ghostar

Looks like no news from Harvard Chemical Biology today. Hopefully tomorrow!

Don't programs generally help pay for travel? All my programs so far have given me an allowance (~$500). Even if they don't reimburse for the whole trip, I still hope that they would at least partially reimburse up to their limit. Air travel funding is totally a valid question for grad school visits - I would definitely ask the program about it if I were you.

Uh, not if you plan on applying for graduate fellowships.

Man, reviewing all apps in a single day? I wonder how many they received... Thanks for the heads-up about that.

Hmm I wonder if this could be discipline-dependent then. My friend is in chemistry, but maybe the applications for biology-flavored programs are still under review. Sorry, didn't mean to kill hope!

Word from a Scripps grad student friend is that all invitations have been sent out, and no email quite likely means no interview = rejection.

I think you could get this information more quickly by contacting the department directly. I'd recommend inquiring about having a Skype call with a few students and faculty members there. This way, you could have a virtual department visit. Email the PI's whose work interest you the most and ask about their research plans, and in the meanwhile, read up on their most recent papers. Also, try contacting their grad students. From my experience, grad students LOVE telling prospective students about their research and their grad school life, and it's great because they are very honest and frank about the downsides as well.

Do you mean the "Edit" button? If so, there isn't one in mobile, you have to switch over to the full site view as far as I know.

That's good to hear, thanks!

Harvard's Chemical Biology doesn't seem to have sent out any notices. Its interviews are held in the first two weeks of February, so I really hope that the decisions get sent out next week.

Just two Mondays, March 2 and March 9, which is consistent with the CCB webpage.

Do you see an "Interview" tab on your application page, in addition to "Application" and "Status"?

Yes! I didn't receive any notification of some sort (email, call, mail), but my application page now has an "Interview" tab that says I'm invited for interview. Thanks for bringing this to attention, and congrats!

And also, FUNDING STATUS. Can't leave this one out.

Things like their advising philosophy (I find this very important for fit), recent challenges in their research & future directions, background of grad students coming in (like their undergrad research experience), opportunities for collaboration, things they find to be most unique about their grad program.

Okay, I guess that is the acceptance letter, then. I too thought that was kind of strange, in addition to the empty email body. Eh whatevs

Got it - thanks a lot!

What were the soft-ball questions like, may I ask? Any specific examples?

Question for those who got accepted to UW Madison: did you guys also get a blank email with an attached letter?

This is verbatim from a friend who was accepted last year but chose not to attend: "By interview, Scripps really means sanity check. Just don't be a dick, and you will most likely be accepted." If someone more familiar with the interviews can confirm, that would be great.

I wouldn't read too much into it. It may be that then POI that you're interested in is fully booked for interviews, or something.

Nothing from UCSF CCB yet. Good to know I'm not alone.

Also OP, when did you hear back from Scripps?

O_O Any specific examples of this? Does anyone has experience in / advice for group interviews? I'm gonna have one in 3 weeks, and I'm not sure what they mean by a "group interview" - is it me & a group of PI's talking, or a group of interviewees speaking with a particular PI at once?

Check out Linda Hsieh-Wilson's lab at Caltech.