DevoLevo

It looks like they didn't go out all together (someone from the neuro home program in another thread got theirs a few hours earlier than I did), but they are probably getting all invites out today.

Official Stanford Biosciences email invites just went out (seven minutes ago)

I didn't respond at first (it was indeed a bit vague whether they wanted a reply) but then I got nervous last week and responded with an "I accept your invite" type of email. That's when I got the reply confirming and mentioning an official email on the 11th.

Nope. The department contact said I would get the follow-up email on the 11th - I think it's just taking longer to get invites out than they expected.

The invite I got was from the Molecular biosciences (not the specific sub-divisions within that), so I assume EEB/ CEB will both come from the Darwinian Sciences dept. I did get the email on 12/10 though so they got around to sending stuff out real quick. Would also be really surprised if they were only inviting four people.

I agree on all counts and will add one more Evidence that previous PhD students are publishing / graduating in a reasonable time frame - Aside from making sure the lab has a good track record in publishing reasonably often and in good journals, I like to make sure that PhD students who have been in the lab for awhile are getting their names on these papers as well. And that all the PhD students in the lab haven't been there for 6+ years.

I don't think so. They were supposed to send out the official email (from Biosciences, not the individual depts) on Friday, but they did not. I take that to mean that some home programs are still sending invites and that's why the main official email hasn't gone out yet.

It looks like the invites for the biology home program just went out. I haven't seen any posts specific to the Neuro home program go up in the results section so they may not have gone out yet.

This is really helpful (And BabyScientist's additional comments as well)! I was planning to be taking notes during interviews so its good to know that that's not the way to go.

No I got the informal one in December, its not with the Neuro or Cancer Bio home program though (I don't know that either of those programs have sent out emails to prospectives yet). But the program coordinator said we would get the official invite today, which I took to mean an official invite from the Biosciences umbrella since the interviews are all at the same time.

Theoretically the official email is supposed to come today- my assumption is that that goes for all the home programs.

Different question about interviews: what's the dress code? And will it vary by school? My assumption is business casual, and probably closer to the science version of business casual which leans more casual... Anyone who has interviewed previous years that can give me a better idea? I don't want to show up in black jeans and a blazer to a room full of suits.

It looks to me like you've got a really solid profile. Very similar to mine actually (3.5 GPA @ a mid tier college, 2 years undergrad part time research, 2 years related but different post-grad full-time research). I applied this cycle and got interviews at 9/10 places I applied, most of which were top tier programs (stanford biosciences, Berkeley mcb, Columbia biosciences etc.). I think a strategic set of high quality recommendations and well-revised SOP helps a lot. I didn't submit my GRE scores unless it was a requirement because they were very average - only one school required them anyways. As far as advice, I would make sure that your letters of rec are going to be really strong by staying in touch with your potential recommenders and then spend a lot of revision time on your personal statement especially if writing isn't your strongest suit. Most places will give you length guidelines for your SOP, I would shoot for 2 pgs/ 1000 words or so-- start with a more flowery intro if you like but then get into talking about the research you've done and how it ties into what you want to do in graduate school. I think volunteering or other outside activities are only useful if they fit into the story you're trying to tell with you SOP - don't just do it for another bullet point on your resume.

I haven't heard anything yet, I emailed a couple weeks ago and they indicated that we would hear back this week. I saw one post on the results page indicating someone had gotten an interview invite today.

I got an informal interview notification on the 21st. I have yet to get the official notification so there's always a chance that they are still notifying.