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I reached out to one of my friends who applied to BioE/BME last year and was successful in her applications, and she seconded all of this! She didn't reach out to professors before she was admitted, and she agreed that it didn't negatively impact her at all. She also ended up choosing a professor who was new to her institution as a PI, and she's really excited about it. This all makes me feel so much better!! All of the places I am applying to have at least three or four professors whose research I find fascinating and who I feel I would enjoy working under, so I think I should have some options. I am definitely looking forward to interviews (if I get ones ) because I know that'll help me a lot in finding my best fit. I also definitely second the rotation program being a great thing! P.S. @biotechie I really appreciate your blog on this site!!

After I finished my application, my transcript said unofficial next to it, and I was worried that they didn't get my official transcript before the deadline. I emailed my department (BioE), and they confirmed that they had my official transcript and updated it in the system! My app was due 12/1, so I was worried when my transcript hadn't been updated. From what I've seen around the forum, a lot of people are having similar questions with other schools, so I think schools are just slow to update their systems when they receive our materials!

@loveor I've asked this question of a lot of people lately, and my best understanding is that it depends very heavily on the field you are going into whether or not it would help you to contact faculty at this point. The best advice I was given was to ask people applying in my field (BioE) what they are doing/did when they applied. You may want to check out some of the boards in your field and see what advice people have!

@pterosaur I'm going to finish Harvard today, so I'll let you know if I have any luck after I've submitted!

The one I've finished so far on ApplyYourself has all of the checklist information on the main page I see after I log in. It has my recommendation, transcript, and test score status. I don't know if that's school-specific, though. I haven't finished my other two on ApplyYourself, so I can't verify. Is it Harvard you're considered about? That's one of the ones I still have to submit.

Did you guys contact POIs at the schools you're applying to, and, if so, when? I haven't yet, and I am debating if it would help me or hurt me at this point.

A lot of the applications I have done have a checklist screen that you can view anytime after you've submitted your applications and the GRE score status will show up there. I've also had a problem of it taking forever for my scores to be linked to my apps, though. Stanford still hasn't linked mine, but if my other applications are correct, they received my scores over two weeks ago...

The thread won't die if we don't let it die! I'm excited to hear about everyone's interview notifications! In the past, none of the programs I applied to have sent anything before January 10th or so (and most of my applications haven't even been due yet), so I'm not expecting anything yet. I just wish that thought could keep me from obsessively checking my email!

@fuzzylogician Thank you for the advice! I ended up deciding not to contact them because I am too close to the deadline. I wanted to ask- do you think it will negatively impact me that I haven't contact POIs? Most of the schools I am applying to do a rotation program, so you don't get accepted straight into a lab, so I can't decide how important it is one way or the other.

@pali123 Ugh, I'm sorry. Mine is major class which makes me feel even worse...

SAME. I have spent so much time on grad school applications that I'm about to make a B in an easy class unless I can pull out a 100 on the final. Cue panic.

It is supposed to make you feel better! Now if someone could make me feel better about my soon-to-be not 4.0...

My back-up plan is to get some type of research assistant job. I'd love to do a post-bac at the NIH, or there are a couple labs I know that I could work in for a year before re-applying.

Same with bioeng...

I started this whole process pretty late in the game because life (AKA senior design project) got in the way, and I haven't contacted any POIs yet. I have identified a few at each school I am applying to because it was how I determined if the school was a good fit. My question is, would it help me or hurt me to contact people at this point? I don't want to hurt myself if the professors think that I am doing it just to get a leg up when I am actually super interested in their research, but I also don't want to be overlooked because I didn't contact anyone. Thoughts? Other note- most of my apps are due 12/15. There were three due 12/1.

Just FYI for others who are panicking, UW added my official GRE scores to my application, and they are marked as received on 12/2 - the same day I sent them. It appears the process does move very quickly but schools take a longer time to add the scores to your application. UW added mine on 12/6, so still only four days after I originally sent the scores.

SO JEALOUS. I still have 8 applications to finish, and I don't think any of my programs start sending invites until January.... I JUST WANT TO KNOW!!

I think @pterosaur is right. They don't want to lose a strong applicant over something small like a GRE score, especially when it's your verbal score. I feel like the verbal score has absolutely no bearing on your ability to be a good bioengineer, and, if you have a solid GPA, they'll assume it doesn't mean anything.

I'm done with 3 of 11 applications (and questioning all of the decisions that got me to that list of 11 schools). I absolutely cannot wait to be done with my applications. I oscillate from feeling amazing about my qualifications and application to feeling like I'm not going to get accepted anywhere. This is such a nerve-wracking process!! Plus, I'm fearing that Stanford isn't counting my transcript as official and my application is headed straight to the rejection pile because of that.... Eep.

Oh lord, I can't believe you guys are already getting interview invites! Congratulations!! I'm super jealous - I think all of my programs start sending out invites in January, but now I am going to scour the forums to make sure! Good luck!

@bicsy Good sleuthing! It was UW's app. I knew the Jan 4 deadline, but I didn't send my scores until Monday because that's when I decided to apply. Your comments make me feel a lot more confident though. @TonyaB That makes me feel a whole lot better!! I was noticing that my scores seemed to get sent quickly, so I was hopeful. @Asimio I think I'm going to do the same thing to be on the safe side. Two of my top choices were in that December 1 bracket, and I really don't want to screw myself over on something so trivial!

Only three of my eleven (what did I do to myself??) were due yesterday, so I'm a weird mix of HOORAY IT'S DONE and oh s*** I have eight more applications due in the next two weeks. I didn't even pick where I was applying until Monday (yeah, I procrastinate), so this whole process has been mega-hectic.

I'd rephrase it. Put in it a positive light "I didn't do particularly well; however, I learned from the experience and this is how it made me a better person." (But obviously not exactly that). Assuming you have other strong connections at your home school, I can't imagine it will hurt you that much at all, but you also certainly don't want to offend someone on the committee, even if the class was objectively unfair.

I'm going to second everyone in this thread and say I'd love to have your stats. Good luck running up to the deadline! I'm cleaning my last SOP (for tonight's application round) and procrastinating on here, so I totally know your feeling!