Sloan-Kettering Gerstner Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

<p>I'm interested in applying to the Sloan-Kettering Gerstner Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (link</a>) to pursue a PhD.</p>

<p>Their program seems really interesting, and they incorporate a clinical aspect to the degree (which is really appealing to me).</p>

<p>However, I have NO idea about the place. I have no idea how hard it is to be admitted, how reputable a degree would be from SK, or anything else, for that matter.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any thoughts or experience studying here? Anything would be really helpful. I want to know if it would be worth applying to.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>Their big thing is cancer - their well ranked in clinical cancer care (#2 USNWR). Are you into cancer research? (I assume you are?) They are competitive - search the forum what you need to be competitive.</p>

<p>Yes, I’m very interested in cancer research.</p>

<p>In fact, I have 2 summers of research and 1 final year project in cancer research. (Waiting to be authored in 1 publication.)</p>

<p>I’m also interested in applying to some other schools, who seem to have good cancer biology programs (or are affiliated with good cancer research institutes):
Harvard
MIT
UCSF
Stanford
Weill-Cornell</p>

<p>Are you aware of any other programs that may be good for my area of research?</p>

<p>Thanks for your help.</p>

<p>I’m not a cancer person (other biomedical research interests) but from the people I know who do cancer - Stanford is the top dog (or a top dog) in cancer grad programs. But beware - it’s unbelievably competitive - hundreds apply, maybe 30ish interview (all highly qualified to get to this point), 10-12ish get offers (depends on the year) and they expect almost everyone they give an offer to accept as they are that desirable (they don’t give more offers than spots like many schools do as too many people would say yes). Your list looks good but of course you are going to need a very high GPA, good GREs, excellent recs, etc. etc. to get into those places. Your research looks good. Personally, I would add a few more schools to your list to be safe: try looking at the others on USNWR (not that is the be all and end all of biomed rankings, but a good starting point). Perhaps UW, WUSTL, Penn, UCSD- and others (depending on your preferences for location). And maybe Berkeley - but I see you have a clinical interest and Berkeley has no med school and tends to be more ‘basic’ science focused compared to places like SK or UCSF that are good med schools. Maybe Rockefeller? Check out the schools associated with HHMI’s med into grad program (<a href=“http://www.hhmi.org/news/medintogradsum20091117.html[/url]”>http://www.hhmi.org/news/medintogradsum20091117.html&lt;/a&gt;)</p>

<p>Hey I applied to Sloan Kettering last year and was accepted so if you wanna know anything about the interview or application just shoot me a private message. It is a fairly competitive program but they don’t focus solely on cancer. There are quite a few good immunologists and developmental biologists and neuro people so although the focus is on cancer because the school is associated with Memorial Sloan Kettering, they have other things available. The grad students that I met with all loved the program and what I got from the interview was that the faculty and the staff for the school really care about their students. </p>

<p>I also applied to Harvard, MIT, and UCSF if you have questions about those programs. I do have to disagree with LAC operon about the admissions though. All of those schools definitely send offers of admission to more students than they intend to have, with the knowledge that if everybody says yes they’re still covered. Sloan interviewed 45 people last year and offered 15 spots, only 9 accepted (doesnt include internationals). Harvard BBS, the umbrella program, doesn’t do interviews they base acceptance on application only. Both UCSF and MIT interviewed more than 30 and offered close to 20. </p>

<p>I do agree that maybe a few safety schools could be added to your list though.</p>

<p>I said that ONLY Stanford’s cancer bio program only gives out about as many offers as there are spots (UNLIKE other schools - like UCSF, Harvard, MIT, etc.) - they are special like that bec. Stanford’s cancer bio program is very desirable. And of course SK has other well-respected research areas besides cancer - but if you know that you aren’t interested in cancer- perhaps other schools would fit you better (the OP had posted about the reputation of their degree/worth applying to).</p>

<p>I just started here at GSK (I applied last cycle), and it’s great! Neurosci’s stats are pretty accurate. This place is great, and if you are in any way interested in cancer, this is the place to be. it is a very small program, but I really can’t say enough about it. Check out the website, and find faculty that you might be interested.</p>

<p>One cool thing about our program is that there is only one year of courses, and four years (hopefully) of dissertation research. Moreover, we aren’t in class when we rotate, so our full efforts can be focused on lab. The rotations are short, 5 weeks only. But I feel that it is enough to make a decision, and that’s what most of the upperclassmen say.</p>

<p>Weill Cornell is two blocks away from MSK, and Rockefeller University is right across the street.</p>

<p>Thanks for the awesome responses! They’ve been extremely helpful.</p>

<p>Neurosci, I sent you a pm.</p>

<p>Just sent in all my apps. Now, time to wait…</p>

<p>At the last second, I decided to look at UPenn as well. Their cancer bio program looks pretty good, and they have this awesome HMGS program ([HMGS</a> Curriculum](<a href=“http://www.med.upenn.edu/hmgs/Curriculum/curriculum.html]HMGS”>http://www.med.upenn.edu/hmgs/Curriculum/curriculum.html)).</p>

<p>Is it worth applying to?</p>

<p>Anyone have any input on their Biomedical Graduate Studies (BGS) program?</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>