<p>Hi
I wanna do a PhD in microbiology or Virology
I am nervous, I took GRE and I did bad. I got 740 quant., 330 verbal :(
The verbal score stands out as very low and the quantitative score is not exactly great </p>
<p>My stats:
International applicant.
GPA: 3.2
GRE: 740-V 360-Q
Research experience: I year and published as 1st author.
Work expierice: 2 years of experience as a teching assistant at a university.
Self funded, I don't need to receive scholarship from a university. I received a sholarship which shall cover my enrollment for the PhD degree Does it make differnce? I know being a domestic student is advantageous when applying to a graduate program, but does being a self funded give you an advantage over others? </p>
<p>I am worried about my chance to get an acceptance :(</p>
<p>I applied to the following:</p>
<p>Mount Sinai School of Medicine
The George Washington University
University of Alabama at Birmingham
Vanderbilt University
Johns Hopkins University
penn state universit
University of Wisconsin madison</p>
<p>Can somebody please explain to me how a teaching assistant gets a first authorship? :rolleyes:</p>
<p>I don’t think it matters how you funded your undergraduate education. Most PhD programs are fully funded whether you can afford it or not. </p>
<p>Unfortunately I don’t think you stand much of a shot with that combo of GRE scores and GPA. Plus you’re international, for which spots are even fewer and more coveted. One program I applied to said they’re probably only accepting 1 or 2 internationals this year (public university) - and that’s for their umbrella biosciences program that accepts ~120/year. Plus, international applicants generally have higher stats than domestic applicants anyway, but such cannot be said about yours. </p>
<p>Still, if you have all your ducks lined up (LoRs, a strong statement, etc) you could apply and see what happens.</p>
<p>Dunhill said a year of research experience. Having a first-author publication after only a year is surprising as well. Just not as surprising as from a TA-ship… :P</p>
<p>I’m not sure what you’re talking about, denizen, regarding the funding. Any good program is funded for <em>domestic</em> applicants. Even so, a domestic applicant coming with his/her own funding is desirable for the school. Money is money. And it’s especially more important for an international student.</p>
<p>But I agree that the stats will make it extremely tough. While the verbal score might be generally one of the least important parts of your application to a science program, there are limits (btw, you mixed your scores the second time you mentioned them, Dunhill).</p>
<p>But as denizen said, if you want to apply this year to see what happens, and can afford it, it might be worthwhile. At this point in the year you can’t really change your stats.</p>
<p>^Regarding dunhill’s funding, I misread the OP. I thought he said his undergraduate education was self funded (which wouldn’t matter) - not that he already has a scholarship ready to use for graduate school.</p>
<p>Thank you for your replies
I am sorry about the mistake about the GRE scores.
I got 360 V; 740M</p>
<h2>1100 total</h2>
<p>In my country, you can get a first author even you are a teaching assistant.</p>
<hr>
<p>I have a scholarship ready to use for graduate school, but I am not sure whether it will work or not. I know that the stats will make it extremely tough, but I will try.
May you give me advice which school May I apply to get an acceptance?. I am sure I will not get an acceptance from an excellent school. However, I need to get any acceptance this year, otherwise I will lose my scholarship. :(</p>
<p>In addition, I have exceptional LoRs ( I am not sure if loRs will make difference or not!!
I worked as Intern in a hospital laboratory for one year before working as teaching assistant at a university.</p>
<p>Alabama, Wisconsin, and Vanderbilt (Harvard of the south, but not so much in biosci) are ~2nd tiers on your list that you have a decent shot at. You also might wanna try Louisiana State University (LSU). They have a pretty easy admit rate and stats.</p>
<p>If you really don’t need the funding due to outside sources, let that be known in your SoP or somewhere…they may consider that if the rest of your application is reasonable for the program you are applying to. Like virions said, it costs the schools money to fund their students, so if you are not going to cost them anything then let them know. Certain schools will try to offer at least some funding for internationals, so if they wouldn’t need to consider any funding for you, they may look a little harder at your application.</p>
<p>Yup, let them know firsthand you won’t need funding, and this is actually quite a big advantage.</p>
<p>About GRE - Get GRE to 90%Q 60%V at least (780 Q 500V on old scale). Try taking it one more time. Q and V scores can be know right away so you can take it on mid-late Nov since Grad school app ends at 15 Dec usually. Study hard for 2 weeks (i.e. 14 hours per day with 30 mins break in between)</p>
<p>If you mention self funded for the whole 5 years, I’d say 2nd tier school will most probably accept you as master student, then you can apply for PhD at same/diff school if your Master performance is great.</p>
<p>One more thing to try is email the professor at the school, explicitly mention that you are self funded, give them your CV, attach scholarship proof, then ask if you can work with them:
</p>
<p>Send this to at least 5 prof of every school you apply to. Don’t get discouraged if they are not answering (it’s normal) but do treasure those that answer.</p>
<p>Vitiatethis - is it typical to attach a CV when contacting prospective advisors? I will be applying to business schools next year for marketing PhD programs, so I don’t know if the answer would be field-specific. Or would just providing a few quick sentences with your background would be sufficient during a first contact?</p>
<p>It’s better to send CV within your first contact email. In fact it make the process faster for you especially if you are emailing a lot of prof.</p>
<p>People, including you and the professors, do not like being “trifled” with having to read/reply more email, and attaching your CV shorten the steps they need to take. Just say few background sentences and “I also attach CV for your interest”</p>
<p>Imagine if you do not send CV. If they are interested they will reply in 3 days with “please send your CV/resume/work exp” and then you have to email back with CV/resume then they will finally reply in 7 days “oh i like you please meet me for interview” - total 10 days if prof is not busy/did not forget etc (this needs them to be not busy/not forget twice - imagine how rare this is)</p>
<p>While if you send first contact with your CV, if they are interested they will read it and make decision within 3 days.</p>
