jeanetics17

I have a feeling Harvard BBS acceptances for interview 1 will be out today.

CAMB GGR invites were sent out at least starting mid december (~15th). The first interview weekend is next week.

I think one of the most important things schools look for is a demonstrated, in depth understanding of the science behind the project you are working on (so not just carrying out tasks), but knowledge of the field, the unanswered questions, the goals of your work, and the experimental approaches you are using and why. Also as someone mentioned previously, working "independently" and being able to drive a project/story (which includes coming up with ideas, things to test, making sense of your data, next steps). So if you have a first author, or second author paper from a masters, or post bac position this looks very good to grad schools (or even if you don't but have had your own project before). Other things include: experience with trouble shooting, designing assays, mastery of basic wet lab skills, data analysis, ability to disseminate information to others (talks, posters, etc.) Basically it looks better to be the scientist rather than the scientist's assistant.

I think it's appropriate to send them an email. It's also fine to ask who you will be meeting with if you don't already know. However, given the holidays, they might not be done finalizing until the end of this week.

In preparation for interview season, I have a burning question for applicants from previous cycles. For those of you rejected post-interview, do you know why you were rejected? Did you feel that you would be rejected immediately after the interview (i.e. the interview went poorly)? Or did you ever find out from the school why you were rejected? I'm just trying to figure out what would warrant someone being rejected post interview. Any feedback would be great, thanks.

Has anyone received an interview at their top choice program already and are feeling less motivated about some of your other schools/are thinking about declining other interview offers?

No. From experience, they are more likely to read one of your letters of recommendation than your statement of purpose and briefly know what you study just to start the conversation. These professors are quite busy and don't have time to read every candidates' SOP and most don't.

Same. Seems we have similar interview schedules.

I'd wait as long as you can to accept interview offers. You should hold out for your 1-2 top choices unless they won't release interview offers until mid Jan or something like that.

I also haven't heard back yet.

Also Sinai has made big initiatives to have their graduate students finish in a very timely manner. Quicker than many other PhDs based on how they structure the first year.

Berkeley Comp Bio: Feb 14-16 Berkeley IB: Jan 27-28 Berkeley Cell Molecular Bio: Feb 12-14, Feb 26-28 CMU-Pitt Comp bio: Feb 23-25, March 2-4 Columbia Biological Sciences: Jan 22-23, Mar 2-4 Columbia Biomedical Informatics: Jan 27-29th Cornell Tri Institutional computational biology: Feb 26-27. Duke Biochemistry: Feb 9-12 or Feb 23-26 Duke CMB: February 2-4 or February 16-18 Albert Einstein Biomedical sciences: Jan 25-27 Harvard BIG (I asked and then asked a contact I have and all I could get was late January or early February) Havard BBS: Jan 26-29, Feb 9-12 Harvard MCO: Jan 25-28, Feb 1-4 Icahn SOM at Mount Sinai (Neuro only): January 9-10 Icahn SOM at Mount Sinai (non-neuro): January 12-13 or January 19-20 Johns Hopkins CMM: January 19-20 or February 23-24 UMichigan PIBS: Jan 26-28, Feb 2-4, Feb 9-11 MIT Biology: Feb 11-14, Feb 25-28, March 11-14 MIT CSBi: Feb 3 & 10 MIT HST: march 2-4 (strange those two overlap as they are 2 of the top comp bio programs) Northwestern DGP: Jan 12-14, Jan 26-28, Feb 9-11 NIH OxCam: February 15-17 Princeton QCB: Feb 9-11 Rockefeller: Feb 23-24, March 2-3 Sanger 4-year program: Jan 23rd Sloan Kettering: January (Jan 12-15 once appeared on their website but they removed it for some reason) Stanford BI: march 1-5 Stanford Biosciences: March 1-5 UConn Health Biomedical Sciences: Feb 10-11 University of Washington Biology: Jan 26-28 University of Washington Genome Sciences: Feb 12-14, Feb 26-28 UC Irvine CMB: Jan 26-27, Feb 9-10 UCSF bioinformatics: Feb 9-10, Feb 16-17 UCSF TETRAD: Feb 2-5, Feb 24-27 UNC Chapel Hill BBSP: Feb 2-4, Feb 16-18 UMass Medical School BBS: January 26-27 or February 2-3 UPenn CAMB: Jan 19-21 UT Austin Cell and Molecular Biology: Jan 19-22, Feb 9-12 Washington University in St. Louis (WUSTL) Biochemistry DBBS February 2-4 and February 16-18 Yale BBS Immunology: Feb 16-19 Yale BBS MMPP: Feb 24-26 Yale CBB/MCGD: Feb 3-5

I submitted 4 letters in all of my applications because I believed each person could speak to a different facet of me. I'd say maximize the amount of letters you submit.

The original post was about UCSD BMS, which I think the person was hoping would send out January invites. I'm talking about that, UCSF Tetrad, and Sinai. But apparently TETRAD may go out in batches.

I have not heard back either. I also haven't heard back from Sinai or UCSF Tetrad, though I've seen those interviews go out. Maybe I should move those to the reject pile.

I think they misquoted you. I think they were speaking to the other person.

There are no specific guidelines for the SOP mostly because schools want this to be an extension of you and they want to see what you come up with. You have the freedom to sell yourself in any manner that you want. However, there are specific questions you definitely need to address in the SOP, which is how I structured mine. 1. What motivates/motivated you to apply to graduate school? (Try not to turn this into a sob story. Avoid adverse life or childhood events.) 2. What field are you interested in and why? (This is important. Think about it thoughtfully not just for your SOP but for yourself) 3. What experience or training do you have to support your admission? (Focus on your most meaningful (your role, length) experiences. Also focus on experiences most applicable to the work you want to do in grad school. You can talk about each experience in a manner like this: What? Where? When? With Whom? and Significance of the work? What were your specific contributions? What did you learn? (That will help you in grad school) Any collaborations? Was it multidisciplinary? Have you disseminated the results of your work? (talks, posters, meetings) Any professional achievements? (fellowships, grants, papers, invited to meetings) 4. What are your long term career goals and how will PhD/graduate training help you do that? (Academia is the gold standard answer) 5. Why this program? Why are you a good fit? (Be specific as possible because this lets the reader know you are serious and invested in this school. Also a place to mention faculty you're interested in working with.) Closing statement/argument (quickly restate your strengths) Additional things: 1. You are being judged on your passion for a particular field, your ability to write and communicate effectively, motivation and proactive behavior (i applied for this, I seeked out this), signs of leadership capabilities, personal character, and uniqueness. 2. You may need to include a grade statement if your GPA is not stellar or if there is something that needs an explanation. (In this case, push it towards the beginning of the essay and make it brief. Don't try to validate something or fail to take ownership, just reassure the adcom that it's not an issue and why? 3. Single spaced is appropriate. Your header can just be your name and the program you're applying to. 4. Take my advice with a grain of salt. This is what I think worked for me but everything is different for each person. If you think something here is a good idea (try implementing it). It's all about selling yourself and there's isn't one way to do this.

1. Yeah, I've been on interviews and they really dont care much about what youre wearing, as long as you dont look like a bum. You can dress casual, but nicely. a nice sweater, some jeans, and a nice shoe (clean sneaker) is fine. I'd still bring a range of outfits (something rather nice for a dinner or happy hour to casual stuff). Most important is to be comfortable. 2. You should try to be professional for the duration of the interview. You never know whose watching. Youll have to 'be on' more times than others. The most important thing is to nail your interviews. Everything else you can be relaxed for. Do try to have a good time, dont be too tense about it. Remember they want you too.

Anybody know if CAMB-MVP sent out invites yet? asking for a friend.

Just received a Harvard BBS interview! This is my top choice program and I think I'm going to faint.

Yeah, theyre not great (maybe try it again), but the GRE is not the end all be all nowadays. You can still be admitted to top programs with low GRE scores. Being admitted to grad school is all about how you package and sell yourself; so highlight your strengths to the point that your weaknesses don't matter. I'm familiar with the PREP program and that experience alone is very significant. Focus on that and your research experience because that is what all schools undoubtedly value. Graduate programs put a large weight on the quality of your research experience.

I think there is a growing consensus that being older or having delayed the time between college and grad school is a good thing. They know that you'll likely be wiser, more experienced, and more assured of yourself and your plans.

Offered interviews for Penn CAMB (GGR) and Yale BBS (MCGD) today. Very Exciting.