Terry Shen - Biomedical and Health Informatics

Here's what I wrote for Emory's Career Services department, I've also included FAQs from different emails at the bottom:

My biggest piece of advice is to have persistence and prepare as much as humanly possible. Very few applicants are shoo-ins. Most of us are borderline applicants. The trick is to tailor yourself in a way that makes you stand out amongst the hundreds of other equally qualified individuals. I strongly recommend that all candidates have some work experience: it helps to build professionalism and gain various skills such as team work and independent learning; which are instrumental in research collaborations. If your grades were not that strong in undergrad, a master’s program can help demonstrate your ability to perform well in graduate school courses. Furthermore, depending on the individual, a master’s degree can give you a stronger research background; you will have already written a thesis and assisted in research or teaching. All of which will help you stand out amongst the masses.

Some final remarks: GRE scores can be improved with practice: prep companies can help keep you focused by forcing you to stick to a schedule when it comes to studying. Personal statements can really make or break an applicant. Drafts should be composed a year ahead of time and circulated to those you trust will give you honest feedback. Interviews should also be prepared for by coming up with questions and brainstorming responses; you don’t want to stumble during the final stages of your assessment. Ultimately, if you have a focused research interest and a clear understanding of your career goals; persistence and dedication will get you there.

Here's a list of all the graduate application books I purchased during my experience:

         1. Get into Graduate School: A Strategic Approach
              Kaplan, Inc.
         2. Getting What You Came For: The Smart Student's Guide To Earning a Master's or a PH.D.
              Robert L. Peters
         3. Graduate Admissions Essays: Write Your Way into the Graduate School of Your Choice,
              Donald Asher
         4. Greenes' Guides to Educational Planning: Making It into A Top Graduate School:
              10 Steps to Successful Graduate School Admission
              Howard R. Greene, Mathew W. Greene, Matthew West Greene
         5. How to Write A Winning Personal Statement for Graduate and Professional School
              Richard J. Stelzer, Karen Hansen (Editor)
         6. Peterson's Game Plan for Getting into Graduate School
              Peterson's Guides, Marion Castellucci
         7. The Ph.D. Process: A Student's Guide to Graduate School in the Sciences
              Dale F. Bloom, Jonathan D. Karp, Nicholas Cohen

         Yes, maybe I went a bit overboard.
         All of them contain the same basic information.
         To save time and money, the best out the bunch are numbers 2 and 4.

GRE books I used:

         1. Cracking the GRE with Four Complete Practice Tests on CD-ROM
              Princeton Review
              Adam Robinson, Karen Lurie, Magda Pecsenye, Revised by David Ragsdale
         2. GRE: Practicing to Take the General Test
              Manufactured by Educational Testing Services
         3. How to Prepare for the GRE Test with CD-ROM
              Sharon Weiner Green, Ira Wolf, Ira K. Wolf
         4. Kaplan GRE Exam 2005 w/ CDROM
              Kaplan

Here are some of the types of questions people ask me by email. Of course, I've modified and de-identified the questions; just wanted to include my responses in case others were interested.

Question 1 - My gre score is ___, I have a GPA of ___, and I have work experience at ___, what are my chances in getting into the ___ program?
Opinion 1 - Unfortunately, I can't say exactly what anyone's chances are. Your GRE and grades seem like they'd be fine, but it really depends on who else is applying. The only people who know for sure who gets in are the admissions committee that are selecting the incoming class.

Question 2 - Which professors should I start contacting?
Opinion 2 - I'm afraid the only person who can answer this question is yourself. You have to know what area of research you'd be interested in and then look up all the professors on the website. From there, you can tell which professors would most likely be in your area.

Question 3 - How do you the find the classes so far?
Opinion 3 - To be honest, the informatics program here is still quite young so the curriculum and teaching is in the process of being improved. One of the great advantages of attending a huge institution like the University of Washington, though, is the ability to take classes outside the department to further your research background.

Question 4 - Can you recommend me to the faculty / Can you refer my resume to the faculty?
Opinion 4 - I'm sorry, but I can't reference professors to potential students; I feel strongly that it should be a level playing field, hope you understand.

Finally, here's a great community that can answer your questions as well:
LiveJournal Grad School Community .