Adenine_Monarch

I think I'm the earliest one...but I just accepted Duke's offer of admission. Feels good to start planning for the future!    Good luck to the rest of you! I might do a summary post later when this thread is wrapping up.

OMG!! Acceptance to Harvard Systems Biology xD

Still waiting to get that first interview invite, but someone gave a talk on DAF-16 regulation in C. elegans at my university and referenced the paper I co-authored!  Even used the specific data I contributed!  Yay, I (somewhat) matter!

I just got my first acceptance: Tufts Sackler for molecular microbio!!!!!!

Good...ummm...I'd better not.
 
Queen Bed

So did anyone else get an offer from USC PIBBS? Did any of you get supplemental money contingent upon replying by April 1st? If so, how much was it? I'm wondering if we all got the same. Thanks.

Got an offer from Penn State! They decided not to phone interview me.

Congratulations! We must have gone the same weekend.

Penn Biology Graduate Group accepted. Rejected by all other programs that I applied.

Accepted to WashU DBBS - MCB track!!! Yahoooo! A total top choice after visiting St. Louis!

Just got my first acceptance at University of Rochester Medical Center for the Genetics, Genomics, and Development Program!

Duke acceptance two days after my interview! Also got offered a scholarship.

GOT INTO UT SOUTHWESTERN!!!!!!! FIRST ACCEPTANCE!

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

Just received my very first interview invite and I am freaking out. I know it sounds stupid and I probably sound dumb but can someone provide a draft email of how they responded to the email. All I can think of right now is saying "HELL YES" but i am pretty sure that wont sit well with the officers.

I personally agree with sending thank you emails to all the people you interview with, the coordinator and any students that hosted or helped you. I think it's just the nice, polite thing to do and it doesn't hurt anything. Even with some interviewers that I didn't end up feeling much connection with, I received very nice replies!

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!

Often the additional interviewers are on the admissions committee

First acceptance to Emory's cancer biology! Came on a great day when WashU and Northwestern both sent out rejections.

What program are you referring to?
 
It was me that asked you about it. Glad it went well for you. What do you mean about laying around at the beach, though?  That sucks about the year distribution of the students you spoke to. I'd be a little skeptical of a place that does not have many (or any!) older students advocating the school/program. I wonder why the grad school told me that they don't even do interviews necessarily (something about it being at the discretion of the adcomm or something). Maybe it was someone that was just clueless? Sounds like you had a pretty typical experience. Maybe they like keeping it on the down low?
 
I disagree with this. I keep getting the "where do you see yourself" question (and I've been on three interviews so far) and I think it helps the interviewer gauge the thoughtfulness of your plans for grad school. What planning have you done, where does this program fit in, how knowledgeable are you about your options after graduation, what do you hope to accomplish, etc., in other words I think what they DON'T want to hear is something along the lines of "I want to be a PI and run my own lab," with no further explanation (of course it is okay to say this if that is truly your goal, but you better put your money where your mouth is and explain why). I think there's a lot of meat you can put on an open-ended question like that if you've thought enough about it. You should be able to discuss that sort of question at length if asked about it or to elaborate further. I think they want to see that you've truly thought about it and therefore are committed to this career choice (and, by extension, the Ph.D). And that can be just as impressive as science talk about your project since it is also a demonstration of critical thinking skill. Or perhaps even more impressive since maybe your interviewers already are familiar with the sort of field you're in and understand it better than you do!
 
And I absolutely think that being an articulate speaker is related to science. Talks and presentations are as common as breathing and good communication (whether oral or written in a paper/thesis) is a must. At any rate, it certainly doesn't hurt to be a good communicator. Your project comes alive to people when you can explain yourself well.

What program are you referring to?
 
It was me that asked you about it. Glad it went well for you. What do you mean about laying around at the beach, though?  That sucks about the year distribution of the students you spoke to. I'd be a little skeptical of a place that does not have many (or any!) older students advocating the school/program. I wonder why the grad school told me that they don't even do interviews necessarily (something about it being at the discretion of the adcomm or something). Maybe it was someone that was just clueless? Sounds like you had a pretty typical experience. Maybe they like keeping it on the down low?
 
I disagree with this. I keep getting the "where do you see yourself" question (and I've been on three interviews so far) and I think it helps the interviewer gauge the thoughtfulness of your plans for grad school. What planning have you done, where does this program fit in, how knowledgeable are you about your options after graduation, what do you hope to accomplish, etc., in other words I think what they DON'T want to hear is something along the lines of "I want to be a PI and run my own lab," with no further explanation (of course it is okay to say this if that is truly your goal, but you better put your money where your mouth is and explain why). I think there's a lot of meat you can put on an open-ended question like that if you've thought enough about it. You should be able to discuss that sort of question at length if asked about it or to elaborate further. I think they want to see that you've truly thought about it and therefore are committed to this career choice (and, by extension, the Ph.D). And that can be just as impressive as science talk about your project since it is also a demonstration of critical thinking skill. Or perhaps even more impressive since maybe your interviewers already are familiar with the sort of field you're in and understand it better than you do!
 
And I absolutely think that being an articulate speaker is related to science. Talks and presentations are as common as breathing and good communication (whether oral or written in a paper/thesis) is a must. At any rate, it certainly doesn't hurt to be a good communicator. Your project comes alive to people when you can explain yourself well.

Sloan-Kettering!!!!!!! Yes!!!!!!!!!

Acceptances from Johns Hopkins and Columbia! Nice afternoon surprises!

Oh, I don't even want to know....I'm trying not to even look since it's a done deal at this point anyway. Reviewed my essays even just a bit and found small typos that were somehow invisible the previous dozen times I'd read thru them; probably from reading it so many times and getting lazy    Let that be a lesson! Get apps done as early as you can, especially the essays! It's nice to have enough time to actually set your essay down for a day or two, which I think will help with some of the "fatigue reading" type mistakes....

Well, I just came from the USC PIBBS interview and their culture is definitely business formal. The men were all in suits and the ladies in skirt suits or nice slacks/blouse/jacket or nice dress combos. It was a two day thing and the second day everyone seemed to dress down a little but it was only slight. And of course for hanging with the grad students, it was casual.
 
I'd say just do whatever your program tells you to do, erring on the side of looking nice since you can always dress down from formal if you need to. I think it's better to look serious about it all than not. It is like a job interview, after all.
 
I have been told that UUtah and Stanford are both casual, btw.