notsaxophones

So this is just anecdotal, but everyone that I know who has ever applied to Ohio State who has gotten an interview has gotten in - they just all happened to go to different institutions for their grad degrees instead. Also, from what I've heard, the Indiana University Microbiology department accepts almost everyone they interview. The interview is essentially to make sure you're not crazy and that the reason you took a year off wasn't to smoke pot and play video games (A professor of mine once was on admissions at IU's program - true story of an interviewee that he once met- needless to say that person got rejected)

University of Washington MCB Interview! Possible interview dates are Jan 28-31 and Feb 11-14, they do their interviews thursday/friday, you fly on wednesday and saturday. (For those of you who are interested)

Got an invite to interview from Ohio State! (sorry. THE Ohio State). Their actual application deadline was today, but I submitted mine on Nov. 22nd, so that everything would get in by the Dec 1st deadline if you wanted to be considered for fellowships. Has anyone heard anything from Washington MCB? Or have any idea when their interview weekend might be? I just want to make sure they don't clash because Washington is my top choice (based on what I've seen on paper - I've been told visiting schools will change my opinions possibly drastically) The weekend Ohio invited me to is Jan 15-17th (travel on 15 and 17, interview day is the 16th).

I still struggle with those whole "business casual" nonsense. What does that even mean? Do I have to wear a skirt? (I'm a girl) Or can I wear dress pants? And shoes. Seriously. I'm a combat boots and converse type of girl. I CAN wear heels, but my comfortable ones are not meant for being worn outside (they are for dance and have suede soles). And I physically cannot wear flats - my feet are narrow, and the shoes fall off. Here I have no problem wearing combat boots with a pencil skirt and tights for my honors thesis defense, but everyone in the department here kinda knows that's how I am - I have a feeling that's not the best first impression to use for a new place though. Also, my labmates told me that they don't really care what you look like, but my hair is fire-engine red. Sure it'll fade by interviews but I still worry. Sorry I'm a little panicky and ranty right now. Still an undergrad, finals are next week, and I just CAN'T wait until the emails start coming in! But seriously, if any girls out there have recommendations for dressy shoes for a narrow-footed person please tell me!

I'm clearly jumpy about getting emails from admissions - twice in the past two days I got letters from University of Washington admissions, and I jumped out of my chair in excitement. Both emails were just notifications that my letters of recommendation for the second program I'm applying to there had been submitted.

What I was told by the grad students in my lab is that they'll normally be friday/saturday/sunday, where you're traveling on Thursday and Sunday night. Hoping that's right because I scheduled my classes to accommodate that! haha

@rabbitlocks I'm applying to University of Washington MCB as well, heard that we will likely hear back from them sometime next week. (Based on forums, and that I think their decision gets made by the 15th so that any of the secondary applications they are forwarding get there by the deadline)

This has been happening a lot to me and other undergrads I know - it's definitely from the GRE. University of Florida is very persistent, they have called me and my roommate (who is also applying to grad school), and we have gotten emails and physical mail from them.

When I was getting anxious about my professors getting their letters in, I sent them a gently reminder email a few days before the deadline. Just a "Dear Professor, just wanted to remind you of the deadline for this letter, if you did not receive the request from the university please let me know" type of thing. Whereas for my PI, I just stopped by his office and said "Letter?" - so it depends on your relationship with the professor. What I've been told here is that professors will put things off until the last minute and that it's okay to remind them a few times.

Undergrad Institution: Big 10 Major(s): Microbiology BS Minor(s): Chemistry, Spanish GPA in Major: 4.0 (Scale: 4.0) Overall GPA: 4.0 Position in Class: Top? Depends on if rank depends on how many credits taken and level of credits taken. Type of Student: Domestic, female GRE Scores (revised): Q: 167, 94% V: 163, 92% W: 5.5, 98% B: N/A Research Experience: At my school, since the summer before my freshman year (so, a little over 4 years by graduation). Full-time in the summers, my program requires 10 hours per week during the school year but I am always in lab. I am in a microbial (bacterial) genetics lab, and have an independent project. I am working on writing a first author manuscript on a three or five author paper (depends on if we publish data from a collaboration I had with another institute). I hope to publish this by graduation. I am also doing an honors thesis on this research (because, why not). I have given 5 poster presentations, 4 through my undergrad research program and 1 at our departmental seminar, for which I won best undergrad poster. I have given two talks, one at an international (if a mexican lab attending makes a conference international) conference, and one at our microbiology weekly departmental seminar. Only a handful of undergrads have talked at the seminar, I was the only undergrad to give a talk at the conference. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Multiple academic scholarships, including those for "grade stats" and some for a study abroad program. Member of two undergrad research programs that accept <20 high school seniors each year. "Executive" Deans list, meaning GPA is above 3.8 or something like that. Will be inducted in Phi Beta Kappa next week (Can anyone tell me if this is "worth anything", or if it is just another "pay membership fees for a resume builder" type of thing? My university is covering my membership fees so I felt like I might as well do it) Special Bonus Points: Not sure if this would go here, but I mentored a high school student last summer in the lab, teaching him how to do microbiology benchwork. I also applied for an NSF grant, which I won't know the results of before I interview but hey, at least I tried - my goal with that is to hopefully improve my chances of getting the grant in the future because I will have feedback from the NSF committees and will have a better handle on how applying for a grant works. (Did not mention the grant in my applications) Applying to Where: For all Universities, my research interest is studying basic biology in bacteria. Specifically, I am interested in microbial nanomachines and bacterial interactions, but I also am interested in molecular genetics and things like transcription and translation. University of Wisconsin-Madison - Microbiology The Ohio State University - Microbiology University of Washington - MCB University of Washington - Microbiology University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign - MCB 0 Getting ready for the 2015 application season! (Planning to Apply): Wisconsin-Madison, Ohio State, U of Washington MCB, U of Washington Microbiology, U of Illinois MCB (Applied: 4/5): Wisconsin-Madison, Ohio State, U of Washington MCB, U of Washington Microbiology (Accepted: 0/5) (Rejected: 0/5) (Attending: 0/1)