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BabyScientist

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Everything posted by BabyScientist

  1. Don't be too bummed about that. After interviews, my preference rankings flipped completely. BU was "my far my #1 choice" until after my interview. One way or another, you'll be fine.
  2. Last year they accidentally sent rejections or acceptances (can't remember which) to everyone who applied.
  3. I did this for pretty much none of my interviews (I think 2-3 profs who stood out only) and got into every school I interviewed at. Won't make or break you, but is common to do.
  4. Most schools don't call them interviews. They're "recruitment weekends". Sounds like they may have looked at your application already and just waited for it to be completed with the letter of rec.
  5. You're fine. Research experience, publications, etc are all you need
  6. Oh they haven't even give you a start time? I'd send an email to check in
  7. If you aren't getting along with your PI to that degree, I suggest finding a new lab. That environment won't be conducive to your success anyway. You should have your current PI as a letter writer when you apply, which is why I suggest finding a new letter writer asap. Alternatively to your PI, if you work directly with a postdoc and have a good relationship with them, they can write your letter. It matters less who wrote the letter than that it's a great letter.
  8. You won't be getting a schedule until you arrive for most interviews.
  9. Right, but that's why all these other factors matter. They might have gotten right what you got wrong. I knew someone with a great CV, 5 years experience after undergrad, lots of publications etc but found out after the fact that one of her letter writers who was getting old and didn't remember her well wrote something blatantly false in he rletter (if you knew her) and it was a red flag for adcomms so she didn't get interviews. All you can do is try to find the holes in your application and hope to do it better next time.
  10. I think that means you can log in to your online application system for it and it might say something in it?
  11. It could be fit with programs. Did you apply to all top programs? Are there faculty with similar interests to you at those schools? Are you sure one of your letters didn't have a red flag in it? So many possibilities.
  12. It's usually within 2 weeks after the interview. They only sometimes tell you how much they'll accept (you can ask them at interviews what class size they aim for). And it can be all within a few days or over a few weeks if people decline offers.
  13. Name anyone/everyone you'd be interested in working with. If you only name a few, those few might be busy/not around and you'll end up meeting with people you aren't interested in.
  14. This was me last year. I had no idea what to do/wear. The above suggestions are great, but I just wanted to say that you should be aware when you're there of whether you can actually handle living in that weather. I had one interview where it was 23F and snowing and everyone was saying we were lucky it was so warm that weekend and I was like wtf this is warm?! Didn't end up picking that school.
  15. I completely agree with all these. Be polite to everyone. Everyone is evaluating you in some way, but also being a nice person is generally a good idea (whether or not you're at an interview). Don't be that guy who was noticeably rude to a waiter. You're going to be living and working in these places, so you should definitely ask about what it's like to live in the area/specific questions about the area. It's great to ask professors during interviews about the city, but you should also ask about what their lab is like. Questions like "Do your students have fellowships?" "Do they go to conferences?" "Where is your funding from?" "What do your students go on to do?" "How many people are in your lab?" show that you know that there's more to being in a lab than just the research. You can love the research but the lab could not offer good opportunities, or not have funding, or is too big/small for your preferences, etc. Of course you can ask grad students the same questions. Definitely take notes. If you have more than one interview, you're going to forget what you did or didn't like at every school by the time you're deciding. I took notes after each faculty meeting about what we talked about and what my impressions were. But taking notes during would be rude (these interviews are supposed to be like a conversation), so take them when there's nothing else going on. Feel free to take notes during powerpoint presentations. I agree to this only to the extent that you should be aware roughly of what they do, but faculty profiles are often out of date. They won't expect you to know everything about their work, or to have read any papers. Only read papers if you're actually really interested. They will likely tell you about their work during the interview (if not, you should ask them about it). Don't refer to any notes during the interviews, but feel free to glance at the one sentence "Dr. X works on XYZ" you should have before you go into the interview.
  16. Definitely not. It's not safe to assume until like February, but even then it's possible.
  17. It's really up to you. If you like the work in your current lab, have a good relationship with everyone, and are getting opportunities to do your own projects and get on papers, stay in it. If you want to go elsewhere, you can either look for posted positions or just email people you're interested in working with. Make sure to make it clear you want to go to grad school and are hoping to get opportunities to publish etc.
  18. It was business casual at all the schools where I interviewed. No jeans. Slacks/skirts/dresses, button downs/blouses, cardigans/blazers, flats/boots (heels not advised). Any combination should work. Thursday night dinner with current students is nicer end of casual. Dinners with faculty are business casual or casual end of business casual. Comfy shoes advised. Also check the weather because snow/rain.
  19. I got a lab job after undergrad, and I've worked at the NIH with IRTA post-baccs. It seems to me that they're really the same thing. It probably depends what kind of lab job you get, but I was an RA and my lab really had me focusing on research and my own projects. Got a bunch of publications, first authorship in the works, 2 conference posters, went to a ton of talks. My PI knew I wanted to go to grad school and guided my time in her lab toward it. As far as postbacc programs, if they're just research, no classes, they're pretty much a poorly paid RAship. I think some have perks like free GRE classes and the likes, though. The IRTA program isn't actually much more selective than applying for a job - PIs essentially get a list of applicants and pick out the people they like (I've been told it's literally an "add to cart" situation). As far as how admissions committees see them, they're no different. The admissions committees are interested in the work you did and what you accomplished, not what your job title or program title was. Figure out what you want for you. Working at the NIH has its own perks (name recognition, PI networking, resources), and a job/RA/tech position could mean get a foot in a school you're interested in attending, or not having to move from where you live now, and probably getting paid more.
  20. Definitely focus on your own research experience and just know who you're interested in working with at that school and why. You're probably being interviewed by people you didn't list because these are people in the admissions committee. You're not expected to know about their work.
  21. Well, what are your research interests? Just state them as simply as you can. For me it was neurodegeneration, but with related subinterests of neuroinflammation and protein aggregation. It's not meant to be a complicated question/answer. Probably the more important questions they'll ask are "Why do you want a PhD?" and "Why this school?".
  22. It's not really about quantity of schools applied to if none are a good fit. You want to make sure the schools align with your interests. Adcomms can tell if they don't. Again, there's still plenty of time and there's no need to worry until like March, and even then there's still a chance! But I'm happy to look at people's applications and give my input for what you can do to improve your application for next time if it comes down to it.
  23. I get that. I wasn't saying don't do any of it, you just don't have to. A lot of people get psyched out thinking there's all this preparing you have to do for interviews when you really don't have to prepare anything. Of course do whatever makes you feel comfortable, just know you won't be left behind if you haven't done all this prep. Just know your own research and your interests and you should be fine.
  24. They will likely already have your CV in front of them. I printed out a bunch and over 7 schools and who knows how many interviews never had to pull one out. As far as previous research: if there's something about your research that's really not easy to talk about without visuals, feel free to bring a visual aid, but it really isn't otherwise necessary. You're having a conversation, not giving a presentation. If you can just discuss, that works. You don't really have to have read about any of their work or have preset questions about their work. They'll tell you about it there and you can ask whatever you want to about it. If you happen to be super interested and just have a question that you didn't plan, great, ask it. It shouldn't seem inorganic. I read a ton of papers before my first recruitment weekend, couldn't keep em all straight in my head, and they never came up because they all just started telling me about their work without asking if I already knew about it. Didn't prep for the rest of the recruitment weekends. I have to emphasize that it's supposed to be a conversation with someone who could one day be your mentor. They know you're academically qualified. They want to see your enthusiasm and personal skills. They want to get to know *you*, so be yourself.
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