Bioenchilada

I only had conflicts with schools I would not have minded saying "Bye,Felicia" to if they couldn't accomodate me haha So, I don't know anything about those logistics. I mean, sometimes you just have to decline offers haha

Maybe it's full. You should ask.

One of mine was in a meeting and I lost half of my interview time with him haha

Nope haha A lot of them just know you're their appointment and that they're interviewing you.

Then why did you apply? Haha

They're probably done by this point as well. That might stand for all of BGS, I really cant see them sending invites this late in the game. I might be wrong though.

Just putting it out there, but I'm very confident that UPenn CAMB is done sending invites, most were sent out last thursday and friday.

You couldn't have put it better. There were people that definitely stood out in the interview by being the least well dressed. In fact, there was an event to which I thought I could were jeans but then I went back and changed because that was not the case. I wore suits for all my interviews because I felt like it was the best outfit for the occassion.

The app was odd, I got emails about UChicago BSD that didn't pertain my app, the invite felt very impersonal, etc haha

UChicago was very odd last year; however, they had already sent invites by this point when I applied.

Those don't matter unless you don't graduate. Sending a final transcript if a formality.

I think that the overall grad process is pretty holistic, and I personally know people with low GREs, so i wouldn't lose hope just because of that.

I'm a UPenn Cancer Bio grad student lol

They started sending invites on the 14th. They said they were going to keep sending them until early next week (?), or until they were done. You could wait till Monday to see if you hear back, or call to see if they got done on Friday.

There's a couple people that applied to cancer bio on this thread! (i.e Born-to-pipette) The posts are probably scattered between the 14th and the 15th.

I read online that they accept a third of the students they interviewed.

The dress code is typically business casual/formal. Most men wore suits for my interviews. However, there are events where jeans are fine, just not the actual interview haha

I think they release invites the first week of January! I think that's what they did for a lot of programs last year.

Can you please not take over this thread with rambles? By this point, I would think that you'd know that generalizing is wrong and you should avoid doing it at all costs. Also, basing your opinion on inaccurate information and hearsay makes it rather weak and, some would say, wrong.

I was also talking about research. I'm just saying that name recognition alone doesn't warrant more applications from prospective grad students. Also, I'm pretty sure that more people know about Harvard overall and would rather have that name brand associated with their name than Hopkins. Again, just judging on name alone is not good and some people value different things when evaluating grad programs. So, it's hard to know why people don't apply to Hopkins. But, for me Baltimore was the dealbreaker.

I feel like a medical grad school program is different than medical school itself, though great medical schools tend to have great graduate programs. Also, honestly, I didn't want to live in Baltimore for 5+ years. Applying only because of name or what school defines medicine is unwise for graduate study.

I mean, the fit question is the why dartmouth question haha There's really a limit to how much you can "prove" fit. Telling them about all the faculty that do stuff you like doesn't equal good fit, it's more about how you fit in with the general mission of the program/university and the culture there. There is really no grilling of any sort though, unless your interviewer really feels like it. Generally, you can control where the interview goes though

Lol a lot of times the PIs don't even read up on who you are extensively and don't know anything about your research. The questions is typically brought up as follows "Tell me about you. What have you done?", or a variation of that. I forgot to mention that why you want to pursue a PhD is a pretty common question too, so know that. I forgot exactly why I wanted to go to Dartmouth. I think I mentioned that the collaboration with the Norris Cotton Cancer Center sounded like it would be beneficial for my development as a scientist, and that they seemed to have good efforts to increase racial diversity on their campus which I appreciated. I also used to date someone that went to Dartmouth, so I heard a lot about the university from them.

Everyone has different approaches to their interviews but I just read up about their research an hour or less before their interview. The only material I read was the one posted on their webpage, that's it. Interviews are supposed to be conversational rather than a test. In fact, sometimes you don't even talk about your research, though you should know what you studied and why. Knowing some of the techniques is also a must; however, you do NOT need to go into painful details about it. You DO have to know WHY you want to go to X school though. It's a question that will come up almost in every interview, at least in my case. You can also be surprised by being assigned to someone whose research you're not interested in, or even someone outside of your field. So, don't hang on to the fact that you'll only that about immunology haha

I think the advice for one school applies to many. For the actual interviews, make sure you know the GENERAL topic of your interviewer's research--no need to reads papers and whatnot. Besides that, relax and have fun! Talk to your potential peers and interact with the grad students, enjoy all the activities they have planned for you, and try to make the best impression you can when interacting with anyone involved with the program