Saturday, March 22, 2008

...no really...now I have to think about making a choice?

My mother does not have fond memories of the agonizing month prior to April 30th, 2004 (the date by which I had to put in my decision for undergrad). Her thought now: "I'm glad I don't have to choose." And this time, the date is April 15th. And I really hope I will have chosen before then.

Many of you are also familiar with my particular brand of indecisiveness, which skitters between general apathy (no, I don't really care if I bake chocolate chip brownies or chocolate brownies) to genuine uncertainty (um, I really don't know what the best way to fix this problem is: let me do additional research, and maybe I’ll feel more comfortable giving you an answer). I am currently much more at the latter end of the spectrum, although I wish that there was more chocolate involved in this decision-making.

Below is the original list of schools, as well as their current status. If anyone feels they have any insight or opinions, by all means let me know. The one thing I wish I would have done during the process of making my decisions for undergrad was have a broader spectrum of opinions from the people who know me best and can help me better understand my own personal rationalizations and thoughts.

-Columbia University: Department of Microbiology in the College of Physicians and Surgeons (interviewed and accepted)

-MIT: Department of Bioengineering (interviewed and accepted)

-University of California at Berkeley: Department of Bioengineering (interviewed and accepted)

-University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC): Department of Microbiology and Immunology; School of Medicine (interviewed and accepted)

-University of Michigan: Department of Microbiology and Immunology; Program in Biomedical Science (interviewed and accepted)

-University of Minnesota: Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology (interviewed; received a graduate fellowship, so I have a pretty high chance of getting in)

-University of Wisconsin at Madison: Department of Molecular and Environmental Toxicology (interview pending if I can find a way to get up there a Thursday later in the semester)

-Yale University: Combined Program in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS); Immunology (interviewed and rejected; only 3 of 24 interviewed were accepted into the program, so I was axed with many other students)

2 comments:

Alyssa said...

I'm glad I don't have to choose, either! Best of luck!

M. said...

Minnesota, and you can rent an apartment in our building.

I think it's time to make a list of pros and cons for each school. I know that sounds hokey, but it really helps sometimes.