ion_exchanger

I can't relax, because while I am on my first interview, according to past trends on grad cafe I will be expecting to get email invites for the majority of my programs. I'm so nervous and anxious. I've been on a six person, 3 and a half hour interview before, but it was not as important as this interview.

Definitely dying of anticipation. Admissions committees are enjoying their holiday break before they have to dive in to eager students awaiting invites, interviews, acceptances, and rejections. There is going to be so much activity starting again next week that we all are relaxing waiting for it to hit the fan.

My "matches" were pretty much based on fit. When I say fit, I mean the amount of faculty that are doing work in areas where I have research experience. I don't have the best GRE's, but I have extensive research experience and strong LORs from research faculty, which is what I thought could overshadow my mediocre GRE scores. My mentors have told me that my GREs aren't as important as the other aspects of my application, but I can't help thinking that I shot myself in the foot by over-reaching and now I just know that my application was weeded out initially due to lower GRE scores. Sigh.

I hate these emails! I received one from a school saying that my app had been received and was being processed, then another saying that the school would be closing from this date to this date, then another asking did I know that I could log into my account and check whether my materials had been received. I wanted to reply back so badly, "did YOU know that it sucks when you send out multiple emails that are NOT admissions decisions???". Losing my mind here. This. With the exception of the reaches I applied to, I feel like the schools that I applied to are pretty good matches for me. I have spent a lot of time regretting applying to this school, I should have applied to that one instead, why did I waste my money like that, what's wrong with me, why don't they like me, ok fine I hate you too. Freaking out!

I'm interested in this question as well, and would like to add something. Since schools reimburse for travel, do you request home to school A, from school A, and then school A to school B, then home from B, or the other way around? Basically who pays for going from one school to the other? The school you are coming from, or the school you are going to?

Thanks for the responses, we really appreciate it. Hopefully this topic will help others in the future who have this issue. I can understand his hesitation though, we are all so nervous of upsetting the schools we want to attend before we even get to the interview!

I recently received a rather personalized email from an admissions coordinator stating that two of my letters were missing and which ones they were. They told me that my application would be reviewed with just two letters, but they preferred three. They even stated which one, my primary one, they wanted the most. I definitely understand your struggle. I would say talk to them and explain your situation, to echo pretty much everything else. They are right, the apps stay open for recommenders. They admissions coordinator who emailed me even said that if it were easier, they could email the letters right to them. You may get a similar deal. You definitely don't want to lose out on that hard work (and app fee!) so by all means, do what you have to do. Good luck.

I appreciate your response and agree. He is not flying, he's commuting via train. His total commute is about 2 and a half hours.

Please help settle an argument between two friends. One of my coworkers has an interview for graduate school that includes 3 full days of activities. The last day's activities conclude around 8pm. The school asked for him to request the amount of time he needs at the hotel. Is everyone expected to leave after, or can they request to stay until the next morning. I told him that if he doesn't, he will have to check out the last day and carry his suitcase around. He is hesitant to ask, in case no one else is requesting the next morning.

I have had multiple people, students, professors, even former admissions committee members say not to take the Biology GRE or any subject GRE for that matter, unless your intended program absolutely requires it. Before I learned this valuable nugget, I basically took my undergrad freshman year biology Campbell book, the list of topics from the GRE website, and bookmarked each topic in my book, making sure I could answer the conceptual questions at the end of the line. I would suggest taking the practice biology gre on the website first, and identify areas where you are weak, and focus more on those. Retake it after you feel you have studied enough, and see if you have improved, or if you are still weak in some areas. This is my own study method, other things work for other people. Your research experience, strength of LOR's, and personal statement are extremely important.

Congratulations MicroB2012!!!!! I predict that you will build an extremely impressive interview list!

I think that the worst part for me is that I have literally done everything that I could have done to be a competitive applicant. I retook classes to get a great GPA, I took 2 years to get more research experience, I have strong LOR's, I've edited my statement a million times. All of my recommenders are positive that I'll get in somewhere. If I don't, I don't know what I could do any differently. I will be so embarassed to tell them that I didn't get in anywhere, because it will truly be all my fault.

The only downside to us science folks knowing earlier is that seeing everyone getting interview invites gives us an early unofficial rejection, which can lower confidence. Then the official rejections come a couple months later, which you were expecting but still suck.

Yeah the decisions that I have are all from Dec 1st deadlines. I've gotten emails and checked the results that say my dec 15th deadlines will be out within 2 weeks.

Ever since the due date of my apps, I've been checking the status twice a day, knowing that there won't be a change yet. Even the school where I have an interview hasn't changed my status. I don't know what I'm looking for. I don't know who I am anymore, lol.

This is my first year following the forum, I just heard about it a month ago. I thought that maybe it was calm now because there are a lot of Dec 15th and Jan 1st deadlines, so after the new year things will pick up as people are back from vacation. According to the results page of grad cafe, 5 out of 7 of my programs won't send out invites until at least January 10th.

I can't offer much help to you. I will say that you shouldn't assume that Penn and NIH won't accept you just because Cornell didn't. Graduate school admissions is much different from undegraduate admissions. Looking at Einstein on petersons.com, they have an acceptance rate of 20%. The individual programs are not reported. Your stats and research experience might be more of a fit at Penn or NIH. Also, as far as schools, I personally know someone in the NIH ox/cam program and she loves it, but you really cannot make a decision until you attend the interviews. That's where YOU decide if the school/area/academics/professors/etc. are the right fit for yourself. No one else can really make that decision for you. Each of these schools will give you a great education.

I've become obsessed with the forums too. It's actually helping me stay calm, knowing that I'm not out here being crazy all by myself. It's gotten so bad that my friends will actually ask me everyday what happened in the forums.

Throwing salt on the wound, those of us without Sloan invites had our recommenders receive emails thanking them for the LORs and saying that apps were currently being reviewed, as if a ton of invites didn't go out yesterday. Sheesh.

@ cherubie My future conversation with this person (in my head, this is how it'll play out): Me: Hey, I got into UCLA Person: Me: You mentioned you applied and didn't even get an interview right?...so.... I have a feeling this scenario won't happen either A) i won't get in or B ) I'm not that vindictive. I hope that you get into UCLA, if for no other reason than to have this conversation. I have had similar conversations with my peers, who fail to realize that we are two different people with two different sets of stats.

I just changed mine, and I didn't have a problem. What is your page saying? I agree with the statement you just made about schools, very well said. I based my decision on which schools to apply to on the faculty and where my research interests and technical skills were a good match.

I am seriously losing my mind. I'm staring at my iPhone's email inbox, wishing that I had received the invite to one of my top choices that went out today.The one email account that I created solely for graduate school applications receives a new email. I stare, panic, open. Yahoo generated email.

Hmmm, I haven't heard or thought about that. Thanks for the info. I'll ask my PI, who recommended Sloan Kettering. I always had my heart set on attending a PhD program at a medical school anyway, which is something that I've heard numerous people say was best.

I received an email from a school that I had to resend my GRE scores because they were lost somehow the first time, and they said that they received them. I got the email right before I saw that people were getting invites. I'm laughing to keep from crying.

I figured it would be, in the past their interview dates have been in the middle of the month, in the middle of the week. I have to be at UPENN on January 17th, so I would have to travel straight from New York to Philadelphia without going home first. No invite, so no decision. I guess there are worse things. It's such a great school and program though.