tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448663046375322498.post4316778913482522253..comments2023-10-23T08:56:50.127-06:00Comments on Angry by Choice: On applying to graduate schoolThe Loraxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13361004494346338824noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448663046375322498.post-24680655517089435372010-12-22T19:03:36.847-06:002010-12-22T19:03:36.847-06:00"How do admissions committees look at in prep...<i>"How do admissions committees look at in preparation publications?"</i><br /><br />Poorly I expect.<br /><br />A published manuscript is obviously a huge feather in your cap.<br /><br />A submitted manuscript is a huge feather in your cap. This is a complete story. Its a piece of work that actually exists (you can send it to the committee if your advisor allows you to).<br /><br />An in preparation manuscript is essentially meaningless. It could mean a hard document almost ready to submit. It could also mean an idea for a manuscript your advisor has in her head. It carries little weight IMHO (and by IMHO I mean I read many applications and serve on these committees and this is the way things are).The Loraxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13361004494346338824noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448663046375322498.post-3505899753895994352010-12-19T17:16:14.882-06:002010-12-19T17:16:14.882-06:00Just to add my 2 cents (really late) I would just ...Just to add my 2 cents (really late) I would just say that applying to grad school is a tedious activity. So there are going to be certain things that are department specific and field specific. There is no way around that and the only thing to do is to do your homework! Yep, it sucks, but it's life.<br /><br />So how to determine whether to apply to a PI or to the general department/grad school? Do your homework. I applied to Food Science programs and Microbiology programs and often the food sci programs wanted direct to PI applications and the Micro ones did NOT. So there you go--I figured it out by taking the time to do the research.<br /><br />Also--you KNOW what you're dificient in. And often there isn't anything you can do about it. I had some huge problems my first few years of undergrad and had the grades to prove it. Nothing I could do about that (other than improve dramatically in the years that I had left).<br /><br />But I KNEW I wanted to go to grad school so I did everything possible that I could to control the things that I still could control. I got active in my major, I started tutoring groups, I applied for undergraduate grants, I was the president of the microbiology club, I did research that was published and I did whatever I could to show people how much I loved science and wanted to go to grad school. <br /><br />Those things gave me a CV full of "good" to balance out the bad GPA. And won me the support of quite a few faculty that were willing to write strong letters of support for me.<br /><br />And I got into grad school and I now have my PhD.<br /><br />But if you screwed up somehow--you WILL have to work harder than your peers to show admissions committees why they should let you in. If you really want it you will find a way. If you don't want it bad enough to find a way in...that's ok too. Better to find another career now while you're young!"Who turned off the shaker?"noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448663046375322498.post-52599770380504681382010-11-27T08:33:33.720-06:002010-11-27T08:33:33.720-06:00"How do admissions committees look at in prep..."How do admissions committees look at in preparation publications?"<br /><br />Favourably. I suspect this varies widely from program to program, but my suspicion is that most applicants to most grad program may have research experience, but not their names on publications.Zen Faulkeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07811309183398223358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448663046375322498.post-41080085885576984612010-11-21T20:14:46.006-06:002010-11-21T20:14:46.006-06:00Thank you very much for writing up your advice! It...Thank you very much for writing up your advice! It's interesting as some of your points differ dramatically from what I've been advised by others, including faculty. Perhaps it's a bit field- and department-specific? I guess the main difference in advice is about applying to specific supervisors, as already addressed by Bora and Zen. One of my programs specifically requires a program sponsor for the application – presumably to help weed out spam-style blind applications.<br /><br />RE specialisation: the question is, what constitutes a specialised field – the size of the research community or the breadth of the topic itself? There is very little correlation between the two. Vast fields of potential great value and benefit lie fallow and devoid of much attention due to historic and "hype" reasons. I'd argue that my 'specialisation' is in fact a very general field – Protistology involves the overwhelming majority of eukaryotic diversity – much more than plants, fungi and animals combined. That already makes it hardly a specialisation, at least phylogenetically speaking. <br /><br />Actually, part of the reason my choices seem so limited is because I want to study evolution and cell biology simultaneously (and this is best accessible in a unicellular protist system – preferably several systems). Since evolutionary cell biology is not yet a recognised field, and since I don't want to restrict myself to one or the other, my options are limited to open-minded and daring investigators in either field. And those who at least know what a protist is. <br /><br />I guess I've never really cared about being the best at something – that's usually impossible for me, as I have average intelligence and don't have any special gifts or talents – but I rather just stay away from the competition altogether and do my own thing. Not too far, else I won't get any support or funding, but I can't survive in a crowd either.<br /><br />How do admissions committees look at in preparation publications? My previous lab (where I had my own project and all) is horribly, painfully slow at publishing – and now wants to waste* more time pursuing an additional project with hopes to reach a higher journal, and magically not get scooped in the process. It'll be a while before my (second author =D) publication actually gets out.<br /><br />* waste of time for me, but not for them. Conflict of interests there – I need a middle-tier publication quickly, lab wants a top-tier publication eventually...<br /><br />My GREs are in the upper 70's percentiles (according to 2008 data), so meh. I hope to pwn everything with reference letters ;-) at least I'm lucky enough to have had long term professional relationships with several faculty here. <br /><br /><br />And damn, I was totally gonna write about how my friend's dog's littermate's former owner's kid's grade 3 science teacher inspired me to go on my mission to rid the world of FAIL. Well, fuck. ;-)Psi Wavefunctionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10829712736757471647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448663046375322498.post-52233734899271903952010-11-21T19:30:51.034-06:002010-11-21T19:30:51.034-06:00"In my experience direct appeals to specific ..."In my experience direct appeals to specific PIs do not amount to much."<br /><br />In our program, we highly encourage students to make contact with potential supervisors, because you can't get a degree in grad school without a supervisor. We dislike admitting someone into a program and then dropping them later because nobody will take them.<br /><br />Neither way is necessarily better or worse. Every program has different ways to deal with things. But students should be aware that such variation exists.<br /><br />Students: Talk to people. Find the grad program coordinators. They'll tell you it to you straight.Zen Faulkeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07811309183398223358noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8448663046375322498.post-51039762458123798972010-11-20T11:58:03.277-06:002010-11-20T11:58:03.277-06:00Different schools (and departments) are different,...Different schools (and departments) are different, but my experience in our school was that yes, absolutely, one needed to go straight for the PI. There are hundreds or thousands of applicants, their applications get ranked by a committee, but who eventually gets in? Professor X says "I'll take #35", prof.Z says "I want #3 and #128" and so on. How did they pick? They picked students they already knew from correspondence, conferences, personal interviews, recommendations from colleagues in the field, etc. not really looking at any numbers or GRE scores, etc.<br /><br />I know of a case of a woman who applied. Applications committee unanimously gave her all Fs - do not accept! But professor Y, himself just hired (heck, I was a grad student at the time and he was younger than me) said "I don't give a damn - I am taking her on. I know her, I know what she is capable of, she's been working with me for three field seasons and I made her my field manager, she is that good". She did great in grad school, got a PhD for some wonderful work.<br /><br />Another guy had horrible grades, but already published a small paper when in high school. I think a PI had to help him get into our school even for undergrad where again he did not have great grades except in a few classes he was excited about. But then, after publishing a couple of more papers as undergrad (in that prof's lab) he just smoothly continued in the same lab for his MS and eventually PhD, bu which time he has already made his name in the field.<br /><br />I myself was already living in town - I took (paying out of pocket) a couple of graduate classes so the profs get to know me. One knock at the door at the end of semester, and I was in. I had great GRE scores, but nobody looked at them - the PI wanted me because he knew my capabilities by then.<br /><br />So yes, make connections to the PI. That may be your only way in. Sure, you may change your lab or even field later, but at least you are already in.Bora Zivkovichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10763808287050592569noreply@blogger.com