Getting Duke’s and Harvard’s PhD offers with Lowest GPA
By Raymond on Mar 1, 2009 in Application to Graduate School, Exams and Tips
Finally I have been selected to be within the 10 students of hundreds of applicants who are offered admission to PhD programs of Duke and Harvard University. Thanks a lot for the support from my friends and family. Special thanks to Tian Ju, my lover, and Wenjia, my good friend, for their consistent encouragement. Also many thanks to the professors who have helped me, including Liu Dong, Gary Glover, Zhong Yi and Bence. At the start of the application process, I was rather confused whether I should choose competitive schools or not, because my GPA was the lowest among the applicants in my department. Encouraging words from my friends and professors reminded me that I had various strengths that many other students may not have, especially knowledge in science and enthusiasm in research. I became more confident and I trusted in my ability and what I have chosen.
Actually, my GPA ranking was the lowest among my schoolmates during freshman (81/81), and my overall ranking was only 69/81. According to many students, having such a rank is impossible to get offers from US graduate schools, let alone Duke and Harvard. Many Tsinghua students are fully dedicated to exams and comparison of rank, probably because all the students around them are doing the same thing, and so they think GPA should be the most important to future success, particularly entering a prestigious school. I sincerely hope that I can set up an example to tell the students in my department and my university that there are many other things more important than GPA. Although it is quite impossible, I really hope that the loop of “cut throat competition” in exams can be terminated. It is a pity that the nightmare of exam continues from high school to college.
What are dream schools? We do not suddenly “dream” of one school just because it is top 10 or well known by peers and relatives. It should not be the name of a graduate school itself which gives us dream. We should bring our own dreams to graduate schools and fulfill our dreams there.
AND Raymond studied in St. Joseph’s College in Hong Kong. =DDD
Raymond Reply:
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:49 am
I now deeply feel that SJC is really a good secondary school, in the education of independent ability.
Ben | Mar 1, 2009 | Reply
Usually I just “cruise” through websites of this type, but this really caught my attention. I’m freshman and although it may not seem like it due do practical inexperience, I can recognize good science and talk about it. Obviously, you already made a great path and nothing else can be said except to congratulate you for emphasizing the critical points in our education. Keep us updated,
FutureScientist.
Raymond Reply:
March 3rd, 2009 at 9:27 pm
Thank you FutureScientist. I’ll update it every 2~3 days. Wish you a great college life!
FutureScientist | Mar 3, 2009 | Reply
Congrats on the acceptances! I also applied to these two programs but was rejected. (Now I know who stole my spot coz Duke usually only accepts one international student:( just kidding) Coincidentally we are interested in the same area of study - memory formation. I came along a much different academic path from yours - I graduated from a high school in mainland China, and came to the U.S. to study in a liberal art college. I have my passion in neuroscience and have been engaged in research as much as I could. However through this experience I found out the importance of networking and opportunities - having been in such a small school I did not have as many opportunities. I got into the neuroscience program in the Univ. of Connecticut, though, not my first choice but the PI I would be working for is a wonderful scientist. I start to feel certain social factors cannot be easily overcome. I really like your website and believe that you would be someone I could talk to. Do you mind drop me an email?
Raymond Reply:
March 18th, 2009 at 7:23 pm
You are very right, Alicia. One of the purposes of creating this webpage is networking. Scholars and scientists also require networking, so that they can spot out valuable chances of co-operations. From my undergrad experience, I found that research projects can hardly be entirely accomplished merely by members from the same lab.
My email is crabchicken@gmail.com. Good luck to our PhD life!
alicia | Mar 17, 2009 | Reply
So glad to hear somebody speak out wat I thought!Good for u！Wish U enjoy yr wonderful life in DUCK or HARVARD~~(Wat a fantastic name!) Furthermore, fullfil yr own dream there!!
shengjun-wang | Mar 31, 2009 | Reply