2020 Computational Biology/Bioinformatics/Systems Biology PhD Admissions

[potoooooooo]

Just got an interview for Penn (Jan 23-26 or Feb 13-16)!

Harvard BIG
MIT CSB
Tri-Institutional
UCLA Bioinformatics [12/6]
UCSF Bioinformatics
JHU BME
UC Berkeley Computational Biology
Yale CBB
Princeton QCB
UCSD BISB
UChicago GGSB
UCI MCSB
Penn GCB [12/10]

[Interview Notification] [Acceptance] [Waitlist] [Rejection]
(None means still waiting)

[multivites]

6 hours ago, potoooooooo said:

Just got an interview for Penn (Jan 23-26 or Feb 13-16)!

Harvard BIG
MIT CSB
Tri-Institutional
UCLA Bioinformatics [12/6]
UCSF Bioinformatics
JHU BME
UC Berkeley Computational Biology
Yale CBB
Princeton QCB
UCSD BISB
UChicago GGSB
UCI MCSB
Penn GCB [12/10]

[Interview Notification] [Acceptance] [Waitlist] [Rejection]
(None means still waiting)

What are your stats? I have applied to many of the same programs but haven't heard back yet, wondering if I reached to hard

[BioBoy0323]

Undergrad Institution: University of Florida
Major(s): Biology, Specializing in biotechnology
Minor(s): Bioinformatics
GPA in Major:  4.0
Overall GPA:  4.0

Type of Student: White male US

GRE Scores: Did not take as it is not required


Research Experience: Around 5 years of research (did a few different labs at the same time).

1) 5.5 years under a genetic/horticulture researcher doing bioinformatics (differential expressions and genome assembly) work as well as some small wet lab things. (I was 15/16 when I started under him)

2) 1.5 years under an assistant professor whose lab focusing on synthetic biology and transcriptional control in bacteria.

3) About 4 months working at the USDA creating various pipelines and software.

4) About 8 months working with a bioinformatician correcting annotations and improving various pipelines. I also TA for him for genetics.

5) 2 papers publishes as of now. One as an X author in a Nature Biotechnology and one as a second author in an F1000 journal. I am currently in the process of becoming first author on 2 more publication as well as an X author on three more. (Will be a stronger applicant in the Fall of 2020)

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:  Dean List (not much for me here)


Applying to Where:

MIT CSB

I have decided to take a gap year if I do not make it in this semester. I only applied this term as I also wanted to apply to MIT XD. Next year I will be applying to more schools as I will have a better source of income.

 

I want to study protein design and synthetic biology to create new metabolic pathways.

 

Edited December 11, 2019 by BioBoy0323

[thelilypad]

Undergrad Institution: USC
Major(s): Computer Science/Business Administration
Minor(s): None, unofficially Marketing
GPA in Major:  3.83
Overall GPA:  3.79

Type of Student: White female US, 24

GRE Scores: 170 V/169 Q/5.5 W

Research Experience: Debatable. I used to run a company that I founded which well, I basically did bioinformatics for that. We actually were research partners formally with Cal Poly Pomona's Computer Science department, and I technically employed one of their masters students and build our AI model to find correlations in autism data. So we did research there, and I actually was a stakeholder for two of their graduate classes (where the teams built projects for us and I directed them). I also did some short research in freshie year, but not too much.

 
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:  Trustee (full tuition merit scholarship for undergrad) USC Scholarship, Dean's List (not much for me here), graduated Magna Cum Laude - not much else either


Applying to Where:

USC C-Bio PhD, also MS Stem Cell & Regenerative Medicine

UCLA PhD Bioinformatics

UCSD BISB

Carnegie Mellon PhD C-bio & Masters too

Stanford PhD Biomedical Informatics (+ MS too)

UCB Masters

Harvard MS in Epidemiology & Quantitative Genetics

I'm interested in studying the etiology of autism and how genetic factors can be used to personalize treatment plans. I feel my app is strong in GPA, quant background, and GRE (but lots of schools don't care about GRE anymore, which sucks in my case). I feel I'm weak in research potentially (I don't have any papers, and the bulk of my research is informal/in the role of CTO of my company).

I'm hoping that work + my story (my brother is autistic so I made the company to help people like him, got into an accelerator, etc.) might help my case.

Also my Bio background is a bit peculiar too - as in I started formally taking classes (Bio I lec/lab + Chem 1 lec) this quarter. However, pre-matriculation I should have the gen bio sequence (bio 2, chem 2, ochem 2, + cell biology and genetics) complete. I also am predicted to get all or mostly As this quarter (I'm taking it through Berkeley Extension).

I also have about 3 years of full time experience at a FAANG-level company as a senior software engineer, but I don't know how much that matters.

I'm... probably an unconventional candidate. I think if I don't get into any of the PhD positions I want I'll probably wait another year, move to bioinformatics at some biotech company, and then reapply.

Edited December 11, 2019 by thelilypad

[rcon]

Does anyone know if interviews for a program typically go out on just one day? So if you didn’t hear anything when others did, it’s unlikely that they’ll be sending out more? 

[jmillar]

12 minutes ago, rcon said:

Does anyone know if interviews for a program typically go out on just one day? So if you didn’t hear anything when others did, it’s unlikely that they’ll be sending out more? 

Depends on the program. One program I applied to called a handful of people ahead of time so we could hold the interview date before official invites went out. Some trickle them over a few days, and others release them all on one day. I had another program that seemed to rely on the PIs contacting us first and then sending the invite right after.

[Vel0ciRaPTOr]

Duke Interview [12/11]

UNC Interview [12/6]

WashU STL

UM Bioinformatics

Carnegie-UPitt

UT Knoxville Genome Sciences

Yale

Cornell

Edited December 11, 2019 by Vel0ciRaPTOr

[BioBoy0323]

Do you guys think the MIT CSB program will have more applications this year than last?

2018 they had around 220

2019 they had around 308

Huge increase in applicants in just a year. 

[rcon]

On 12/11/2019 at 12:53 PM, BioBoy0323 said:

Do you guys think the MIT CSB program will have more applications this year than last?

2018 they had around 220

2019 they had around 308

Huge increase in applicants in just a year. 

Do other programs publish the amount of applicants they get as well? I feel like I haven’t seen hard numbers for almost any program

[Genom3]

Not sure about Comp Bio programs, but several Cell and Mol Bio Programs usually share this info. 

[dogmom2012]

Just got an interview for UNC! 

[jeanetic]

Update- Just heard back from my first program today! 

Here's my current status: 
UW Genome Sciences/Immuno/MCB
UBC M&I
NYU Sackler/GSAS
Harvard Immunology/SSQB
UC Berkeley Comp Bio
Yale BBS
Stanford Biosciences
UChicago Biological Sciences
UMich PIBS (Immunology)
Northwestern IBiS
UCSF BMI
Weill Cornell IMP [Interview 12/12]
Tri-Instiutional Comp Bio
Johns Hopkins Immunology
UPenn GCB
UCSD Biomedical Sciences
MIT CSB

It seems like Yale and UPenn have already sent out invites for the programs I applied to, so I assume they're both "no"s for me, but that's okay

Edited December 12, 2019 by jeanetic
typo

[rcon]

58 minutes ago, jeanetic said:

Update- Just heard back from my first program today! 

Here's my current status: 
UW Genome Sciences/Immuno/MCB
UBC M&I
NYU Sackler/GSAS
Harvard Immunology/SSQB
UC Berkeley Comp Bio
Yale BBS
Stanford Biosciences
UChicago Biological Sciences
UMich PIBS (Immunology)
Northwestern IBiS
UCSF BMI
Weill Cornell IMP [Interview 12/12]
Tri-Instiutional Comp Bio
Johns Hopkins Immunology
UPenn GCB
UCSD Biomedical Sciences
MIT CSB

It seems like Yale and UPenn have already sent out invites for the programs I applied to, so I assume they're both "no"s for me, but that's okay

Congrats on the interview!!

I also applied to UPenn and Yale and heard nothing - so I’m assuming it’s a no for me from those.

I got rejected from Dartmouth’s QBS PhD, but an offer to do one of their Master’s (data health science or epidemiology) programs starting Fall 2020. 

Edited December 12, 2019 by rcon

[BioBoy0323]

4 hours ago, rcon said:

Do other programs publish the amount of applicants they get as well? I feel like I haven’t seen hard numbers for almost any program

I contacted them the past two years to see (I wanted to apply their since my sophomore year, so I was gathering info on it) . Also, some people post their numbers, but other do not.

 

Edited December 12, 2019 by BioBoy0323

[Pjdoc]

Has penn definitely sent out invites?  

[JesseSL]

UCSC BMEB

Yale CBB

Princeton QCB

Brown Computational Biology

Colorado School of Mines Quantitative Biosciences

[Vel0ciRaPTOr]

How do we know that Yale CBB has already sent out invites? I don't see anyone on this thread confirming an invite?

Edited December 12, 2019 by Vel0ciRaPTOr

[Pjdoc]

Exactly why I asked about UPenn 

[jeanetic]

36 minutes ago, Vel0ciRaPTOr said:

How do we know that Yale CBB has already sent out invites? I don't see anyone on this thread confirming an invite?

I applied to the immunology graduate group at Yale+ I've already seen people getting invites--I have no idea about CBB, didn't mean to scare anyone!

Edited December 12, 2019 by jeanetic

[jeanetic]

45 minutes ago, Pjdoc said:

Has penn definitely sent out invites?  

For immunology yes, don't know about any other programs or if they're done! At yale and UPenn I applied to immuno rather than comp bio, sorry if I scared anyone

Edited December 12, 2019 by jeanetic

[Pjdoc]

16 minutes ago, jeanetic said:

For immunology yes, don't know about any other programs or if they're done! At yale and UPenn I applied to immuno rather than comp bio, sorry if I scared anyone

Whew thanks. Back to drinking 

[bioinf]

3 hours ago, Pjdoc said:

Has penn definitely sent out invites?  

I wouldn't take this to mean that they've sent out all of their invites, but I got an invite the other day for GCB. 

[potoooooooo]

Update (Haven't heard from Yale yet):

Harvard BIG
MIT CSB
Tri-Institutional
UCLA Bioinformatics [12/6]
UCSF Bioinformatics
JHU BME
UC Berkeley Computational Biology
Yale CBB
Princeton QCB
UCSD BISB
UChicago GGSB [12/12]
UCI MCSB
Penn GCB [12/10]

[Interview Notification] [Acceptance] [Waitlist] [Rejection]
(None means still waiting)

Also heard from faculty there that Harvard BIG might come out sometime next week

[uncertainty]

Have heard from: 

UNC BBSP [12/6]

Dartmouth QSB [12/10]

Duke CBB [12/11]

Edited December 13, 2019 by uncertainty

[sylvia8899]

8 hours ago, potoooooooo said:

Update (Haven't heard from Yale yet):

Harvard BIG
MIT CSB
Tri-Institutional
UCLA Bioinformatics [12/6]
UCSF Bioinformatics
JHU BME
UC Berkeley Computational Biology
Yale CBB
Princeton QCB
UCSD BISB
UChicago GGSB [12/12]
UCI MCSB
Penn GCB [12/10]

[Interview Notification] [Acceptance] [Waitlist] [Rejection]
(None means still waiting)

Also heard from faculty there that Harvard BIG might come out sometime next week

Hi do you know if UCLA has sent out all invites....