Ferroportin

@Dank I can't speak to the majority of the schools on your list, but I do think that your stats are a bit of a stretch for UCSF and UCSD. I think your GPA is a bit low for top tier programs, so I would recommend getting that GRE score up as high as possible to try and compensate for it. Also, for the postdoc LOR - I highly recommend that you get your PI to co-sign it. Just having the PI's name on there really helps to strengthen the letter. What @HopefulPHD14 said is pretty fair, don't shy away from applying to reach schools! But just make sure to supplement with fallbacks.

Is there a particular reason you want to apply to UCSF Tetrad? From your experience and the other programs you've listed, it seems like BMS might actually be a better fit for your interests.

Just got an offer from UCSD BMS!

Thanks! I really enjoyed visiting as well - I live in SF right now so it'd be nice to potentially stay in the bay area!

Just received my first acceptance to UC Berkeley MCB! So nice to finally hear back from one of my top choices!

I think it's probably safe to say that if you don't hear from them within the next few days you can just move on. I personally would just call the program and ask for your own peace of mind. I know there's a general consensus on this forum that you should avoid calling program admins, but at the same time, you did pay over $100 to apply to each of these schools and to be left in the dark at this point is frustrating.

Thanks for the encouragement!

It just really hit me that I'm flying out to USC for my first interview tomorrow I'm so nervous and jealous of everyone that already has offers under their belts!

Just got the official rejection from Stanford! About time lol

Just got an interview with UCLA MCIP! But their recruitment date conflicts with Scripps...

When I contacted them last week, the program admin told me that most of the invites would go out on Friday (Jan 8th) and that few very would go out early this week. So if we haven't gotten an invitation yet, I think it's pretty unlikely that one will come through at this point.

Do y'all think its okay to bring a backpack to interviews for carrying padfolios and other misc items? I was thinking just a plain black computer bag of some sort.

Welp. It's end of day Friday so I think it's safe to say all Stanford Biology invites went out

I think it depends on the school. Some schools do one mass email push to all invitees while others might delegate the students among faculty to contact individually.

I started blocking my number when I dial out just in case the schools have caller ID lol

Has anyone here heard from Stanford Biology yet? (other than that one mysterious post on the survey page yesterday)

Someone just posted a Stanford Biology invite on the survey page ughhh

FYI, just called the Stanford Biology home program and they said that invites haven't gone out yet (but should go out soon). Didn't offer to check if I was on the invite list...

Did TSRI give you a deadline to respond by? Stanford states that interview invites should go out sometime this week (for domestic applicants at least) so you could just wait to respond to TSRI until you know whether or not you have a Stanford invite in hand. Past that, if you have invites from both schools you'll just have to choose one over the other unless one school is willing to offer alternative dates (which I think is probably unlikely with TSRI and Stanford, but it never hurts to ask!).

I think an hour away is far enough to justify a hotel. In not needing flights, you are already saving the school money anyways. Considering that interview days can start at 8am and there might be traffic driving to the campus, I think it's in your best interest to just stay at the hotel and save yourself some stress in the morning. For what it's worth - I live in SF and for my upcoming UC Berkeley interview I asked to stay in the hotel, which they had no problem with.

I got an email invite from UC Berkeley MCB this morning at 8:18 am. I was also contacted by a POI before the holidays to receive the unofficial interview invite.

Ah good to know. I think at this point I'm going to drop UCLA in favor of TSRI and just hope I get an Stanford invite. For the UCLA MCIP program I applied to, based on their incoming student profile from last year it seems like the majority were MSTP or people with MDs anyways...

For UCLA I think it depends on which home program you applied to. For me, I did the MCIP program and their program admin said that interview invites would go out in late January and the interview date would be late Feb. While I know that people who applied to the Gene Regulation home program have gotten interview invites already.

Yup! They mentioned the dates you said. The POI told me that we can pick either one when the email comes out, but its first come first serve so just keep an eye out for it in Jan!