on mice for the rest of my life.” They want a clear and concise essay that describes your academic and/or research experience(s), how they shaped your goals and interests with respect to the biological sciences, what are your short-term and long-term interests and goals with respect to grad school, and how/why their program will help you acheive those goals.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot univ_student! And hey…if I get into grad school my research tech job at Sloan-Kettering will open up! 
Just in case you’re still looking then :-)</p>
<p>
Yes, you’ll be able to get your score by phone in early December, then you can decide if you want to send it to schools.</p>
<p>GPA: 3.23 cumulative/3.5 Jr/Sr year
GRE: 640 V(91%) 760 Q(86%) 5.0 AW(77%) (Glad that’s over with!)
GRE Subject: Biology, not so hot score first time, but retaking
Research: 1yr during undergrad including internship at a well known research hospital
going on 2yrs now post graduation(07) working as a research associate for small biotechs
1 publication, possibly 1 more before apps are submitted
LORs: CSO of my current company, former PI(now CEO of cancer center), professor I worked for as an undergrad</p>
<p>Schools(rough list): Harvard, UCSF, Cornell, UMass Medical, BU, Dartmouth, UVA…plus others. All are for PhD programs</p>
<p>Hello all, glad to join this forum. I know my GPA is on the low side, but I am hoping my research experience, scores, and LORs can offset that fact. The programs I am looking at are either umbrella programs or cancer biology/immunology. My internship was in a cancer lab and the two companies I have worked for since graduation have focused on autoimmune disease, with a lot of assay development work. Don’t know if it helps or not, but my internship and two companies are affiliated with one of the schools I am applying to.</p>
<p>I am a good distance from my undergrad so I can’t do anything about the GPA, but are there any suggestions about what else I can do to improve my profile? Any and all suggestions are appreciated!</p>
<p>GPA: 3.8
GRE: 800V, 800Q, Pending score writing
GRE Subject: Haven’t taken. General Biology or Biochemistry?!?!
Research: ~7 years or research (undergrad, masters, post-masters)
LORs: 3 PI’s (is this enough??)</p>
<p>Schools(rough list): Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Rockefeller, UCSF, UC Berkeley, Columbia, Scripps, NIH maybe</p>
<p>Hi. I’m glad to join this forum. I’m looking into genomics, chemical biology areas right now. I still can’t decide, so I think I’ll end up applying to many of umbrella programs.</p>
<p>I just finished my GRE and was lucky enough to receive a perfect score. I have to prepare for subject test now and dont’ know whether I should take general bio or the biochemistry one. Is general one easier? And how important is the subject test? I heard from many friends that it is not very important at all since most schools you don’t even have to submit unless they really really want to know. Is this correct??</p>
<p>If I were you I wouldn’t bother taking the subject test. You have 7 years of research experience, a good GPA and perfect GRE… it wont really do much for you that you don’t already have, you know? Do it only if the school requires it. Biology one is pretty easy, but it depends on what you studied in undergrad, but it seems in general biology is easier than the biochem. Subject test is good if your GPA is on the lower side, or you are international, or maybe to make up for any other deficiencies… but it is one of those things that might help, marginally, but if you score badly (I doubt you would based on your profile) it can hurt you.</p>
<p>interesting. i would have had NO clue if you hadn’t told me this. thank you so much. i think i might half-ass study for general bio test and submit the score if it’s somewhat decent. i studied a bit of biochem subject test yesterday and today, but it seemed like it was going to be quite time-consuming. what a waste of a weekend. lol. hopefully general bio test won’t be as bad… thanks again!</p>
<p>General bio subject test is significantly easier from what I gather.</p>
<p>What you should be aware of is that Scripps requires a subject test.</p>
<p>If I were you, I would just not apply to Scripps and ignore the subject test.</p>
<p>And how the hell does someone even score a 1600 on the GRE?</p>
<p>thanks mastermoe now i have sample size of 2 that says i should take general bio instead of biochemistry. convincing enough for me. yay. can u take it and decide not to send them as well and they will never know? (say if i bomb the test or something, the test score wouldn’t be bundled with the general score, right?). i guess i’m inclined on taking it because i just wasn’t sure what they meant when programs like ucsf states highly recommended to take subject tests. but if i can find out for certain that there is no adverse effect by not taking it, i would love to not take the test at all.</p>
<p>i’m also surprised that i got 1600 as well. i expected 700V/800Q-ish; i definitely guessed 2-3 questions on verbal. guessing god was with me that day.</p>
<p>Well I haven’t written the Biology subject test or the Biochem test myself but I will be writing the Biology subject test this October or November.</p>
<p>I’m just going by what people say–and it is pretty unanimous in that respect. </p>
<p>The subject test may be highly recommended at many schools but the people who should really write it are those who come from no-name foreign schools and want to prove they have a solid footing in the basic subject material or people with weak GPAs such as myself.</p>
<p>Your stats suggest you are wayyyy ahead of the pack in every respect so the subject test is of no benefit to you.</p>
<p>And yes-- you can choose to write the subject test, bomb the **** out of it, and not send the score to any schools.</p>
<p>thank so you much. i’m sorry i didn’t mean to sound like an ass if i came off that way. i haven’t been in school forever, and i just don’t really have anyone to really find out about this stuff. there are no grad students in the lab 
thanks so much again!!!</p>
<p>You didn’t come off like an ass. I don’t know where you got that idea. You were totally polite… I’m confused lol.</p>
<p>Just took my GRE’s today: So glad I m done with it. </p>
<p>Here are my stats:
GPA: 3.5 from Top 20 public US university
GREs: 600V, 740Q; AW: ?? dont know the percentiles yet!
1.5 year Research Experience; currently working in a non-profit research institution
Graduated: 2008
LOR’s: 1 from old Professor; 1 from past PI; 1 from current research supervisor</p>
<p>Applying to Biomedical Sciences Programs for fall 2010 in: </p>
<p>U of Maryland Baltimore
UVA
U of Iowa
Hopkins
UCSF
UCSD
Stanford
Michigan
Northwestern
U Chicago
Baylor
UT Southwestern
U Penn
Mt. Sinai
Cornell(Weill) </p>
<p>I am applying to so many strong schools: Should I even bother applying to some based on my stats? After reading stats from ppl here, I feel like I am overestimating myself. </p>
<p>I was thinking of taking subject GRE’s for UCSF – but I just read on their site that its now strongly recommended. Should I even bother taking it?</p>
<p>I did notice that UCSF Tetrad no longer requires the subject test! I even looked back at the admissions page. Funny the change that can occur since last year, when it was required (and I took it). That’s awesome though, less money wasted by applicants like me who would have had to take it just for that one school.</p>
<p>i was totally confused by your earlier post because you had mentioned that ucsf most definitely required the subject test but i saw otherwise on their webpage. it totally makes sense now that i know that they changed the requirements. perfect! thanks roxannecellbio! :)</p>
<p>I realized this after I signed up for the test Oh well I guess.</p>
<p>this might be some last minute freaking out, but what score should i be satisfied with on the GRE quant? i’ve been hitting 740-800 on the powerprep tests so far…</p>
<p>If I were you, I would gun for 1,400+ cumulative. Nothing lower than 580V or 750Q.</p>
<p>An ideal score is a Q as close to 800 as possible and a V score of 600+.</p>