JacquelineY

An acceptance and a rejection on the same day (last Friday)  My school email system literally decided that the rejection letter from Columbia was junk so I had to fish it out of the bin. But I feel good enough about my interview experience and subsequent acceptance at DGP and kinda expected a rejection from Columbia (since I hadn't heard from them) so that doesn't hurt at all ;P

Hi! I'm another Chinese out there. I didn't apply to Tufts or look up statistics on post-interview acceptance rate of international students, but I guess it wouldn't make sense for them to fly you in if you are "automatically out" due to funding reasons. From what I learned we international students are less likely to bring money to the program since we aren't eligible to apply for most NIH grants, which means the program has to be prepared to pay you out of their own pocket and therefore admission could be more selective. But, without meaning to get your hopes up, I don't think it rules you out from being considered for acceptance as long as they didn't explicitly state that they wouldn't accept international students for the incoming class, especially post-interivew. 
I also saw your previous post. Just get prepared to answer why you want to do a PhD (maybe why do it in the US in your case) and to explain your research clearly. Sometimes they want to know how you are prepared to face/how you faced challenges in your academic life, and answers with an example of how you overcame a difficult time in life or a hobbit you believe would relieve your stress (classical music/reading/having cats) would usually do. My American PI once told me that it's important to project yourself as confident and passionate about research during interviews, which I found myself coming from a Chinese background taking some time to adjust to. I can't think of any topics to avoid (maybe don't get too politicized?) as long as your conversation stays around research and the academic life. I don't really know what sort of person gets rejected after an interview as most people I know from interviews are accepted. However, I did know one guy who was rejected by two programs where he didn't write post-interview thank you notes to his interviewers. So maybe do try and remember writing thank you notes...?

So far I received admissions from all three places that I've interviewed and got into my one of my top choices. I'm already so content about my application season but also wish the future interviews would go well  (I plan to turn down offers in the middle of March as by then all the interviews and open house are done. Hope it won't be too late for people on the waitlist.)

So far I received admissions from all three places that I've interviewed and got into my one of my top choices. I'm already so content about my application season but also wish the future interviews would go well  (I plan to turn down offers in the middle of March as by then all the interviews and open house are done. Hope it won't be too late for people on the waitlist.)

So far I received admissions from all three places that I've interviewed and got into my one of my top choices. I'm already so content about my application season but also wish the future interviews would go well  (I plan to turn down offers in the middle of March as by then all the interviews and open house are done. Hope it won't be too late for people on the waitlist.)

And Rockefeller invites are out!

Yes, three hours ago.

I'm an undergrad at UChicago and my lab knows I'm applying, so they'd tell me if invites were out, and so far I'm not aware of any. But in any case you're right that the cancer program has their own admission committee and so on, so in that sense they are pretty separate. 
Also unsolicited information: so far as I heard on last Friday, the invites for immunology at UChicago also didn't seem to have gone out. I guess this year the biomedical cluster are just starting late...

Some recommendations from a current student interviewer. This is just from my personal experiences interviewing and discussing with admissions committees.
1. Be prepared to answer WHY you want to do a PhD in general. If you are coming straight from undergraduate, be especially prepared to justify why you believe you are ready to enter directly into a PhD program instead of taking a year or two off.
2. Have justifications for why you applied to a specific institution and program. Being able to pinpoint specific faculty, resources, graduate outcomes, etc. all help show you are applying to a program for a particular reason and not just because it is ranked highly.
3. Be able to talk about your research clearly and concisely. If you do not know something, do not be afraid to say you do not know. I would rather have someone answer "I do not know" 10 times than try to make up an answer once. It is also helpful to be able to identify specific things you have taken away from each experience. Also, if you have multiple experiences, it is best to focus on the one you are most comfortable talking about rather than trying to give equal time to all of your research.
Above all, be enthusiastic about your own research, research in general, the program you are applying to, and pursuing a PhD. If you can talk about your research and genuinely seem excited about it, then that will come across to us and we will remember it more than if you can answer every single technical question flawlessly. It is okay if you are nervous and it is okay if you can't answer every question - it is not okay if you are just going through the motions.
4. For faculty interviews, don't worry about knowing their work inside and out. If you want, you can read a couple abstracts from their most recent papers + look at their lab websites, but anything beyond that is not expected.
5. Prepare questions! They can be general questions about graduate school, specific questions about a PIs research, etc., but do not just sit there blankly if you are asked if you have any further questions.
6. If you have a student interview in addition to faculty interviews, be forewarned that at many schools this interview will be weighted alongside your other interviews. This means you need to maintain professionalism and decorum.
7. You ARE being evaluated at all times, but 90% of the evaluation that goes into the final decision is done during the interviews. However, there are really only three things you can do that will get you immediately disqualified (and yes, I have seen each of these happen at least once): (1) Making sexist, racist, or homophobic remarks, (2) falling asleep during an interview, and (3) aggressively hitting on current students or PIs to the point of harassment. Every year, without fail, there are at least three recruits who do one of these things (usually #1 or #3) and are disqualified from consideration.
8. It is okay to drink alcohol if you are someone who likes to drink alcohol. It is okay to abstain from alcohol if you are someone who likes to abstain from alcohol. It is NOT okay to get belligerently drunk and make bigoted remarks or harass current students or other recruits. I would recommend knowing your limits and what type of drinker you are - we want you to have fun but try not to embarrass yourself. Believe it or not, we have accepted people who have gotten black out drunk and thrown up at recruitment parties, but do not put yourself into that situation.
9. Dress to impress for your interview day. A full suit is unnecessary for guys, but some nice slacks, a good button down, and a blazer will suit you well for all interviews. Gals, do not wear heels - you will seriously regret it. For the rest of the weekend, feel free to wear whatever is comfortable.
10. Have fun! All participating faculty and students go into the interview weekends trying to recruit EVERYONE. We want everyone to love our school and our program and want as many people to attend as possible. Talk to as many faculty and students as possible, be engaged, and generally look like you want to be there and you will find the biggest challenge will be deciding where you actually want to go from all of your options. Getting the interview is the hard part - we interview around 8-10% of applicants and accept around 75% of those interviewed. If you have gotten an interview, you have all the qualifications to get accepted - we just need to make sure that you look as good in person as you are on paper.
I hope this helps! I'm sure I'll be seeing a few of you in the coming months.
 

I also haven't heard from the travel agency. I will probably contact them by the end of the week since I am residing overseas and I want to buy the flight as early as possible - interviewing 2nd week (Feb7th-Feb9th). 

Hey friends! Yes, there are 2 interview dates (I know this because I was initially invited to the later one but couldn't go so they switched me to the earlier group) -- Jan. 17-19 and Feb. 7-9. I also haven't heard anything from the travel folks yet about arrangements for two weeks from now, but I have to assume we'll be contacted pretty soon... right?!

I emailed the graduate program coordinator at Rockefeller for an unrelated topic and learned that "interview decisions will be emailed either the second or the third week of January", in case anyone needs this information. 

I emailed the graduate program coordinator at Rockefeller for an unrelated topic and learned that "interview decisions will be emailed either the second or the third week of January", in case anyone needs this information. 

I emailed the graduate program coordinator at Rockefeller for an unrelated topic and learned that "interview decisions will be emailed either the second or the third week of January", in case anyone needs this information. 

I emailed the graduate program coordinator at Rockefeller for an unrelated topic and learned that "interview decisions will be emailed either the second or the third week of January", in case anyone needs this information.