BinaryFission

do not do a masters! I helped out with admissions at a (top rated) microbiology PhD program I'm at now and masters don't help! what you should do is GET A POST-BAC. if you're URM (low income also counts if you're not a POC!) there's a program called PREP (https://www.nigms.nih.gov/Training/PREP/Pages/default.aspx) that you apply to do to post-bac research for the express purpose of helping you get into grad programs. if you are not URM you can apply for any job posting at a good research university in your area. but no matter what, please please please DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME on a masters!!! I saw so many great candidates who we had to turn down because they did a bachelors at a small non-research oriented school and then did a masters in which they also did pretty small-time research. candidates that went from low research activity undergrads to high research activity universities for even a year of post-bac immediately shot up in qualification for us. I hope this helps!

Thanks! I'm so bad at writing non-cheesy sounding follow-ups

does anyone have suggestions for how to write an appropriate and short follow-up thank you email to my interviewers? every time I try, it comes out really cutesy or too try-hard...

Does anyone know when I should be getting Columbia's Micro&Immuno itinerary/hotel info? They sent me an invite, asked for a faculty list, and then seemingly died. It's soon, so I'm getting worried.

about a week.

They told us they have a yield of about 40% and expect a class of 20-30 so yeah, pretty high acceptance rate. However, I don't know if it goes down with each weekend.

though it's possible that I miscounted the amount of people and it was closer to 30, which would make 30x4 = 120, 120*0.5 = 60 for 40 spots. it felt like 40 though.

That's what they told us at the interview. There were 4 interviews with about 40 people at each (so 4x40 = 160) and they said they were planning to accept 50% and anticipated a class of 40. I guess they were pretty certain that 50% would accept the offer. Most schools offer about twice as many spots as they plan to enroll.

I know that last year, NYU Sackler Biomed (the umbrella program that includes Neuro&Phys, I believe) received ~1000 applicants, ~160 were invited for interview, ~80 were accepted (so 50%) for an anticipated class size of 40.

Yeah, the thing that threw me was how formal "business casual" is on the East Coast. In CA, I spent a large chunk of my life wearing sundresses+cardigans as "interview clothes" and getting by just fine. On the East Coast the standards seemed different. And of course for non-interview situations you can wear whatever you like, no one expects you to wear a suit-and-tie to the post-interview barhop.

As a Californian who interviewed in the Midwest and on the East Coast last year, I can say that the general trend is the further westward, the more casual. "California casual" is a thing for a reason. I found the East Coast interviews to be all suit-and-tie, pretty much. My labmates, who went to school all over, generally agreed with the East = formal, West = informal, Midwest = halfway trend.

I don't know if this is what you applied for, but I received a Columbia invite a few days ago for Microbiology & Immunology... so maybe they're still going out? good luck!

Also, just so you guys know: I applied last year as a college senior (currently finishing up my undergrad research as a post-bac) and was basically obliterated in grad school applications. Swallowed my pride, applied again, re-wrote my essays, and now things seem to be looking up! tl;dr waiting a year and re-grouping isn't the end of the world.

Just received Columbia Micro&Immuno invite!

Also, if anyone else is interested, I also received interview invites to Michigan PIBS, Northwestern DGP, MIT Microbiology, CU Denver ad well as WashU Micro.

Yep, Microbiology.

Hi, ex-lurker here. I got a University of Washington invite on January 8, email from the chair of admissions. It seemed like a "one wave" kind of email invite but who knows. Good luck!