The Adventures of Zot

Glenn Gould 

On October 19, 1987, the extraordinary cellist Jacqueline du Pre died of multiple sclerosis. She is most famous for her absolutely stunning Elgar Cello Concerto, which can be found here. I first heard the Elgar in reference to her and now whenever I do hear it, it pulls on my heart like rubber.

While it’s not my place to tell you what to do, I’d really appreciate it if everyone that sees this post just takes thirty seconds out of their day to have a little moment of silence for her. She was a supremely wonderful cellist and I think that she should be remembered.

1. good recommendations from well-known people in the field. And not like “this person took my class and got an A” but like “I have a personal relationship/have seen them do work/etc and can vouch for them.” Admissions committees are made up of professors in the department, so they know who the big names are. Smaller names who have a relationship with people on the committee and can make a call are good. Smaller names who you have worked closely with and can say you have specific qualities that make you a good grad student are good. Cookie-cutter recs from small names are not great. If you did research in a lab, not having a rec from that person doesn’t look great. Academic recs are preferred to industry ones. 

2. Lab experience in a related subject. Published articles in peer-reviewed journals are excellent and will set your application apart from others. Papers are proof of productivity. Experience means they won’t have to take as much time to train you. Even though a good advisor should be willing to teach you, trained students are more productive and help professors win grants. It also makes you more competitive for fellowships. Experience means you know what you’re getting in to. Most top programs will not consider you if you don’t have any experience

3. GPA. higher GPAs are better but if you are coming from a well-known school, committees will likely know what your GPA means (so known grade inflation will be taken into account). If your department generally gives low GPAs, doesn’t rank its students, and isn’t super well known, a note from an advisor/ professor/dean etc giving you an approximate rank will be very helpful. (a 3.0 was a really good gpa for my undergrad physics dept, but lower than the average applicant’s so advisors sent out letters with PhD applications explaining that). 

4. GRE. from my understanding, GREs are cut-offs. So they count against you if they’re low but don’t help much if they’re high. Analytical scores are generally more important than verbal ones in science programs. 

5. Essay. this is a bit more like a cover letter than a traditional college essay. Programs want to know what you offer them (remember, they’re paying you) so focus a bit more on concrete accomplishments and your passion for the work than a generally compelling story.