rexzeppelin

Interesting post as some of you start looking ahead to making grad school decisions. This entire blog is incredibly interesting as it is written from a professor's point of view. Intriguing... Also check out the "Interview" section of posts. Helpful.
 
http://science-professor.blogspot.com/2010/03/go-ahead-reject-me.html

Officially going to be a grad student next year! Call from Michigan State this morning offering a position in the BMS program.

Got a Yale BBS (immunology) reject yesterday. Expected since it looked like they sent out most of their interview invites before the holidays. Just need to hear back from Stanford at this point, though I assume that's a rejection too since it looks like some micro/immuno invites went out earlier this week. Infinitely grateful for the interviews that I've got, and excited to start visiting these schools. 
 
Anybody reading this who's bummed out about lots of rejections and what may be shaping up to be an unsuccessful application cycle: I know it doesn't seem like it right now because of how much it hurts, but this is not the end of the world. I went through that last year, and when compared to my experience this time around it's like night and day. And if you get into 1 program this year that you don't think is a good fit, don't force it on yourself. Last year I only got into 1 place that I really didn't like after interviewing, but it still looked like an awfully tempting option once I found that nobody else wanted me. Looking back I'm so happy that I didn't accept that, since I think I would have been miserable there for the next 5-6 years. Taking another year or 2 off will help so much with your application profile, and it's likely that with more experience you'll get interviews at a dream school. In the grand scheme of things, another year of your life spent working really isn't that bad - OK, maybe you'll end up graduating when you're 30 instead of 29, but that's absolutely not worth going somewhere that you're not in love with. Don't settle for less than you deserve just because things didn't work out in your favor this round; the best things are worth waiting for, right?

Don't you just hate those schools that don't even bother to send proper rejections but just tell you if you don't hear back, you're rejected?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBYL95PovYk
 
Calming, rhythmic, and reflective. I hope you all enjoy this one.

Just out of curiosity, what are some reasons that a grad school would REJECT applicants after they invited them and interviewed them? People have been telling me that as long as I don't act like a crazy person they'll accept me.. but it seems like most schools accept 50~70% of students they interview and I just can't imagine that that many people (50~30% of interviewees) would do something wrong at the interview, like get drunk/be arrogant,etc. Do you guys have any ideas?

Rejected from Rockefeller.  It was kind of funny though - a lot of us at the GSK interview today were also rejected and laughed about it.  It was really nice to be all together for it, and even congratulate the few that did get interviews.

So, I just realized that my Statement of Interest to Johns Hopkins said University of Michigan... I really hope nobody asks me about that when I interview there lol

I'm not sure what you mean by this... If you're talking about the downvotes you got on the post of yours that said that Princeton bio was "done" sending invites in December and that people now are "only" getting in because "people like you turned down interviews," I gave you one of those, even though I got my Princeton interview a while ago and am therefore not at all bitter.
 
I downvoted you mostly because your comment was unhelpful: "done" means that no more invites are being sent out, but we clearly just received confirmation from one of our own commenters that Princeton interviews are still being sent out, so you were wrong, and I don't want people to be misled by your comment. Also, it seemed kind of rude. So yeah. 

Geez I was right. People are really bitter on this site.

For people who applied to Princeton Molecular Biology: I just called their student services manager and I was told that they are sending interview invites in a rolling basis and will continue to do so for the next week and a half! 

They were done in December. You got in maybe because some people like me decline their interview.

Just got an invite for UC Berkeley Integrative Biology Jan 31-Feb 1!! So excited!

1.) I second gene therapy. Huzzah! I am more of a genetics person than an immunology person but both topics fascinate me.
 
2.) Money, definately. However, it is just a symptom of our misplaced priorities in this world. I don't want to go into politics but I think we could all agree here that scientific research is underfunded and dismissed by people who don't understand it.
 
3.) C. difficile! I have never studied a more pervasive organism. Study it at your own risk but good luck getting rid of it when you are done.
 
4.) Favorite: Anything I have never done before. Once I master something I don't have an interest in personally doing it anymore.
Hardest: Plasmid construction. It is a skill I am glad I learned before grad school but I have only recently been able to get a plasmid I made myself to function as a vector.
 
5.) My proudest accomplishment was one of my first. Genetically engineering some bacteria to smell like popcorn butter based on my own experimental design was a proud day. Maybe not the most practical experiment but it made me a gene therapy believer.

Just got a Rockefeller invite! So, everyone else should be on the look-out.

Lol I know what you mean. Universities should offer credit for "Grad School Apps 101". I feel like I've read enough papers investigating the PIs at various schools to warrant some credit hours!

Power move of the day. Congratulations!

Power move of the day. Congratulations!

Accepted to Vanderbilt IGP!!!! So, so ecstatic - such a great program that they sold immensely well during the interview weekend. If anyone is heading there for an interview and has questions about the weekend in general, feel free to PM me!

So just called the main Stanford Biosciences office and they said "as of today, all invitations to all home programs have been sent out."  

From what I understand about Yale which is currently my top choice, they send out invites to the people they are ready to make offers to, and as long as you don't botch the interview you'll make it in. Due to admissions in other schools, and that people that have interviews there likely will be interviewing at Harvard and Stanford etc. they get about a 40-60% acceptance rate to their offers. A lot of this information is second hand word of mouth, so take it or leave it. The letter sent out to interviewees though says "We anticipate that most visitors will receive offers of admission" for what it's worth.

Hey guys. For those that have been waiting on Yale to send out travel info, I finally got tired of waiting as the date is starting to get close so I emailed the person who sent me the initial email (the director of graduate admission) instead of the person who was setting up the planning to see if I was still being considered for an interview. I had a response from him within 20mins and travel info from the other person by the end of the day. As it is getting late in the season, I would recommend that if you haven't gotten that travel info yet to start reaching out to other people. On a related note, the BBSB program looks friggin awesome, I am so excited to get out there!

Ahhhh! I got my first acceptance today from UIUC! Not sure if I'll end up going there (I love the program but am not so hot on the location), but I can now say definitively that I will be a grad student in the fall, come hell or high water. I want to cry...I had my first interviews today too, and I'm exhausted. Not all of them went as well as I would have liked, and I was beginning to have some doubts about whether I was cut out for this or not. For those of you who are getting bad news and beginning to have doubts yourself, don't give up hope! It's not over until it's over, and then there's always next year! Just remember that over the next few weeks.

Did MIT Biology program already send out all the interviews? Why are there no more updates?? 

omg. shocked as all hell. just got a stanford invite. for immuno since i know there are some of you that will care......