blc073

I thought that was just a hip new phrase. I was prepared to roll with it.

Congratulations!

Harvard Extension School, but it's close enough. They gave me an email address.

Congratulations! I'm looking forward to meeting you all. I will be helping with the interview weekends and hosting interviewees each weekend, so I can tell you all that it's going to be a great time!

I'm confident they will be out today before 5pm EST.

You get to choose the weekend for BBS.

I don't remember the exact time, but I believe I received my invitation for BBS between 4pm and 5pm EST.

I would love for you to come up to me and say, "Hi, my name is kokobanana." How can we make this happen?

I'm not trying to get into an argument here, but I would be skeptical of any scientist who only publishes in Science, Nature, and Cell. Some of the greatest discoveries were published in lower impact journals. This is mainly because Science, Nature, and Cell are often resistant to paradigm-shifting publications. In addition, I would be worried about joining a lab with a PI who has only published seven times. What are the odds that you will be a first author on one of her publications?

Agreed. When you are looking for a job, it won't matter how long your PhD and post-doc took, it will matter the number of publications you have. The advice I've been given regarding my time in grad school is this: PhD Years + # of Solid Publications = 7. So if you are finishing your PhD in four years, you need to have three solid publications. Also, remember that after your PhD, everything starts over. When you begin a post-doc, you will have nothing but your PhD training to help you. You might as well get as much out of your PhD as you can. In short, don't rush your PhD. Take advantage of the training environment before entering the...REAL WORLD. (Gasp)

Right, I wasn't projecting or anything. I was just explaining my curiosity. The Francis Crick Institute sounds like an awesome program.

Ah, that makes sense. I had a professor in undergrad who went to Oxford for his DPhil. He stayed six years and had to find another source of funding. That's why I was curious.

I looked into UK schools for about five seconds before I saw that most require that you secure funding before they will interview you. What is the average time to completion for that program? When I see a four-year award I think an incomplete degree or scrambling to find funding for the last year or two. I'm not trying to be rude or to ruin your excitement, I'm just curious.

What is the funding source for that program?

I agree with @Bioenchilada. Operate as if Penn is your only option, then figure things out with other programs later. If you get an interview from Weill Cornell, tell them that you have an interview already scheduled for that weekend. As I said before (take note, @Bioenchilada), "This process is about you. They judged you, now you get to judge them. Any program that will not work with your schedule is not worth your time. Full stop."

Harvard BBS will send out invites tomorrow. I'm not sure about other DMS programs.

It just came off a bit arrogant, that's all.

I guess I'm just not following why this post was necessary.

Do what the initial email says and you will be fine. Scheduling interviews is a slow process. Right now, you should only worry about taking care of things on your end. If the email says to fill out a survey by a certain date, follow that and it will work out. If you received an interview invitation, they want you. They want you so much that they are willing to pay for flights, pay for a hotel, and provide meals. They are not going to rescind your invitation because of an email miscommunication. You are in a great position. Pop the champagne!

They are not going to look at your CV. If they do, it will be a five second glance. Furthermore, a two week research project that you can discuss in detail and demonstrate how it affected you as a scientist is better than a three year project in which you washed dishes. Your SOP will convey your research better than dates on a CV.

Each school should have a deadline for scheduling your interview. Don't be afraid to use that, they will not hold it against you. Once you get an interview invitation, respond immediately. Tell them that you are going to interview but that you are going to wait a bit before picking a weekend. This process is about you. They judged you, now you get to judge them. Any program that will not work with your schedule is not worth your time. Full stop.

Yes, Harvard BBS has access to many faculty, including faculty in virology. The rule for BBS students is that you can work with anyone in the HILS Directory. I looked up some virology faculty and searched them in the HILS Directory. Three of the four I searched are affiliated with BBS. I also looked through the virology coursework. Every course I looked at (Introduction to Virology, Virology, Advanced Topics in Virology, Viruses of Bacteria, etc.) is open to BBS students. BBS is great because you can work with hundreds of different faculty and you can take courses in any field. BBS has just two required courses, so every other credit can be dedicated to whatever you want. The downside of doing BBS instead of virology is that you might not be invited to all of the virology-specific events.

Did you also apply Harvard BBS?

I actually asked the TA from one of classes during my final semester what exactly I needed to do to get C in the course. It is so difficult to care during the spring semester once you have been admitted to a graduate program. I suggest taking the easiest course load possible and avoid classes that meet on Thursdays and Fridays.

I would ask for a different weekend. If they really want you, they will work with you.