Bonez

REUs and SURF programs are great ways to network for jobs in the future. I am currently working as a research technician at the same institution, but different lab, where I did an REU internship. I probably couldn't have gotten that job without having done an REU first.

This seems ridiculous, and the recommender sounds overly pompous. Would this recommender object to viewing the students CV prior to writing, because its contains "important aspects relevant to the letters purpose"? Goes to show that academia has its share of wankers. That's why I don't buy what you say. Is "about a dozen" an acceptable n for all admissions committee members? I doubt it. I think your certainty is dubious at best.

Interesting. Its pretty common in my laboratory group to review letters before they are submitted. I only had to ask one letter writer to see their letter, the rest said they would let me review them when they initially agreed to write the letters. Your opinion seems very foreign to me. I don't buy that ad coms don't take these kind of letters seriously. I didn't waive my rights to anything, and I haven't run into any problems.

Haha. Interesting. I don't see why anyone wouldn't want to see their recommendations. I certainly don't see why a boss, professor, etc. would look poorly on or be offended by someone asking to see their letters. You, the applicant, have a lot at stake in getting good letters. I'm not even so much concerned about a letter writer saying bad things in their letter. Your advisor, professor, or whoever probably had many recommendation letters to write, and its entirely possible that the letter left out important things that you have done or was hastily written. Why jeopardize your application with such a stupid, avoidable thing?

Yes. You should absolutely ask your recommenders for a copy of their letters. Ideally, you should have done that before they were submitted. I've never asked for a recommendation from someone that wouldn't let me read what they wrote about me.

It seems like a lot of schools do this. I have been to two interviews so far and received the itinerary for a third. I seem to get about half the people I request to meet with, and the other half the school picks. I've been lucky that most of the interviewers that the school selects have been at least somewhat related to my area of interest. That said, I have also had a few interviewers that have nothing to do with the work I'm interested in. It makes me wonder if that's an intentional move by the department. For the interviews that you aren't really interested in: I would be frank about what your interests are, but try not to seem disinterested in what they do. If all else fails you can ask them about the techniques they use. I've found that most PIs have some fancy-schmancy piece of equipment in their lab that they are particularly proud of. You might learn something new, and I think its always a good idea to get an idea of what tools would be available to you at your potential new institution. This person might end up as a co-advisor on your dissertation.

I work as a technician right now, and I get a similar amount of time off as the graduate students in my program. I get 3 days for thanksgiving, 10 days for winter holidays, and various holidays (MLK day, labor day, etc) throughout the year. I also take 1-2 weeks off during the year for vacation, and that's pretty standard for most students in my department. Most PIs will start to worry about you if you don't take time off; they don't want to work with cranky burnt-out students.

Got an interview invite from Boston University PiBS today. WOOOH!

I've got 2 invites so far. I submitted all of my applications in mid October, so 1.5-2 months prior to any of my deadlines. Not sure if it made a difference for my applications at all, but my PI suggested I get them in early.

Got an invite to Vanderbilt IGP yesterday! Hopefully more to come in the coming weeks!

I got one from Emory a few weeks ago.

U Penn is essentially an Ivy so yeah its really competitive. Miami is less so, and I don't really know much about George Washington. My point is that 7-8 of the nine schools you picked are really difficult to get into, and maybe that adding a few schools that are less competitive might be better. Just make sure you're picking schools based on research fit rather than prestige. Who knows? You might get an interview at all of these great New York schools, but you might not. I personally wouldn't want to shoot for interviews at 1 out of 9 schools. I'd much rather be in a position where I can interview at a handful of schools and pick the one that I like best.

lilbert5- I think your stats are good and you have a competitive application at any of those schools. Keep in mind that all of the schools you're applying to are extremely competitive and even strong applicants might not get in or even get interviews. It might be in your interest to include a few mid-tier schools that still fit your research interest. I vaguely recall someone mentioning Ohio State as a good school for cancer research...maybe check that out?

If you think you will get the manuscripts back for revision soon after submission, then maybe you should wait until after you've heard back from the journal to notify the graduate coordinator of the change. I know that some of the Elsevier journals have a really quick response time for review--like 1-2 weeks. If you think it will take longer, I'd let the programs know about the manuscripts as soon as you submit them. My reasoning is that it looks better to have a paper "in revision" then just "submitted". At least the graduate committee will know the paper was good enough to be reviewed.

Wait. Do you mean that you will earn your B.S. 2.5 years from now, or that you will complete your B.S. this semester, after 2.5 years of study? If its the former, then there's absolutely no reason you should apply right now. If its the latter, then your stats are good and you should apply. I don't know if I would highlight that in your SOP, because, while that is an impressive accomplishment, I could also imagine ways that could be viewed negatively. I imagine you're young-ish, and some members of the adcom might question admitting a 20-21 year old fresh out of undergrad into the program.