rexzeppelin

Just got into my dream school!  Absolutely ecstatic!  Best birthday present ever!!

I was just there last weekend and it was absolutely incredible. So many faculty addressed the Harvard rumors that everyone hears "It's cutthroat and faculty compete against each other and faculty never get tenure, etc" and they addressed it with a sense of humor because to them it was not true at all. We were supposed to go from the campus to a building downtown, but my last interviewer took me to his departments "beer hour" (exactly what it sounds like) and then drove me (he didn't have a drink, don't worry) to the building downtown. Just me and him talking about college and art and life and everything. If I get accepted there, I think it's very likely I'll end up going.

http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/114139

for anyone that may be interviewing with Edinburgh, they are likely to ask you about your favorite scientific papers outside your work...

PENN CAMB!!!!!! Got my official email today, though I was notified by one of my interviewers last night (Still in disbelief mode)  En route to Pittsburg now! Good luck everyone

Also, on an unrelated note... 
 
I just cancelled my Stanford Genetics interview. It felt super strange and tbh somehow kind of scary, since I was lusting after all of these invitations for so long, but it was the right thing to do, as I no longer had any intention of going there, and I don't want to potentially take a spot from someone who fits there better. 
 
Best of luck to all of you for whom it's a good fit

Just missed a call and then checked the voicemail to find that I got into Caltech Bio! It was from a professor whose work I'm really interested in and came around 5:30 their time, so I suspect POIs are calling kind of on their own schedule. That was quick turnaround post interview!

Someone asked me a while ago (was it ERR_Alpha?) to talk about the Caltech bio interview, so here it is. It ran from Wed to Fri. I arrived pretty late on Wednesday night and was up bright and early on Thursday, so I was really tired. We had a nice breakfast, during which a director of the program (I think?) gave us an overview of the curriculum and structure -- one year of classes, two or three rotations, pretty standard stuff. Then we had a short look around some of the graduate housing and some of the campus, and then we had interviews; some first and second year grad students helped us find our way around, and they were really helpful! My interview experiences were very surprising. I had 5 interviews, 4 of which I had requested the professors for and 1 of whom I assume is on the admissions committee or something. Only 2 asked me about my own research at all, and one of these was the one I hadn't requested. The other 3 just talked pretty much nonstop about their own research for the full 30 - 45 minutes. Overall, the interviews were really interesting and enjoyable, and I only heard about a couple bad experiences. 
 
There were also a fair number of reception/social type things: a reception/poster session, a dinner at a faculty member's house, a trip to a bar. ~5-7 grad students showed us around and were extremely nice and informative for the entire trip. I never once talked to a 3rd year or older, which was a little strange, but I heard that someone else ran into one. On the last day, we toured some facilities, some people had more interviews, and then we spent a while lying around at the beach, which was really wonderful! 
 
Overall, it was a pretty relaxed experience, and I had a ton of fun, although I was totally exhausted for a lot of it, as activities ran for more than 12 hours (8 am - midnight or so) on the first day, and I got the impression that a lot of other people were really tired too. I really liked everyone I met, especially the other interviewees -- everyone was really nice and really impressive, which is a pretty rare combination! 
 
Hope this helps. This was my first interview, and it definitely taught me not to worry that much about them: most of my time was spent hearing about cool science, not being grilled! 

Yes, my last interview was more like a lecture. Kind of disappointing because I had all these questions about their research, but for those who didn't have time to read the profs' research, it was a blessing. I think as long as you can reiterate what they say and pick up on their keywords, you should be ok. Honestly, I overprepared for my last interview, but it was my first one and I didn't know.

First Acceptance!! Wheeee!!!

Sure! Here it is:
 
Undergrad Institution: Top 10 liberal arts school
Major(s): Molecular Biology & Biochemistry (just one major, but it sounds like two)
Minor(s): Film and Media Culture Studies
GPA in Major: 3.69
Overall GPA: 3.71
Position in Class: Unknown
Type of Student: Domestic white male

GRE Scores (revised version):
Q: 165 (91%)
V: 166 (96%)
W: 6.0 (99%)
B: didn't take

Research Experience:
-2 summers + 4 semesters of independent research for undergrad. Presented at national and international conferences. First-author paper in medium-impact factor journal and high honors thesis from undergrad.
 
-1.5 years (so far) research as a tech at major cancer research institute. 2 publications from this experience, one second-author review in high-impact journal and one fourth-author in high-impact journal.
 
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
-High honors thesis
-Award for outstanding research at international conference
-Senior research award at college
-Deans list

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
-TA'd Intro Bio class for 2 semesters

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
Not that I can think of! Some volunteer work but nothing too extensive. Also, I've been very lucky to be in a tech position where I'm involved in designing experiments, helping write papers and fellowships. Not just typical tech stuff. I feel like that's helped a lot in terms of learning new techniques and how to do research well.

Special Bonus Points:
No special connections or famous recommenders. I think that my 3 strong references definitely helped my application a lot though.

Applying where:
See signature

This is how they should have sent it:
 
"Dear applicant,
 
Sorry we can't ad-MIT you, but best of luck in navigating the application process! Record number of applicants blah blah very competitive blah.
 
 
Science be Praised,
Biology Ad-com @ MIT"

First acceptance at University of Washington MCB!!!!!!!!!

Penn BMB acceptance!! Loved the program and found 3 potential dissertation labs I could jump into

Penn BMB acceptance!! Loved the program and found 3 potential dissertation labs I could jump into

Penn BMB acceptance!! Loved the program and found 3 potential dissertation labs I could jump into

Penn BMB acceptance!! Loved the program and found 3 potential dissertation labs I could jump into

This is how they should have sent it:
 
"Dear applicant,
 
Sorry we can't ad-MIT you, but best of luck in navigating the application process! Record number of applicants blah blah very competitive blah.
 
 
Science be Praised,
Biology Ad-com @ MIT"

This is how they should have sent it:
 
"Dear applicant,
 
Sorry we can't ad-MIT you, but best of luck in navigating the application process! Record number of applicants blah blah very competitive blah.
 
 
Science be Praised,
Biology Ad-com @ MIT"

This is how they should have sent it:
 
"Dear applicant,
 
Sorry we can't ad-MIT you, but best of luck in navigating the application process! Record number of applicants blah blah very competitive blah.
 
 
Science be Praised,
Biology Ad-com @ MIT"

This is how they should have sent it:
 
"Dear applicant,
 
Sorry we can't ad-MIT you, but best of luck in navigating the application process! Record number of applicants blah blah very competitive blah.
 
 
Science be Praised,
Biology Ad-com @ MIT"

This is how they should have sent it:
 
"Dear applicant,
 
Sorry we can't ad-MIT you, but best of luck in navigating the application process! Record number of applicants blah blah very competitive blah.
 
 
Science be Praised,
Biology Ad-com @ MIT"

I got my first acceptance!!! UPenn's CAMB program! It's such a relief to know that now I know I WILL be going somewhere next year.

I know no one here applied but maybe some lurkers did so: I just got an acceptance from Harvard Biophysics!! I thought of it as a big reach because it seemed from their website that they mainly take physical science undergraduates and I'm a biology major. Sooo happy... It's one of my top choices  

I JUST GOT MY FIRST INTERVIEW! UMaryland Baltimore GPILS Program, Feb 6-7. WITH A SUB-3.0 GPA. It CAN be done!!!!