This document provides advice for applying to graduate school in the life sciences. It discusses why one might consider graduate school and factors to consider such as career goals, program funding, and job prospects. When choosing a program, the summary recommends researching faculty interests, student outcomes, curriculum and location. Program selection considers grades, research experience, letters of recommendation and interviews. The summary stresses finding funding from programs, advisors or fellowships and choosing an advisor and lab based on research focus, resources and student treatment. It emphasizes communicating with potential advisors, cultivating letter writers, and researching potential fields through papers and scholarly search tools.

1. Applying to grad school in
the life sciences: some
unasked for advice
Jeff Ross-Ibarra
www.rilab.org

2. Why go to grad school?
• Some jobs require higher degrees
• Academia, industry, gov. jobs
• Be useful in another career
• patent law, business
• Not always a good idea
• pays poorly, stressful, long
• academia is a tough gig

3. How to choose a program
• Do lots of googling
• Read
• Apply to several
• Multiple faculty of interest?
• Other students/pdocs?
• Curriculum
• Funding
• Location
• Alumni success rates

4. How a program chooses you
• GREs
• higher good, but don’t stress details
• GPA
• see above
• Letters of rec
• CV
• Publications, research experience
• Writing statement (do you suck?)
• Interview (yes it’s an interview)

5. Funding
• You shouldn’t pay
• Who does (program, PI)?
• What does it cost (tuition, out of
state, etc.)?
• What are your options?
• rotations, RA, TA, grants
• Find & apply for fellowships

6. How to choose a lab
• Other people in lab
• Research interests (read)
• Funding
• Project details (flexibility,
funding, wet bench, computer)
• Expectations of students?
• work hours, papers, funding,
supervision, etc.

7. How to choose a lab
• Publication rate
• Alumni success (industry, academia)
• Other resources (lab, office space)

8. Talk to People
• Get to know their work (read)
• Talk to potential PIs
• Email, Skype etc.
• Avoid form emails
• Ask questions of PI, lab members

9. Letters of Recommendation
• You’ll need ≥3
• Find someone who knows you
• Cultivate letter writers
• Ask ahead of time
• Don’t offer bribes

10. Read some papers
• Why read?
• Google Scholar
• search for papers
• cited papers
• What authorship means, why it matters
• Slow speed of science

11. Other advice
• Learn to program (R)
• Learn to publish w/o data
• Write. Every day if possible
• Take most awesome notes
• Read. Lots
• Plan ahead, set goals (timeline)
• You’re on your own
• stand up for yourself
• you’re responsible to get stuff done