thorerges

Never took it, wasn't necessary for Harvard/Penn/Columbia/Yale anyway. It depends on your specific application - in general, only take it if you don't have a lot of research experience and need a quick resume booster.

I received an official rejection from both the programs I applied to at MIT back in Jan. If you haven't been rejected yet, I think they're either A) Very late on your application for some reason or B ) Just looking at a potential waitlist.

I applied this cycle. Yale MCDB.

Whatever makes you feel better - I can assure you I am not the only person who has gotten a phone call with an acceptance. Regardless, I ended up choosing Harvard.

Well, I applied last year to Harvard and MIT and they rejected me. This year I just applied everywhere I can but I knew all along I wanted to go to Harvard or MIT - for Genomics those are the top 2 choices for most grad applicants. Good luck with everything!

Thanks!! Stanford gave me a call and said I am accepted, as did UW and Caltech.

I would disagree with this. As late as it is - the experience + letters are #1 and #1.

Undergrad Institution: Unknown public school, no reputation at all, no resources. Major(s): Molecular Biology, Chemistry Minor(s): Mathematics, Computer Sciences GPA in Major: 3.83 Overall GPA: 3.78 Type of Student: Male - being a minority doesn't help anyway. GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 87th percentile V: 80th percentile W: 98th percentile Research Experience: 1. REU at Caltech at a big lab. Got a letter from there. 2. REU at a lab at Harvard, did terribly - no letter. 3. 2 years experience as an undergrad, one first author pending. 4. 2 years as a research tech at an ivy league school, 2 letters from there. 5. 2 publications, one co-first author in review, and several pending. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Usual stuff, nothing fancy. Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I work out a lot? Special Bonus Points: Friends with several faculty at Princeton who helped me out. Applying to Where: Harvard - BBS MIT - Biology MIT - Comp Bio Stanford - Genetics UCSF - Biology UPenn - Mol Bio UPenn - Bio Columbia - Biology Caltech - Biology Duke - Genetics UW - Genome Sciences Yale - MCDB Accepted - Harvard BBS, Duke, UW, Caltech, Yale, Upenn (both programs), Columbia, Stanford. Rejected - MIT, UCSF Not terrible. Time to get to work at grad school.

Anyways, I would say technician for 2 years should do the trick (thats what I did and I got into all my top schools).

I am going open a thread on this very topic. I will link it here.

I think the most important thing to show is that you know something about their work, ask relevant questions about a future plan for their current projects. If they talk to you about experiments, ask them how they're so sure of the data etc...

Anyone know how long it takes for schools to reply post-interviews?

They finalize everything by Jan 20.

Yes they are. My PI is on the admissions committee and he was just reviewing applications right now.