tuckbro

Yes, right before I received invites i had a flurry of confidential views.

SInce I applied to two of your choices, here is how two of the schools work (at least how it worked in 2014) Rice will not contact you for an interview, they will accept you by the end of January and invite you to an Open House kind of thing in the spring or reject you in the spring. One of my favorite visits - they really show they want you to attend! MIT will send invites to interviews probably this week. They accept 80% of whom they interview. If they interview you, they want you unless they discover you don't mesh well in person. I believe mine came via email this week on a Thursday, not sure if that will hold true this week. Interview process is really amazing, you have to do a poster presentation and then sit around with world famous scientists and talk science.

I had one at Columbia and left early to catch a flight to Houston to be at Rice on time. It was a bit crazy but everyone was very understanding. There is such a small window of time in which to interview, there are bound to be confllicts and overlap.

It is stange, I interviewed at multiple places two years ago and did not see any candidates wear jeans until after hours. Everyone in khakis, button down shirt at the very least. Many in blazers and a few in suits. I would not have felt comfortable wearing jeans to an interview.

It varies, I had one that was two weeks out, but most gave me 1.5 - 2 months leadtime.

I accepted my interview offers on a first come first served basis. I found that the schools that sent later invites were generally very open to scheduling alternative weekends. Only one school on my list was inflexible, but I happened to be free that weekend.

For those waiting for news from MIT BE, word in the halls is that the interview invitations should be going out this week! Good luck to everyone!

I am a Lehigh grad as well! Lehigh has a great reputation so that will help him. I can tell you that top 10 schools such as Duke look for 95% plus in Quants and 3.85 plus GPA, so I am not sure is the 3.5 would be a dealbreaker there. Most importantly they look for fit. The year I applied Duke had no openings in Cell and Tissue so rejected all applicants in that interest area and focused on staffing their other labs. So it really depends on what they have open versus what he has listed as his area of interest. Generally I think his stats seem to fit most of the schools listed, Duke being a reach, but not impossbile. PhD vs. Masters depends on his career goals, but many poeple to go into a Masters first. Masters he would need to pay for, and Phd would be funded at top shcools. I applied to 7 top 10 schools and two top 20. Got into 5 top 10 and 1 top 20. I had 169 quant and 3.97 GPA as a frame of reference. Good luck to your brother and Lehigh Strong! .

Thanks just curious- I already go there, just wondered who got in this year.

DId any of you who interviewed at MIT BE hear back yet? I didn't see anything on the results page, which surprised me.

Their process was so different this year, I would not want to venture a guess. It depends upon how many slots they have, how many offers they made and how many choose to go elesewhere. I would not feel pressured to make your final decision until the deadline however, so hopefuly you will hear good news come April. Congratulations on being selected an alternate and I hope it works out for you!

Looks like they came out the 10th according to the results page. Don't lose hope, I was accepted a bit later last year after some others declined. I received an email saying I was on the waitlist but likely to admit.

Wow that's a lot! Last year I want to say it was around 30.

Yeah they are technical as they are trying to see if your research goals fit in thier labs and you are trying to do the same. I found myself really stuggling to fit my goals into their program, so left feeling that it wasn't right for me and expecting a rejection even though we got along well and everyone was really great. I was ultimately rejected, but accepted at all the others so it didn't bother me. It felt kind of off to me, the whole weekend. Basically they'll tell you what they do and have conversations about how your interests might fit into that. If they requested to meet you it means they feel there is a possible fit. You should goodle them and have an idea of their research and how you might fit into that.

By the way, at the schools where I interivewed I was directly told on the 2nds interview day to expect an offer for every school I eventually got into. Not sure if all schools are that forthcoming, but you will definitely get a sense of whether you have a connection with the program/people and they with you. You do not want to go somewhere without that connection so if it isn't there, don't worry, it's for the best. I interviewed at: UPenn Columbia MIT JHU RICE (post acceptance) Anyone having questions about the process at these schools, let me know!

Of course, this is anecdotal information and may not be true this year depending upon thier openings.... Last year, JHU was similar to MIT in that they only invited to interview those they felt they would accept. A little different than MIT in that they only accept initially the exact number they need, and then make a waitlist of everyone else. I recieved an email that I was on the waitlist but "expected to be admitted" and I was shortly thereafter. JHU went deep into the waitlist last year so chances are very good if you are interviewing. There were probably some who weren't admitted, but I believe most were. It all depends on how many accept that first waive of offers.

UPenn looks for a complete match so it probably varies year to year. Of the group I interviewed with last year I would say around 70% but that was just my weekend. Also it is pretty obvious with Penn as you go right into the lab who selects you - no rotation like other schools. If you felt a good match you're probably in. If you had doubts whether it was a fit, you probably didn't and its for the best.

I know last year UPenn interviewed in late Feb, so I'm sorry to say that I think it's a bad sign if you haven't heard anything as of yet.

None of my schools wanted a decision before April 15th.

Not sure about this year, but sorry to say that last year we all got then at the same time.

It's so exciting, I see my program sent out their invites. Can't wait to entertain the new candidates in March!

Yes and yes! I saw most if the same people at all of my interviews and have the pleasure of working with many of them now.

Think this is a really good point. I have my figners crossed for you this year!

For the top 10 BME programs, I had no problem whatsoever, they all seemed to know when the other's interview weekend was and so I really didn't have conflicts as they were on different weekends or offered choices. For the probgram ranked 10-20, however, I had conflicts but they were all very accomodating and I was able to get to each shcool. Penn had two choices and they were both before the other schools, followed by MIT, JHU the next weekend and so forth. There seemed to be an understanding they were all interviewing the same group of students. Maybe it was random luck but it seemed coordinated.

I found it depends on the school, but most of mine were in the top 10 and all but one of the top 10 programs to which I applied expected 95% plus in quant and didn't seem to care about the verbal. I think you can get a good feel for the schools of interest to you by looking at who actually got in on the results page and their scores. I found that often what they say they will accept and what they actually accept are two different things. Best of luck!