I’m interested in pursuing my PhD in the general field of molecular biology, although it varies by the program. I recently made a list/ranking of the schools and programs to which I want to apply and was wondering if it was too many or if I should cut some of the top schools out in favor of low to mid-tier schools.
I am a biochemistry major with minors in microbiology and genetics. I have a cumulative 3.73 GPA with a major (science) GPA of 3.93. I’ve been involved in research for 2 years at my university working on an independent project designing experiments and gathering data so the professor can apply for grants. I had an NSF REU last summer in microbiology. There may be a paper out of it if it ever gets accepted by a journal. This summer I am an Amgen Scholar at Harvard. If this summer goes well, I will get my recommendations from the 3 professors I worked under for research. I have taken 6 graduate level courses in my field (biochemistry, microbiology, and genetics) with 3 more underway next semester.
I ranked the list of schools and their respective programs:
Harvard University (BBS program in HILS)
Yale University (BBS program)
Princeton University (Molecular Biology)
Stanford University (Biosciences --> Biochemistry home program)
University of California-San Francisco (Tetrad)
University of Washington (Molecular & Cellular Biology)
Vanderbilt University (IGP in Biomedical Sciences)
Boston University (PiBS)
Cornell University (Biochemistry, Molecular & Cell Biology)
University of Oregon (Biology at Institute of Molecular Biology)
University of Tennessee (Microbiology)
I was thinking about dropping BU and Cornell. I love Boston, but I worry that if I don’t get into Harvard (which I love) and I go to BU I’ll just be bitter for 6 years. And Cornell because I really love the way Boston is bustling with history and activities without being as huge as NYC. Conversely, from what I can tell, Ithaca is a “small town” and I already go to school in one of those. I really wanted to go somewhere exciting for grad school while I’m young with no kids. I really am not all that interested in University of Tennessee beyond the fact that it is my ultimate backup plan and one of my recommenders is from there. I don’t really feel right about asking him to write me a letter without doing the courtesy of applying to their program. I would be open to dropping some of the top schools if people really strongly feel that I’m applying to too many top tier schools for my stats/experience. Any advice is welcome!
How are your GRE and BGRE scores? That will be an important factor for the most selective programs. Makesure there is noe program you consider a safety (and your advisors agree) thatyou are willing to attend. If thatis not Tennessee, then you need to find another one.
I haven’t taken my GRE but I test really well and am studying for both the general and Biochemistry/Molecular&Cell Biology subject test. I only want to take these tests once so I’m taking the general one in August and the subject one in September. I usually do extremely well on standardized testing.
Then you stand a good chance at the most selective schools but realize that they are “most selective” for a reason and even if you have a wonderful application, there will be many others who are just as wonderful and since the admission rates are quite low, you need to have a solid plan B. There is never any guarantee with these programs.
The people I’ve talked to kind of don’t take a stance. They say, “it’s worth it to try for the top schools” or “you’ll have no problem with these schools.” Which are kind of conflicting and part of the reason I hoped someone on here would have some advice.
Somehow this whole grad school thing feels more important than undergrad. I only applied to the one school for undergrad and never got rejected. (Kids, take a hint. Otherwise you’ll panic later) Now I’m really anxious that even if I consider a school like University of Oregon a safety (which I do) I’ll get rejected.
And my research professor at home sat down and really looked over the list. She felt Oregon, Cornell, and BU were safeties (in addition to Tennessee, of course). I don’t 100% believe her simply because no one talks about those schools like safeties. And I guess I just wanted a second opinion.
I owuld agree with your mentor even though I am in physics and not biology, I do graduate admissions for my department and I ran the university graduate admissions office for 3 years. If you test the way you say, you will certainly get into those three with assistantships and you have a good application for the most selective programs too. My point was that with those programs it is never a sure thing simply becuase of the large number of excellent applicants.
Birochemgirl67, my advice would be to make the most of your research experience at Harvard this summer. You have a golden summer opportunity very few undergraduate students have. Spend extra time in the lab, ask questions, get totally engaged. Do any of the three professors whom you are seeking their recommendations know any professors at the universities you will be applying? I cannot emphasize the impact of a direct phone call … “Hey Jim, I got this summer undergraduate student who is working in my lab whom I feel would be a perfect fit for your research program” A direct phone call will trump any recommendation letter you have. You got the grades, now you have to show your desire. A minor point – molecular biology is a technique not a research area (e.g… cell cycle regulation, tumor promoters/repressors, etc.).
I completely understand there is such thing as a “sure thing” for these programs. That’s what is freaking me out!
One professor is an alum of Yale and the one at Harvard is super famous (and currently on vacation). Sometimes the famous profs aren’t around much, so when he is, I plan on meeting with him. And molecular biology was a broad term for the molecular basis of cell dysregulation either in terms of cancer or infection. Cellular misbehavior in the context of the immune system and the “protocols” that govern its operation are currently of most interest to me.
I have a sort of different perspective on safeties in the PhD process. Doctoral programs are already so grueling and difficult, and an academic career so narrow, that I see absolutely zero point in going to a PhD program you’re not totally in love with. After all, PhDs are not mandatory. Personally, I think it’s better to not attend a PhD program at all than it is to go to one that you’re not enthusiastic about.
With that said, if you are not interested in UT, I don’t think you should waste your time and apply. Your recommender won’t expect you to go to the same program he did (I didn’t even apply to my recommenders’ graduate programs). There’s no sense in spending 6 years in a PhD program you don’t want. It’d be miserable.
If Ithaca is too small for you, will you be happy in Eugene (which is where the University of Oregon is)?
Also, I would also like to remind you that one of the biggest keys to getting into graduate school is “research fit”. Seriously consider what you want to study and if there are professors researching in your field of interest. Microbiology is a huge, broad topic. Are you interested in environmental micro? Or perhaps parasite/host interactions? Microbial genetics? Food micro? etc. Many schools offer PhDs in microbiology, but each program is different and might be better known in one area of micro than another. If your passion is food micro, you might be a better fit at a good school with a top rated micro program and many prolific food micro professors v. a “top-rated” school that does little or no food micro. (I know you listed several prospective majors, I just used micro as my example.)
I would definitely consider cutting UT if I didn’t feel “obligated” to apply. I don’t want to offend the professor and I also kind of like the security blanket of KNOWING I’ll get in there. The professor said last summer that they will look for my application in the fall of 2016 and will be thrilled to have me as an addition to the department. And now I feel like it would be wrong to ignore them as well as losing a “sure thing” for me.
And don’t worry, the other schools I chose based on research. I’m interested in cellular dysregulation… cancer, infectious disease, immune disorders. I specifically chose schools strong in the biomedical sciences so that my rotations can have as much freedom as I want when it comes time. I don’t have a single burning research question that I want to answer. I want to spend the rest of my life learning more about cells and their internal control mechanisms and intercellular communication. Whether that will be in the context of virology, immunology, cancer, or something else has yet to be seen. The programs I chose have a large number of stupendous faculty who are accomplished and focus specifically on these topics in order to increase my chance of getting a good mentor. It just so happens that many of the schools with top research in areas I would like to live happen to be top rated schools.
I doubt that the professor will be offended if you make it clear that your research interests do not fit in with UT's, and that you wouldn't really want to attend even if you were admitted. The only professors who would be offended by that are weird/socially awkward and are putting their own feelings and priorities above their students'.
Why do you like the security blanket of knowing you'll get in if you would also be miserable/unhappy/discontent by going there? Getting accepted means nothing if you don't want to go; in fact, it's an investment of time and a not insignificant amount of money for nothing. Also, don't assume that you'd get in, particularly if you are a bad fit research-wise. Just because your professor knows some people and is excited about your app doesn't mean that they will be, particularly if it's clear that your research does not fit and that you're only applying because of the connection you have.
Imagine this scenario: You got into UT, but ONLY UT - nowhere else. (Unlikely, but imagine it.) Imagine that you attend. Does that scenario make you content, or stressed out? Can you imagine the situation in which you applied to and attended a graduate program solely because you wanted to avoid upsetting someone else?
Also:
This worries me, a lot.
Quite frankly, graduate school and an academic career is not about “learning more,” not in the traditional sense. Graduate work and research careers are about being producers of knowledge, not consumers. You do “learn more,” but not in the sense of taking in lots of information - it’s about being the one to generate that information. If you want to spend your life learning more about X, you can always get a library card, attend lectures, take some classes as a non-degree student, etc.
I’m saying that not to be flippant, but because I genuinely believe that a student without a burning passion to answer a research question - or at least a particular set of research questions - will be relatively unhappy in a graduate program and in academia. Take it from me - in this grueling field, a general interest in stuff, even a deep interest, is not enough. There has to be something that you really want to know that no one else knows yet and you think it is REALLY IMPORTANT that we know that stuff. Not being a biologist, I don’t know if the internal control mechanisms and intercellular communications is that thing. Are there huge gaps in that area? Are there niches that no one in those fields you listed are filling? Are there questions that aren’t being answered? And more importantly, does it drive you absolutely crazy that no one is doing this Really Important Work in those gaps? You have to have a very singular kind of ambition and drive to succeed in scientific research in academia.
Also, I think that students will definitely change interests. I also believe in basic science for science’s sake, although I personally could not do it. However, there’s a difference between not knowing the eventual applications of your work (but still believing in its vitality) and in not knowing which field you want to go into. If by the last sentence in that quote you mean the latter, I think you need to spend some time thinking and figuring out what area you want to enter before you choose a graduate program.
I would identify with wanting to answer a set of questions. How do immune cells communicate with each other in the context of different environments? How do infections affect the way cells communicate both inside and out? Those would be my preferred interests currently. But I know they’ll probably change. And for graduate school, although I understand where you’re coming from, having 1 research question in mind to study going in is faulty. I’ve heard that from so many people across so many universities. It would be better to have a spectacular mentor with a project that you are moderately interested before you join it in than have a research project that you think is perfect and a cruddy mentor. I mean that I am flexible in my interests and intend to use my graduate education to choose a later path for research.
I thought it went without saying that investigating cellular phenomena to increase scientific knowledge or improve medical practices qualified as learning. I don’t want to learn information processed by other people. I want to investigate for myself. I did not mean I haven’t picked a field; I meant that I am interested in cellular dysregulation studied using genetic, biochemical, cellular biology, and immunological techniques. Which of these my project will utilize has yet to be determined. The subjects I chose are highly interconnected, as evidenced by umbrella programs at a majority of the top universities. I would be thrilled to work on exosomal communication in the context of cellular transformation as a result of HTLV-1 infection. I would also be excited to study signaling in the bone marrow niches between the niche cells and HSPCs that contribute to transformation in leukemic individuals (whether that leukemia is genetic or a result of infection). I just don’t presume to fully know my own mind yet; I’m not going into these programs looking to study with just one professor. Usually there’s a set of at LEAST 10 and upwards of 30 in my top schools (and the total faculty number is >80) that I am interested in. A lot of their research is related to each other in some way, before anyone says I’m too broad. I’m not looking at computational biology of proteins and receptor trafficking… it’s much more narrow than that.
^By research question, I didn’t mean one that was answerable in one project. I meant a broad one, like “What are the barriers to adherence to HIV medication in HIV-positive people, and how can we reduce them?” That could be an entire life’s research agenda right there. And yes, you’re right, they will probably change.
I don’t think having one research question in mind is faulty at all, as long as you have abiding interest in other related areas to buoy you. Having 1 research question could potentially speed your time to degree if you have a feasible dissertation project already in mind. My PhD program required us to specify a dissertation project in our statement of purpose upon application. You didn’t have to do it - and, in fact, my final dissertation looked absolutely nothing like the one I specified - but they wanted to see that you were capable of generating questions and that you had interest in an area. Many of my classmates already had a question/dissertation area defined when they began. But going in with a set of questions or a general but narrow area of interest is great, too.
Caltech is a great school, but its research is a little more on the structural and computational biology side. While that stuff is interesting, I’m 100% sure that I’m more interested in molecular biology in the context of cell. It seems like a tiny distinction, but I looked at their program and not only are most of the labs focusing on chemistry and biophysics, but there is very little focus on biomedical research. And that is my goal.
I really am not all that interested in University of Tennessee beyond the fact that it is my ultimate backup plan and one of my recommenders is from there. I don’t really feel right about asking him to write me a letter without doing the courtesy of applying to their program. I would be open to dropping some of the top schools if people really strongly feel that I’m applying to too many top tier schools for my stats/experience. Any advice is welcome!