HopefulPHD14

Also have not heard back but am expecting a rejection

Taking time off was the best thing I did! I was unsure about grad school a few years ago so I got a job in industry as a research assistant. Now I know that without a doubt grad school is where I am supposed to be and I am so excited. Gap year(s) are not a bad thing at all! I actually would recommend them to anyone who is on the fence about grad school even a little bit. Plus, I got to save a bit of money which will be super nice to have in grad school in case of an emergency.

I do not think there is a metro that goes out to Chino. I know that the metro gold line runs all the way to Azusa (north of LA)... The problem is that Chino is not in LA county.... I think that the metro stops on the outskirts of LA county and doesn't go into the surrounding counties.

So... The traffic in LA is a bit unpredictable. You really can have traffic at almost any time, but it is inevitable during the rush hour times. Maybe 6-10 am and 3-7 pm. Expect commutes to triple normal commute times. So you probably do not need to expect more than 1.5 hours, but be ready for that much. The chino area isn't going to be too bad. You may have to drive up to an hour each way, but it will not be the end of the world. If it is convenient and makes both you and your girl friend happy it may be the best area. Like I said I have cheap housing in the area and have looked into moving there too (if I end up in Riverside). Also there is a new Billionaire in Chino now because of the powerball lotto.....so that's cool..

Ill take it off your hands then

LA is a huge area! Where in LA where she be commuting to? Depending on where you live and where she works, she could potentially have a 2+ hour commute each way every day. Because of that, you may want to head farther west. There will be much less traffic heading to UCR from the LA area than the other way around. I also may end up at UCR and received my acceptance last week. I have some family in the Chino Hills area and I know that its a decently nice area and a reasonable commute (<1 hour). You might want to look around there. I know that I may potentially end up there just because living with family could be cheaper. It also locates you near the 60, which although plagued with traffic, is a straight shot into the heart of LA. Best of luck though!

Sorry but this got me thinking... How does taking time off for a wedding/honeymoon work in grad school? I will likely be getting engaged between now and the start of grad school and married at some point during my 2nd year or so. I would like to know ahead of time how taking time off in grad school works. Would we have to split up the wedding and honeymoon?

Don't get me wrong, I am super excited about grad school, but I'm going to miss the full time job gig. I have so much free time right now. I guess the good thing is you don't want extra time as a grad student because you do not have much extra money to go along with it.

I certainly do not know for sure, but I say enjoy it for what it is! This is what I would do... You can be honest with that person that you do not see yourself working in their lab. Tell them your interests do not really line up with what they are working on at the moment and you think other labs will likely end up being a better fit. I think most people will understand that. We all have slightly (or occasionally vastly) different scientific interests. But, at the same time, that shouldn't stop you from telling them about yourself and learning about who they are. They are still an important part of your interview. Still do your research about their lab and learn about what they are doing. Interviews are an awesome chance to learn about all the cool things that happen in science... even if you have no interest in ever being involved in those specific parts of science. There is likely just a logistical problem going on with the interviews. There are x number of students and y number of professors and not everyone is going to line up perfectly to interview with all the POIs that are perfect matches. Occasionally you have to interview with someone that doesn't perfectly match up with your interests. The person interviewing you can see your application, they will probably even know that you are not interested. I say use it as an opportunity to impress/WOO them. You can still know your stuff and talk about their research and show them who you are without making it seem like you want to end up in their lab. Show an interest in them and what they do without showing an interest in devoting your life to their lab for the next 5+ years. If all of your interviews feel that way and nobody seems like a good fit....well then maybe the interview was a good experience and should warn you that you may not want to have that school as your first choice.

My understanding is that it typically is the former. I would think that they would want you to be as prepared as possible.

Haha that is one way to handle it!

My boss (who oversees what I do in the lab) is super supportive and wrote me a letter of rec and is totally okay with me going back to school. In fact most of the R&D team at my work knows and is encouraging. It is upper management that is not, and will not be, excited about me leaving. And that's my problem. I have already taken my PTO down to 1 day....and I have 5 schools yet to hear from. Also I have a fun vacation planned in June and I have to save up PTO for that.... My work lets me go negative in vacation, but I calculated it and in order to quit my job around the time I want to, I can only go negative 1 day, which means accepting only one more interview (or suddenly getting sick for a weekend)

That might even look good. I would be flattered if anyone ever emailed me requesting one of my papers.

I am not in school right now, but I sure am worried about missing work! My job is going to start getting upset and suspicious with me missing all of these weekends. So much so that I am considering only going to my top 2-3 interviews even if I continue to get more....

Does anyone have a good resource (other than US News) for ranking/comparing grad schools? Or even a resource for student reviews? Like a glassdoors.com for grad students? I am having a hard time picking which schools are worth waiting for the interview/rejection.

Not very long! Just 2 days. I want to get back to them by Monday (I think that's a fair amount of time yeah?). I was hoping to hear from one of my top 2 schools this week...but....that didnt happen. I already have 2 interviews in February scheduled to my 3rd and 4th choices (Yayyyy). My 6th choice offered me an interview two days ago. They offered me 3 dates, but 2 of the 3 conflict with the interviews I have already scheduled. Now I am just trying to figure out if its worth it to accept that one to have a third interview scheduled, or if I should let it go and count on my #3/4 while hoping/waiting for my top 2. I am already leaning toward my $3/4 school over this new school.....but you never know what could happen right?

I hope I start hearing something from those schools soon. I've been putting off accepting/rejecting an interviews for too long now waiting for my top choices.... At this point I would be happy for a rejection just so that I could accept my 3rd interview without hesitation. I have the weekend to think about it but I have to make my choice on Monday. This whole thing is stressful.

I think it really might depend on the school/program, but one of the schools I applied to listed their prereqs right on their admissions section of the website. More than anything I think they want to make sure you come in with at least a solid base knowledge of your subject and you show you can be competitive in upper divs. Here is a copy/past from that one schools website "Applicants should have adequate undergraduate course work in: Chemistry (two years) Physics (one year) Calculus (one year) Statistics (one course) Biochemistry (one course) Biology (two years, including a course in genetics and two courses among cell, molecular, or developmental biology)"

Awesome! That's a huge help. I already have plans on the 26th.... but its also my top choice :/. I guess I just have to wait and see if the interview comes in the first place.

Does anyone know the interview dates for USC PIBBS or UCLA Bioscience (Gene regulation if it matters)? I want to make sure I keep weekends open (if at all possible)!

It was me! Yay! Haha. That was terrifying

It's so awkward.... I mean.... I am almost certain whoever sent the email was just copying and pasting the same email and forgot to change the name. The persons name starts with the same letter as mine even so if they went alphabetically i would likely be next.... but its still so weird. I want to be excited (and I think I should be) but I am hesitant too! And I did. I sent back a carefully worded thank you (I think) email haha. Hopefully I will know for sure soon.

Weird question guys... I just got an email from a school that addressed me by name, however that name was not my name (Hello X, instead of my name Y) Do you guys think this email was intended for me or a mistake? They probably are really inviting me for an interview right? They just copy pasted the email and forgot to change my name? Right? This isnt some cruel joke right?

I think it is acceptable to tell them that you have another interview already scheduled. They know that most people are going to have more than one interview and should be understanding. If you really do not feel comfortable saying that, you can probably be more vague and tell them something like, "I have prior commitments that weekend", however just being honest and saying it is an interview might sound better so they know you are not just blowing them off to go to Vegas with friends or something. As for how long the invite stays on the table, I cant help you there. I would expect it depends on the school. Some schools will give you a deadline for when they want to hear back by others may not. You easily have at least 1 business week to think it over and schedule (I would guess). I think it also depends on when the interview weekend is scheduled. You need to get back to them quicker if it is an interview the first week of February than you do if the interview is in March. Worst case scenerio, if you think there will be a conflict, perhaps you could call the schools you are still waiting on. I personally have not done this, however I have heard that some individuals have had success calling and asking the status of their application since they are waiting to RSVP to other interviews. Good luck!

I have now had 3 identical emails with the "Status of your UCLA Molecular Biology IDP Application". This one stated that it was the "FINAL UPDATE". All 3 emails have been identical and all 3 have noted that I have turned in everything (letters of rec, transcripts, GREs ect.). I am guessing this is not a problem. I too am confused but I don't think there is any reason to be worried. I'll call my buddy who is also applying to UCLA to see if he got it too, but I wouldn't worry if I were you (unless other people are not getting these same emails or someone else has some information I do not). Maybe it means they are starting another round of reviewing applications? That would be nice right?