MackF

Syracuse gave me a skype interview then never gave me an admission decision one way or the other. They were my bottom choice but still it would've been nice to have closure. Oh well University of Rochester Med. Center here I come! I wouldn't even bother with Syracuse again.

They asked about my research, why I wanted to go there (truth be told it was basically my bottom choice), what kind of career I wanted in the future, etc. It wasn't too terribly hard. I accepted a different offer of admission. There was also a little bit of time for me to ask them questions about their stuff.

Skype Interview was a little bit awkward for me. Its not terribly difficult, but it wasn't quite as formal as the in person ones I did. It was short (20 min) and I only talked to one faculty member and one grad student. Make the best of it! Is it for a PhD or a Masters?

I'm not too sure since it differs by school. The absolute best thing you can do is call and hound them a little if you must. Emails are very easy to ignore and/or miss and/or end up in the spam folder. Call the grad office maybe and ask about your application. Best of luck to you!

I'm glad you're throwing a temper tantrum on a forum designed to help prospective grad students. I'm happy for you that you got in where you wanted to go, so did I. All I did was add some constructive thoughts to your post, so maybe you should take a step back and realize how lucky you are to be in a position to offer advice to other prospective grads. That attitude won't get you far in life, and considering you will be subordinate to a PI for the next five years, you should change it quick. Best of luck to you in your graduate studies.

Don't focus entirely on rank. Go where you think you can do the best research. Its also helpful to see what kinds of jobs grads from each program are getting. Lastly, I'd look for a place that makes you happy, you're going to be there for 5 or more years, so you might as well be comfortable in your surroundings. Good luck to you!

I'm going to disagree with this, if only marginally. My letters of rec were from a course professor in biology, a professor that I had taken 4 classes with in economics (my minor), and one from my research advisor. I don't think you need to have done research in 2 separate labs to be competitive. Perhaps for the very top programs, but generally speaking I don't think so. Of course more research experience is always better, but you should do the research that you feel you will enjoy the most.

With the April 15 deadline rapidly approaching I just wanted to say congratulations to all who were accepted and keep your head up to those who weren't. Maybe there's a lurker on this forum I'll end up meeting in Rochester in the fall. Good luck everyone!

I don't know anything about them personally but I just pulled up Pitt's apartment page to look at what neighborhoods they are in. The closest ones would be the "Oakland" neighborhoods, with shadyside, squirrel hill, and bloomfield being just a few minutes away. As far as the apartments themselves I'm not too sure. I have plenty of friends at Pitt for undergrad and I know some of them live in apartments, and they seem to be doing fine.

I'm from the Pittsburgh area, let me know if you want to know anything about neighborhoods, etc.

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

My current research advisor went to MIT for graduate school (genetics PhD). He has nothing but good things to say about it and is literally one of the most knowledgeable people I've ever met, even compared to other Biology dept. faculty. I have nothing to compare to because I don't know anyone who went to Harvard, but MIT is an incredible program for sure.

way to go! Kill it at the interview!

I'd be the "honesty" person. I'm not too upset (and I don't actually know if I got rejected or not yet). I've got an Awesome offer from URMC so all is well in my world!

Just google meet and greet gradcafe, it'll come up. Its a forum, similar to this