The Precambrian Rabbit

Stanford Genetics! Anyone else going to Stanford?

Me too. I did remember during my undergraduate application some schools sent rejection letters like "you are not qualified for our program", but I haven't heard anyone receiving such responses for phd applications.

I don't know exactly how long you should wait, but If I really want to get in the program, I would send them a follow-up email right away to express my strong interest. Anyway I think it won't hurt to be enthusiastic. At the end they also want to take the most passionate applicants.

I think it should be fine to ask. It also shows your passion to the program.

As a person coming to do basic molecular mechanisms, I personally prefer Harvard BBS-- a number of outstanding PIs working on very fundamental stuffs: transcription, RNA splicing, DNA repair and translation. Counterintuitively I didn't find many labs doing the same things in MCO. I almost feel most labs in MCO are doing microbiology, neurosciences, bioinformatics and developmental biology. Two POIs (doing RNA biology) who interview me even told me that they would move to other places soon. You could rotate / do you thesis in any lab in Harvard (even in MIT) regardless of your home program. And I believe both programs provide 3-year funding. So I guess at the end it depends mainly on whether you like a big or a small program, and which program provides courses you like better.

I had one PhD student interview at Stanford, which was very chill. We just had some random conversations about my research. Then it was basically me asking him about the program. Don't worry too much! I think that shouldn't be intense.

I've heard that Princeton Molbio will finalize their result next week. Good Luck!

Are you international? JHU CMDB has very limited spots, and does rolling admission for internationals. I just declined the offer from them. Hope to get you off the waitlist!

I don't know about MIT biology (but I do know the courses are rigorous because I took some of them as undergrad), but in my opinion I think Harvard bbs is also doing lots of basic sciences, at least more than Harvard MCO does. I think it still depends on specific labs. It's common for Harvard students to take classes at MIT (not sure about the other way around but certainly doable).

Congrats! I got it as well.

All my friends (including myself) didn't take subject GREs, and we all got to top programs. I was also a little bit worried because most programs explicitly say that "subject GREs are highly encouraged), but at the end I think it doesn't really matter.

My advisor once told me that anything above 3.3 is equivalent. On top of that I also believe post-bac research experience helps a lot. Do not give up!