Jump to content

MCF10A

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    82

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by MCF10A

    Update on Harvard BBS Acceptance Rate

    in Biology

    Posted

    I actually found some data on HILS website and did some math based on the data. The result confirms what @Epigenetics just said:

    (source: https://gsas.harvard.edu/programs-of-study/divisions/harvard-integrated-life-sciences)

    (1)Last year all programs in HILS (BBS, BIG, MCO, immunology, chem bio, etc) accepted~396 students (2331 total applicants*17% admission rate), and the entering class is 210, which makes the yield rate ~53%.

    (2)Since BBS is the largest cohort in HILS (~31% of the HILS), let's assume that the yield rate of BBS is similar to that number of the whole HILS. 

    (3)In order to fill 65 spots, BBS needs to accept 65/0.53=122 students. If the # of spots to fill is 70, they need to accept 132.

    (4)~120 people will attend two interview weekends, and there are more internationals do Skype interview. Harvard BBS has ~30% intl students, let's assume that among 30%, half (15%) reside in the US and are already included in the 120, and the remaining 15% will do skype. The total interviewee number (onsite+skype)=120/(1-0.15)=142. 

    (5)The conclusion: BBS will interview ~140 students and accept 120-130 students, which makes the post-interview acceptance rate 86-93%. Not bad at all.

    So guess we can just chillB)

    Update on Harvard BBS Acceptance Rate

    in Biology

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Epigenetics said:

    I can tell you fundamentally none of what you're saying is true. Yes they're trying to fill ~65 spots, because the program is large, but that is the post-acceptance matriculation number. They expect a large number of people not to attend, so if they anticipate a matriculation rate of 50% (from what I've heard that's about what they expect) then they have to accept 130 people to get that. I know for a fact their post-interview admission rate is 90-95%. Source: I work in a BBS lab.

    Wow that really relieved me! I feel kind of surprised by the ~50% yield rate tho, given that the MD and MD-PhD program at HMS both have 75%+ yield rates. Maybe many people who get in Harvard BBS tend to have multiple offers from other top programs, but getting into multiple top schools for MD/MD-PhD is way harder?

    2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    28 minutes ago, Bioenchilada said:

    Maybe they didn't realize you resided in the US, you should ask though lol

    Congrats!

    Thanks! But the bad news is that I have time conflicts on all their Skype interview dates and the on-campus interview weekend:wacko:. Really wish they could have told me earlier. Hope I can work something out with them.

    2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Pepperoni said:

    why's that? and i see..

    I also believe that UChicago Cancer Bio has sent out invites in Dec. I saw a DP in the result database posted saying "Interview via E-mail on 29 Dec 2016", and also someone's signature saying he/she got a interview.  I already gave up on my side, but maybe (and hopefully) I'm wrong.

    2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    12 hours ago, nile red said:

    Has anybody heard from Duke Molecular Cancer Bio? I know they kept extending their deadline until very recently...

    I received their invitation email right before Christmas (Dec 23rd). I submitted my application in Nov so might get reviewed in the first batch. Hope they are sending more on the way and good luck!

    2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    8 minutes ago, Milind said:

    Thanks a lot! 
    I will think more on this :)
    So are you also coming for the interview weekend?

    Yeah I'll come to the interview weekend. I'm living in the US now so I just need a domestic flight, so that's really a no brainer lol. But I do understand your dilemma. Long I nternational flights and jet legs are not pleasant at all and I have experienced a lot of these. Hope you can figure it out soon :)

    2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    8 hours ago, Milind said:

    Hello guys!

    I am an undergrad from India and have received an invitation from Yale (BBS PhD, MCGD track) for the interview weekend. 
    It is going to pretty hectic (financially,academically) to visit during the weekend. But I feel that I may let go of a wonderful opportunity to meet so many brilliant people face to face.

    Anyone else in this dilemma? Can someone give me insights about Yale as a place for graduate studies in cell biology type areas? Also what should I keep in mind for the interview?
    Any suggestions/tips will help a lot!

    Congrats! I think Yale can reimburse $500 towards travel and extra 1-2 days of hotels for international travel (I only knew this because they thought I wasn't residing in the US lol). If the plane tickets from India to New Haven are expensive, you can consider flying to one of the NYC airports (LGA, NWR, JFK) and take the airport shuttle to New Haven, which will be cheaper than connecting flights to New Haven.

    In terms of the research quality at Yale, I think overall it's top notch. The immunology department is one of the best in the nation, so many PIs doing amazing science. Their structure biology is also one of the best in the nation(Thomas Steitz, Anna Pyle, etc). I'm not particularly familiar with MCGD (since I applied to MMPP), but my impression is that it's very strong as well. There are 3 HHMI investigators in MCGD (Ronald Breaker, Tian Xu, Joan Steitz), several NAS members, which are good signs of great science and reputation. But the key is whether there are faculty members you want to work with in your specific area of interest. These are just my impression, and it's one of my top choice school for sure. 

    Good luck!

     

    international applicants

    in Biology

    Posted

    Another international here. I think the real deal is whether you're residing in the US (maybe also Canada) or not. 

    If you're residing in the US now (like me), it's very likely that the timeline is the same as domestic students for the majority of programs. That's because many programs will invite internationals residing in the US together with domestics to their interview weekends.

    If you're residing outside of the US, the situation is different for each program. For some programs (like Harvard BBS, Sloan Kettering, Weill Cornell), the timeline is still the same as domestics. However, for many many other programs, the committees tend to review internationals and offer Skype interviews later (January or even February). So if that's your case, don't worry, because many programs have not even sent out skype interviews yet. 

    Just hang in there and good things will happen after the holiday season :) I'll be happy to take a look at your profile if you want. Good luck!

    2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted · Edited by MCF10A
    grammar

    27 minutes ago, Katyya said:

    Because 2 admissions chairs from 2 years told me I was very competitive. Because I have 3 years of research experience and 2 first author papers and my GPA and GRE are well above averages and my research experience fits perfectly with faculty at UPenn. I crafted my personal statement for days and made it very specific about why UPenn is my absolute number one school. 

    There are a lot of factors that we can't control in the admission process, especially as fella international applicants.

    Many specific cancer biology graduate programs (versus big umbrella programs) heavily rely on NIH T32 grant to recruit students, but they couldn't use T32 to support intl students. Which means that these programs have to secure other funding sources (institutional, private foundation, etc) if they want to recruit intl students, but these funding might not be available every year. That explains why many great cancer bio programs (Stanford Cancer Bio, UPenn Cancer Bio, UChicago Cancer Bio, to name a few) have a very small portion of intl students in their student body. 

    If you take a closer look at the student body of UPenn Cancer Bio each year (current student, 20XX metrics, Ctrl+F CB), you can notice that there are very few intl students in at least the 2016 and 2015 class (I use educated guess, @Bioenchilada please correct me if I'm wrong on this). And there are hardly any UPenn Cancer Bio interviews/offers in the grad cafe database labeled as "I" or "U" in recent years. So when I got the assumed silent rej from UPenn Cancer Bio, I'm of course sad but somehow anticipated that, because I'm like gambling on whether they will have the funding to support intl student or not. 

    I know that you're a very strong applicant and UPenn is your top choice. But sometimes being an international applicant just kick yourself out of many games. We all know this part, right? Hope this will help you feel better. 

    2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    17 minutes ago, MeghanSiobhan said:

    Thought I'd throw my update out there:

     

    UPenn CAMB/Cancer - waiting

    Pitt IBGP/Cell and Molecular Pathology - Interview March 3

    Tufts Sackler/Biomedical - waiting

    UChicago Biomedical/Cancer - waiting

    OHSU Cancer Bio - Rejected

    UW (Seattle) MCB - waiting

    UCSD Biomedical - waiting

    UCI Biomedical Gateway Cell and Molecular - Interview Jan 26 (got this offer even before they sent out their "hey, we're reviewing apps" email lol)

    Temple - not even due till Feb 15 lol (thinking they won't have interviews? that's why it's at the bottom)

     

    Emailed UPenn, Chicago and UW to see if they're done sending invites. I'll update with that when/if I know.

    To my knowledge, it's very likely that UPenn Cancer Bio has sent out all invites already. And UChicago Cancer Bio hasn't sent out any invites yet. Good luck!

    2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    13 minutes ago, STEMC said:

    Just want to provide some interviews dates I have received. I am an international student with US degree. Anyone know if they process international students' app later than domestic students?

    Here are mine:

    USC PIBBS (interview E-mail received last Friday): 1/18-1/20. 

    UCSB MCDB (interview E-mail received Tuesday): 2/3-2/6.

    NYU Sackler (interview E-mail this Morning Thursday): 1/26-1/27.

    I've also applied Weill Cornell and Icahn at Mount Sinai but still not hear anything from them :( . Hope they will eventually come.

    And does anyone know what is the ranking of NYU Sackler for Biomedical/Biological Sciences? It's not in the US news...

    I don't think US News ranking (and any other rankings in general) matters that much. As long as there are several PIs in the program that you'd love to work with, you should be good to go. NYU Sackler is a great program. Congrats on your interviews!

    Interviews for International Applicants?

    in Biology

    Posted

    21 minutes ago, chanoschanos said:

    What about those internationals residing in the US? Do they include them for an interview at the same time as the US citizens?

    I think so. I'm a international residing in the US, and so far all the interviews I received are the same time as domestics. 

    2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    5 minutes ago, Katyya said:

    I just flew from O'Hare to Munich yesterday (currently stuck at the airport my flight home got delayed) and my friend literally dropped me off right outside Lufthansa departures so I needed like 15-20 seconds tops to make my way inside and I thought I was dying during that time. My whole body froze and I had to pull out my heat pad to warm my fingers. I believe it was below -30F with windchill. 

    I can totally feel ya. We once had a -65F windchill+45mph gust in MN. Received a school email said "wind chills colder than -50F can cause exposed flesh to freeze in only 5 mins" LOL

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use

  I accept