Justin123

Hi everybody!
 
I promised to myself to let students who live outside the US know about the way Wisconsin Madison treated me last year.  Here's the story:
 
I applied to the Genetics program. My BS GPA is >3.7 and my MS GPA is >3.8. GRE scores: 93 for both the verbal and the quantitative sections and 54 for the AW. TOEFL: 106.
 
According to UWM's website, it says (or at least it used to say) that if we have GPA>3.5 and a percentile >90 on at least two sections, then we'll most likely get an interview.
 
Soooo as most of you will soon realize, the week before Christmas is one of the most stressful ones because some schools send invitations as early as that. On gradcafe I saw that some people got invitations to UWM during that week so I wouldn't stop refreshing my inbox. But nothing... So a few days later, I was almost sure that I got rejected. However, I wanted to be 100% sure, so I called the university. I was told that applicants who live outside of the US (internationals or Americans) still hadn't been reviewed and that we'd know around mid-January. But still nothing mid-January... So I asked them again and I was told that it was going to be late January. Then guess what? Late January I was told that it was going to be beginning of February. 
 
I sent an email beginning of February and here's the reply:
 
Hi X,
 
Thank you for your patience. We complete reviews, interviews, and admissions for applicants within the U.S. borders first. We then review external applicants. Frequently, this first phase fills the slots available. I will email you when a decision is made.
 
Thank you for your interest in our program.
 
X
This is honestly the most outrageous thing ever. Those who live outside the "US borders" basically don't stand a chance. However, we pay the same application fees (+the fees to send the GRE scores, TOEFL scores, and transcripts) as everybody else. We had to deal with the application procedure like everybody else and we had the same deadline. However, we are considered as second-class applicants. And it's not like they warned us... Basically, I consider it to be theft. They stole my money and wasted my time. They didn't plan to review these applications in the first place. We are directly thrown away or in best case scenario, they keep our applications in case they have some miraculous slots available.
So if you live outside the US, DO NOT apply to this school. You are just going to waste your money and time. As to those of you who live in the US, think about it: do you want to go to a school that has such an unfair admission procedure? 
I wish I was warned about this by previous applicants and it was important for me to let you guys know about it. A school shouldn't be allowed to get away such unfair policies. 
Anyway, if some of you need advice for your applications, don't hesitate to send me a message. I am happy to help. 
Good luck to all of you! 
 
 

Listen, Wisconsin Madison was not my dream school. To be honest, if I got accepted (which is by definition impossible because my application hasn't been reviewed), I would have chosen any of the other 7 schools I applied to. But if it was the only school that accepted me, I would have been very happy to attend (otherwise I wouldn't have applied...). 
I was very disappointed that I got rejected from Berkeley but you won't hear me criticize it. 
 
But that is NOT my point...
 
Please read this sentence again: "Frequently, this first phase fills the slots available.". It means that "frequently" they don't even review the applications of those who live outside the US. This is what this sentence means. That's the outrageous thing here.

Hi everybody!
 
I promised to myself to let students who live outside the US know about the way Wisconsin Madison treated me last year.  Here's the story:
 
I applied to the Genetics program. My BS GPA is >3.7 and my MS GPA is >3.8. GRE scores: 93 for both the verbal and the quantitative sections and 54 for the AW. TOEFL: 106.
 
According to UWM's website, it says (or at least it used to say) that if we have GPA>3.5 and a percentile >90 on at least two sections, then we'll most likely get an interview.
 
Soooo as most of you will soon realize, the week before Christmas is one of the most stressful ones because some schools send invitations as early as that. On gradcafe I saw that some people got invitations to UWM during that week so I wouldn't stop refreshing my inbox. But nothing... So a few days later, I was almost sure that I got rejected. However, I wanted to be 100% sure, so I called the university. I was told that applicants who live outside of the US (internationals or Americans) still hadn't been reviewed and that we'd know around mid-January. But still nothing mid-January... So I asked them again and I was told that it was going to be late January. Then guess what? Late January I was told that it was going to be beginning of February. 
 
I sent an email beginning of February and here's the reply:
 
Hi X,
 
Thank you for your patience. We complete reviews, interviews, and admissions for applicants within the U.S. borders first. We then review external applicants. Frequently, this first phase fills the slots available. I will email you when a decision is made.
 
Thank you for your interest in our program.
 
X
This is honestly the most outrageous thing ever. Those who live outside the "US borders" basically don't stand a chance. However, we pay the same application fees (+the fees to send the GRE scores, TOEFL scores, and transcripts) as everybody else. We had to deal with the application procedure like everybody else and we had the same deadline. However, we are considered as second-class applicants. And it's not like they warned us... Basically, I consider it to be theft. They stole my money and wasted my time. They didn't plan to review these applications in the first place. We are directly thrown away or in best case scenario, they keep our applications in case they have some miraculous slots available.
So if you live outside the US, DO NOT apply to this school. You are just going to waste your money and time. As to those of you who live in the US, think about it: do you want to go to a school that has such an unfair admission procedure? 
I wish I was warned about this by previous applicants and it was important for me to let you guys know about it. A school shouldn't be allowed to get away such unfair policies. 
Anyway, if some of you need advice for your applications, don't hesitate to send me a message. I am happy to help. 
Good luck to all of you! 
 
 

Hi everybody!
 
I promised to myself to let students who live outside the US know about the way Wisconsin Madison treated me last year.  Here's the story:
 
I applied to the Genetics program. My BS GPA is >3.7 and my MS GPA is >3.8. GRE scores: 93 for both the verbal and the quantitative sections and 54 for the AW. TOEFL: 106.
 
According to UWM's website, it says (or at least it used to say) that if we have GPA>3.5 and a percentile >90 on at least two sections, then we'll most likely get an interview.
 
Soooo as most of you will soon realize, the week before Christmas is one of the most stressful ones because some schools send invitations as early as that. On gradcafe I saw that some people got invitations to UWM during that week so I wouldn't stop refreshing my inbox. But nothing... So a few days later, I was almost sure that I got rejected. However, I wanted to be 100% sure, so I called the university. I was told that applicants who live outside of the US (internationals or Americans) still hadn't been reviewed and that we'd know around mid-January. But still nothing mid-January... So I asked them again and I was told that it was going to be late January. Then guess what? Late January I was told that it was going to be beginning of February. 
 
I sent an email beginning of February and here's the reply:
 
Hi X,
 
Thank you for your patience. We complete reviews, interviews, and admissions for applicants within the U.S. borders first. We then review external applicants. Frequently, this first phase fills the slots available. I will email you when a decision is made.
 
Thank you for your interest in our program.
 
X
This is honestly the most outrageous thing ever. Those who live outside the "US borders" basically don't stand a chance. However, we pay the same application fees (+the fees to send the GRE scores, TOEFL scores, and transcripts) as everybody else. We had to deal with the application procedure like everybody else and we had the same deadline. However, we are considered as second-class applicants. And it's not like they warned us... Basically, I consider it to be theft. They stole my money and wasted my time. They didn't plan to review these applications in the first place. We are directly thrown away or in best case scenario, they keep our applications in case they have some miraculous slots available.
So if you live outside the US, DO NOT apply to this school. You are just going to waste your money and time. As to those of you who live in the US, think about it: do you want to go to a school that has such an unfair admission procedure? 
I wish I was warned about this by previous applicants and it was important for me to let you guys know about it. A school shouldn't be allowed to get away such unfair policies. 
Anyway, if some of you need advice for your applications, don't hesitate to send me a message. I am happy to help. 
Good luck to all of you! 
 
 

Best: Yale (super super nice on the phone+emails), Cold Spring Harbor (very nice and all, but I didn't contact them before I got an interview, so I don't know how they were before they sent out the interview), Davis (responded in less than an hour every time I contacted them (I had various problems with my application). I was really impressed)
 
Worst: MIT (didn't reply to any of my emails, didn't pick up the phone and I really hated their application website)

Funny how I got accepted to the schools you are rejected from.

Although I am waiting on 3 more schools, I have decided to commit to Mount Sinai. Couldn't be happier! So glad this cycle is over! It's funny how things work out for the best. Congrats to everyone who has been accepted and to those who have made their decisions! 

I just got an admission offer phone call from University of Pittsburgh IBGP.
 
And I am going to accept this offer from UPitt
 
And here is to all those who have been accepted ...
 

Its official everyone, I'm attending the University of Rochester Medical Center!

Yes. You have to make sure everything is perfect - grammar, typing, everything. In my SOP to WashU, I accidentally had some cut and paste text from another university at the bottom and let's just say they were the only school that straight out rejected me out of the 9 I applied to. Bummer because it was my first choice, but what can you do? Bottom line - make sure your SOP is perfect. You seem to have some grammatical errors in your posts, that's why I brought it up. Good luck.

Best: Yale (super super nice on the phone+emails), Cold Spring Harbor (very nice and all, but I didn't contact them before I got an interview, so I don't know how they were before they sent out the interview), Davis (responded in less than an hour every time I contacted them (I had various problems with my application). I was really impressed)
 
Worst: MIT (didn't reply to any of my emails, didn't pick up the phone and I really hated their application website)

Ad-MIT, really? That's so cheesy. Ahhh, us scientists...

This is how they should have sent it:
 
"Dear applicant,
 
Sorry we can't ad-MIT you, but best of luck in navigating the application process! Record number of applicants blah blah very competitive blah.
 
 
Science be Praised,
Biology Ad-com @ MIT"

Hey guys, I found a great blog post about what to ask biomed grad students during interview weekends. It's super useful, and definitely worth a read!
 
http://benjvincent.blogspot.com/2014/01/what-to-ask-biomedical-graduate.html

Has anyone received a rejection email/something from MIT bio?

If I've learned anything this interview season, it's that... you don't need to read papers by people you're going to interview with. Just be able to ask smart questions.
 
For interviews I wasn't sure how much background knowledge I had to have for the PIs I'd be talking with. For most of them, I was interested in their research anyways, so I didn't mind reading up on them (on the programs website, and maybe briefly skim a few abstracts of theirs). But 99% of the time, your interviewers are going to be telling you (quite enthusiastically) about their current projects, and you'll need to quickly think of smart questions to ask them. If you can't come up with immediate questions, I've found that it's best to reiterate what they said to you in a different way, as if you're clarifying a point.
 
Good luck at interviews everyone!

I would call them up and explain that you are living in the US and if it is possible if you can have an interview in person and if you will get reimburse.

I am interviewing with Cornell Biomedical Sciences. I  paid for my plane ticket, but was informed I would be reimbursed, yes.

I believe it refers to the rate of students dropping out of the PhD program for whatever reason

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.

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

Just drove by Cold Spring Harbor, thought of you guys. Hahahaha

GUYS GUYS GUYS I GOT A DARTMOUTH INTERVIEW!!!!

Finally

While we're worrying about acceptance rates post interviews, I made this graph to appease your anxiety. We just want to get in somewhere right? Here's what your chances are for getting accepted into one school, assuming a 50% post interview acceptance rate: