2020 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[Amirreza91]

5 hours ago, skar said:

now I've seen both interview requests and rejections and still have received no info... anyone else in the same boat? 

I'm an international applicant and applied for 17 (ranked 30 to 400) programs! University of Nebraska Medical Center rejected me after a week (Rolling basis).

I haven't received any info from all the other institutions yet! Should I be freaking out? Is it possible that they send domestic interviews invitations earlier than the international applicants?

 

[VirtualCell]

Just got an interview email from Harvard BBS!  I haven't gotten any other notifications yet.

Generic format, e.g.: 

> It is my great pleasure to invite you to visit the Harvard University Division of Medical Sciences Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS). 

> Our Admissions Committee has selected you as an excellent candidate for entry into the BBS program.  The next step in our admissions process is an interview where you will meet individually with multiple BBS faculty members and receive a broad introduction to our program, our students and the Harvard Medical School environment. 

But I thought they wouldn't be sending anything out until January, so I was super pleasantly surprised! 

Edited December 20, 2019 by VirtualCell

[EVIL GENIUS]

1 hour ago, VirtualCell said:

Just got an interview email from Harvard BBS!  I haven't gotten any other notifications yet.

Generic format, e.g.: 

> It is my great pleasure to invite you to visit the Harvard University Division of Medical Sciences Program in Biological and Biomedical Sciences (BBS). 

> Our Admissions Committee has selected you as an excellent candidate for entry into the BBS program.  The next step in our admissions process is an interview where you will meet individually with multiple BBS faculty members and receive a broad introduction to our program, our students and the Harvard Medical School environment. 

But I thought they wouldn't be sending anything out until January, so I was super pleasantly surprised! 

Exactly me. I applied to several safe schools and they didn't want me. BBS is the first notification I got. I was totally frustrated these days.

[cc92]

Congrats everyone who’s getting interviews!! Just wondering, at what point should we start to kinda freak out about not having any yet? 

[EVIL GENIUS]

13 minutes ago, cc92 said:

Congrats everyone who’s getting interviews!! Just wondering, at what point should we start to kinda freak out about not having any yet? 

At least that start with me on 12th when Baylor start to send out their interview. 

[rnabio]

Does anyone know whether Yale's BQBS invites are all sent out? I have a few interviews that overlap with the BQBS track's date and I'm really afraid to commit to another school just to be invited to Yale.

[blondebiophysicist]

Welp, all my schools except one have sent out invites. How much do I need to panic? Or should I start considering other options....?

[TheDefeater]

On 12/19/2019 at 12:22 PM, Genom3 said:

Congrats ! Do you mind sharing your credentials? Thats a great list of schools  And by any chance do you know if UPenn CAMB is done sending out invites? Thanks !

I don't know if they are finished, I was invited for one date in early January which means they may potentially have more coming up.

 

18 hours ago, BiologistTW30 said:

Hi! I also applied to Princeton Molecular Biology and Harvard MCO but haven't heard back from them yet. Would you mind to share when did you receive the invitation from Princeton?

BTW, I am an international applicant. I wonder if these programs would send out interview emails in separate batches for domestic vs international students.

I received a phone call on the 18th. I believe for international students the game is different so I would be patient and I wish you best of luck.

[TheDefeater]

Just received an interview for Cornell BCMB in January.

Has anybody heard from Harvard MCO? Given the mistake I made in the application, I would not be surprised at all if I am automatically rejected.

 

[liamhohoho]

I am currently in a graduate program and have got involved in the recruitment process. Just needed to move to another city so I applied again.

During this application season, almost every program who waived the GRE received a lot more applications than before. I have heard some biomedical sciences programs had unusually large (like double in size) and strong applicant pool this year. Congrats to the ones who already got interview invitations! To those who still not heard from the programs, don’t be too panic. A good amount of programs are sending the invitation in early January. In addition, some very competitive applicants will definitely get offers from multiple but they can only choose one. After March, there could be chance for the students who are waitlisted. Once you get the offer you want the best, decline the others, the programs and other applicants will definitely appreciate it.

 

[scientista127]

I got an interview by email today for Baylor's Immunology program!

[computationaldd]

Undergrad Institution: UC Santa Barbara
Major(s): College of Creative Studies (basically a small honors college separate from L&S) Biochemistry
Minor(s): N/A
GPA in Major: 3.8
Overall GPA: 3.8
Type of Student: Domestic, female/nonbinary, I think I'm technically considered a minority because I am disabled (?)

GRE Scores:
Q: 163 (86%)
V: 161 (82%)
W: 4.5 (81%)
No Subject GRE (too much $$$)

Research Experience: 

• 2.5 yrs Computational chemistry project working one-on-one with a professor, working on a 1st-author pub, lots of poster presentations, funding sources, etc.
• Summer research at Tufts in Neuroscience, lots of poster presentations, one poster funded at a national conference
• Recent work as a software developer within an Environmental Science lab

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)

• Summer research via UCSB McNair Scholars Program
• GRE prep scholarship via UCSB McNair Scholars Program
• Several offers for summer research at other universities as well as a prestigious local fellowship (Declined because it required me to be a full-time student)
• Summer research at Tufts via NIH grant
• Summer research fellowship via UCSB grant
• Research grant via UCSB Grant
• Travel award for ABRCMS
• Accepted to pre-application visitation programs for graduate schools (Purdue, Penn State, Georgia Tech, RPI)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

• Board member for a newly-founded chapter of ASBMB
• Helped develop/implement a week-long science outreach program for high school biology students and recruit volunteers
• Mentored students in STEM majors through a few different orgs
• Volunteered at local STEM conferences
• Two part-time jobs, one involves shipping and receiving of chemicals/lab supplies

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

• Stressed in my SOP that my "main" research project has been pretty much independent (PI runs upper-div biochemistry lab so he has no time to help most of the time)
• Lots of unofficial programming experience
• I was able to fit in 2 summer research "experiences" last summer by choosing a program that started while my school was still in session, then did a local program after the first program ended....and still did decently in my classes, so I'm hoping this will show the adcomms I have work ethic

Special Bonus Points: 

• Spoke to POIs in person due to diversity visitation programs at some universities

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

• I accidentally ended up with 5 LORs because my PI decided he was going to submit his super late *sigh*

Applying to Where:

1. MIT - CSB (Computational & Systems Biology)
2. MIT - BE (Bioengineering)
3. UCSD - BMS (Biomedical Sciences)
4. Scripps - BMS (Biomedical Sciences)
5. UCB - Chemistry
6. UCSF - CCB (Chemistry & Chemical Biology)
7. UW - MCMP (Medicinal Chemistry & Molecular Pharmacology)
8. Purdue - IBSC (Interdisciplinary Biomedical Science)
9. Penn State - BE (Bioengineering)

If anyone else is applying to the same places, PM me and we can suffer together LMAO

[largeTantigen]

2 hours ago, rnabio said:

Does anyone know whether Yale's BQBS invites are all sent out? I have a few interviews that overlap with the BQBS track's date and I'm really afraid to commit to another school just to be invited to Yale.

Got my invite email on Dec. 13 (exactly one week ago), and got a follow up email regarding travel accommodations today. I don't know if they do waves, though, so there may still be hope!

[idealhelium]

Does anyone know if Harvard BBS sends interview invites in waves? I was told that they usually send everything out before Christmas. Haven't received anything from them and been checking this forum to see if anyone else has gotten anything (which apparently they have sent stuff out now).. honestly really bummed out and this week has been horrible..

[skar]

19 minutes ago, idealhelium said:

Does anyone know if Harvard BBS sends interview invites in waves? I was told that they usually send everything out before Christmas. Haven't received anything from them and been checking this forum to see if anyone else has gotten anything (which apparently they have sent stuff out now).. honestly really bummed out and this week has been horrible..

I've gotten so many rejections this week I feel you... it's tough out there. I also applied to BBS and have heard nothing. It's a big program so maybe they do waves? I've lost my optimism though mostly. 

[TheDefeater]

Will schools send you rejections immediately if they do not intent to accept you or do they hold rejections until later in the cycle?

[EvoDevoTW]

3 hours ago, TheDefeater said:

Just received an interview for Cornell BCMB in January.

Has anybody heard from Harvard MCO? Given the mistake I made in the application, I would not be surprised at all if I am automatically rejected.

 

I am also wondering if Harvard MCO has sent out all the invites. I saw there're only two posts of receiving interviews on 12/16 from international applicants (I*1, U*1) but none from domestic applicants. It's kinda weird... I hope MCO is still reviewing applications and would send out new waves of interview invites after winter break (finger-crossed).

 

1 hour ago, TheDefeater said:

Will schools send you rejections immediately if they do not intent to accept you or do they hold rejections until later in the cycle?

It really depends on the program. I am sure that some of them would hold rejections until March. Wish everyone the best of luck!

[darklings]

Anyone heard from Gerstner Sloan Kettering???

[rsathya70]

On 12/14/2019 at 6:30 PM, rsathya70 said:

Undergrad Institution: Private University,  known for research
Major(s): B.S in Biotechnology
Minor(s): Chemistry
GPA in Major: 9.45/10
Overall GPA: 9.3/10  (As per WES conversion: 4.0)
Type of Student: International, Woman

Got rejection mail from Wisconsin-Madison.

2020 Fall Molecular Bioloy Ph.D. Applications: Wisc-Madison, UMD, UMich, Arizona State, Utah, Rochester, Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, UI-UC

Interview (0/9) : 
Accepted (0/9): 
Rejected (1/9:   Wisc-Madison
Wait-listed (0/9?
Attending: 

Edited December 21, 2019 by rsathya70
added more info

[rosebutter]

Interview invite to MSU plant bio was sent yesterday. I am over the moon!!

[computationaldd]

Interview invite from Scripps FL campus. Only mentioned faculty/stuff about the CA campus in my app, so I'm not sure why adcomm thinks I am a great fit for the FL campus lol

Still planning to attend, though! ? It's an amazing program but an invite from FL was super unexpected 

[EvoDevoTW]

Does anyone know if UCSD Biological Sciences has sent out all the interview invites? For those receiving the invitation, would you mind sharing when did you submit your application and got invited? Thanks in advance!

[computationaldd]

Still waiting on UCSD too!

[Minhao]

Got an email from UCDavis Animal Behavior group saying that they'll contact chosen applicants on about 17 Jan, and the interview will be on 6-7 Feb.

 

[SeaHolly]

Undergrad Institution: Grinnell College
Major(s): BA in Biochemistry, BA in Physics
GPA in Major:  2.96
Overall GPA: 3.06
Type of Student: Domestic male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:  164 (84%)
V: 158 (80%)
W: 5.0 (92%)
B: 790 (82%)

Research Experience: Not as much as I would like. I got a freebie published paper in my college's neuroscience journal. Other than that, independent projects were common in lab courses. Biggest one was completely independently created by my partner and I, but it never went beyond the classroom. Still, I made it a big talking point of my applications.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2nd place in a play writing competition, and won NaNoWriMo multiple times. Not very biology-focused, I know, but I was hoping it would show that I've got more than just science to me!

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Calculus I & II tutor at my college for about a year and a half.

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I did talk a little bit about how I've taken up leadership duties in a friendly MMO raid group. Scheduling, tallying votes, assigning roles, shot calling. It's a bit of an odd example, but I think it has charm.

Applying to Where:

1. Scripps Research Institute - Chemical and Biological Sciences
2. University of Washington - Biology/Astrobiology
3. Oregon State University - Botany and Plant Pathology
4. University of California, San Diego - Chemistry & Biochemistry, Biological Sciences
5. San Diego State University - Cellular and Molecular Biology
6. University of California, Riverside - Botany and Plant Science
7. Northwestern University - Plant Biology and Conservation
8. University of Illinois at Chicago - Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics

Although my profile here isn't what I'd call stellar, especially with my GPA, I like to think my letters and GRE help to make up for it. One of my LoRs is from the professor I worked with on the Advanced Laboratory project, so I'm hoping it'll bolster my research potential.