Ascinflamm

I was recently accepted to Columbia and UPenn!! I'm so excited that I'm officially going to grad school.

First - congrats! Second - this is a very good question that I'm sure is going to be case-specific, but here are my two cents:
 
Grad school is the time and place to learn what you need to learn to become a full-fledged, independent scientist. It is almost certainly not where you will do your best work (if you do peak in grad school that’s probably a bad thing). You are going in order to learn how to devise good research questions, how to follow a project through from beginning to end, and what it is like to be responsible for your own work. And of course at the end of it you should have x-number of publications demonstrating objectively that you can do this type of work. Does this mean the work you do as a grad student has to be the work you will do for the rest of your career? Not necessarily. As long as you learn all the skills you need to learn, and are successful in your demonstration, then there is wiggle room. But I would throw in an important modifier: if the work you commit to doing bores you then you’re going to be in real trouble. Every grad student horror story I have seen traces back to a profound misalignment between the suffering grad student and the lab/field they committed to.
 
I’d love to hear what others think about this important question.

If you take a couple years to improve your application then you can do really well in the application process. My uGPA is 3.27 and scinece uGPA is 3.0. I am doing a MS and applied to PhD programs half way through the program (so after only 1 year of grades). My MS GPA is 4.0 and I studied hard for the GRE and ended up with 168Q, 162V. I have tons of research at this point which resulted in very strong LORs. My research experience includes about 5 years total between undergrad and MS and 1 middle author paper, 1 first author in prep, and a few conference presentations.
 
You can see how my application season is going in my signature but to summarize, its fantastic. I have interviews at schools like WashU, Univ of Washingotn, and even Hopkins. I am saying all of this to show that if you can put together a stellar applicaiton then your uGPA need not hold you back at all. Since you are only at 1 year of research experience right now, my advice is to get into a lab full time and kick butt. I second the advice to go this route and take a class each semester (and get As in them!) to show you can handle the material. This route would be cheaper than an MS and probably just as effective. If you prefer the MS option though then I think that will also give you experience you need. I would also put effort into getting your GRE scores high enough to prove that the your GPA isnt reflective of your intelligence.
 
Good luck... if youre willing to put some work into improving your application then you can shoot for schools even more competetive then the ones you applied to this round. If you have any questions then please feel free to ask because my application looked very similar to your a couple years ago.

I was accepted at MIT Biology today! I have been to NYU, Berkely, UCSF, Harvard and I have to say there is no place like MIT. I am 100% sure I'm going, and I'm 100% sure this is the right decision. I am so happy I finally found the place I will call home for the next 5-7 years

I was recently admitted into a program that's very high on my list -- so high that a couple of the other schools that invited me to interviews, while great, are no longer places I would consider.  I decided to cancel 2 of my remaining 5 interviews (going to 3 more). Has anybody here done something similar?

I figured that although I've wasted the costs of the flights that have been booked on my behalf, by canceling these interviews I would at least waste no more of the program's money (on dinners, bars, etc) or their faculty's time. And perhaps more importantly, I don't want to potentially take up a spot from somebody else who wants it more. I'm also still in college and don't want to be constantly missing classes for 5 weeks in a row... 
 

I was recently admitted into a program that's very high on my list -- so high that a couple of the other schools that invited me to interviews, while great, are no longer places I would consider.  I decided to cancel 2 of my remaining 5 interviews (going to 3 more). Has anybody here done something similar?

I figured that although I've wasted the costs of the flights that have been booked on my behalf, by canceling these interviews I would at least waste no more of the program's money (on dinners, bars, etc) or their faculty's time. And perhaps more importantly, I don't want to potentially take up a spot from somebody else who wants it more. I'm also still in college and don't want to be constantly missing classes for 5 weeks in a row... 
 

I just finished an interview and the admission committee member said they would only offer a few slots for international students because of limited funding. Although I am an International student and I know sometimes it is more difficult for international student to receive an offer, I never complained about it. We cannot change our ethnicity but at least we can try to become the best of ourselves. If you make every endeavour to become outstanding, admission committee will definitely find your distinct characters. Therefore, just to be confident and show the best of yourself!

Here is a list of questions that I remember being asked:
 
1) What research did you do as an undergraduate?/Explain your research experience.
2) Why do you want a PhD?
3) Why are you interested in our institution?
4) Why are you interested in this specific program?
5) What are your research interests?/What research do you want to do in the future?
6) Do you have any reservations/worries about entering a PhD program?
7) What interests you about my research?/What do you know about my research?
8) What drives you as a scientist?
9) What other programs are you applying to?
10) What interests you about the city the institution is located in? (and questions related to this!)
11) What do you do in your free time?
 
Of these, #1, #3 and #4, and #11 I were asked at every single interview.
 
Honestly, the biggest part of the interviews are 1) being able to honestly talk about your research, 2) being excited, 3) asking questions, and 4) being able to communicate that there is more to you than just a love for science. My best interviews were interviews where we talked about science for 5-10 minutes than about my background/hobbies for the rest of the time.
 
Also, each PI/student who interviews you will do things different. You MAY get grilled on your research or (very rarely) that specific PIs research. They may expect you to know NOTHING about them. You may get a PI who does not want to talk about science and instead just get to know you.
 
Overall, interview weekends are a blast, and the individual interviews are fun and helpful for deciding your interests and your feelings about the program.
 
Hope this helps!