hahn-banach

Maybe it was like that before, but it's definitely not the case now. Just apply to HST. (Note: the linked document is from 2005.)

I'm not in petroleum, but in many fields, it is common to work for a year or two before going to graduate school. In my program, maybe 1/2 took time off, 1/2 went directly from undergrad.

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.

Just to clear up any misconceptions, less than half of MEMPs did an undergrad in biomedical engineering. In my class, it's about 1/3. The rest did more technical degrees (EE, mech E, physics, etc.). I don't specifically know of any people who did just CS with no biology experience, but there are a couple people with electrical engineering or physics background in a similar situation as you -- although having computational genomics classes is good. I think not having any natural science classes would make the med school part tough, but I would guess that it isn't a disqualifying factor for admissions.

It's impossible to say based just on your GRE scores. Bad GRE scores can disqualify you from top programs, but good scores won't on their own get you in. How did you do in undergrad? What's your research background? How much math and other quantitative classes have you taken? (The importance of that varies from program to program, but most will want you to have a stronger quantitative background than your typical MD or bio major.)

Probably, unfortunately. Interviews were late January/late February, and acceptances went out a week or two ago. Maybe you're on a soft waitlist, though.

Also consider the area and how happy you'll be in each environment. Caltech is notorious for grad student suicides, so there's that.

Just go up to the professors and say, "Since we're all going to die, it's obvious that when and how don't matter.”

Out of curiosity, how did you know they were upset? And how did you let them know you were cancelling?

A masters and a PhD are very different, and the answer to your question depends a lot on what you want to do.

It varies by school. At some schools, almost everyone who gets an interview eventually gets accepted, and they're mostly trying to make sure you're not completely weird/inappropriate, and also trying to sell the school to you. At others, they want to make sure you can talk about your research intelligently and ask good questions. If you know who you're interviewing with, maybe do a little prep by looking at their lab website to familiarize yourself with their work and maybe read a paper or two, although in my experience that hasn't helped that much. Just be confident, understand your research experience, and be genuinely interested in what they do and the program.

Most of the people taking it will be math majors applying to mathematics PhD programs, so I'm not sure if you'd really want to take it. Also, 20% of the material is things you've probably never seen before (abstract algebra, real analysis, etc.) and don't really care to learn. I've also heard it's hard to prepare for because a lot of the questions are out of left field. (Source: I was a math major, many of my friends took it for admission to math PhD programs.)

I think the fact that it's the School of Engineering *and Applied Sciences* is telling. More people on the basic science side than a traditional engineering school, and very very interdisciplinary (no formal subdepartments in engineering, for example). They do let you take engineering classes at MIT if they don't have the equivalent at Harvard, though. And yeah, unfortunately, if you haven't heard by now, it's probably unlikely. Open House for admitted students is last weekend of March. You never know, though!