Ascinflamm

Having done my undergrad at a top 10 but non-Ivy institution, I definitely had the same preconceived notions about these Ivy institutions coming into the application season. However, after applying to 3 graduate programs at Ivy schools and actually interviewing at 2 (my third and last, Yale BBS, is coming up this weekend so I can't say much about it specifically yet) my impression has been completely changed. The amount of mentoring and dedication to training their students at these places is above and beyond what I had expected, and the current students really seem to get along with each other very well and are generally happy. The fact that I got to hang out/interact with 6 or 7 fifth-year students over the interview weekend of a program that matriculates only 10 students per year says a lot about how much the students love their educational experience in that Ivy league program. Also, the faculty absolutely collaborate and do so extensively because they recognize that that's the only way big and important questions can be solved these days. I can honestly say that I felt a strong sense of community, rather than just a department. Another relevant thing that I noticed is that the quality of interviewee pool is higher at these Ivy league programs (probably because the reputation of the institutions attracts many applicants, which in turn allows the adcoms to really cherry-pick the best applicants for interviews). Since your fellow interviewees will be your future colleagues and friends for a long time, you might be interested in sticking with the most talented and dynamic cohort of people--all other factors being equal. Of course if the New England weather by itself just rules out the whole Ivy league for you then there's not too much to consider about these programs.

Fellow international here. I've been fairly successful this application season, partly because I have the advantage of already attending a US college and doing research there. I wish I could say this less harshly, but GRE scores of < 160 on both Verbal and (especially) Quantitative sections are not a good sign. If you're going to try again next year, I'd focus on boosting your GRE. I knew I would get near perfect on quantitative (and I did on first try) but I still took it a second time to improve my verbal score (to 163/170). I agree with everything person5811 said. Even Stanford Biosciences, Yale BBS and Penn BGS warn on their respective websites that they can only admit a small number of internationals each year. The Harvard DMS program I got accepted into, on the other hand, took 6 internationals this year (out of 15 total admits)--3 of the 6 already have a masters degree, and 5 of us have done research at top research universities in the US. (The 6th is Canadian and has done research at his very well-known Canadian institution).

I was recently admitted into a program that's very high on my list -- so high that a couple of the other schools that invited me to interviews, while great, are no longer places I would consider. I decided to cancel 2 of my remaining 5 interviews (going to 3 more). Has anybody here done something similar? I figured that although I've wasted the costs of the flights that have been booked on my behalf, by canceling these interviews I would at least waste no more of the program's money (on dinners, bars, etc) or their faculty's time. And perhaps more importantly, I don't want to potentially take up a spot from somebody else who wants it more. I'm also still in college and don't want to be constantly missing classes for 5 weeks in a row...

I woke up the morning on the interview day to find out that I brought the wrong tie and entirely forgot to pack my dress pants, so I ended up wearing just a button down shirt with jeans. It was totally a non-issue! Several of the faculty interviewers I talked to also dressed very casually. That said, nobody will judge you if you have a full suit and tie on. One of my favorite fellow interviewees (you do make friends at these weekends!) was in a super formal attire, and it was fine too. Many places are cold at this time of the year -- dress warmly should be a priority.

Yeah, I really don't think it's that bad of an idea. It may actually be a bonus if you include in your thank-you email a scientific point that you discussed with the professor ("It was awesome to hear about your findings/opinions/take on X") so they know you actually paid attention and aren't just writing a generic note. I emailed my first faculty interviewer and he responded within 15 minutes with a 2-paragraph email. I wrote emails to thank a current student and the program coordinator as well. I really had the best time at that program, and of course they spent probably > $1000 on me -- to thank them briefly is the least I can do.

It is uninformative to try and calculate stats for MIT's biology program based on the overall stats of all graduate programs, or of the entire school of science for that matter. Remember that each program forms its own committee and conducts its admission business independently of other departments. For example, MIT's material science department just hands out offers of admission to their top candidates without an interview process. There are about 240 current PhD students in MIT Biology across all years. So that's about 40 incoming students per year, which means they probably admit 80 or more students per year. I don't think they release the number of applicants (or of invited interviewees) though.

Harvard immunology (also a DMS track) interview invitations just went out! Jan 22-24 is the only interview weekend.

Hey, I also just got an email invitation from Yale BBS this evening. I assume you applied to the immunology track? I'm excited about the interview weekend, and I guess I'll see you in February.

Fairly late to the game also... But many of your posts have been so informative I figured I'd also chime in and stop being a ghost reader. Undergrad Institution: Top 10 private research university Major(s): Biology GPA in Major: 3.9 Overall GPA: 3.7 Position in Class: N/A Type of Student: International male GRE Scores (Revised) Q: 168 (95%) V: 163 (92%) W: 4.0 (56%) Research Experience: 5 semesters (part-time) in an immunology lab; 2 summer internships in biotech industry and 1 summer internship in a cancer center (immunology lab) Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: 1 publication (3rd author) Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: 2 of my recommenders are fairly well-known in the field, i think. Applying to Where: Penn (IGG), Stanford Biosciences (Immunology), Washington University in St. Louis (DBBS - Immunology), Weill Cornell (IMP), UT Health/MD Anderson (GSBS - Immunology), Yale BBS (Immunology), Harvard DMS (Immunology), and MIT Biology. Congratulations to all those who have received interview invitations! I hope to meet some of you on these interview weekends.