<p>How's Caltech's molecular/cell biology program? I have seen it been ranked in top 10 in USnews.com. I though caltech's good only in physical sciences.................</p>
<p>Ouch! I'm at Caltech right now. We have some big-name scientists in biology - many NAS members and a Nobel laureate - but obviously we're a small department with about ~35 non-emeritus faculty members and ~80 grad students. Those students are "good": a significant portion (20%?) earn external fellowships and most go on to good postdocs, often with their own funding. I know some who graduated in the past four years, postdocked for a while, and are now professors. It's also a "good" program in the sense that it's difficult to get into, which might be how US News ranks them...I dunno. </p>
<p>I really recommend Caltech's biology department. The professors and other students are very friendly, which makes all the difference in quality of life. No ridiculous ego trips or departmental politics, unlike some schools (I'm looking at you, Harvard/MIT). And of course the science and the weather are top-quality. Are you applying? If so, you should definitely look up potential advisers to be sure you would be a good fit here.</p>
<p>Thanks Snowcapk,</p>
<p>I will be applying prolly in the year 2010...thats 2yrs from now...right now I have a research position at Harvard med and am pretty sure of spending two years here.......in the mean time I am spending my time browsing over some good programs in molecular/cellular biology and tryin to shortlist schools that I will be applying to.....caltech and princeton are in the list but I was very doubtful about their biology department (got the names from the usnews)...</p>
<p>I am workin on cancer research right now and am thinkin of applyin to caltech/princeton in case I want to get in to pure molecular biology program rather than cancer biology........</p>
<p>Caltech rocks, yo. (That's my official scientific opinion.)</p>
<p>^^^ And that's coming from a Harvard person right?</p>
<p>Technically, I'm also a Harvard person now - just finishing up in lab here and I'm off to a first rotation. Maybe I'll see you there, Mollie (if you ever drop by the MCB buildings).</p>
<p>I guess -- I still consider myself an MIT person, though. :)</p>
<p>snowcapk, I do go to lectures up in Cambridge sometimes, so perhaps I will see you around! (Also, you might meet my baymate -- she's usually involved in MCB orientation. She's a girl with a guy's name, so you'll know who she is.)</p>
<p>Mollie why is it that people studyin in Harvard (grad studies) dun like harvard much...there are some grad students in my lab who have the same opinions ..............:)</p>
<p>Grad school is just different from undergrad -- most people don't feel the same strong affiliation with their graduate institution that they do with their undergrad institution.</p>
<p>For me, grad school feels like work rather than school, because I don't feel like a "Harvard student" for the 97% of my time that I spend in lab. I only feel like a student when I go to class, and I don't do that very often anymore (I'm a third-year as of yesterday!).</p>
<p>So it's not that I don't like Harvard, it's just that I don't feel like a Harvard student most of the time. I feel like someone who works in a lab at MGH.</p>
<p>makes sense mollie..also I hear students complaining about boston's weather.....the girl holding the research position prior to me dint even bother applyin to Harvard or MIT even though her credentials were good....she told me she just wanted to get out of boston.....</p>
<p>Snowcapk! you are studyin in caltech but going to do your rotations at harvard..is that possible?</p>
<p>I love Boston's weather. I mean, I actively chose to stay after undergrad -- my other options were in the LA area and the SF area, and I chose Boston. I like seasons.</p>
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Snowcapk! you are studyin in caltech but going to do your rotations at harvard..is that possible?
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<p>I just graduated from undergrad at Caltech and I'm finishing up my research project in a lab here. After that, I'm going to Harvard MCB to start my rotations :)</p>
<p>Now that makes sense :)......ayte, may be I will see you if you come down to danafarber sometimes......and also may be you can help me during graduate college applications since you ve already been through all the hard work ;)</p>