VoidInColor

I was waitlisted by my first choice school and accepted to my safety school. I accepted my safety school's offer on the 15th, and today (17th) they sent me the GRA contract. I have not signed it yet, since I wanted to check with my first choice to confirm that there was not a slot for me. However, after everyone had ended up choosing where they wanted to go, the internal fellowship I was waitlisted for at my first choice had open slots. Since they got more funding, I've been accepted to my first choice. I haven't signed anything for the safety school or put down any deposit, just sent an email saying I'm attending. How do I go about telling my safety school that I'm no longer attending? Do I just thank them and vaguely refer to changing plans? I'd like to do this as politely as possible.

I fairly recently heard back from a program that I had previously interviewed with. I was rejected, and the grad coordinator said it was mainly because the adcomm didn't think my research interests were a good fit. However, I was very specific in my personal statement about my (fairly niche) interests, so they knew what I was interested in before I interviewed. Why would they bother interviewing me if they knew my interests weren't a good fit? Did they think they would change my mind or that I would have reconsidered in the two-ish months since I submitted an application? I'm not super crushed, just very confused.

I've seen several people mention that they called the admissions office to find out if they were still sending out interview invitations. How did you go about it? Who exactly did you call and how did you phrase it? I don't want to seem pushy but for some programs its been a long time and historically they've sent out both invites and rejections by now, and I'm still in limbo.

@hopefulPhD2017 I've applied to six, my seventh is mostly done (app is in, waiting for them to send me my ID number so I can upload supporting documents and such), and my eighth is nearly done and will be in shortly (very late deadline). I've had one outright rejection and one I'm pretty sure I'm out of the running for.

Now that it's the new year and schools are opening back up, I'm reaching the point where, for some of my schools, if I don't get an invite in the next few days I'm not getting one at all. Trying to decide whether to try to make a few of the January 15th deadlines...

Thanks for the VTech mention, I didn't see it when I first looked at the school and the program actually looks like it might have some research that matches my interests (which is a rarity). Depending on how things go in the next week I'll definitely consider applying.

Waiting for responses is frustrating. What's almost worse are the schools that have Jan. 1 deadlines. Because of course the schools are closed for winter break leading up to the deadline, so it's impossible to contact anyone if you have any problems

Being with family this season actually stressed me out more and is why I actually went back to my apartment a week an a half before break was over. All my relatives kept asking me was where are you going, what do you want to do, which program is your favorite? I don't know dad, I have to visit them, that's what interview weekends are for. Stop hounding me and making me freak out about it. I'm not "going" anywhere yet, since nowhere has accepted me yet.

Just got an invite from UC Davis Immunology. Interview weekend is Friday Feb 24th through Saturday Feb 25th, arrive Thursday and leave Sunday.

Ah, nevermind. Just checked my email and I got an official rejection from Cornell yesterday :(.

I know Penn CAMB cancer bio is probably done, but is there any hope left for CAMB MVP? And I haven't heard about anyone that applied to comparative biomedical sciences at Cornell (Ithaca). Just getting a bit worried and wondering if I should maybe try to apply to some schools with later deadlines just in case.

Ok thanks, it's nice to have a time-frame.

Has anyone heard more about Emory? I saw one person got an IMP invite, but that's about it. Still waiting anxiously... Also, did anyone else apply to UC Davis immunology? They had a Dec. 15 deadline, so I'm wondering when we'll start to hear back.

I'm planning on distracting myself by cleaning. I need to anyway, and it's nice to come back from winter break to a clean apartment.

I'm just sitting here forcing myself not to mindlessly refresh this thread and telling myself "Void, you still have one more final to go, just give it a day and you can freak out all you want." Plus some of the schools I'm applying to have Dec. 15th or Jan. 1st deadlines (or later), so I'll be waiting for a while...

Cornell BBS is Jan 31-Feb 2 according to their website.

I'm not sure if this is where I should ask, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Does anyone have advice on how to accept an interview offer? Writing professional emails has to be one of the most stressful things in my life.

Ok, thanks. Everyone here is so helpful I also had a question about my planned structure for my SOP. The way it's looking now, it's going to be the thing I like and how I got interested-> why this program is a great place to study the thing->what I've done (research etc.) to be qualified to study the thing. Most of the prompts for the schools I'm applying to say something along the lines of "Describe your motivations and qualifications for attending graduate school." I've seen some conflicting advice about whether a story in the introduction is a good idea or if you should just get straight to the point. The thing is, I'm interested in parasitology and every time I mention that to a professor or adviser, the first question they ask is how I got interested in the field, which requires a brief story about 9th grade biology. Then they get surprised I've suck with it for 7+ years. So it seems like it might actually be a useful contribution to an SOP, since professors all seem to want to hear it. Am I going down the wrong path here?

Just a quick question. For applications that ask for resume, and don't mention a CV, I should submit a resume despite a cv being far more descriptive, right? Or do they really not care that much?

The list hasn't changed. Obviously the Fulbright at RVC would be brilliant, but I'd say my top are UPenn, Emory, and UGA for PhD programs.

Just adding some updates. As far as the GRE goes, the unofficial scores (because they haven't scored writing yet) are V: 170 (99%) and Q: 159 (73%). A bit disappointed I couldn't get my quant up higher, but my composite went from 324 to 329, so a net improvement I guess. As far as research goes, I'm doing a lot of data analysis right now so my name's going to be on the poster some of the grad students in the lab are presenting at ASCB in December. I'm not going, because undergrad and finals week.

Undergrad Institution: Large, generic state school, not particularly highly ranked Major(s): Biology, Biomedical Science Minor(s): None GPA in Major: 3.87 Biomed, 4.0 Bio Overall GPA: 3.9 Position in Class: Not given Type of Student: Domestic white female GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 160 (76%) V: 164 (94%) W: 4.0 (59%) B: Not taking I’m retaking the GRE in about 2 weeks, which should bring my quant up. Writing I have no idea, standardized test scorers have never liked my writing even when I was in elementary school. Comp and lit were fine, but I just can’t figure out standardized tests. Research Experience: Not much consistent research. Two summers working on two “mini” projects each, one bacterial and the other cell/tissue oriented. They kind of need explaining, which I intend to do in the SOP. Two semesters in a neurology lab doing intracellular motility, and I’ll have a third before I graduate. I’m working on an honors thesis in that lab. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Requisite dean’s list mention, National merit scholar, full ride from the state for being a national merit scholar, an “academic excellence award” Pertinent Activities or Jobs: President of my university’s student branch of the American Society for Microbiology A summer internship in a hospital microbiology laboratory. Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: So my academic history is kind of complicated. I graduated HS with my AA at the same time, so I’m finishing my dual major in three years. So I’ve been in college full time for 5 years but only 3 years post-HS, which has limited the time I had for research (especially since no one at my uni will take any students until they’ve taken the basic core major requirements). I did do a study abroad, and at a top 20 world university, if that ranking makes any difference. It’s also a university that’s known for the field I’m interested in, which is why I wanted to go there in the first place. I haven’t seen anyone mention this yet since everyone seems to be in molec bio/micro but I’m certified to work with laboratory animals already and have a lot of experience down in our vivarium. Special Bonus Points: Does being female still count? I don’t think so… Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: More transcript weirdness. The only non-A’s I have are three B+ from my study abroad semester and a B+ from the semester right after in a film analysis class I had to take as part of my university honors requirements. I don’t know what that says about me, but I have a tendency to panic. Applying to Where: This is a strange spread, but bear with me, I’m interested in parasitology and this is where it is. Mostly infectious disease/immunology and veterinary biomed/pathology programs. Emory University Cornell University University of Pennsylvania University of Georgia Texas A&M University University of California-Davis Tufts University University of Florida Louisiana State University Oklahoma State University Baylor College of Medicine Royal Veterinary College: This is actually a public health/infectious disease masters I’m applying to as part of a Fulbright application. The thing I’m worried about most is my lack of research experience, and that my academics make it look like I’m someone that does nothing but study all day. In reality, I’m just good at school and very, very bad at talking to professors about things that affect my future, which makes interviewing a very daunting prospect. Any comments/advice would be appreciated. And sorry if this got too rambley, I tend to type in a very stream-of-consciousness kind of way and I have a lot of thoughts about this