Hello! It's been a while since i've passed through, and I wanted to ask a question. I'm set to graduate either next year or the one after that, and I'm thinking of going to Grad school for my phd after that, but form the information i've gathered (from your blog and others') people usually spend some time doing lab work before. So I was wondering, how does the whole process go? I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing and it terrifies me to not have a plan for things. Halp pls /sob/
oh goodness… Let me just warn you that applying to grad schools is a thousand times more difficult and mentally taxing than undergrad, so let me just remind you of some things:
Find out early which professors you want to work with. Usually how it works is that a handful of professors from each department are open to accepting new students every year. CONTACT THEM FIRST!!! Don’t waste $100 on an app just to realize they don’t want students. And they love it when they’re contacted. You’re going to be working with the same person intimately for the next 4-7 years. It needs to be a good match, both with research interests and with mentorship compatibility. They don’t give a damn if you have a 4.0 and a 330 on your GRES. They want someone with experience and passion in their field.
LETTERS OF REC!!! GET THEM NOW. GET MULTIPLE. HAVE BACKUPS!!! this matters more than you’d think! Especially with PHD programs where the field is so tiny that all professors basically know each other. I would say that you have to ask before August of the year you apply. Get them early so you don’t have to stress about it. And ask your professor to submit them to a letter service so you don’t have to ask them over and over for each app.
GRES! I feel like no one in the PHD program necessarily cares that much about them, but they just want to make sure you’re not an idiot haha. Look up the average scores in your program and as long as you’re not below average, you’re fine.
RESEARCH INTEREST RESEARCH INTEREST RESEARCH INTEREST. It’s amazing if you have 10 years of incredible experience. Say you’ve given an open heart operation at the age of 12 and youve single handedly cured heart attacks. If you’re applying to an asthma lab, nobody gives a fuck and they won’t accept you. It’s all about the fit. And if you don’t fit with the research of the lab perfectly, tweak your personal statement. Create a coherent story from the mess. Make it fit.
Experience > academics. This isn’t undergrad. Grades don’t really matter anymore. They want to know that you can work hard and crank out research. So between a newbie with no experience straight out of undergrad w/ a 4.0 and a perfect GRE score, and someone who’s taken some time off to get relevant work but with extremely mediocre test scores, they will take the second person every time. The only time grades matter are with professional schools or undergraduate degrees. Of course, you have to meet a certain minimum criteria. You can’t get into a PHD program w/ below a 300 on your GRE score. But no one cares about anything other than your research once you’re at the interview phase.
I know this is a lot to think about, but seriously get that research experience in, anyway you can. It’s not even just about publications. Though the usual these days is at least 1. It’s about the quality of your experiences and what skills you can bring to the lab. I would definitely recommend talking to grad students or post docs in your department of interest. They’d probably be able to recommend what to do.
For instance, the professor who wrote one of my letters of rec took one look at my CV and said that I didn’t have enough clinical work. So I ran to do that before I started my apps.
Also, PLEASE REMEMBER THAT MOST PEOPLE DO NOT GET THEIR DREAM SCHOOL THEIR FIRST TRY!!! I must have applied to 15-20 schools, but I only got about 6 interviews. And at every interview, there were about 30-50 students for 5-6 spots. A lot of my grad student friends have applied 3-4 times in a row before they got a single interview. Hell, I am an extreme outlier. I am by far the youngest in my cohort, I have 0 publications, and only 1 year of research experience. And I feel like I’m at such a disadvantage in this program. So don’t feel bad if you need to take extra time off.
Not only will it prepare you for the rigors of grad school (equivalent to full time school + full time job lmao), but you’ll have a much more likely chance to get into a program you actually like.
… and I just realized that I’m talking about my specific department, which has an acceptance rate about the same as med schools, so I don’t know if every PHD program is like this… hahaha. So jk, you might be fine… sorry for the rant -_-
