doyouevenchop

Sure, they were very relevant to the topic of my publications. This research involved characterization of enzyme activity by phylogenetic and bioinformatic means, but also involved lab work. We determined active site residues and mutated those residues to change substrate specificity in the enzyme. PI asked how we determined the active site residues, how we mutated the residues, and what the new substrate specificity was (I didn't know the answer to this question, and said so. This work was done a couple years ago, and I wasn't involved in that portion). They also asked about my current organic synthesis project, how many steps, complexity, the applications to my overall greater project (synthesizing an unnatural amino acid for use in nucleic acid binding peptides). So technical - not too much. Specific and relevant to my research, yes. Presumably, most of us here will know what our own research was about.

Also curious about this. Just got invited to interview at Scripps, along with one of my friends. I feel like Scripps will be more likely to ask technical questions than other schools... I feel like I should brush up on my o-chem. You guys gonna do the CA or FL campus? Both? I had a skype interview with Purdue, and they actually did ask me somewhat technical questions about my research/publications. I wasn't really expecting it, and hadn't prepared for it, but I think I did fine. They were pretty soft-ball questions, more to see if I was bullshitting than anything else I think. They also asked me what I was interested in researching, why I listed POI's, about my current research. Was pretty laid-back, and I got to ask plenty of questions myself. Total interview time lasted about 40 minutes.

Congrats. Maybe I'll see you at an interview weekend!

Just received emails from UIUC (accept) and Scripps (interview). I just finished running around my house screaming

I think you should tell the student exactly what you just posted.

Did you berkeley guys email POI's first? I didn't email a single POI before submitting applications, probably should've done that. Hindsight is 20/20 Not to mention that the three of you also got into Stanford/Yale, so I'm sure Berk is trying hard to pull in some of the top talent

I'm also curious about this. Probably planning on living on my own for the first 6/12 months of grad school until I get to know some people. Of course, depends on where I end up. I've had pretty good-to-great experiences with roommates throughout my undergrad. I'm pretty social though, so having a group of people that I can interact with (or not) is really nice. So far, both sets of roommates I've had have been very laid back, and we were all friends before rooming together. It's also nice because I've only ever roomed with people outside of my major, so it gives you access to lots of new people to meet and interact with. Making friends is one of my biggest fears for grad school. I have no problem making friends, but it seems like a lot of people that I'll be around (looking at you, chemistry majors) are not always the most social type, especially the ones that choose to go to grad school. What kind of experiences have you guys had in social interactions/meeting people once you started grad school?

I will be writing hand-written notes for all of my recommenders. I think an email is too little effort for someone who wrote you a positive reference (and didn't have to). I bought small gifts for all my recommenders as well, some coffee or tea + mugs, etc.

Did you do an early application? Looking at last year's results, it seems like most people heard back in late January. Congratulations regardless, Scripps is a dream school.