theycombinator

Me as well, starting a PhD at Wellcome Trust CIMR, Cambridge.

there's a big overlap in the direction, so they might have found out. I didn't get any emails from them today, and the admissions officer is not replying either. Maybe they've postponed decisions, which sucks.

Congrats! Did you hear back from Cambridge MGM?

To be fair, this frustrating situation I mentioned didn't take place in the US, but at a top UK institution instead. Part of my frustration stems from the fact that I hoped all this admissions process to be more predictable. I was quite ill during Fall, so I couldn't send many applications. I chose to send a really tiny set (3) to very specific places that I supposed to be good matches. In retrospective, it's been a disaster so far even though I've been interviewed in all 3 places---with one offer I declined and no rejections so far. The other two places might or might not reject me, but I don't think they have a good picture of who I am. And that sucks cause it feels like playing the wheel of fortune, with just 2 attempts... Although I have some strong points, I'm rather old (29), so I guess that waiting till next year, which I wouldn't otherwise care much about, could turn admissions into a really uphill battle.

This is very frustrating, and I have experienced it last week. Short interviews with almost no technical content, just vague questions like where do you see yourself in 5 years time. Hard to distinguish yourself or impress anyone in this framework. Many if you're a good speaker, but that doesn't have any correlation with science.

I've interviewed at a top program, and they called in 25 people for just 5 positions---which I found rather extreme. Plus, the interview was short and non-technical, which left me a bit frustrated. It's OK to be selective, but at least I wish they enhanced their interviewing techniques. Otherwise, I don't see how they will be able to make wise choices. End of my rant

Did CSHL email you during the afternoon? Thanks

I see, I hope they write to me today or tomorrow. Otherwise, I'm probably out.

Was the CSHL email a batch one?

Anyone heard from CSHL?

I'm getting quite impatient too. I recently rejected a PhD position from a good German university and only applied to Cold Spring Harbor and University of Cambridge. Let's see how my risky bet turns out.

Well, this probably outbalanced most of the other parts of your application ;-) As far as I understand, having one or more papers is generally very well regarded by admissions, especially if you are one of the first authors and/or it is a good journal. Yes, I will make sure not to place too much emphasis on program prestige per se. Would you be so kind as to post some of the programs you were interested in? I'm already preparing GRE. As I expect to have quite some time to study, I'll take it by the end of Summer. If I'm not happy with the scores, I'll retake it during Fall.

Thanks again for your reply! Yes, I've been thinking about it and I'll do that. It's always good to start early & iterate, if given the opportunity. After a two practice tests, I'm expecting to get a great quantitative score, but only a fair verbal one. Not too bad, but not stellar either. Given finite time to improve my application, I guess that addressing other aspects (like publications) will yield a better returns, right? Do admissions officers of top schools value high verbal scores?

Thanks, this is a very good heuristic! One additional question regarding standardised tests. What's a good timing to take GRE & TOEFL given that most schools close applications on Dec 1st? I'd like to leave room for a second attempt, especially in case of GRE, as my verbal score might not be terribly good.

Thanks for such an awesome reply. What ranking are you referring to? It sounds like a really good program. And I love that you get done with coursework after 1 year, as I've already passed a gigantic amount of courses. What was the deciding factor? Yes, I had a teacher from Utah at CSHL and I was very impressed by all the ongoing research they are doing there. Sometimes schools with lesser known brand names are still fantastic if you end up with the right supervisor. This is something that, as a European, scares and at the same time excites me about PhDs in the US. You don't have a preassigned topic / supervisor when you enter grad school. You can make much better informed decisions once you're an insider. Thus, do you place a lot of weight for choosing a grad school in the potential advisors that belong to the faculty? Since I'm not a Biology major, I think I'd have a hard time getting a good score in a subject GRE test.