Since I’ve been burdened with lots of work this past few months, I wanted to take the time to talk about what has happened to me since 2016 started. I have been very grateful with the experiences I’ve had and I am very excited to share them with you :) 

It started off with the beginning of winter quarter last January. So far, I had received 6 interview offers for graduate school: UCLA, UPenn, UW-Madison, Illinois, UMass Med School, and UC Irvine. I had to turn down my interview offers for UC Irvine because I had already set interviews during the dates they have mentioned, and they wouldn’t offer me alternate interview dates. Oh well.

My first interview was at UCLA from Jan 21-23. I applied in the Graduate Programs in Biosciences, which is this huge umbrella program. In particular, I applied to the Gene Regulation home area due to my research interests in Chromatin biology and Epigenetics. Since I did a visiting graduate research in UCLA, I was very familiar with the campus and I was familiar with the people I was interviewing with. I was very impressed during my interview weekend! All the faculty I met were nice and great to talk to. The graduate students I met were all very welcoming also. The interview weekend usually goes through a typical schedule: interviews in the morning, followed by lunch and poster sessions in the afternoon, and dinner with the faculty in the evening. The next day, there is usually activities planned. For UCLA, we went to the Santa Monica beach. We went to the beach house where there were student presentations, and we spent the rest of the afternoon in the beach. Since it was my first interview, I was very nervous talking to the faculty, but I was able to shake it off throughout the morning. I felt really good after my interview weekend. But I was also very exhausted because I had to drive back home from UCLA and I remember myself knocking out right when I got home. I thought the interview went well, and it did! I received my acceptance letter a month later (after the second round of interviews were done).

Two weeks later, I had my interview at University of Pennsylvania. First of all, I was very surprised when I found out that I made it to the interview list in Penn. When I was applying, I had low hopes because of its big reputation as an Ivy League. I considered it as my “reach” school. But the reason why I still decided to apply is because of their big epigenetics program. Epigenetics is a growing field, and even though there are faculty in the US working on it, Penn has the most. When I went to a conference last June about epigenetics, I saw faculty from Penn that are doing amazing research. This is pretty much why I applied to Penn and no other Ivy Leagues. Even though this was my second interview, I was definitely very nervous because this was one of my top schools. I arrived in Philly (after ~4 hr plane ride, thank goodness there’s no layover lol) just in time for the Thursday dinner, where I met the rest of the recruits and the admissions chair. My Friday interviews went surprisingly well. I believe I was able to answer all the questions they’ve asked me (except for one LOL which is okay). I was blown away with the research that they do. Coming from a school where research is at a much slower pace than in other R1 institutions, I was very amazed how productive the students are and the rate of publications the labs produce. The day after the interviews, we toured Philadelphia, visited the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall, went on a Brewery tour and ended the day with some Italian food. Philly reminds me so much of downtown Los Angeles: the traffic, the people, and the crime lol. Some areas of Philly are rough (same in LA), and traffic during rush hour can get insane (same with LA lol). On top of that, parking is hella expensive so you’re better off walking or taking public transportation. Overall, I thought it was a fun interview weekend! Three days later, I received my acceptance letter, and no words can express how ecstatic I was. 

My next interview took place two weeks after I got back from Philly. I went to University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester (I still don’t know how to pronounce it fluently). It was a 5.5 hr plane ride from Los Angeles (at least it was a direct flight lol). I just wanted to say how happy I was that I flew JetBlue. It was my first time flying with JetBlue, and I was greatly impressed! We get the most legroom at coach, and there’s free freakin wifi!! On top of that, I got loads of snacks and drinks. Thank you JetBlue and I’m looking forward to fly with you again! So I landed in Boston, and I had a 1hr ride from Boston to Worcester. Arrived just in time for dinner! The next morning, I had to check out of the hotel already and bring all my luggage to campus because my flight back to Los Angeles was that same day at 4:40 pm. The interviews went well, some of the faculty I interviewed with were intimidating, but I was able to answer all their questions. However, I wasn’t able to explore the area as much because I had to leave right after the interviews to head to the airport. And I had to leave earlier since it takes 1hr to get to the airport from the school. It took ~6 hrs going back to Los Angeles, and I was really grateful that I flew JetBlue because I was able to write up a draft of my biochemistry paper during the flight. And the wifi is actually pretty good! Also, I had the entire row of seats to myself so I was able to sit comfortably. I got home that night very exhausted and I knocked out. I received my acceptance letter, and I knew it wasn’t the place for me because I felt that the place is more for older people with families since it’s very rural. Also, there weren’t enough biochemistry research that interested me, and I ended up not liking some of the faculty I thought interested me. But that’s one of the nice things about interviewing, you get to meet the people you want to work for. It gives you a better idea whether you really want to work for them. 

At this point, I’ve learned to be productive in flights! I spend so much time in the plane that it’s such a waste of time if I just sleep LOL.

Three days after I got back from Massachusetts, it was time to hit LAX again for me to go to University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My boyfriend goes here, so I was really excited to see him! Coming in to my fourth interview, I was no longer nervous. Even though I did prepare to meet the faculty I’m interviewing with, the pressure was off, since I’ve already received acceptances from my top schools. I was amazed with my interview weekend! The faculty I met were all really nice. The students I met were super friendly. We played family feud with the current graduate students, and my group won so that was fun. It felt more like a vacation than an actual interview weekend lol. I decided to stay an extra day so I can catch up with my boyfriend. We had brunch, walked around the town and enjoyed each other’s company. The next day, it was time to head back home to LA. Saying goodbyes to my boyfriend is always not easy, but I’m always very happy for him that he’s pursuing his career in Illinois. I received my acceptance to Illinois a few days later, but I knew that it was not the best school for me. They do have great faculty and students, but their biochemistry program is not as strong as the other programs they offer. It was hard to turn down Illinois because my boyfriend goes there, but I knew that I needed to do what was best for me. I was very grateful that my boyfriend was very supportive of me and my decisions. 

I have to say that I had a really amazing stay in Illinois. My hotel room had such a beautiful view!! 

Three days after I got back from Illinois, it was time for my last interview in University of Wisconsin-Madison. This was another top school for me, so I knew I had to prepare for it. I arrived in Madison early in the afternoon, just in time for me to take a nap in time for dinner. I was surprised that all of us had our own rooms in the hotel! Of all the interviews I’ve had, this was the only time I had my own room, which was sweet. The graduate students were very very nice and friendly, and all the faculty I met were great! A couple of my interviews were shared with another recruit. The first time was a bit awkward, but the second time was a lot more comfortable. I think the main thing is that as long as you remain engaged at the conversation going on, you’re ok. What truly amazed me in this interview is how grad student-centered the whole program and school is. Madison is a medium-sized town filled with students around my age. I fell in love with the city the moment I arrived. Cost of living is a lot cheaper than in LA, and crime rate is very low. I had so much fun during the whole recruitment weekend. All the people I met were genuine and very willing to help us in anything. We visited the State Capitol, the zoo, and we walked on a frozen lake! It was my very first time experiencing snow, and it was amazing! I almost slipped on ice, but that’s ok. On top of that, Madison has a great biochemistry program that is very well funded. I think this was probably the most fun out of all the schools I interviewed in. After receiving my acceptance from Madison three days after I went, I knew I had a tough decision to make. 

A few days after I received my acceptance from Madison, I received a fellowship offer from UCLA. This was a prestigious fellowship that gave me funding for two years of my stay. This made the decision even more difficult. I wanted to leave California, but UCLA is offering me a really good deal. At this point I’ve narrowed down my options to UCLA, UPenn, and UW-Madison. Eventually I was able to take off UCLA from my list because I really wanted to leave California (no matter how much I liked it here) because I wanted to experience a different environment for graduate school. I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and give myself an opportunity to grow independently, apart from my family and the lifestyle I’ve been so accustomed to ever since my family and I arrived in the US. That left me with Penn and Madison. I bounced back between the two schools a couple times, until I talked to my biochemistry teacher, who happens to be the the department chair. After talking to him, I’ve decided to take my offer in University of Pennsylvania for a Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics. It was definitely the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make in my life so far. I was not one of those people who considers school by their name, which is why I only applied to one Ivy League school. But it was the research that mainly convinced me to go to Penn. I would be working with amazing and brilliant people who are experts in Epigenetics. My teacher told me that my grad school experience will mainly revolve within the four walls of my research lab, so it doesn’t really matter where you are. And the connections that I’ll make at Penn will truly benefit me when I graduate. So yeah, I’m moving to Philadelphia in the summer!

If you’re still reading this, I wanted to thank you. Aside from this grad school experience, I was busy juggling lab work and taking classes. It was definitely very exhausting having to travel back and forth, but I am very grateful for the experience. Now I’m on my last quarter in my masters program. I’m busy preparing for my chemistry department seminar and my thesis defense, so I’m trying to squeeze a few more experiments before I graduate. I’m excited to graduate because I’m planning to take a vacation before I more to Philly. I intend to post more because I wanted to document this important transition. Through my experience I hope I motivated some of you who are planning to apply to graduate school. Just because a school seems so out of reach doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t apply. My GREs are not amazing, but I felt that my letters of recommendation and personal statements definitely played important roles. As long as you are driven and motivated, I am sure that you will become successful wherever school you go :)