Sarahjc

I'm really hoping with April 15th passing, I'll get more information from the program. There really hasn't been much news from them so far

I interviewed at Duke with your daughter. I got a call that I was accepted on Friday and got the official email Monday. She might be able to check the decision on the applicant web page. My official acceptance from the school came from that. 

Emory has a good list of potential questions interviewers may ask.
http://www.biomed.emory.edu/admissions/interviews.html
I had a similar experience as @keviv1692 with my one interview. Just reading their webpages was enough but it is helpful to connect to their research. One thing I looking for in graduate school is connection to the clinic and one person I interviewed with had started a fertility program in the hospital based off of his research. Knowing that helped me make that point. I'm interviewing at another school this weekend and I have a feeling they're going to expect us to be more prepared. They sent a list of abstracts for the graduate student poster session so we can see whose research we find interesting beforehand. 

I received an email invitation to interview this afternoon. I hope you hear back soon, and all the best! The interview is February 7-9th. 

I said the same this on this thread a few days ago. It's best to keep them waiting then to have to go back on a commitment or reschedule a top choice

I said the same this on this thread a few days ago. It's best to keep them waiting then to have to go back on a commitment or reschedule a top choice

Typically you shouldn't agree to go and then call them back and ask to reschedule.  My policy was I wouldn't accept unless I knew there wasn't a conflict or if of the two potential conflicts there were this is the one I'd prefer to interview at their primary date.  It is usually not considered "good form" to call a place back and essentially tell them a better offer came along and one that as of right now you are more interested in.  It may make you also look less likely to take a spot if offered.  They'll usually accommodate but I would recommend that you figure out which weekends your programs are hosting applicants, if any conflict make a ranking of which one you'd prefer to go to the primary interview for, and then decide accordingly. 

My advice to future applicants: Do not sign up for the GRE Search Service.

I'm waiting as long as possible to confirm interview invites so I don't accept an invite to a school lower on my list only to find out it conflicts with my top choice. My mom (who's in business not science but still in change of hiring people) has told me repeatedly it's much better to keep someone waiting for a response than turn around and decommit from an interview. It could bar you from ever working there for the rest of your career (sounds dramatic but apparently it happens in the business world). Skype interviews are available if you really can't make it work but seeing as you will be living there for five years, that's far from ideal.  I've only confirmed one interview of the four I've been invited on and I'm waiting to confirm the rest until I hear from the schools sending invites this week. My guess is that after this week, no more invites will be sent until January because of the holidays.

Me to Adcoms: "Hello... It's me... I was wondering if after all these year's you'd like to meet..."
Adcoms: "YOU HAVE BEEN INVITED TO X."
Months later when you're staring at people that were rejected and haters that didn't believe in you:
"HELLLLOOO FROM THE OOOOOTHER SIIIIIIIIIDDDDE~"

Guys, Adele just announced an American tour. Can we talk about this? 
I'm feeling too much. 
 
(Just trying to ease the tension :p) 

As the individual whose profile sparked much of this debate about low GPA, I guess I'd like to say a few things.
First off, there's no offense taken from any criticism here. Frankly, if somebody gets hurt because of an individual pointing out an obvious weakness or being critical, then they probably don't belong in the sciences. I'd rather take his arguments as they stand and comment on the issue directly.
PlanB, you are right to acknowledge that a low GPA is a concern for any application. This should be obvious. However, as has been pointed out and is explicitly stated on the websites of multiple top tier programs, applications are graded holistically. I would argue that the correlation of high GPAs with qualified applicants is no surprise, but from my discussion with advisors and a few adcom members, I don't think they weigh GPA nearly as heavily as you suggest. In particular, for a candidate with research experience and strong LORs with a convincing SOP, GPA becomes a non-issue.
I'll elucidate some of the thought process that went into my application. At the very least it will be useful for future applicants or make for interesting discussion. I knew that my GPA was shit going into the application process, which is part of why I waited until I had an additional year of full-time industry experience post graduation to apply. This gave me the opportunity to take graduate level classes my senior year (so that adcoms would actually see those grades), perform very well in them, and bolster my research experience. 
My GPA also resulted from a few extenuating circumstances, namely my diagnosis with cancer during my sophomore year, and one year after my recovery followed the return of my father's cancer for the third time. During these next two years I worked part-time, did well in my classes, all while assisting my father through a slow decline. My advisor (who wrote one of my LORs) was explicitly aware of all of these facts, and I left it up to him to address that in his letter. I didn't want to make any excuses for my early years, so in a supplemental statement for most schools all I said was this, verbatim
" I will keep this short as I also address this in my statement of past work. Although a number of circumstances led to a GPA that does not represent my potential, I have no desire to make excuses for this fact. Instead, I will reassert that the process I went through led to great personal development in terms of both maturity and motivation, and I would not change this experience. The ability to learn from my missteps, and then move forward constructively has played an integral role in my success in other areas. This is evidenced by my GRE scores, academic improvement, and my professional and research achievements. These factors are much more indicative of my dedication, as well as preparation and potential for graduate study. "
The point I'm trying to make is that PlanB's criticism isn't unwarranted, but I think the broader message should be that if somebody with a low GPA wants to apply to good programs then they have to make up for that in other areas. For me, it wasn't a concern I just brushed over, but my choices and approach was very calculated around this fact. I would expect the same for anybody in my shoes if they want to have any hope of being successful.
Anyways, I say all of this with the full acknowledgement that my choices were ambitious, but intentionally so. As far as my approach above, I acknowledge I could just be blowing hot air out my ass, and may not be successful at all. That will play out in the next month or two, but I appreciate the discussion people are having and hope it continues.

Dude.  You're speaking kinda out of your butt.  I think it's horrible to tell the people that they should go for a masters instead of a phd for something such as GPA.  I mean, I'll always encourage people to apply widely because you hardly know what will come through in your applications, but what you said about that person's GPA was mean.  If I remember correctly, they had held a research job all the way through undergrad.  I mean when I first read through it I missed that and thought that maybe their record wouldn't show the aptitude for grad school, but it really does.  Maybe no one else will agree with me, but I think you're trying to make yourself feel better by saying this stuff about other people.  Go look at the results board; people get rejected from all kinds of schools with a 3.9.

OK. A day after my last final and I forgot to close my window, and the stupid garbage truck comes by and starts clanging so I wake up at 7AM PST. I refresh my phone and BAM.
Duke Cell and Molecular Biology Ph.D. Interview invite!!
OK everyone's talking about GPA and mine isn't stellar (3.48) at a school that isn't really grade deflated. My LOR and SOP were very good, I think that's what boosted me up. Good luck everyone

Seriously. Based on the above advice I should never have wasted my time applying... To those out there with low GPAs. There is hope... you just have to make your app shine in other areas. Don't let this site discourage you either.

PlanB, I'm not so sure how, as an applicant, you can say these things with as much certainty as you have in this thread, and others. While GPA is certainly one factor of the admissions process, it is by no means the only one, nor is it the most important one. I wouldn't be so quick to knock it, or use it as a way to judge an applicant's chances. Research experience, publications, and letters from well-known PIs, in my opinion all trump it. While it's true that many of the people applying to some of these schools have GPAs above 3.7 or even 3.9, if the average if 3.7, than for every person with a 3.9 there could just as easily be one with a 3.5.

In the meanwhile I'm still furiously refreshing my email hoping for Yale BBS to say hello from the other side. 

OMG I JUST GOT AN INTERVIEW INVITE FOR DARTMOUTH MCB!!!

Got an invite to Pitt IGBM

@Sarahjc Congrats! See you there (:

Got an invite to Pitt IGBM

Got an invite to Pitt IGBM

Congrats biscy, Sarahjc, and mrpoopybutthole!
Starting to really doubt my school choices.  Think I aimed too high.  Hopefully I will get in somewhere, but I really doubt it... 

Got an invite to Pitt IGBM

Congrats!  I got invited to interview there too for the same program.