tuckbro

Probably depends on whether the school reads every application entirely or uses cutoffs - such as the top 10% GPA/GRE scores - to narrow down their detailed reviews. You will know about MIT soon as I recall they sent out invites Januray 4th last year. Good luck!

At that point, it is all about fit.

All of my schools required academic references with institutional email addresses.

This was my experience in BME top 10 as well.

Really varies by school and program. In my field, BME, some schools Interview a ton of people and accept very few, others like MIT and JHU interview very few and accept most.

I didn't say they did.....just sharing the experience at top BME schools.

bumping for this year's candidates

You can also check out last years thread on BME PHD applications and results under engineering and you can see what scores got interivews at your schools. No one started one this year, but it is useful also for seeing when you will hear back. If you are thinking of any of the schools listed below I can give you my experiences.

Hi, When I was applying I found that the actual GPA and GRE are MUCH higher at the top BME schools than on their website. Look at who is actually getting in on the results page. The advice I got, which turned out to be totally true, is you need a 3.9 plus GPA and 95% plus quant GRE to get an interview and then its fit after that. I do not know one person I interviewed with at any of my schools, other than Rice & Syracuse, who had below that. I am sure there are exceptions, but that was my experience. For Rice most were in the 3.8 plus GPA range.

LOL, I did that with Georgia Tech - already paid to mail my transcript and GRE's, stupid mistake. Move on, that's all you can do. NYC is super expensive anyway!

Don't sweat it, it's not what you wear, it's what you say and how you interract that matters. Just look neat, clean, professional but be comfortable.

I seldom saw anyone in a suit at my interviews. I brought the same two outfits. For day one when you are doing the most intensive interviewing, I did grey dress pants, dress shirt, tie and blue blazer with Sperry's. I took the jacket off alot and pocketed the tie a few times when I saw how casual things were. For day two where it is is less intensive, nice chinos and a nice button down shirt and Sperrys. For the outings at night and such I wore jeans and a buttondown.

I had the exact same thing happen. Two recommenders were great, got them in before I submitted all of my stuff, one I had to nag and nag. Actually missed one of the deadlines all together so I ended up caling his Admin Assistant and she read him the riot act and he submitted it 10 days late - still got accepted however!

They will generally reimburse up to a dollar level for travel related expenses, which would include your car rental bill.

This is the hardest time I think - waiting to hear. Just focus on finals and the holidays, if you celebrate, and soon results will start to come in. By in large, inteview invitations came out from mid Dec to end of Jan. Many of mine were the first week in January.

I assume that part of the confirmation process is that the email address you provide the school for your recommendations is their valid email at the school. This sounds very strange to me....

Generally you have to accept the interview within a few days. There will deifnitely be scheduling conflicts, but all of my schools were very accommodating and most had 2 or three weekends from which to choose.

One of my letters to Columbia was recieved a week late, yet I was still interviewed and accepted. It happens. I do think there are some schools that are very strict, but fortunately most give you a bit of leeway.

Hopkins is highly competitive in all fields, so your GPA will be an issue. I think it would be helpful for you to go the results tab and find your program and schools of interest and see what kind of stats have been accepted/rejected in the past. Good luck!

I think your stats are a bit low for many of the schools you have selected. Also, I htink most applying to top schools have around 3 years of research. To double check I recommend that you go the results tab and search by school and program to see who has gotten in in prior years and how their stats compare with yours. Best of luck!

I kind of thought they usd it to strategize. I feel like they know when the interview weekends are for the other schools and time their decisions accordingly. I received word from Rice a few days before heading to MIT and had a decision from MIT to ponder just as I was preparing to leave for JHU. I definitely viewed JHU very differently after getting an MIT acceptance. They weren't top choice after that. Then again, it could be just random timing and not strategy at all. Haha

Caution, this may be true of the adcoms, however it has been my experience that in order to get to an adcom, your scores (GPA and GRE) will be used to determine if your application is seen. So make sure you are in the range that you see on the results page.

A quick look at the results tab for this school and program, shows that very high stats are accepted in PhD progam ( 3.9 plus) and lower threshold for Masters (3.5-3.8), so you can make the assumption that the Masters is a bit less competative. I recommend you take a closer look at the results however and you can make a better determination.

You know, my first instinct is to say " be who you are." However, you want the interview to be about you, your intelligence, experience, drive...if it is distracting you'll be the girl with green hair rather than the girl with the research experience in xyz. Maybe do it but in a very understated way. Afterall you do want to make sure you are a fit and they are open minded.

Perfect scores will most definitely be a positive. You will make all cutoffs at every school. You will also easily qualify for fellowships if accepted. it does not guarantee your acceptance however, interview performance, fit, funding and space in your area of interest etc... all play a role. My impression is that GRE's are kind of viewed like the SATs and ranges are looked at - for instance, 165+ for quant in top engineering programs. I do not think it is seen as any difference between a 170 and say a 168.