RatsWithHats

I haven't heard anything since the day I accepted the offer.

Meeeee! I'll be starting the biomedical sciences PhD program this fall. Wow, it's going to be a big move for you cbttcher! When are you planning on heading over?

Thanks guys, I think already knew where I was headed I just needed some kind of validation before I made the big decision. Maybe I'll pick up surfing next year; I'm headed to UCSD!

Honestly, your credentials are good enough that you should just make sure you write a stellar SOP and apply anywhere that you think you would like to go. As far as a budget goes, don't let a $50-100 fee affect a process that will ultimately define the next 5-6 years of your life. For plants I would recommend checking out Berkeley, Wisconsin, Cornell, Michigan State, as well as the ones that you listed (although I'm not a plant person). Also, you should look for another LOR to replace the postdoc. Postdoc LOR might be nice as an "extra" LOR, but you should have three from professors or other similar-level professionals.

I know people who got accepted to programs that "require" it (scripps) without it.

I've received snail mail from 3 of my 7 acceptances

Are you guys putting any weight on how much the program seems to like you? I'm deciding between two schools: -One just completely blew me away scientifically, and I also loved everybody that I met. There are lots of labs that I'm interested in at this school, and I really like the surrounding area. I didn't hear a peep from this school until I was accepted more than a month after my interview, and still haven't heard anything since receiving the generic acceptance email. I know some people who interviewed along side me received acceptances within a few days, and have been contacted by POIs since then. -The other school, whose program is pretty equal as far as size, competitiveness, and brand name (they're actually tied in the recent us news), excited me less scientifically (although there are still more POIs than I could even rotate with). I also liked the town, and felt at home there. They accepted me two days after my interview, and PIs as well as students have been relentlessly contacting me trying to convince me to join their program and rotate in their labs. Do you think this is just due to different recruiting strategies? I really want to go to the first school, but on the other hand I want to go where I am wanted. Maybe this is just the ol' impostor syndrome scaring me. Is anyone else facing a similar issue, or have any advice?

Pretty much the same situation here! I've applied for a couple summer camp counselor positions that only span 4-6 weeks (yay outreach experience for that NSF GRFP). I'm also interested in taking advantage of one of the last true opportunities to be young and reckless and hitting the road a la Kerouac for a while.

At one of my interviews, we went out with a large group of recruits/students saturday night. After a few hours of drinking/hanging out most of the group called it a night due to early flights the next morning. Another group of us, probably about 7-10 recruits and 2 students, decided to stay out and really party since this was in a city that doesn't like to sleep. By 5am the bars were closed and we were all back at the hotel, where a student hooked up with a recruit. I ended up getting accepted. I'm sure she did too.

I'm still waiting to hear from my top choice. I interviewed at a month ago and i think I'm going to go insane!

I've been to 3 interviews so far, and honestly as long as you don't look unprofessional I don't think it matters what you wear. You can tell that it is someone's first interview when they show up in the suit haha. You can't go wrong with pants and a button down and/or sweater. Jeans work if you can still look professional (dark jeans+sweater or nice shirt?). With it being january and all of these storms hitting the country I would say it's more important to dress for the weather then to try to impress scientists, a stereotypically unfashionable group of people, with your keen sense of style. It's snowed at each of my interviews so I have been wearing boots and felt perfectly appropriate, and much happier walking around campus then those wearing soaked loafers or slipping on ice in heels.

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

I scheduled my UCSD interview last month, but just got the Madison offer yesterday. Don't know if it's acceptable to ask UCSD to change at this point.

If anybody here is planning on going to Madison CMB on 20-22 but is available on 6-9 do you think you could switch? I already have flights and everything with ucsd for 6-9, and they say that 20-22 is at maximum capacity. These are two of my top schools and would hate to have to sacrifice one. Otherwise, do you have any ideas on how I could deal with this?

Madison CMB invite today Same day as UCSD BMS

Does anybody know if UCSD BMS is having more than one interview weekend? My invite only mentioned feb 7-8, but last year they definitely had two weekends. Don't know if they are sorting them out by interests or something... Any insight?

Same here! I saw an email from UW and freaked out for a solid 5 minutes until the rest of the email loaded on my phone. Then I just had a nice laugh and opened a beer. Thanks for the heads up! I'm really hopeful about that one!

No I haven't really started but I have some ppts from previous presentations so I'm just need to edit it all down to the bare bones and I think I'll be ready. I live kinda in the middle of the two cities, so I think I'm just going to let them both get me round trips. Also, my airport is a lot bigger than either SAN or BOS so I think it'll be cheaper for each of the schools to book flights to my airport than one way from SAN to BOS. Don't know where you are located in relation to RDU and BOS, so you could be in a completely different location.

Yes I am, will I see you there? I can't believe it's in just a couple weeks. I submitted most of my apps the week of thanksgiving so this whole thing is happening so fast.

I applied to physiology. You? It is PiBS. I had to choose the Feb date, because I'll be in Austin on Jan 24. I'm going to be flying straight from san diego to boston on feb 9 though though. Glad I'm only taking 2 classes next semester. And I hope my lab mates won't mind taking care of my rats every weekend.

Yeah a lot of them did, but most of the invites I've received ask for a list that I would like to interview with for rotations during the recruitment weekend. It makes everything seem so real. Like, I'm already picking out rotations? (kinda)

How many of you are already freaking out about PIs? I have lists for all my schools of course, but they aren't super strong for each and every program. I thought the real stress wouldn't be until rotations start, but just picking out profs for interviews is freaking me out!!

Does anybody know when Wisconsin-Madison CMB recruitment weekends usually are? I'm nervous about being invited for a weekend I have already booked :/

I submitted the app back in october, but I didn't have all the supplementary materials until the last week of november.

Calls from UCSD and UT Austin this weekend! So excited, two of my top choices!