"Safety" applications in biological sciences

Graduate School
1

<p>Hi all, I am in the midst of applying and have found that I have selected only programs with very similar admission profiles. I am looking for other universities or research centers that might be considered "safety" choices (I hate that term). I don't like the idea of moving and changing my life/career for something that I don't have very positive feelings about, but I do need to include an application with much less competitive admissions characteristics.</p>

<p>I am applying to PhD programs for Microbiology/Immunology. I want to study microbial pathogenesis and host response. The specific model system or pathogen is of less consequence in my search. Also, I would ideally like a place that has a school of public health (cross disciplinary programs would be a plus). I would also prefer a traditional university setting but am not dismissing "health science centers" or research institutes.</p>

<p>Any suggestions???</p>

<p>for reference my application statistics are as follows:
-UW Madison 2005 BS in Bacteriology 3.3 or 3.4
-Worked as lab tech since in industry and in academia
-2 second author publications, half a dozen abstracts, poster sessions, conferences etc
-GRE 780 Q, 640 V, 4.5 A Biochem subject test 89 percentile
-Smattering of graduate work at University of Colorado</p>

2

<p>Oops, I suppose it would be helpful to know what schools I am already applying to.</p>

<p>UNC-Chapel Hill
Duke
Vanderbilt
Baylor College of Medicine
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of Pennsylvania
University of Texas - Houston</p>

3

<p>not a safety, but have you considered UW? also Harvard? Safety schools are hard, since where you get your phd matters at least a decent amount. You seem to have pretty good stats, so you should get in somewhere. One "safety" choice might be an NIH affiliated program-- georgetown is much easier to get into but you still get the choice of labs at NIH</p>

4

<p>UW = Univ of Wisconsin? Washington University? University of Washington?</p>

<p>What are NIH affiliated programs?</p>

5

<p>University of Washington. Georgetown, and several other schools, have programs where you do the coursework at the school and then can work at a lab at NIH. Since the lab that you come out of matters more than the program, it can be a way to work in a top lab while only needing to be admitted to a less selective school.</p>

6

<p>belevitt, I think of the schools you listed, you will get into at least half of them, I wouldn't worry at all if I were you.</p>

7

<p>I agree with PhD-Bound. I wouldn't worry about adding any safety schools to your list.</p>

8

<p>Ditto here. None of those schools are out of reach, given your stats. </p>

<p>If you really want to play it super safe just throw in a state university, but I'm almost 90% sure you'll get into at least 5 or 6 of those 8 already on your list.</p>

9

<p>To everyone, thank you so much for your respective bodes of confidence. To ec1234, you had mentioned Harvard, obviously I would love to go there despite the cost and inconvenience of living in Boston. However, I do not believe that I would be competitive for admissions there as I have a low undergrad GPA, do you know anything about the range of GPA's at Harvard in the BBS?</p>

10

<p>I wouldn't worry too much about your GPA. I would just give it a shot and see what happens...you never know.</p>

11

<p>I'd ask your supervisors what they think-but truthfully-you have three or so years of working in a lab setting and lots of publications. Boston is expensive but the stipends for BBS are fairly generous.</p>

12

<p>I would apply and see what happens-- GPA is the least important part of the application. BBS is also relatively large, so it can take a mix of people. The stipend for BBS isn't so bad (I'm at MIT, living in a relatively high cost area in cambridge and doing okay). You just have to make some sacrifices.</p>

13

<p>
[quote]
However, I do not believe that I would be competitive for admissions there as I have a low undergrad GPA, do you know anything about the range of GPA's at Harvard in the BBS?

[/quote]

I don't know about the range, but I had a 3.4 as an undergrad and I'm in BBS. :)</p>

<p>Since BBS is larger than many other top programs, it seems to be generally less selective.</p>

14

<p>Oh wow. Molliebatmit, what was your GRE score, and what kind of research experience did you have (if you don't mind sharing, of course)?</p>

15

<p>I had an 800Q, 740V, and 5.5A. I'd done a summer at the NIH and three years of research in the lab of a well-known neurobiology professor, and I had authorship on a paper that (at the time) was in revision at Cell.</p>

16

<p>Your stats are pretty good. I think you will have no program getting into at least half of those programs. I would also suggest to maybe consider some higher ranked schools just to give it a shot. Your stats are better than mine and I got accepted into Baylor and UT-Houston/MD Anderson no problem.</p>