***Official meet the 2009 MD/PhD Applicants tread***

[Rowany]

Hey, don't know if I'm allowed to do this, but I figured a separate thread would be nice to introduce ourselves, and to lure the lurkers out of hiding!

Rowan here, graduated last year in neurobiology and biochemistry, and doing a post-bacc at the NIH. Drove all the way from the west coast to DC, which was awesome especially since then it was $3/gallon! Freaking out about my app currently, but that's mainly a self-induced delusion to keep me from procrastinating. Living the cheapskate life in DC right now, trying to fend off a growing obsession with hanggliding and folding bicycles with salsa dancing and PWYC plays, but it's not working...Thinking about focusing on cell-
mediated immunology, although a neuroimmunology lab would be ideal.

Holla at Warriorsfan, jsg1985, Rapplixgmed! I'm calling you out!

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[RapplixGmed]

Yo, this is Rapplix. I'm finishing up my classes for my biomedical engineering major in the fall and the classes for my physics major in the spring. I'm kind of young (20) but I've been in central VA for 6 years now and I think its time to get out and see the world (read: I want to get at least as far as Charlottesville if not much further) Getting scuba trained over the next 2 weekends and really excited about that. Rowan: I know somebody who died while hang gliding so be careful man.

I'm interested mostly in cardiovascular protection (what I currently work on) or cardiac or vascular engineering. The lab that I'm in may be moving to the University of Miami as soon as next Feb, so I am in a massive crunch to finish my senior design and other projects.

If His Noodly Appendage allows me to get an MD/PhD acceptance in the fall, I'm going to ditch the US and go study in England for the spring. I'm thinking King's College London... or anyplace that allows me to do some clinical work, research, and take thermodynamics and quantum physics to wrap up my major so i can graduate at end of summer.

Good to meet you all!

 

[pennquaker08]

Rapplix, you should come study at the University of Cambridge. I'm currently here as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, and it's an amazing place!

 

[reine1jb]

Rapplix, you should come study at the University of Cambridge. I'm currently here as a Gates Cambridge Scholar, and it's an amazing place!

pennquaker in your opinion, what would make someone real competitive for that Gates Cambridige scholarship? I looked at the website after your post and it does look like an amazing experience.

Are you there doing a masters or doing a PhD?

Thanks for your response!

 

[Jorje286]

I've introduced myself in the "09 crowd" thread but anyways. I just graduated with a BS in biology. I've been working in a vision science lab for a couple of years and I'll be in the lab for an extra year during the whole application process. I'm basically interested in neuroscience and more specifically in the brain, and the mind/brain problem (consciousness, memory..etc).

 

[xcrunner01]

Hey, don't know if I'm allowed to do this, but I figured a separate thread would be nice to introduce ourselves, and to lure the lurkers out of hiding!

Rowan here, graduated last year in neurobiology and biochemistry, and doing a post-bacc at the NIH. Drove all the way from the west coast to DC, which was awesome especially since then it was $3/gallon! Freaking out about my app currently, but that's mainly a self-induced delusion to keep me from procrastinating. Living the cheapskate life in DC right now, trying to fend off a growing obsession with hanggliding and folding bicycles with salsa dancing and PWYC plays, but it's not working...Thinking about focusing on cell-
mediated immunology, although a neuroimmunology lab would be ideal.

Holla at Warriorsfan, jsg1985, Rapplixgmed! I'm calling you out!

Rowany, what institute are you working for at the NIH? I'm going to be a senior this year, but I'm going to wait a year before applying to gain some additional research experience. I'm interested in doing the NIH post-bac. program next year, and I would really love to work at the National Cancer Institute. How competitive is the program/how hard is it to get accepted? Could you explain a little about the application process? Is there an interview or anything after submitting the application online? Could you describe how you like working at the NIH?

Thanks so much for the help!

 

[Rowany]

Rowany, what institute are you working for at the NIH? I'm going to be a senior this year, but I'm going to wait a year before applying to gain some additional research experience. I'm interested in doing the NIH post-bac. program next year, and I would really love to work at the National Cancer Institute. How competitive is the program/how hard is it to get accepted? Could you explain a little about the application process? Is there an interview or anything after submitting the application online? Could you describe how you like working at the NIH?

Thanks so much for the help!

Hey xcrunner, I'll pm with the details, but you should also check out the post-baccalaureate section of the forums for more info.

It's a great environment, and NCI reportedly gives out the most money

 

[magwi11]

Hey xcrunner, I'll pm with the details, but you should also check out the post-baccalaureate section of the forums for more info.

It's a great environment, and NCI reportedly gives out the most money

NCI IRTAs are called CRTAs. But I am not sure how much the application process differs from the normal IRTA deal. I've posted some information on the application process in the past, and I can hunt it up if you have questions. The biggest advice that I can give is 1.) CONTACT THE LABS THAT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN DIRECTLY (and EARLY)! DON'T WAIT for someone to pull your application out of the pile. (You might wait forever) 2.) ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS of the current IRTAs (or CRTAs as the case may be) about how the experience has been for them. There is a huge range. Some people seem to feel like all they did was spend a year pipetting (for not so great pay). For others, myself included, being an IRTA was a wonderful, challenging, educational experience. You have some control over that by making sure that your expectations for the experience line up with what your future PI will expect out of you.

 

[mulletmandan]

Hey everybody,

I'm Dan. I'm a biochemistry/chemistry double major at a small private school in Indiana. I have done 4 semesters of biology research (looking at the effects of drugs on bone cells), a summer biochemistry fellowship at Purdue University working on a yeast proteomics project, and I'm starting a new project with the chemistry department in the fall (working on developing a procedure to convert an HPLC for supercritical fluid analysis ).

I'll be a senior in the fall, and I'm hoping for the best on my MCAT scores (which I get on Thursday), but I'm not very optimistic.

Nice to meet everyone. I really like having a forum like this that connects us MSTPers .

 

[seraph524]

Hey hey! And welcome! Good luck on the score release!!