elanorci

Honestly, I just used my lecture notes from when I took relevant courses. I ended up doing fine (92nd percentile) so I'm not sure it will make a big difference to use materials prepared specifically with the subject test in mind vs. general stuff that an undergrad should have learned -- they seem to be very similar sets of information. (If you weren't a biology undergrad major / didn't take these courses, that's probably not too helpful -- sorry!)

Congrats!!!

I'm an undergrad in Boston at the moment and I'm going to have to disagree in that I think it really depends on where you're coming from. I grew up in a very large city (much larger than Boston), but I really LOVE it here -- because Boston is a very different type of city, has a lot more interesting stuff going on, is very accessible by walking and public transportation, and feels very college-y because of the huge number of schools around here while still very much not being a typical college town. I think that if you came from somewhere with some of these qualities, you might be nonplussed by Boston, but it's really perfect for me and I would love to stay here! Anyway, besides that - seconding the unanimous opinion that Harvard probably wouldn't care about your Yale acceptance.

Congrats to the UTSW acceptances!!! And happy birthday rat.girl!! That's totally awesome :D ERR_Alpha, I totally feel you. It's really hard to mentally toe the line between wanting the best for your SO's career and wanting you guys to end up in the same location. :/ My boyfriend actually isn't even applying to grad school this year, so I'm stuck having to vaguely guess at where he'll end up when he does apply next year... Which isn't really anything to go on and it's so unsure that I probably shouldn't even consider it as a factor, but it's really hard not to.

ERR_Alpha (slash everyone), are you sending thank-yous to everyone you interviewed with, or just ones that you feel went particularly well / who you made a real connection with / etc? Anyway, I'm sure that all the little things that you think you 'messed up' are looming about 100x larger in your own mind than in your interviewers' I might be in the minority here, but I haven't sent any thank you emails and don't plan to. I'm not sure whether this will negatively impact my chances -- I'm 1/1 on post-interview acceptances, but that's obviously too small a sample size. I'll be interested to see anecdotal evidence from here about whether this seems to change anything. Just wanted to put this out there, since I pretty much panicked when I first heard that people do this (before thinking about it and deciding that I don't want to) and want others to know that there's at least one person out there who doesn't (:

Congrats to the many acceptances rolling in!! Such an exciting time But of course don't worry too much if you haven't gotten one yet. Staying positive and calm probably has as good an effect on your interviews as on your mental health Iheartplants, you ARE super positive!! I too am very awkward on the phone - from now on I'm going to try to laugh at it and not stress, like you

I was sitting in my dining hall eating lunch with my boyfriend. That was a nice day

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

In terms of shoes, I've found that, especially at cold places (like Darthmouth, I assume?) boots work really well. They can often fit into outfits so as to look either formal or casual, and they're excellent for buffering the cold! That's what I've done at both of my interviews. At one of my chillier interviews, I wore boots, black pants, and a white collared shirt with a sweater on top of it. I think this was a good combination -- it didn't look super formal because of the boots and sweater, but it obviously isn't casual. Just my two cents. Outfit worries are stressful :/ Good luck!!

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!

I did get here eventually! Made it in around 11:30. The weather is supposed to get bad sometime this week, so I hope you make it here ok!! All the QCB people were really nice about handling all my delays and told me all about how they have to deal with winter travel mishaps frequently during interviews, though, so don't stress too much if something does go awry (though it sucks, i know).

I was supposed to fly to Princeton today for my interview (not the main weekend - I'm visiting on my own since I couldn't make any of those) and lo and behold there is a snowstorm in Newark! My flight is 3 hours (and still no word yet in departure) delayed, and I was supposed to go to a really cool departmental meeting tonight I have learned a valuable lesson: when picking interview flights, especially in the Northeast and especially during winter, be sure to get in as early as possible! I picked an afternoon flight so I could make my morning class, but in retrospect it wasn't worth it

1. It's close to where I'm living now, so I'm already familiar with the area and know that I love it! 2. It's close to where my boyfriend and many of my friends will be next year 3. It has a huge number of potential faculty that match my interests 4. It has two years of rotation/coursework, which is more than usual for these types of programs - which I like a lot! 5. It has a very good reputation. This is a great thread - it's really interesting to see what people prioritize. Thanks

I have no idea about whether or not an interview is required for admission -- they told us literally nothing about the admissions process, so I'm pretty in the dark. Maybe you could call or email to clarify? It is odd that they told you that with no further explanation. Definitely agree about the skepticism -- esp since it seems to be in the 3rd/4th year that people start to drag, get discouraged, etc. It would have been nice to talk to some older students about whether that was happening to them and how their PIs were helping/hurting. (About the beach: on the last day, after everyone's interviews were over, the grad student hosts took us to the marine lab building, situated on the beachfront! We hung out on the beach and played frisbee and lay around for ~7 hours or so. I think the intention was to show us how some of the grad students spend their downtime, as they said that they come here and surf fairly frequently on weekends.)

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!

Hey all, I posted this in another thread but would love as much feedback as possible so I'm posting here as well - hopefully I'm not being too annoying I was recently lucky enough to get an acceptance for a school very high on my list - so high that some of the schools that I am scheduled to interview at, while great, are no longer places I would consider going. I don't want to waste anyone's time interviewing somewhere I know I won't go and potentially taking up acceptances from people who want them more, so I'm inclined to cancel these interviews. However, all of these places have already paid for my airline tickets via a travel agent and presumably booked me a hotel room (though this is likely easier to cancel). Also, all of these visits are scheduled for within the next few weeks: the first one is THURSDAY!!! What do I do? I would feel bad either way and would honestly prefer to cancel (I have 7 interviews scheduled and am already exhausted) but I'm concerned that canceling will produce ill will at these institutions, which I certainly don't want. I feel bad about the situation, but honestly I don't think it could have been avoided: I only got this acceptance less than a week ago, and I wasn't even sure I would hear before the end of January, which wouldn't have left enough time to book many of these flights. Is it acceptable to politely and very apologetically cancel? Is there a minimum number of days of warning that I should give? What would you do? Thanks for any advice, and congrats to all of you getting acceptances !!!

The schools themselves actually paid for all my flights via a travel agent, so I'm not sure how that would work. Anyway, that is definitely good advice for future applicants - I didn't realize when I booked that one of my schools accepts without an interview and so I wasn't expecting to hear so early, so do look into that!

Do you guys feel that it's ok to cancel interviews for which plane flights have already been arranged if you have no intention of going (after getting an acceptance elsewhere)? I would and don't particularly want to go to such interviews but the tickets are paid for and plans arranged and I'm not sure what to do... Are schools understanding/accommodating about this? Will they be mad?

Huh, strange! This is indeed their first weekend; the other one is Feb 13 - 14. I'll definitely post about how it went when I get back. (:

Are you sure the bars that you'll be going to require an ID to enter? Many bars (at least around here) only need to see ID if you actually order an alcoholic beverages. Maybe you'll luck out and have this be the case? And if drinks are served in some other setting, like at someone's house, you could just politely decline - lots of people don't drink for various reasons. Either way, I would think it wouldn't be a big deal -- if they're interviewing you, they presumably think that you're mature enough to get the position. I know it's an awkward situation, though :/ Hope it works out for you!

Is anyone going to this week's Caltech Biology interview? I'm wondering if I should have received an itinerary by now - I have no idea who I'm interviewing with!

I definitely think that gradcafe is NOT representative of most applicants. The people who find their way here are likely to be somewhat more neurotic - and therefore, on average, better-qualified - than most applicants. And those who post their stats/achievements for everyone to see likely have better stats than most if they're confident enough in them to post them!

Congrats username and spaceimmunology!!! The first solid acceptance is definitely a huge relief

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

Congrats pstar!!!!