jaesango

Should be sometime before 5 PM PST or on Monday. 13 admits (2? of them residents/MDs), several people on the waitlist.

PIs just got a list of admits. Emails coming out shortly. hope I got to meet you at recruitment weekend! (Shoot me a pm :D)

I can definitely attest to this. The graduate students in my department at Dana Farber were also really spread on their opinions about the program and how they were doing in their own labs. Harvard is for a certain type of student with a certain level of intellectual/workplace maturity, and yes, sometimes tensions can run high between labs and even within labs-- everyone is (and should be) really proud of the work they do.

What makes you want to do cancer immunotherapy? I did my undergrad thesis in cancer immunology, and I would say there are really only a handful of people at a handful of places doing purely translational work. Let's put it this way: do you want to do your PhD working on a topic like optimizing CAR T cells so they are 10% cheaper for the clinic, or do you want to do your PhD working on a topic like understanding why certain cancers elicit an immune response and why others don't. Don't get me wrong-- I agree that the field is hot, but because it's quite interdisciplinary, for young researchers it can be quite challenging. I'm one of those people who think that the purpose of graduate school is to not necessarily find the next Nobel prize-winning discovery, but to learn how to do good science. It's unfortunate that your letters are not great (if they are what you believe them to be). You're right in that you can't change them, but you should also realize that they are the number one or number two most important part of your graduate school application. If you can take a year off to work in the lab and have your current PI write a glowing letter (specifically addressing how you have found your motivation and are a changed person), then it would be worthwhile to retake the GRE and reapply next cycle. Otherwise, I think IU is a good school to pursue your PHD-- there are great, reputable PI's there, and while there may not be a cancer immunotherapy center like one you see at Sloan Kettering or MD Anderson, you will find a lab that will teach you the fundamentals on how to think like any cancer immunologist. If you read up a bit on the history, you'll realize that most of the "giants" were trained as fundamental immunologists or molecular biologists and slowly migrated into the field after they had already established their own labs. tl;dr You don't need to train as a cancer immunologist to become a great cancer immunologist, and the work you do as a PhD student may not represent your greatest contribution to science

Hope you hear back soon! I think a lot of home programs are doing rolling admissions

Cancer bio, and a friend told me chemical and systems biology has started sending out invites too

sigh, this is why Harvard has a rep for snobby students

Congrats on your acceptances, but just to clarify, you didn't apply this (Fall 2016) application cycle right? Stanford Biosciences hasn't had its admissions weekend yet.

I think you have a good shot at great grad school programs with your research experience. It would be awesome if you could get a first author publication or two from your independent projects at Boston Children's Hospital. Make sure to get glowing recommendations from the PI's you work with since those are the best indicators for your potential to succeed as a graduate student. Does your undergrad major let you take time off to do a co-op internship or honors senior thesis? That would also bolster your application if you lack publications. I wouldn't worry too much about your GPA since at this point it's not going to change too much, although a comfort zone for top 10 programs would be at least 3.2-3.5 (depends on the grading strictness at your undergrad institution). Also since you have a couple years of lab experience under your belt, what areas of biology interest you? These interests are very important to highlight in your SOP and will also be reflected in which programs you apply to (large umbrella vs specific departments).

Thanks! according to the survey no one else has heard back so I think they'll be sending more out, so I wouldn't lose hope yet!

I think it was from an administrator!

Stanford Cancer Biology invite! super hyperventilating right now

I applied immuno track here as well, didn't hear from them this evening...feeling a bit down since I thought I would be a good fit in a couple labs anyone have good Netflix recommendations?

I replied about an hour after I received the email. I'm not sure if there's an appropriate wait time but I replied as soon as I confirmed my schedule

My interview for Penn BGS came from the director of the program, not a POI Edit: but it's more than likely that they send out invites in waves so I wouldn't worry too much right now