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UniversityWriting PromptsWhat's Cool About THIS University?What's Cool About THIS Department?what kinda sucks about this school?Possible Graduate Advisor #1Possible Graduate Advisor #2Possible Graduate Advisor #3LocationWhat kinda sucks about this place?
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You've got this! <3UniversityCity, StateDepartment WebsiteApplication WebsiteLogin IdPasswordApplication Due DateCostWriting Prompt #1LengthLink to Your DraftWriting Prompt #2LengthLink to Your DraftOther Writing PromptsLengthLink to Your DraftCool Thing #1Cool Thing #2Cool Thing #3Cool Thing #1Cool Thing #2Cool Thing #3The name of a cool P.I. I might want to work with #1What do They Work On? (in their words)Lab WebsiteWhat do They Work On? (in YOUR words)Paper #1Paper #2NameWhat do They Work On? (in their words)Lab WebsiteWhat do They Work On? (in YOUR words)Paper #1Paper #2NameWhat do They Work On? (in their words)Lab WebsiteWhat do They Work On? (in YOUR words)Paper #1Paper #2What's Cool about This City or Town?Cool Thing #1Cool Thing #2Cool Thing #3
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Explanation: you can delete this row or minimize it once you start using the spreadsheet. Feel free to add or delete columns so that THIS WORKS FOR YOUYou can rearrange these rows if a deadline is coming up or to sort by which ones you're most interested inOoo youre gonna have to buy a real jacketYou are going to save yourself so much time by just copying the URL and leaving it here, so you never have to search for it againYou are going to be signing in and out of this a lotyou can probably reuse these for simplicity's sakeget it in early, don't wait till the end, shit goes wrong sometimeswhat price glory? If you are applying for fee waivers, just add another column to this spreadsheet Just copy this over from the application from. The whole thing. These are all going to be a little different and it's really important that you answer each one correctly. The committees are going to be looking for specific things and you gotta deliveris this a page limit? word limit? PDF upload? field of 1000 characters like a damn tweet? they are all different and this column will help you not waste time writing something you cant uploadif you do your drafts in google doc, you can just link it right here so you can keep your stuff organizedeach school has slightly different way they do the writing prompts, it's pretty normal for there to be 1-3 different prompts. It's very important that you write custom answers for each school and each promptif you don't link to your drafts on this spreadsheet, you can just delete this column. CUSTOMIZE THIS HOW YOU WANTif they don't ask for a third writing sample dont stress, if they ask for more just add more columnsyou're going to need to talk about why you want to attend this university, so when you find cool stuff, put it here so you remember when you are writingdo they have a core facility that makes research easier? do they have internship programs? are they uniquely interdisciplinary? just some cool things you might write down in these fieldsis this school the alma mater of someone you admire? Is this school the originator or host of a technique or conference? do they have an emphasis on the aspect of research you love? do they have a hospital? a theatre? a programming bootcamp? what's so great about this place?the reason you're writing all this down is because you're going to need to talk about this in your writing. They want to know what you like about THEM, that school in particular.if you can't fill all these fields, dont worry about it, but if you cant even find one or two cool things, then why even apply there, ya feel me?important downsides to be realistic aboutYOU WILL NEED TO MENTION WHO YOU WANT TO WORK WITHyou can copy paste this, maybe from the department website or the PIs personal websiteif you get in the habit of pasting URLS into this spreadsheet and looking here instead of searching the same thing over and over, you will save so much timei know it seems like this is extra work, but i swear this will make your life easier.you don't have to read the whole thing, but here is a place to store papers or maybe just abstractsOn this spreadsheet the darker colors in the heading indicate the more important things. You don't need to focus on the papers as much as what they work on, and you can tell from the color of the headingBEING ORGANIZED IS JUST BEING BOTH LAZY AND EFFECTIVEseriously, work smarter not harderor don't, ya know, it's your lifedo what you wantthis is all just suggestions. i believe in youyou're literally gonna move there and live there for 5-7 years.while being very busy and learning to be a badass scientistdownsides to be realistic about
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SAMPLE ENTRYUniversity of California, Santa Cruz (real school, fake entry)Santa Cruz, CALIFORNIAhttps://pbse.ucsc.edu/https://applygrad.ucsc.edu/apply/myschoolemail@myundergradU.eduple@$e@cceptmeDecember 1st$120The Statement of Purpose should be a concise, well-written essay about your background and your reasons for pursuing graduate study in the field you have chosen. The requirements for your Statement of Purpose may vary depending on the program you are applying to, so be sure to read the program's application requirements page: go to Graduate Programs; scroll down and click on the name of the program; application requirements will open in a new window.No more than 2 pagesSANTA CRUZ APPLICATION STATEMENT OF PURPOSE DRAFT version 5The Personal History Statement is required of all applicants.This statement will be used in conjunction with your application for graduate admission and financial support. Please note that the Personal History Statement should not duplicate the Statement of Purpose. As with the Statement of Purpose, the requirements may vary depending on the program you are applying to. Read the program's application requirements page: go to Graduate Programs; scroll down and click on the name of the program; application requirements will open in a new window.500 wordsSANTA CRUZ APPLICATION personal History DRAFT version 9Diversity Statement Prompt if i want to apply to their IMSD program1 page PDFSANTA CRUZ IMSD draft version 3banana slugs is funny mascotHuman Genome Project, TreeHouse Childhood Cancer Initiative, CRISPR Core, Stem cell journal club, SACNAS Chapter very activeSfocus on RNA biology, most schools ignore RNA, these folks have a whole focus on itno hospital so a bigger focus on basic biologyprogramming bootcamp and other professional development opportunitieshelllaaaaa whiteAl ZahlerRegulation of Pre-mRNA Splicing and Analysis of Small RNA Function and Biogenesis. Alternative Splicing Regulation and mRNA Stability. Research in our laboratory is focused on the alternative splicing code; the sequences on the pre-mRNA and the protein factors that bind to them which regulate alternative splicing. We have focused on the identification of the cis splicing-regulatory elements, the trans-acting protein factors that bind them, and the mechanisms by which splicing is regulated. Our laboratory is using the powerful genetic, molecular biology and bioinformatics tools available for the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans to tackle this problem. A recent area of focus is the connection between alternative splicing and message stability. In about 1/3 of cases, alternative splicing yields an isoform with a premature stop codon; this isoform is unstable and subject to nonsense-mediated mRNA decay. We have identified many examples of alternative splicing factors whose own expression is regulated by alternative splicing coupled to nonsense-mediated decay. We are characterizing this process in C. elegans where we have uncovered a phenomenon in which the efficiency of nonsense-mediated decay can be developmentally regulated.https://bio.research.ucsc.edu/people/zahler/pre-mRNA splicing in c. elegans, mostly genetic and biochemical approacheshttps://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?cmd=PureSearch&term=zahler+am%5Bau%5Dand so on and so on...amazing beachesgiant trees, great hiking trails if i ever get time to hikeclose to familythe weather <3 temperate, cool, not horrible hot, light sprinkling showersaverage price for a one bedroom apartment = $2851. https://www.rentcafe.com/average-rent-market-trends/us/ca/santa-cruz-county/santa-cruz/
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