elanorci

I would think that if they couldn't read your transcript they'd have contacted you by now. Take heart!

Most of the interviews that I'm attending do take place over a time period that includes a Friday, but I have two that are just totally in the middle of the week. Small sample size, but hope it helps!

I've probably asked this about a billion times, but one last try: did anyone else apply to Harvard Biophysics? Decisions were sent out last year on the 24th, which is this Friday, so I'm getting antsy.

I was planning to get mine some nice chocolate (selected in consultation with other students of theirs / other faculty) and a thank you note, fwiw.

Since we're on the subject of interview attire, I thought you guys might appreciate this joke: my dad just suggested that, since people say that you should "dress for the job you want," I should show up to my interviews in a lab coat and goggles.

Too real. I'm pretty much planning on high boots with a slight heel for all of the trips. Anyone think this will look weird? I'm visiting some California schools but they're fairly chilly (get down to 50s) so I'm hoping it won't seem anomalous.

I took BCM instead of Biology and did way better on it than I would have on the Biology test. My degree is in Molecular and Cellular Biology, though, so my undergrad training pretty much explicitly prepared me for the Biochem test. I would have bombed the Biology test -- I don't know anything about ecology...

I feel you here. The "two-body" problem makes things a ton more complicated. :/ :/

Seconding this question. Can many people really be making truly egregious errors? Or are reasons for rejection usually more mundane (doesn't seem fluent enough in area of interest/previous research) during in-person interviews?

Congrats to all you awesome people who got acceptances. That's so exciting!!!!

That makes a lot of sense. Thanks!

This is a good question. Thanks for asking! Things that I would like to ask are: - what is the attrition rate from the program? - what is the average time to completion of PhD? but I don't know if asking these questions would come across as overly negative or whiny (I'm certainly willing to put in a good amount of time to get my PhD -- but if the average is something totally bizarre like 8 years, then I want to know that asap). Anyone have any thoughts? Are these things usually available somewhere online?

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.

Same here!

That's rough, dirtylabcoat :/ I'm sorry. But don't get too down! You haven't heard from everywhere yet, right? And you have an awesome interview locked down! (:

Thanks a lot!! I run into that problem all the time -- why do we have so few upvotes?? And congrats to you on your recent wonderful news!!! I've now heard from all of my schools that have interviews... Next up is a straight-up accept or reject from my (at the moment) top choice (aaaaaaah) that won't come for a few weeks. A different kind of waiting...!

Just FYI I got a Berkeley Biophysics invite via e-mail just now (yes, at ~8 pm there). They're still going out!

Congrats!!! You're one of the first acceptances I've seen this season That's so awesome!

Not sure if this helps, but my Stanford interview invite (for Genetics) was via email, but they specified that I should be getting travel details in the mail soon.

I haven't heard from Berkeley Biophysics either. But we can resolve not to despair yet together! There may still be more invites coming. I'm trying not to panic yet. (:

unrelated, but have to ask: red_two, is your username a star wars reference?

There was one app - I think it was Princeton, but I can't remember - where you couldn't freely navigate throughout the many pages. If I wanted to go to the 9th page of the application, I had to manually click through pages 1 - 8. SO ANNOYING. Also, seconding Stanford. Very annoying as well.

I see a Berkeley Biophysics result on the results search -- did anyone here get that? I'm wondering if you have any idea about whether or not they're still making interview invites. Congrats to whoever it is (:

I have a question about interview logistics, and any advice would be much appreciated. MIT will apparently provide accommodations during interviews in either a hotel or a current grad student's place. I live extremely close by, so I could just stay at my own place. I'd prefer to do this, but does anyone think this could be detrimental to my interview prospects? (Maybe they see me less / grad students don't get as much of an impression of me / etc?) Thanks for any advice (:

To whoever asked: I got my MIT invite at 3:14 pm. Not sure if they're sending out multiple waves or what. Also, I got a Stanford Genetics invite! Received at 6:31 pm central time. Congrats to all who got good news today. To those who haven't heard yet, don't freak out! Some of these schools definitely send out multiple waves, and I have worried myself excessively over other interviews when a little patience would have saved my blood pressure. (: