hippopotamus

Well thanks for the honesty I suppose. I'm going to be blunt with you, so try to not take offense, but you seem awfully arrogant. Some of your points are valid and I agree with; there are currently too many PhDs being trained. At this rate it's not sustainable, it's simply not. But to say a PhD is not worthwhile unless you stay in academia is silly and myopic, and should someone choose industry over academia that does not make them any less of a scientist. Many PhDs are choosing industry and alternative careers simply because they find academia is not an attractive option. Being on an entirely soft money salary fighting tooth and nail for grants in order to feed your family isn't exactly everyone's idea of a stable career, and if you can't see that then perhaps you should reflect on the current climate of academia a bit more. You know what percentage of PhD graduates end up in tenure track positions? It's low. While academia was once the default path, it's quickly becoming just the opposite and schools are changing to reflect that. 
You are exactly the the type of person I am looking to avoid for rotations. I hope during the course of your training you take off your blinders, because your narrow mindedness is something that is not a great character trait. 

Well yes, collaborations always happen between the two, especially if a professor at MIT has a more translational focus or is looking to conduct a translational project. Perhaps the largest collaboration between the two is the MD-PhD program, where students get an MD at HMS and a PhD at MIT. But in terms of the programs themselves, MIT does focus far more on basic science. It doesn't mean there aren't researchers that are on the more translational side (especialy at the Broad) but in general there is a cultural difference between the two programs that way.

The structures of the programs are different. Everyone at MIT bio takes their classes in the first semester and four week rotations start second semester, while BBS courses span first year and the program overall is more flexible.
If I'm not mistaken, BBS also has a biomedical focus while MIT is on the more basic science side.

Ohh I'm also interested in this, not only for Harvard BBS vs MIT biology, but also Harvard vs MIT overall.

Got the call too! I'm sure more will come tomorrow

apparently it should be sent out on wednesday? 

apparently it should be sent out on wednesday? 

I see what you're saying, but at the same time, no one goes into the interview as a blank slate. They will have certain expectations of you based on all your other application materials. I think it would be equally silly to disregard everything else in the application package and decide solely based on impressions formed from talking to people for a few days. Of course, if they weren't interested in accepting you they wouldn't have invited you for an interview, but that doesn't mean that they are necessarily equally interested in every applicant awarded an interview. 
 

Yep. I suppose they are doing these independently. 

I know a guy who got an invite Friday evening. They may be still going out though... Cancer bio is definitely a bigger program. 

Does anyone know if all the stanford cancer bio invites have been sent out? I only saw one on the results tab?

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.

Saw somebody post an interview in the results search tab.

Hello everyone. I have been following this thread for a long time, however I have just been a lurker. 
Since a lot of people are waiting on Stanford Cancer Biology.  I was offered an interview fifty minutes ago for 3/1-3/5.

I'm also waiting for cancer bio and hoping they are somehow behind their schedule.

I am waiting as well.. I have sent them an email but received no response so far :/

I don't think this is as bad as it seems at first glance. 70 admits out of a group of 120 is approximately a ~60% acceptance rate, but you have to consider that even top programs don't have 100% enrollment rates. The students that end up getting offers from Harvard are going to be getting offers from other excellent schools, so they always have to send out more offers than they have spots in order to fill out their incoming class. This means that the the actual post-interview admissions rate has to substantially higher than 60% - I figure that somewhere around 80% is reasonable based on the numbers you mentioned.
Edit: Didn't see OP's edit to his original post. But I do think it's reasonable to expect an 80% rate.

Has anyone heard from Stanford cancer biology?

Yay MIT interviews! Does anyone know the post interview acceptance rate for MIT biology!?

Any data points for Harvard BBS?

If they are not in your subsubfield they do not care much about your experiments. Tell them big picture what you are trying to work towards or what applications it might have then narrow it down to a more specific question or topic and how you are addressing that. If you are taking more than 5 minutes without follow on questions then you are going into too much detail. Think about how you explain it to your family and friends. Communicating your research to a broad audience is a key part of getting a phd and doing research in general. You constantly have to ask for funding from people who do have technical backgrounds but don't know much about your subsubfield. You have to connect it to the bigger picture, intermediate picture, small picture, and exactly how you are addressing that small picture with evidence.

I'm sure that many of us are interested in the post interview acceptance rates of programs we have applied to. If you've asked a program coordinator or otherwise found out the post interview acceptance rate, feel free to post it below.
I'm particularly curious about the UCSF BMS program this year. I looked through the forum and found different posts stating it has been 75% and ~33% at different time.

Heard back from Vanderbilt IGP this morning with three interview weekend choices (Feb 3-5, 10-12, 17-19). Has anyone heard from Stanford Biochem or MIT Biology yet? 

Wow, where did you get this information from?

I'm in the same boat.. I feel like they might be done sending invites, but I'm not sure