Seminar Courses and Research Units

[relentless11]

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Hey everyone,

Just curious about how adcoms will view seminar courses. My PhD program requires me to take a few seminars which are all graded as satisfactory or non-satisfactory...which should be equivilent to pass/no pass. Anyway, some of these seminars are quite rigorous, while most others are not (e.g.: just show up). I'm just curious about adcom interpretation of these required seminar courses. I don't want them to think i'm slacking off by taking non-letter graded classes.

During each quarter I have about 6-8 units of graded classes (~2-3 classes), 2-4 units of seminar (~2 seminars), and the remainder (at my discretion) are research units. Twelve units is considered full-time. On average, I take 15 units worth of stuff, with a range of 14-18 for this year.

Do you think I should just bump up my research units to make myself look productive? Like any other grad student, we do way more work than we get credit for, so I'm not trying to lie about it. I usually put less because I don't want make it look suspicious. But for the most part, I put in at least 30hrs of work a week.

By the way, did any of you grad students feel that the adcoms understood that you had to do a thesis while taking your core coursework? I sometimes run into MD's at our hospital who didnt know what a PhD program is like. I'm concerned that adcom members may be lacking that knowledge, and screw me over for that...haha. 😉 As always, I appreciate your feedback. Thanks again!

 

[Scottish Chap]

Hey everyone,

Just curious about how adcoms will view seminar courses. My PhD program requires me to take a few seminars which are all graded as satisfactory or non-satisfactory...which should be equivilent to pass/no pass. Anyway, some of these seminars are quite rigorous, while most others are not (e.g.: just show up). I'm just curious about adcom interpretation of these required seminar courses. I don't want them to think i'm slacking off by taking non-letter graded classes.

During each quarter I have about 6-8 units of graded classes (~2-3 classes), 2-4 units of seminar (~2 seminars), and the remainder (at my discretion) are research units. Twelve units is considered full-time. On average, I take 15 units worth of stuff, with a range of 14-18 for this year.

Do you think I should just bump up my research units to make myself look productive? Like any other grad student, we do way more work than we get credit for, so I'm not trying to lie about it. I usually put less because I don't want make it look suspicious. But for the most part, I put in at least 30hrs of work a week.

By the way, did any of you grad students feel that the adcoms understood that you had to do a thesis while taking your core coursework? I sometimes run into MD's at our hospital who didnt know what a PhD program is like. I'm concerned that adcom members may be lacking that knowledge, and screw me over for that...haha. 😉 As always, I appreciate your feedback. Thanks again!

I had pass/fail seminars, too. As well as formal classes, I also had graded research on a scale of A-->F which is odd. Nobody had a problem with it. For screening purposes, adcoms care only about the numbers. Unfortunately, the Ph.D. is assumed to be a terminal step for most people and students rarely care about grades because they don't mean anything (I had no intention of applying to medical school until I was a postdoc). After adcom screening, I feel the interview is more critical. It's rarely academic reasons alone that lead to a waitlist or a post-interview rejection.

 

[relentless11]

I had pass/fail seminars, too. As well as formal classes, I also had graded research on a scale of A-->F which is odd. Nobody had a problem with it. For screening purposes, adcoms care only about the numbers. Unfortunately, the Ph.D. is assumed to be a terminal step for most people and students rarely care about grades because they don't mean anything (I had no intention of applying to medical school until I was a postdoc). After adcom screening, I feel the interview is more critical. It's rarely academic reason alone that lead to a waitlist or a post-interview rejection.

Phew thats good to hear. Luckily my grades are decent for my PhD program so no slacking off here😉. Thats pretty much all I ask though, to get to interview and make my case there. Anyway thanks for the input Scottish Chap, always appreciate it!