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Vene, yes that was Maryland.

Sys88 isn't it terrible?! You spend all that that time anxious for THEM to say yes, now YOU feel bad for saying no.

I demand more posts in this thread! More good news for the people!


 

Just finished my last interview! Time to sleep...
 

The midwest is a terribly underrated region in the US. Everyone there is legitimately friendly

The last day of my last interview is tomorrow, and I have to say that I am so glad it is almost over. I've had a lot of fun, but I'm also soooo tired! Very glad that the end is in sight (: 

Just got home from my UW-Madison CMB interview and I can't express how much I enjoyed my weekend there. The program and faculty were great, Madison seemed like a nice place to live at and the graduate students seemed to have a really close community! 

Finally heading home after a not so hot interview this weekend.  However, last weekend's interview at Davis was AMAZING and I got an official acceptance (sans financial info) this morning.  Two more to go before deciding, but I'm having a hard time imagining anyone beating out Davis...

I have some information for future applicants to the Joint Carnegie Mellon University - University of Pittsburgh Ph.D. Program in Computational Biology. I suspect this also applies to the Joint CMU-Pitt Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology Graduate Program, but I don't know for sure. I should note that some of this may be in the CPCB handbook, but I know that some of it is not. I thought it would be best to list all the differences I heard about today for the benefit of future applicants who search for information in the forums on this program in future cycles.
 
I found out today that applicants are admitted to either CMU or Pitt based on their interests and the primary appointments of the PIs they are interested in working with / the PIs who are interested in working with them. It turns out this makes a difference for the application process. Pitt requires that all North American applicants interview at the institution before an offer can be extended, while CMU does not. Consequently, CMU admitted students receive offers earlier and without an interview, while Pitt admitted students must come to an interview before an offer can be extended. This is why 90-95% of Pitt admitted students receive an offer if they interview.
 
Where the student is admitted also affects the offer that is made. CMU does not provide health insurance, and it does not waive any fees. Pitt does both of these things. Consequently, the stipend for CMU admitted students is about $3000-$4000 higher than it is for Pitt admitted students. The coordinators of the program are responsible each year for going through all expenses and payments and making sure that the package offered to all students in the program is worth the exact same amount.
 
The thesis lab selection process is also different for CMU and Pitt students. Pitt students may either elect to start working in a lab right away if they know for sure who they want to work with, or they have the option of doing three four-week rotations in the first semester. Conversely, I believe CMU students are required to listen to talks given by each faculty member in the program who is taking students. After this is done, each student submits a summary of his or her research interests and PIs he or she is interested in working with, and the PIs submit lists of students that they are interested in working with. Students are matched with PIs based on this information.

I have some information for future applicants to the Joint Carnegie Mellon University - University of Pittsburgh Ph.D. Program in Computational Biology. I suspect this also applies to the Joint CMU-Pitt Molecular Biophysics and Structural Biology Graduate Program, but I don't know for sure. I should note that some of this may be in the CPCB handbook, but I know that some of it is not. I thought it would be best to list all the differences I heard about today for the benefit of future applicants who search for information in the forums on this program in future cycles.
 
I found out today that applicants are admitted to either CMU or Pitt based on their interests and the primary appointments of the PIs they are interested in working with / the PIs who are interested in working with them. It turns out this makes a difference for the application process. Pitt requires that all North American applicants interview at the institution before an offer can be extended, while CMU does not. Consequently, CMU admitted students receive offers earlier and without an interview, while Pitt admitted students must come to an interview before an offer can be extended. This is why 90-95% of Pitt admitted students receive an offer if they interview.
 
Where the student is admitted also affects the offer that is made. CMU does not provide health insurance, and it does not waive any fees. Pitt does both of these things. Consequently, the stipend for CMU admitted students is about $3000-$4000 higher than it is for Pitt admitted students. The coordinators of the program are responsible each year for going through all expenses and payments and making sure that the package offered to all students in the program is worth the exact same amount.
 
The thesis lab selection process is also different for CMU and Pitt students. Pitt students may either elect to start working in a lab right away if they know for sure who they want to work with, or they have the option of doing three four-week rotations in the first semester. Conversely, I believe CMU students are required to listen to talks given by each faculty member in the program who is taking students. After this is done, each student submits a summary of his or her research interests and PIs he or she is interested in working with, and the PIs submit lists of students that they are interested in working with. Students are matched with PIs based on this information.

After I heard from Rutgers on Tuesday, I emailed Hopkins PMB to check on my application since they are the only program I have heard nothing from. I got a response today saying that they had "extended the first round of invitations to interview in March," but that was all that was said. Seems pretty much in line with the response @ERR_Alpha got recently, but I thought it would be best to share nevertheless.

At Princeton QCB, each student had only two half-hour interviews with faculty, and some faculty were double booked (i.e., two students interviewed at one time in the same half-hour time slot). I just got my schedule for CMU-Pitt yesterday, and this one also has only two interview slots, but they are each an hour and a half in length and are labeled as "1 on 1 with faculty," so I wonder if multiple interviews will be held at these times. Anyway, I would say it is unusual for a program to have only two interviews, but it is the way some programs do it.

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

"Haha... that's a lot of money!" At the registrar's office at my university, as I was writing a check to them so they would send my transcripts. I know it's a lot of money. You're the ones charging me for it. Thanks for the reminder though.

My dad: "What will you be researching?"
Me: Something about CFD and modelling
My dad: "OK, I'm going to tell my friends that you're moving away to pursue modelling"

1. "You spent all day on your applications? You're still not finished?"

2. "And what are you going to do when you're done?" (absolutely no one cares about what I'll do when I'm there)

3. "But are there any things you could do with that in the world?" <--this person would not listen to me until I started talking about music therapy, which is luckily a genuine interest of mine, albeit still on the research side of things.

4. "Oh, you got accepted to [unfunded master's at a name brand school]? WOW CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!" vs. "Oh, you got accepted to [a top-ranked doctoral program with full funding for five years but much less local name recognition]? That's nice!"

Mine was really fun. We knew that if I got accepted I'd hear within a couple days, and I was meeting with my PI in her office when the call came in. I walked out into the hall to take the call and while I did another faculty member walked into her office. While I was on the phone with the Admissions Chair I could hear her shushing the other professor as she tried to hear what I was saying on the phone. When I walked back in she gave me a huge hug and had tears in her eyes. She has done so much to help me and I was really happy I could share that moment with her.

When I was on the interview trail, I asked current graduate students about this. All of them told me the same thing: Don't break up with your signifcant other solely because you're worried about the coursework. All that will do is make you depressed, burn out, and very resentful towards the program. "You've gotten in so you've got to have good time management skills. That's all that matters, really. You can have a social life if you're careful with your time." I'm not expecting to have the same sort of relationship I have now, and neither does he. Just talk it over with them and be honest.

Also, as my significant other told me, I've got to eat sometime, so it might as well be with him!

Happy belated Valentine's Day, everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful day, be it with your significant other or your friends or your family, or even just with yourself - we all need some time to relax and tend to our own needs. (: 

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

I haven't. The grad student I talked to said it would take a week or two after the visit for them to sent out decisions.

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

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'm glad that you had a nice interview (but for the record I'm not straight bio and didn't apply to caltech) but to be honest I'm actually worried about a situation like this. If the interviews don't give you the opportunity to talk a lot and 'prove' yourself to the interviewer, then how can one distinguish themselves from the competition? I'm under the impression that competitive programs have pre-ranked (formally or informally) their candidates and based on when I got my interview I suspect I'm not so high up. I want the chance to talk about my work, maybe even get grilled a little (not too much, maybe like sauteed?) to prove I have what it takes. So if the interviews don't give you a chance to impress, then I -  and anyone in the same shoes as me - am SOL. 

If you've totally made up your mind, then yes I'd say cancel. However, if there's even a small chance you may attend these other schools, don't feel bad at all about interviewing there. Yes, you will likely take up some PIs' time and there is some possibility that you'll prevent someone else from being interviewed (not likely though, this is what post-interview wait-lists are for). But consider the substantial time and effort you've committed to each school you applied to (not to mention the years of effort required to become an acceptable applicant even before you apply).You have fully earned the right to interview at every school that invites you, and you shouldn't feel guilty, even if its just to check out the campus and meet potential future collaborators.
 
Also, that plane ticket is already booked, so that is a sunk cost at this point.

Accepted at Arizona ABBS!!!!!!!!! I'm going to Grad School somewhere!!