greenertea

Yup!

Don't wanna post a full profile cause I'm lazy and I already did it on another site that most people are probably familiar with, but I've just accepted my offer for UPenn's CAMB program. Good luck everyone else still working on a decision!

Congrats! Although I would pick schools based on how many faculty are there that you'd be interested in working with and whether the location is minimally livable, I would say one thing about Caltech. I live in the city of Los Angeles and I wouldn't consider Pasadena really a part of LA. I wouldn't let the proximity of Pasadena to L.A. be a selling point for you. If you don't have a car, forget it completely. If you do, the traffic will be enough of a hassle to keep you from going very often. Potentially you could live in L.A. and commute, but it'll be a pain. Just thought I'd give some advice in case you were partially drawn to Caltech because it's "in LA". Hope it helps. Also, I would have to respectfully disagree with Spew - every Caltech student I've met (grad and undergrad) has been really unhappy with their work-life balance and couldn't wait to get out. Caltech is a place for type A personalities to thrive, but can be a bit much for everyone else.

I have a friend still waiting to hear from the following schools (he's international). Anyone know if there is still a chance of admission still? UMass, UT Austin, Texas A&M, NYU, Michigan

I'm debating between Penn and Weill Cornell at the moment. I liked both schools a lot actually, definitely taking the edge off of all the rejections. I'm leaning towards Penn at the moment but I would really love living in in New York and did like a lot of the faculty I met at Cornell. Also, I worry that since Cornell was my 7th interview and Penn was my first I have an inherent bias towards Penn :/ Lol, this is all more complicated than I ever imagined.

I've had 4 post interview rejections and am expecting a 5th one soon. I know how you feel, it's hard not to take it personal. I've contacted a couple of the schools I was rejected at and it seems they mostly rejected me because of my lack of outward enthusiasm for the program (which I attribute to my generally quiet demeanor and being tired from so much plane travel all the time) . It sounds like this could be true in your case if you already had another school as top choice?

Thanks all for the encouragement! And yes, emmm, this professor was the one who initiated contact with me originally. But I'll probably bump into him at a conference again, just hope it's not awkward.

In case anyone is curious, a mini update: he never responded to my email. No regrets sending it, but I sure hope I didn't offend him.

I'm still waiting on Stanford technically, but I feel like since they called people last week it's probably a rejection. Which home program did you interview with? I interviewed with biochemistry and saw an acceptance posted from biophysics and cancer biology not that long ago, so I don't think all programs are done sending out acceptances.

From what I gather from my survey stalking skills, they have gotten back to people on the Wednesday after the first two interviews. I dunno if they're planning the same thing after the last interview.

Intel for people waiting to hear back from MIT Biology: I heard through the grapevine that from each of the two first interviews they accept the top 1/3 of the applicants. They wait until the end of the third interview to review the rest and by the end they will accept roughly 70% of the total people they interview.

In addition to Coonskee's advice, I would ask where you are on the waitlist/how likely it is that you will be able to get off the waitlist. That might give you a better idea of your chances.

Lol, it was so long ago I don't remember very many names, but I'm sure I met you at some point. Congrats and have fun at Columbia!

Thanks for all the advice! Indeed, I was really impressed with his work and wanted to thank him earlier but it easily slips the mind when you're constantly preparing for and attending interviews. I have no intention of contacting him to try to reverse the decision. I hold no grudges or regrets at all in fact -- I'm sure the committee had their reasons. @coonskee, I was at the first weekend so not sure if you were there or not?

So I recently got rejected from a school but had been meaning to sent a thank you letter to a professor who emailed before the interview and took extra time at the interview to talk to me about his project. But sadly, I got rejected from this school I had been meaning to send him a thank you letter, but it sort of got away from me with all the other interview madness. Do you think it's awkward that I send him a thank you letter now? Thanks in advance

It depends on the program, which one was it? I've heard back in as little of as a week, but if they have multiple rounds of interviews sometimes they take longer. I know Columbia told us they were going to wait until they finished both interview weekends before starting to send out invites, which was about 3 weeks after I interviewed with them.

I don't think the transition from plant bio to micro should be such a problem. And my school, they have a even have a joint program department for these fields, Plant and Microbial Biology. The only weakness might be if you have no coursework in molecular biology or cell biology. I think more time in an academic lab will help anyone looking to reapply, for any reason. I would NOT narrow your focus in your search for a lab for your free year to only environmental micro, but any micro lab. Especially since you have plant bio experience, I'm sure labs that study pathogens of plans would be particularly interested in your resume. Hope it works out, but it's pretty early to give up hope in your application already.

Did you get rejected from Rutgers and TJU or are you turning them down?

I agree. If you can communicate the design and significance of your research projects verbally, it shows much better scientific communication skills . If you do bring figures, I feel like you should make sure they're very simple -- no complex gels or charts. I would only want to use a figure if I was trying to communicate that's something difficult to describe verbally.

Usually they take 3x the target number of enrollment, so sounds like they'll probably take nearly everyone. Saw an acceptance posted on the survey for UCSF Tetrad! Trying not to freak out! If the person who posted that sees this, can you give any details? When/what they said, etc?

Oh also, the professor said we can also mention acceptances we have at other programs to get an advantage if you contact admissions, as long as you do it politely. Like, "I am considering this school, but I REALLY want to go to your school" I dunno how comfortable I'd feeling doing that though.

@Business2Biology, So a few things they told me: 1. If the school is really your #1 pick and you'd definitely go there if admitted, multiple professors encouraged us to contact admissions and let them know as this will bump you up if you're on the border. 2. If you have a serious girlfriend/boyfriend who will be in the area or going to the same school, it helps to mention this when contacting admissions because they do consider this an incentive for you to come and that you will commit to the program. 3. Although it's sort of late in the game for this, if you live in the area where the school is or if you happening to be visiting the area, it is possible to contact admissions and ask them if it's possible to schedule an interview since you "happen to be in the neighborhood". The professor I talked to told me if you're on the border for getting an interview, the committee will definitely consider this because it saves them money. Don't know if this will work for all programs, but this is what I was told when I visited Columbia. Hope it helps!

I'm hoping to make a decision by mid March, after I've been to all the interviews and heard back from all of my schools.

Yeah, I came to that conclusion much later. It's pretty annoying since I emailed them ahead of time and asked them if I really needed it, and they said yes. If I had known I could have gotten away with it, I could have saved myself a ton of money and time. Especially since I declined their interview in the end anyway!

Thanks! I did enjoy it