madbiochemist

Er, I that would vary based on who you're interviewing with. Some faculty really like puzzle questions, some people will have you do math, some (majority) just want to know you'll be a hardworking/decent scientist. I can't say for sure that you'll get a certain type of question over another. Keep in mind that interviews are usually 30 minutes. They could ask those really specific questions, but I think people tend to want to know that you can design an experiment to test an interesting hypothesis and then be able to interpret your data. They're not so interested in whether or not you know exactly how mass spec works, but if it's an integral part of your previous work they might ask some basic questions about how it works. Here are some examples that I could see happening:
1. You're an imaging student and you included an MRI-based project in your SOP. You should know how MRI works, its limitations vs other imaging methods, and how MRI helped you with your project.
2. You're a CTE student who was characterizing a population of cells using FACs. You should know the surface markers you used, maybe some other populations that would have been in your sample, and maybe what those surface markers are. You should probably generally know how flow cytometry works. 
Another fun question is if they present you with a hypothesis similar to what they do or what you included in your SOP and ask you how you'd test it. 
For the most part, they'll just want to know what you did, why you did it, why you're going to grad school, and what projects you're interested in being involved with.
Just know your research as well as you can. Practice going though each project in <2 minutes and <5 minutes. Try to learn a bit about their research if you have time. Really, if you're interested in their work and you were interested in your work it'll be fine. I know it's stressful, but really try and take the opportunity to learn about someone else's research!  

I found it helpful to read papers from each PI I was interviewing with, so I could ask them thoughtful (hopefully) questions about their research projects like why they chose to use one polymer over this similar polymer, why they think they had this particular unexpected result, etc. I had questions prepared about their research in case things got awkward. I feel like it might have helped my interviews and helped me get a feel for each PI as a scientist, because the professors all talked to me for about an hour instead of the scheduled 30 minutes. My first interview I was really really nervous, but when I realized I got to ask these awesome scientists questions about their work for an hour, I actually had a great time.

Just a final update on JHU BME: we have sent out all of the interview invitations. We have not sent out rejections because some faculty have some last minute acceptances, but these are rare (only a couple in the last week). 
You do need an interview to be considered for acceptance although several interviews take place via. Skype due to location and, on the more unique cases, due to scheduling. 
Good luck to everyone with the rest of your interviews  as always, message me if you have any questions regarding the Hopkins interviews or program.

Hi everyone, I'm another 1st year BME PhD student at JHU that is part of the team coordinating this year's recruitment. 
You will receive emails from myself and our Program Coordinator over the next few weeks that elaborate more on the issues you all brought up (and restate this information), but just to clarify for now:
Interview invites: Not all of the JHU BME PhD Interview emails have been sent out (apologies, but there are some administrative things things that will delay some emails). Do not worry if you have not heard anything yet. I can't elaborate on exactly what is holding up emails, because it could differ for each person  Interview dates: The interview "weekend" dates are set (February 4th/5th and February 18th/19th). I believe one of the focus area groups requested that all of their students come to only one of the two interview weekends dates so you may have received a different email, but many of the details are still being finalized. I'm not sure if this will change. Faculty Preference form: We just updated the form on the faculty preference website this morning. Apologies if you tried filling out the previous form. We want to begin coordinating faculty schedules with the interviewees as soon as possible so we cannot wait for you to have your flight information to fill out that form. Faculty Preferences: We realize that not all of your preferred professors are on the provided list. If there are other professors you want to meet, list them in the additional comments section and just choose the top 6 otherwise. Make a note in the additional comments section about this. There can be several reasons as to why they are not listed, but this does not mean you cannot meet with them (I wouldn't suggest emailing them directly to ask about this at the current time. Let us see what we can do first. If you get your final faculty interview schedule and they are not listed, feel free to ask then).  When will my faculty interviews be set? Potentially not until the week of your interview. Professor schedules are very fluid and we want any information we send to be as accurate as possible. Flight/Transportation Information: I'm not sure when, but if you received an email inviting you to interview, you will, a few days after, get an email from a travel agent that will help coordinate your travel. DO NOT book your flights on your own. It makes reimbursements more difficult.  Reimbursements (Speaking of...): You will be reimbursed for your flights and some other transportation needs. We are also providing transportation when you arrive in Baltimore, but you likely will not get the details on that part of transportation until the week of your interviews.  Interviewee Forms to fill out: If you received an invite, please fill out faculty preferences asap. You will receive another email from myself once the travel agency finalizes your flights that will ask you to fill out flight information, food preferences/allergies, and other details that we will need to make your recruitment schedule a lot of fun (and so we can make sure you're not stranded when you get to Baltimore).  If you have any other questions, I wouldn't suggest spamming the Program Coordinator (she is currently working on fielding many emails from both interviewees and professors). Keep in mind that many of your questions will be answered in emails to come. We haven't yet emailed all of the details because we want to make sure the most accurate information is provided.  
Message me directly if you have any other concerns/questions and I'll respond with as many details as I can be sure of.

Congratulations to the students who will be interviewing at Hopkins! I'm a current first year BME PhD student there and I know that we're really excited to meet all of you during the interview weekend.
I also wanted to say that if you haven't received an interview invitation yet, it might still be on its way. I believe they're being sent individually so it takes some time to send them all. I think I got mine last year around 10-11 pm on the second day they sent them out. That being said, they should all be out by the end of the week.

It is totally possible to get into top programs with 0 publications. And if you're concerned about being competitive, 15 schools, while a lot, isn't crazy. If you can afford it and have the time to put together good applications, it only helps your chances of getting in somewhere you want to go. 
I think the thing for OP to do is to look at those schools and see if they publish average GRE/GPA ranges for admitted students so they can see if they're in the right ballpark.  I don't know anything about these programs in particular to say whether they're a good fit or off-base.

My least favorite reaction, by far is "OMG you're a biochem PhD??? Is it like the Big Bang Theory??? Do you watch Breaking Bad? Can you make meth?"

I'm also terrible at recovering from these things. I also wear my emotions on my face so when people try to say my life is like a completely stupid tv show (Big Bang) there really isn't any recovery possible. I usually try to ask them questions about what they do. One of my cohort mates girlfriends teaches special ed and we had a very indepth conversation about testing, IEPs, and the like.

There will be some weeks when you need to work that much, for example right before a deadline for a grant submission or during finals week. But it shouldn't be the norm, or you'll just burn out. Grad school will be as manageable as you make it -- there is ALWAYS more to do and if you're not careful, it can become all-consuming. You can find lots of threads here full of advice about scheduling time off and having hobbies. It's important in order to keep yourself sane.
 
 
Academia is a marathon, not a sprint. There is ALWAYS more you can do, but you also need to take care of yourself. I imagine you'll still want to sleep and eat once in a while? Maybe occasionally do the laundry and go grocery shopping? If you're planning to keep those things to a minimum on a regular basis, you'll work yourself to the ground on those weeks when there is an extra-special deadline that requires you to work more than usual (and they will come up). Do you really plan to work 100% most days and 150% on others with no break whatsoever? You think you can do that for 4-5 years, never mind your next career move as I mentioned above? Well, what can I say -- good luck to you. 

I am already learning to give up all things I used to enjoy so I can be prepared for what's ahead I know it will be worth it sorry. I get your point work-life balance is important, but who goes into a PhD program and does not expect that they will have to put many things they want on hold, my question is why bother doing it if you are not willing to give your full 100% effort and dedication. I rather spend some alone time for a few years than have to live with knowing the fact that I could have got more done, got higher grades, wrote more papers, etc. when I had the opportunity. 

Oh I do hope you do not intend to pursue an academic career. Life gets significantly more difficult after you graduate. There are fewer jobs than PhD graduates so getting that postdoc won't be easy, not to mention that first TT job. And once you're on the TT, it's publish or perish (and teaching and service) for 7 years until you're up for tenure. Maybe then you could start having a life, assuming you're not particularly rushed to get that Full Professor rank?  Assuming you're one of the truly lucky ones who gets the perfect job straight out of school and can fast-track the TT, we're looking at a minimum of 10 years of everything on hold. If you're one of us mere mortals, you're probably looking at closer to 15 years of school-postdoc-TT job celibacy. I don't know about you, but I value the rest of my life just as much as my career. Being successful but completely alone for over a decade does not sound appealing at all. You need to start learning how to have a full and balanced life now, because it will not get easier later. 

Thanks for everyone's input. I will be starting my masters in epidemiology. I have noticed that many of you are doctoral students, but I would assume that the advice given above applies at the masters level as well. I will be applying to doctoral programs or medical school after my first year so although grades will matter, I don't want that to be my sole focus.
 
I will apply to be a volunteer at the hospital since I enjoy community service activities for my down time and also participate in journal clubs, research seminars, grand rounds and interest groups at the school that I will be attending. I will use these opportunities to network with faculty and other students and to figure out what my research interests are going to be. I think its just about balance like what has been stated above. During undergrad, I participated in many extracurriculars and often my grades would suffer as a result ( I completed the premedical curriculum). This time around, I just want to engage in one or two things (volunteering and research), while focusing on my coursework, making new friends and occasionally going to meaningful social events if I have time. 
 
Sounds like graduate school is similar to undergrad, however there seems to be a stronger emphasis on forming strong relationships with faculty and staff and not solely studying to get the best grades. I agree that there is only a certain amount of studying that you can do until it becomes almost pointless. You can't do everything so its important to do things efficiently. 

I am not saying I will be only studying the whole time but I can't have major distractions like some people do, they would take up too much time and to me it is nothing more than an additional burden weighing me down. I just want to approach my studies these four years very seriously, a PhD program is a lot more work and more difficult plus you are being graded, so you cannot expect to have work life balance. Plus it is not like you are not going to have plenty of time to enjoy your pets, hobbies ,relationships,  once you are done so why not them put them aside temporarily so you can be the most productive in your studies and research.

See, personally, I feel that working on one task (school) for more than a certain amount per week (usually around 50 hours or so, depending) has severely diminishing returns. 
 
Keeping other interests in life, relationships and leisure activities gives your brain time to work on different tasks, or have downtime, and you usually end up better for it- your research and studies as well, in my opinion. 
 
That's not to say that there aren't crunch times where you have to work more, but my anecdotal experience is that people working more than 50 or 60 hours a week are usually less efficient than those working less, and tend to spend more time on tasks that could be finished in less. Most European researchers, I've found, are very dedicated at working a short, highly productive week. They get in, take the job seriously, work 8 hours, and then clock out and do something else. It makes their working time more productive, and limits burnout. 
 
You may think that you're the kind of person that avoids burnout, but I have not yet met someone who isn't susceptible to it in some way- you may just be less productive, you may miss connections that you'd otherwise see in your work, or you may just not have as good of a perspective of how your work fits in the broader scheme of things. 
 
There are a lot of discussions on the inter webs about work-life balance, and I have yet to see any convincing data that focussing on your work to the exclusion of all else in your life is ever beneficial, and there are lots of suggestions that it's actually detrimental, both to the quality of your life and the quality of your work. 

It's definitely not a requirement to visit campus, particularly if you're an international student. Usually if you're selected for an interview, they'll conduct it over Skype for international students. If you are able to come to campus during interviews, that is always preferable so that you get a feel for what the school is like. It's certainly not necessary to visit before applying, but sending a thoughtful email to a professor you're interested in is advised.

It's definitely not a requirement to visit campus, particularly if you're an international student. Usually if you're selected for an interview, they'll conduct it over Skype for international students. If you are able to come to campus during interviews, that is always preferable so that you get a feel for what the school is like. It's certainly not necessary to visit before applying, but sending a thoughtful email to a professor you're interested in is advised.

You need 3 very strong letters and cannot have two weak ones if you want to have a funded PhD program. Is there any way you'll get a publication before next December? It's not necessary, but you have less research experience (in terms of years) than many of the other applicants I saw who ended up being accepted. Would it be possible to secure some sort of funding to study in the US from your home country? You're also quite right that you need to have a very tight idea of what you want to do in graduate school and how your undergraduate coursework and research have prepared you. I hate to say this, but your GPA is rather low and you should really try to make the rest of your application flawless in order to get into top 10 schools. The US has cut a lot of STEM funding for research and funding for international students is unfortunately quite scarce these days. I think getting more research experience is necessary, unless you decide to set your sights a little lower as far as rankings go.

Hey guys! I worked at UCSD in the BE department several years ago and am still friends with my PI there. He said that SOME of the interview invites and rejections were sent out already, but the graduate admissions coordinator broke her arm recently and is slowly getting to the rest of them. So don't worry yet on that front! They should come in soon.

If you're feeling stressed about hearing back from schools, my best advice is to stop checking Grad Cafe completely. Get off of here. Stay away. Do not come back unless you haven't heard anything come mid-February.
I stopped checking and all of the sudden I started hearing back. It's not correlated at all, but instead of anxiously awaiting and biting my nails constantly, I got to be pleasantly surprised. Just live in blissful ignorance for a few more weeks. It seems like the results are coming back much later than they have in the past, so don't stress too much.

Ok, not little

All too often people post here asking what their chances are at this and that school. I completetly understand their desire to know the answer. However, I also understand why some other people get somewhat annoyed by this question. Indeed, it is very hard to tell what somebody's chances are at certain schools, even if you know their stats and other details like a number of publications they have. That is why I decided to write this post. I will explain how, in my opinion, one can estimate one's chances and choose programs correctly. I hope that other people experienced in application process will correct me if I am wrong and add their advice. And may be, if moderators consider this post useful, they will be able to make it always stay on top of this board - if it is possible on this forum.

First of all, if you want to know whether your stats (GRE, GPA, TOEFL score) are good enough for you to be accepted to certain schools - there is one easy way to find the answer. Most schools post stats of students they have accepted, like on this page here. So try to find this info on websites of schools you are planning to apply to and if you can't find it, ask graduate secretaries/coordanators if such a page exists and if not, where you can find those stats. Remember that if your stats are low but not abysmal, that does not mean that your chances are low. It does not (always) go like - lower the grades, lower the chances (unless they are above some bare minimum) and vice versa. Because...

Second of all, even with the best stats, numerous publications, brilliant letters of reference, etc. you may not be accepted to a school if you have not chosen a program wisely. Because the most important thing in this game is fit. If a program thinks they are a bad fit for you, they will not admit you, however wonderful your application is. So you should apply only to schools that fit well your research interests and experience. How can you find schools with a good fit? First, of course, you schould know what your research interests are. If you know that, visit as many websites of programs in your field as you can find - and read about them, very carefully. Where can you find a list of programs? Well, browse the internet. When I was applying last year, I came across a biiiiiig list of programs in my field (it was not a ranking, just a list) and I spent a lot of time just going through all these program's websites. If you don't find such a list, just find some rankings. Not in order to find out what programs are the best in your field (many people don't believe in rankings anyway) but just to see what programs are out there. So, you read about the programs on their websites. From the way these programs are described you should get an idea if you would be interested in studying there or not. When I was choosing programs to apply to, I first used the list that I had found to make a shorter list of programs with a very general fit. Then, as I knew that I would not be able to attent a program without funding, I looked through this new shorter list looking for programs that were offering funding. As you can imagine, the list became even shorter after that Then I started to read about faculty in the programs from the last list, looking for professors who could potentially become my advisors. Then I contacted these professors, telling them about my research project, asking about their opinion. When some replied and I saw that they liked my ideas, I asked them if they would be taking graduate students next year. In the end I had only 5 programs left and I applied to all of them.

About contacting professors. As far as I understand, you can do that in all fields, except - for some mysterious reason! - English. (Here I ask other experienced forumers to correct me if I am wrong.)
BUT: If a professor is interested or even very very interested, that in no way guarantees that you will be accepted to this program because there are many other factors at play during the application process (most important of them being funding and faculty politics). But of course having a professor in a program who has expressed interest in working with you is a very good sign. It is definetely better than having no such professor. If you find a profesoor who is willing to take you as a graduate student but you are unsure about your stats, you can ask them about that. But of course don't ask it in the first letter to them!!! Only when you see that they are interested (and friendly).

Finally, I want to say, that all I have told above is based on my experience and it helped me - I was accepted to a school with a great fit (which is supported by the fact that they decided to give me a nice fellowship). May be there are other ways to choose programs and estimate your chances with them. May be in other fields (I am in social sciences) rules are different. I hope that others will correct me or pitch in some ideas based on their own experience with application process.

Good luck!