expandyourmind

had an interview at Columbia but it didn't quite have that cut-throat ivy environment i keep hearing about from the ivies. i really enjoyed the faculty and all of the students seemed extremely happy. it may just be on a departmental basis. my undergrad was in the big10 and yes, it did have a totally different lab culture than i felt at Columbia, but I didn't really feel the competitiveness between the students or even faculty. i think it will all depend on the school, the department, and the lab. there are always going to be crazy PIs/Postdocs/graduate students that think science is a rat race!

Hey Yolk! CONGRATS! I'm actually from Wisconsin (family is all badgers!) what is the funding like at Madison? I just heard the governor is slashing funding for the UW system so I'm curious how they are working around it. But Madison is an AMAAAAZING program I'm so happy for you!

Some schools are SUPER fast. apparently at my columbia interview while we were on our housing tour they made the decision as to who was admitted.... with like half the day left last year people from that program heard back 2 days after the interview! hardcore adcoms hahah

I may have over generalized, but this PI was really pulling for me and it didn't seem like there was any competition (i hate to sound cocky). She flat out told me that she would write a stellar recommendation for my admittance and that she wants to keep in touch. she even gave me a book that she thought i would find interesting. I went to undergrad and took chemistry classes from her husband and developmental biology classes with her best friend who inspired me to go into the field, and her project would be a collaboration between all three of them. She introduced me to her lab as the girl who is going to join next year and even her grad students were like begging me to go into her lab over other labs at NU. i'm not really concerned about prestige, although i think UChicago has a better, more rigorous curriculum in developmental biology moreso than NU. There are more people i would be willing to work with across the board at UChicago whereas this one PI seems too good to be true!

I took 2 years off to do a fully funded Master's program (Check it out it's called Erasmus Mundus fellowship for Comparative Morphology EUCOMOR) and it gave me an amazing chance to travel the world, do research, and gain much needed technical skills (embryology, stem cell research, tons of imaging modalities, and software training for 3D visualization and image processing/analysis). I can definitely say that it has enhanced my application and has put me in a very unique position as I go into grad school. Any blemish that I had on my transcript or low scores have been outweighed by this research experience and most of the people I have interviewed with have commented on how crazy of an application I have thanks to this program. This is something to look into because my program is very specialized but there are other Erasmus Mundus fellowships for master's programs that aren't in comparative morphology. I would really recommend looking into it - it's a great way to see the world while preparing for grad school. feel free to PM me if you need more info!

to make this an even harder decision, i got the Dean's award at NU... but i don't think finances should go into a decision like this!

Northwestern DGP acceptance plus the dean's award! woo! The acceptance went straight to my junk mail, so watch out guys!

whats the process for being waitlisted? if you haven't officially gotten an interview and haven't heard back from them, does that mean you're waitlisted? would they tell you that you're waitlisted? so confusing

It's tough because my research fits perfectly with this PI who just made like a huge breakthrough in human embryos (she had tv crews on her doorstep) and she said that her next grad student would go into this area (she even said that she wOuld love it if I were that person). It just seemed like she was really invested in me and told me she would really push for me in the admissions process and that I should really keep in touch with her. It just surprised me how we connected and how invested she wa in my application. That being said, I do like independence but with a tad of micromanagement, but the other grad student said that the PIs were so helpful and its a great environment for a grad student to be pushed by everyone else on the lab. I'm so torn!

U This is exactly where I'm at. I felt like my first interview was the perfect fit both socially and academically and was accepted before my other interviews. I've been comparing every interview with that first one! Even at the second interview I could really see myself working with one person there. So far it's hard to tell right now. I think choosing the right place is a lot harder than I expected. I thought I would get there and just know which one was the one!! This is going to be a hard choice!

i mean, there are a few, but i'm not quite as interested in their subfield of developmental biology as this PI. i guess there are a few others that i would be interested in, but im a little hesitant about switching up my interests. this PI was the only person on my list of interviewers that i requested, so i didn't really get to speak with those i'd also be interested in either

I did talk with some grad students in the PIs lab at NU. There was only one, and everyone else was a postdoc. From what she said it seems like the PI is very very hands off and only meeting with her grad student/postdocs once every few weeks (which I'm not sure how to feel). At this point its hard because I really felt like UChicago was a perfect fit, but NU's PI would just be a crazy place to work and her work is spot on with my interests. That being said, I'm still nervous if I choose NU because I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket, whereas UChicago I have a few people I'd be interested in!

Hey Everyone! I was hoping to get some advice from all of you guys. I'm pretty torn between two schools - UChicago or Northwestern (I'm hoping to stay in the midwest). UChicago has a better ranking as far as graduate programs, with a few faculty that I would be really happy rotating with. Most of these faculty I'm interested in does very basic developmental biology, but with some really interesting techniques. I had a blast when it came to the interview weekend and felt like it was a perfect fit for a graduate program. It's kind of a bitch to get to from the city (where I live) so the location is somewhat of a downside but the campus is absolutely gorgeous. NU just a powerhouse of a PI that wants me to work with her, she's changed NIH research standards and just pumps out insane papers all the time. She's discovered some groundbreaking stuff on human embryos and has a very clinical perspective in her research (as opposed to very basic developmental bio) But other than her, I don't really have any interest in most other PIs at the school and it's not nearly as good of a school with as focused of a curriculum as the other. I also didn't enjoy the interview weekend as much as the first, although the location of the campus is awesome and in downtown chicago. Hoping you guys can give me some good perspectives! And good luck in all of your interviews

I've done this. I figured if you're no longer interested in the program, its better to not waste their time or money. i've cancelled 2 interviews already because i had my heart set on other programs. they have all been pretty relaxed about me withdrawing my application, or at least i think!

i never really had anyone ask too much of my research, just be able to succinctly talk abut your research and summarize well. In that sense, i didn't really prepare for my interviews because you either know or you don't know what you've done in the past few years. Most of them will want to talk about their research so it might be a short conversation about your interests (why do you want a PhD, why this program, why do you love science, what are your interests in your graduate work, etc). Most of my interviewers just flat out asked me "what do you want to know about my research" and went from there, so definitely look into your interviewers' research beforehand (but don't freak out, reading abstracts are fine). Most of the people just want to make sure you're not crazy, that you are genuinely interested in their program/work, and want to know you didn't make up anything in your statement of purpose. Some of my professors didn't even talk about the program entirely, just sat down and gave me a really great perspective on science and life - he basically spend 30 minutes giving me a pep talk about being a scientist! don't stress, don't go overboard on preparing for these interviews (i've seen people make 10 page scripts of answers and that's not how to approach this interview). this should be a really informal chat with great minds about where you are, where you want to be, and why this program is the perfect fit. so in the end, this SHOULD be a fun process, i mean - how often will you be wined and dined while being able to talk to some great scientists, right? At this point they want YOU, so you just have to be yourself.

Yes I interviewed at Driskill! IBiS is a great program and on a different campus than Driskill, so I think it should be very different from Driskill. At this point chicago is all snowed in! I won't be able to make my Mt. Sinai interview but I'm hoping I can somehow fly out later in the week for Columbia. But man flying anywhere right now is rough!

I got kinda weird vibes from the people at NU. Most of the grad students seemed disconnected and didn't know anyone else in the other years (even though it was a pretty small class size) even at the party afterward it seemed a little "clique-y" to me. most of the other applicants seemed a little socially awkward, but maybe i just didn't push myself to meet other people or had a quiet table for lunch/dinners. I feel bad because the faculty is amazing and there are so many powerhouses in their fields, but i didn't really have a good time with the other interviewees and grad students. for my other interviews i had a blast, so it just stood out to me that i just got an awkward and weird vibe throughout the interview process.

Did anyone else have a weird time at northwestern this past weekend? What are your thoughts?

Congrats lilbert5! I wanna ask you how you compare columbia and mount sinai. Next week I'm interviewing both of them and would like your input! PM me

I'm in the same boat! I was hoping to move to NYC but at this point I fell in love with UChicago - it was such a perfect fit when I visited. so I'm not sure whats gonna happen next year!

mine did too, it was Held for a few weeks and then released

If anyone is at the UChicago interview this weekend, let me know!

I think its easy to think that its a common courtesy to send out rejection letters ASAP, but honestly the more i think about it the more i feel bad for these adcoms. they're dealing with hundreds and hundreds of applications, with applicants constantly calling the office, sending e-mails, and nagging them to find out when invites were sent out. It seems like it would be easy to just weed out the people invited for interviews and work with them for the few months leading up to interviews than spend a lot more time taking the names of those rejected and sending e-mails. Just on a organizational level it must be hell to keep track of all the applicants, the interviewees, etc. I really feel bad for these guys because this is a very emotional process and theyre probably the butt of a lot of angst coming from the applicants. Every time I've called their offices they always sound so tired, so I feel for them!

is this common that a school will halt your interview invite to see if they can get fellowship funding?

I already received an invite from Columbia Development and Genetics. Interview dates are Jan 22-24 and Feb 5-7. I don't know if they send out multiple waves of invites but when I called they had mentioned that all the invites were going out that day (I can't remember when). Best of luck to you!