Biomedical Science PhD Applicants (Fall 2021)

[prayingforamiracle]

26 minutes ago, wwllq said:

congrats! which program did you get in? 

Thanks! I got into the CCIB program at Rutgers Camden. It was totally unexpected, and I feel so grateful and blessed to get the opportunity. I was starting to get antsy before cuz IBMG was my only chance. How about you? What other offers did you get?

[wwllq]

11 minutes ago, prayingforamiracle said:

Thanks! I got into the CCIB program at Rutgers Camden. It was totally unexpected, and I feel so grateful and blessed to get the opportunity. I was starting to get antsy before cuz IBMG was my only chance. How about you? What other offers did you get?

Rutgers! mine is Rutgers Newark, both I³ and MBGC tracks but I need to choose one if I accept my offer. I also got into the U of Iowa, micro program. Currently I am waiting for results from BCM and MD Anderson UT health, so it may take a while to make final decisions:)..

[prayingforamiracle]

45 minutes ago, wwllq said:

Rutgers! mine is Rutgers Newark, both I³ and MBGC tracks but I need to choose one if I accept my offer. I also got into the U of Iowa, micro program. Currently I am waiting for results from BCM and MD Anderson UT health, so it may take a while to make final decisions:)..

Congratulations!! That’s a good number to choose from then. I can understand why you’re waiting for BCM and MT Anderson as they’re top programs, but thankfully, you’ll be attending a PhD program in the fall anyway. Congrats! I hope everything works out greatly for you ?

[wwllq]

1 hour ago, prayingforamiracle said:

Congratulations!! That’s a good number to choose from then. I can understand why you’re waiting for BCM and MT Anderson as they’re top programs, but thankfully, you’ll be attending a PhD program in the fall anyway. Congrats! I hope everything works out greatly for you ?

Thank you! same to you too! 

[neurokenzie]

3 hours ago, wwllq said:

Rutgers! mine is Rutgers Newark, both I³ and MBGC tracks but I need to choose one if I accept my offer. I also got into the U of Iowa, micro program. Currently I am waiting for results from BCM and MD Anderson UT health, so it may take a while to make final decisions:)..

Good luck with BCM and MD Anderson! Hope to see you in my cohort!

[wiz1810]

Not sure if anyone heard from JHU CMM but after reaching out to the admin I was told I'm "still under consideration" not sure if that means waitlisted or they haven't sent out admissions calls yet tbh 

[wiz1810]

Just now, wiz1810 said:

Not sure if anyone heard from JHU CMM but after reaching out to the admin I was told I'm "still under consideration" not sure if that means waitlisted or they haven't sent out admissions calls yet tbh 

To be clear it was a super nice email and they've all been great, but if you got in and wanna go somewhere else do ya boy a favor and let em know lol 

[parasitesrcool]

Just got the strangest (and rudest?) rejection letter from UC Davis. They flat told me why I wasn't considered for their program, and while I completely understand/have a realistic sense of my strength as an applicant, their black-and-white reasoning was incredibly demeaning and felt like a punch to the gut. And I never asked for it.

Stuff like that just isn't productive. I hope this didn't happen to anyone else here!

Edited March 3, 2021 by ggthot

[jakeperalta]

23 minutes ago, ggthot said:

Just got the strangest (and rudest?) rejection letter from UC Davis. They flat told me why I wasn't considered for their program, and while I completely understand/have a realistic sense of my strength as an applicant, their black-and-white reasoning was incredibly demeaning and felt like a punch to the gut. And I never asked for it.

Stuff like that just isn't productive. I hope this didn't happen to anyone else here!

holy shit really? if you don't mind, can you tell me what they said? I've never seen something like this -- didn't apply to UC Davis so don't know this myself but I am morbidly curious

[parasitesrcool]

3 minutes ago, jakeperalta said:

holy shit really? if you don't mind, can you tell me what they said? I've never seen something like this -- didn't apply to UC Davis so don't know this myself but I am morbidly curious

Check your DMs!

[PhDBound123]

Hi. I got accepted to CMM. They called and sent me an email. Good luck to you! 

5 hours ago, wiz1810 said:

Not sure if anyone heard from JHU CMM but after reaching out to the admin I was told I'm "still under consideration" not sure if that means waitlisted or they haven't sent out admissions calls yet tbh 

 

[wiz1810]

6 minutes ago, PhDBound123 said:

Hi. I got accepted to CMM. They called and sent me an email. Good luck to you! 

 

Congrats! Was the call today? 

[Tomthegreat]

Do people know what's the proportion of offers a program sends out at the beginning? I have heard some programs send them all at once based on past yield rate. I'm a bit dubious since for the program I am waitlisted for, they sent 60+ offers in the past couple years for a cohort of 20-25 and it would be disastrous if a lot more applicants accepted when they sent out 60 offers at once. But also I have seen some posts saying this scenario happened in some programs, so now I am very conflicted and not knowing if I should keep my hope now. 

[micro97]

Did anyone hear back from Duke about the MGM program (molecular genetics and microbiology). The interviews were 1/29-1/30 but I have not heard back since.

[Blood Type C8H10N4O2]

12 hours ago, Tomthegreat said:

Do people know what's the proportion of offers a program sends out at the beginning? I have heard some programs send them all at once based on past yield rate. I'm a bit dubious since for the program I am waitlisted for, they sent 60+ offers in the past couple years for a cohort of 20-25 and it would be disastrous if a lot more applicants accepted when they sent out 60 offers at once. But also I have seen some posts saying this scenario happened in some programs, so now I am very conflicted and not knowing if I should keep my hope now. 

I think it honestly depends on the program. Some of them send a good amount more because Im sure they go based off statistics from previous years of offers vs. matriculation. However, some send the exact amount and waitlist everyone else. This year has a been a ridiculous increase in applications so I guess programs are still figuring out what to do. I'd say be hopeful until you get a rejection! 

[icsyr]

13 hours ago, Tomthegreat said:

Do people know what's the proportion of offers a program sends out at the beginning? I have heard some programs send them all at once based on past yield rate. I'm a bit dubious since for the program I am waitlisted for, they sent 60+ offers in the past couple years for a cohort of 20-25 and it would be disastrous if a lot more applicants accepted when they sent out 60 offers at once. But also I have seen some posts saying this scenario happened in some programs, so now I am very conflicted and not knowing if I should keep my hope now. 

Agreed with what "blood type" said. It is wholly program dependent, and I think largely dictated by the size of the program and the amount of NIH or external funding the program receives.

From my personal experience:

I interviewed with Duke Immunology -- there were a total of 25 people interviewing. They expect a class size of around 5. This year, instead of being able to send offers to an excess of people, they were only able to send out exact or slightly more than they hope to matriculate. Everybody else was either immediately rejected or added to the waitlist. I was waitlisted and then withdrew my application. They said this was due to COVID and funding, and they needed to get additional approval from the medical school to facilitate more admits. 

In my interview with UPenn, they had at least 2 weekends, and each weekend had about 50-60 people. They told us from the jump that they hoped to offer spots to nearly everybody that was interviewing. If there were two weekends, that's 120 people, but their typical class size is 30-40 students - a far larger admit pool than matriculants. 

UCSF had two weekends of interviews, with about 40 people per weekend - so, 80 total. They told us flat out that they hope to have a class size of 25 and they will send admits to about 55 people. So compared to Duke, they were less selective after the interview process; but compared to Penn, they were more selective after the interview process. Just dependent on the school/program/size of program/funding.

[micro97]

On 3/1/2021 at 7:03 PM, IgGradschool said:

Has anyone heard from Columbia CMBS MI&I yet?

I have not heard back either. I saw some people got rejected while others got accepted but it has been complete radio silence for me and it is making me very nervous

[Tomthegreat]

1 hour ago, Blood Type C8H10N4O2 said:

I think it honestly depends on the program. Some of them send a good amount more because Im sure they go based off statistics from previous years of offers vs. matriculation. However, some send the exact amount and waitlist everyone else. This year has a been a ridiculous increase in applications so I guess programs are still figuring out what to do. I'd say be hopeful until you get a rejection! 

Thank you for this post! I will just keep my hope up but expect nothing ?

[Tomthegreat]

16 minutes ago, icsyr said:

Agreed with what "blood type" said. It is wholly program dependent, and I think largely dictated by the size of the program and the amount of NIH or external funding the program receives.

From my personal experience:

I interviewed with Duke Immunology -- there were a total of 25 people interviewing. They expect a class size of around 5. This year, instead of being able to send offers to an excess of people, they were only able to send out exact or slightly more than they hope to matriculate. Everybody else was either immediately rejected or added to the waitlist. I was waitlisted and then withdrew my application. They said this was due to COVID and funding, and they needed to get additional approval from the medical school to facilitate more admits. 

In my interview with UPenn, they had at least 2 weekends, and each weekend had about 50-60 people. They told us from the jump that they hoped to offer spots to nearly everybody that was interviewing. If there were two weekends, that's 120 people, but their typical class size is 30-40 students - a far larger admit pool than matriculants. 

UCSF had two weekends of interviews, with about 40 people per weekend - so, 80 total. They told us flat out that they hope to have a class size of 25 and they will send admits to about 55 people. So compared to Duke, they were less selective after the interview process; but compared to Penn, they were more selective after the interview process. Just dependent on the school/program/size of program/funding.

Thank you for sharing this information! I guess the program I am waitlisted is kinda something in between Duke Immunology and UCSF while I am not sure. Congrats on your acceptances to all these awesome programs!

[devcby]

Reposting from Biology admissions forum.

Accepted to Princeton molecular biology (based on results it seems they sent all acceptances and rejections today?). Also was rejected from Harvard BBS pretty much at the same time (knew it was coming).

Very excited for Princeton will probably be attending (unless I potentially get into Stanford then idk). Incredibly fortunate to have these offers. 

[cantbelieveitsnotbutter]

17 hours ago, devcby said:

Reposting from Biology admissions forum.

Accepted to Princeton molecular biology (based on results it seems they sent all acceptances and rejections today?). Also was rejected from Harvard BBS pretty much at the same time (knew it was coming).

Very excited for Princeton will probably be attending (unless I potentially get into Stanford then idk). Incredibly fortunate to have these offers. 

Nice! Feel fortunate to have interviewed but wasn't offered admission in the end.... and I was rejected by Harvard BBS at the same time lol (knew it was coming too). Certainly jealous, but all the candidates I spoke with were solid, so not really. Totally deserve it. Would hate to be the person in charge of deciding who to chose each year.

[PhDBound123]

On 3/2/2021 at 7:40 PM, wiz1810 said:

Congrats! Was the call today? 

Thanks! Yes, the call was on Tuesday. Good luck to you!

[neurokenzie]

23 hours ago, Tomthegreat said:

Thank you for this post! I will just keep my hope up but expect nothing ?

I just scrolled through here and saw your signature change, congrats on MD Anderson!!

[Tomthegreat]

58 minutes ago, neurokenzie said:

I just scrolled through here and saw your signature change, congrats on MD Anderson!!

Thank you! Loving this recognition since you saw that change lol. 

[Quiteña]

Hi guys, looking for some advice! I pretty much decided on a grad school, but another one of my options has offered me additional fellowships with a significantly increased stipend (11.5k increase by my third year). Does anyone know if it's possible to contact my first choice school and say something along the lines of "are there any additional financial opportunities I can pursue?" I don't want to come across as haggling or demanding them to match the stipend, but my S/O is attending medical school at the same time and it's quite expensive, so anything helps. Can programs even offer more than the stipend they declare? I don't really know how to go about this, and would appreciate any insight/advice. Thanks so much!

Edited March 4, 2021 by Quiteña