nutellarain

I'm dealing with the same problem, I think the smaller/lower-ranked programs simply put more effort into recruiting. I said to my boyfriend the other day, "Program X is being so nice! I should just go there" and he reminded me that was a ridiculous reason to chose a grad school, haha. It does make me wonder if they treat the students with more personal attention during the program as well.

I'm fighting the urge to email my last school and ask when they anticipate sending out acceptances, I just want to know so I can decide and get it over with!

Thanks for all the advice! I'm definitely leaning towards working in a smaller lab where I'll have more personalized attention from the PI

Same here! I want to go to every school I interviewed at for varying reasons. Everyone keeps saying that you will know which one is the best fit or to go with your gut, but I just feel like splitting into four people and going to every school. If it comes down to it, I may try a coin flip march madness-style bracket: heads is one school, tails the other. Take note if you feel happy or sad when a school wins and the winner moves on to compete against the next school. I'll probably throw in some pro and con tables too

Sooo despite not liking Irvine and OC, I am considering attending UCI since I love the program. I would probably live in grad housing for the first few years, then would like to move to a more dense urban area. Many people have mentioned Long Beach, but said the commute can be rough. It is bad in both directions? If I were to work at UCI from 10am-8pm or so would I miss most of the traffic? I will only have classes for the first two years, so I will be able to set my own schedule after that.

Well, all of those summer programs generally will only accept US students since they often rely on government funding. Are you only looking for summer programs? If you want an actual paid job, you need to apply to research associate/assistant jobs. Those are at various companies and universities, they should all have website listings with jobs available. If you don't have much experience, it may be difficult to get a paid job. You can also email lab directly to inquire if you can volunteer, though I assume volunteering is more difficult to secure visas for.

While I blown away by the vast amount of research at my top choice school (and best ranked program), I was a little put off by how decentralized the program seemed as grad students were spread across multiple research institutes. Despite having a huge number of grad students, only 15-20 students had posters at the interview weekend poster session and most did not make it to any of the recruitment events. I also noticed that very few of my fellow interviewees were matched with faculty they requested or faculty that even remotely worked in their area of interest. I mean, I know faculty are busy, but at all of the schools I interviewed at people seemed to get at least 1-2 people they requested. Additionally, the postdoc/grad student ratio for all labs was very high. Overall, I got the impression that training grad students was not a focus of the institution. The problem is, I'm not sure how much this matters! I suppose it means extra leg work on the students part to secure rotations, etc. without a great network of support. Is it really worth attending a lower ranked school with less faculty to find a more grad student-centric institute? I would love to hear your opinions and advice!

Are the schools close enough to easily see each other on weekends? How long have you been dating your boyfriend and do you see this decision as a "team" decision (like a married couple would decide things) or a completely personal one? I actually have a similar problem! I was accepted to a school in a city that my boyfriend could easily transfer to with his job (they have another office there), but it is a much lower ranked school with less faculty I want to work with than my top choice. My boyfriend loves his job and I don't want to make him quit on my account. So tough to figure out what to do!

That sucks acetylcholine, sorry you are so stressed out. I do agree with expandyourmind, three semesters is really not very long at all. In general, the people I meet at interviews have at least 2+ years of research experience. My stats are similar to yours, but I have 3.5 years of research experience (2 years as a full time job). Would you consider working as a lab tech for a year? It is a great opportunity to take a break from school (woo 40 hr work weeks and actual money!) and a chance to explore some other areas of research. I know most people feel like they are wasting time by delaying graduate school, but personally I think waiting a year or two can be quite beneficial.

They do 10k first quarter and 10k spring quarter of your first year (assuming you aren't failing all your classes, etc). I think they give this fellowship out to multiple new students each year. Maybe future applicants stumbling across this thread will be more likely to apply to UC Irvine next year, haha. I wonder if were were at UCLA interviews the same weekend, I liked that program a lot as well! Gah, this whole deciding process is so difficult.

I know right? You would think I had to have pipettes for hands and sneezed publications for that. I actually did like UC Irvine quite a bit, especially the faculty. My only gripe is with the location as I'm not a fan of orange county. Though maybe I'll be living in lab the entire time so it won't matter!

Yep, $20,000; I was pretty shocked myself. I think since UC Irvine is a relatively new school, they are trying to attract students and build a reputation. Yeah, I do have an emergency fund saved up already (I've been out of school for a few years), but it would be nice to have the extra peace of mind.

Sooo UC Irvine just offered me an extra 20k for the first year . I wasn't going to let money factor into my decision, but damn.. Are you guys considering that as an important factor? I just want to be able to live comfortably (i.e not ramen/pb&j for every meal) for my time in graduate school.

Thanks! Ah ok, I suspected it would be something like that. I just wish I knew who my faculty host was before showing up!

Has anyone been to a UC San Diego BMS interview yet? I was informed that we won't get our interview schedules until we arrive and it looks like we have an hour interview with a faculty host (I also don't know who this is). Was this different from a normal interview?

Meh, I still think seattle is very affordable compared to most major cities. Capitol Hill is one of the most expensive areas, if you live north of campus up towards Ravenna it is pretty reasonable (still walkable to campus or 5 min bike ride). Wallingford is still pretty cheap as well.

I even met a few professors at my interviews who said they no longer take students in their lab who come straight from undergrad after some bad experiences. Personally, I'm very happy I took a few years off after undergrad. I got to expand my research interests, explore a new city, and enjoy having regular work hours for a few years.

Austin and UCLA have their last interview weekends this weekend, so I assume they are done. Sorry

Sweet babyjesus of LA traffic. Thanks, I might just be able to make it. We like to complain about traffic in the bay, but I know it is nothing compared to socal!

That's awesome, congrats! You leaning towards any particular school? Random question, how long did your shuttle take to go from LAX to UCLA? I'm trying to figure out if I can make the dinner..

Heads up everyone, Stanford Bioscience rejections are coming in the mail. Just got mine, but I'm close by. Ah well, not a fan of Palo Alto anyways

Seriously! I just interviewed at UT Austin and was amazed by how cheap everything was (though I was coming from San Francisco..). It would definitely be easier to live on a grad student stipend there, my only worry is I couldn't handle the summers.

Just wanted to add, I was matched with a few faculty whose research wasn't terribly interesting to me, but they actually had some new projects for future students (not listed on their website or recent pubs) that I found very interesting! So yeah, just keep an open mind

You need the airline confirmation # in order to check in at the kiosk. Actually, you can probably easily check in with your full name alone, but the confirmation # makes it faster to find your flight info. If you are checking a bag, they often will just scan your ID and then you don't need anything at all! If it makes you feel less stressed, I would just print off your itinerary and bring it. That's what I did so I could look up my flight # without pulling up my email. Some people probably got a bit too drunk at my first interview (we went out until like 3 am..), but the grad students seemed to think it was funny and not care at all. Try to relax and enjoy yourself!

I agree with NSG above, I'm sure your PI has had many graduate school applicants in their lab before and knows you will be less available for the next few months. Interviewing should be your priority; I would just work regular 8 hour days in your lab mon-wed and try to relax in the evenings. I am pretty nervous as well, but I'm trying to look at the interviews as fun adventures. I get to visit new cities (fo' free!), taken out to meals, excursions, etc. No other job/position in the sciences will ever try to woo you this hard! I'm hoping after the first acceptance my nervousness will go away and I can just enjoy myself