Biomedical Science PhD Applicants (Fall 2021)

[Research Enthusiast]

Also, the sad part is many people must be following this thread but very few are actively posting about their interviews, acceptances, and rejections which makes it very hard to get an idea about a particular school's thought process on sending invites. We need more people to actively participate!

[Cancerbiologisttobe_]

1 minute ago, Research Enthusiast said:

Also, the sad part is many people must be following this thread but very few are actively posting about their interviews, acceptances, and rejections which makes it very hard to get an idea about a particular school's thought process on sending invites. We need more people to actively participate!

I agree!! It would be nice to have a more active thread! We can all use the reassurance and support!

[biolgurl]

I see on the results page that some people have heard from Weill Cornell BCMB! I applied to their pharmacology program, but haven’t heard. Anyone else?

[icsyr]

I can chime in after a small period of lurking.

I have submitted applications for 8 schools and 9 programs:

UW - Immunology, UW - MCB, UCSF - BMS, Boston U - PiBS, Harvard - BBS, UPenn - CAMB, UNC - BBSP, Duke - BSP (Immunology), Brown - MCBGP

Thus far, I have received interviews from UNC BBSP and UPenn CAMB. My understanding is that UCSF intends to notify applicants by Dec 19; unsure of Harvard BBS timeline (likely soon?). 

I'll chime back in later today if I receive anything from the two mentioned above, since it seems a lot of people are curious about those programs this cycle.

Good luck, everyone!

[Cancerbiologisttobe_]

Just now, icsyr said:

I can chime in after a small period of lurking.

I have submitted applications for 8 schools and 9 programs:

UW - Immunology, UW - MCB, UCSF - BMS, Boston U - PiBS, Harvard - BBS, UPenn - CAMB, UNC - BBSP, Duke - BSP (Immunology), Brown - MCBGP

Thus far, I have received interviews from UNC BBSP and UPenn CAMB. My understanding is that UCSF intends to notify applicants by Dec 19; unsure of Harvard BBS timeline (likely soon?). 

I'll chime back in later today if I receive anything from the two mentioned above, since it seems a lot of people are curious about those programs this cycle.

Good luck, everyone!

Good luck to you too!! We share being applicants to BMS at UCSF. Hopefully we both hear back with good news! 

[ndd23123]

7 minutes ago, Research Enthusiast said:

Also, the sad part is many people must be following this thread but very few are actively posting about their interviews, acceptances, and rejections which makes it very hard to get an idea about a particular school's thought process on sending invites. We need more people to actively participate!

Most applicants aren't even aware of this website. I certainly wasn't when I applied (and I'm glad that I wasn't). What you're seeing is a very small sample of the population.

[Cancerbiologisttobe_]

Just now, ndd23123 said:

Most applicants aren't even aware of this website. I certainly wasn't when I applied (and I'm glad that I wasn't). What you're seeing is a very small sample of the population.

It definitely can be toxic and raise anxiety levels more than they already are- I wish I didnt know about it tbh lol

[StressedAllDay]

Hey I am an international student just completed my undergrad from a US institution.

Applied to 5 PhD programs, not heard back from anywhere yet. 

Applied to University of Arizona ABBS, University of Rochester, University of Virginia, University of Notre Dame and Ohio State University. 

I am so freaking out, checking my email, reddit and gradcafe every five minutes!

[Cancerbiologisttobe_]

5 minutes ago, StressedAllDay said:

Hey I am an international student just completed my undergrad from a US institution.

Applied to 5 PhD programs, not heard back from anywhere yet. 

Applied to University of Arizona ABBS, University of Rochester, University of Virginia, University of Notre Dame and Ohio State University. 

I am so freaking out, checking my email, reddit and gradcafe every five minutes!

You got this! You will hear back ??

[wiz1810]

Just got my rejection from UW-CMB, good luck to all who applied. Still waiting on UMICH-PIBS, JHU-CMM, CWRU-BSTP, Northwestern-DGP, UIC-GEMS, and Brown-MPP

[wiz1810]

I wish I could somehow block myself from this website, def spiraling 

[Research Enthusiast]

Guys. Just received an interview invitation from UNC-BBSP. However, the email had landed in spam and I didn’t even notice it for 20 mins. Keep checking your spam folder too. Interview scheduled in February.

[prospective_molbio]

30 minutes ago, wiz1810 said:

I wish I could somehow block myself from this website, def spiraling 

 

lol i feel you

[dymatthew]

2 hours ago, Sky_china said:

what I recived that email  on Nov 20th and still haven't heard anything. I am jealous

Same here, received the email Nov 18th the day after submitting and haven't heard back yet.

[Sky_china]

Just now, dymatthew said:

Same here, received the email Nov 18th the day after submitting and haven't heard back yet.

I emailed the admin tho. She told me if I applied before priority deadline, I should hear something back before Chrismas. 

[dymatthew]

Just now, Sky_china said:

I emailed the admin tho. She told me if I applied before priority deadline, I should hear something back before Chrismas. 

Somehow this makes me more anxious haha

[prospective_molbio]

Anyone hear anything from Harvard BBS??

[Neuromantic]

Still haven't heard from UNC BBSP... And I applied by the final deadline. I don't get it.

[PapaSeanL]

Just now, prospective_molbio said:

Anyone hear anything from Harvard BBS??

Someone on the result page received interview today lol. I'm screwed lol.

[pipettingerror]

Just now, prospective_molbio said:

Anyone hear anything from Harvard BBS??

Just now, PapaSeanL said:

Someone on the result page received interview today lol. I'm screwed lol.

I saw it too and my heart dropped. I think it might be worthwhile to wait a bit though, since its just one poster. Plenty of trolls around these parts.

[prospective_molbio]

Just now, pipettingerror said:

I saw it too and my heart dropped. I think it might be worthwhile to wait a bit though, since its just one poster. Plenty of trolls around these parts.

Yeah it seems that in the past, Harvard BBS sends out all invites on the same day... so we shouldn't start worrying too much until more people start posting that they received an interview

[PapaSeanL]

7 minutes ago, pipettingerror said:

I saw it too and my heart dropped. I think it might be worthwhile to wait a bit though, since its just one poster. Plenty of trolls around these parts.

 

4 minutes ago, prospective_molbio said:

Yeah it seems that in the past, Harvard BBS sends out all invites on the same day... so we shouldn't start worrying too much until more people start posting that they received an interview

True, let's give it some time.

Heard from some people Harvard bio science programs (ssqbio, bbs, MCO) are cutting 20% from incoming year and also looking to decrease hiring rate of Harvard research techs/post-bacs. As an international student and a harvard hire I wish I at least have the self-control to not check gradcafe every 10 minutes lol

[prospective_molbio]

Just now, PapaSeanL said:

 

True, let's give it some time.

Heard from some people Harvard bio science programs (ssqbio, bbs, MCO) are cutting 20% from incoming year and also looking to decrease hiring rate of Harvard research techs/post-bacs. As an international student and a harvard hire I wish I at least have the self-control to not check gradcafe every 10 minutes lol

Do you know if this is specifically for this year because of the pandemic, or just in general going forward? I would think that Harvard has more than enough funding to not change the amount of people they are admitting/hiring...

[ChromatoKath]

2 hours ago, Research Enthusiast said:

Also, the sad part is many people must be following this thread but very few are actively posting about their interviews, acceptances, and rejections which makes it very hard to get an idea about a particular school's thought process on sending invites. We need more people to actively participate!

I applied to Emory GDBBS and Baylor DDMT. No word yet. Last LoR (granted, the +1 to the required 3) was submitted two days ago. Emory's deadline was Dec 1. BCM's early deadline was also Dec 1. 

[PapaSeanL]

Decided to share my stats and schools after quite a bit of lurking lol.

International application with US undergrad. BS in aerospace engineering.

4 papers published (3th/4th author in three of them and 2nd in a biorxiv preprint that is under review at a IF ~25 journal).

1 summer intern at automobile company, manager wrote me a strong letter. (was still doing engineering stuff there).

13 months of undergrad research (30 hr a week average and full time in one summer). Apparently very strong rec from PI. Three papers from this.

17 months full time research after graduation at a Harvard lab. Inherited 1 project and was the experimental lead (2nd author preprint, and 1st author in prep). currently leading two projects (will be sole 1st author in one and co 1st author in the other). 

I'm applying to both engineering and biology/biophysics programs.

Caltech BE (talked to an applied physics prof before applying but he is not on admission committee of BE)

Stanford BE

Harvard SSQBio/BBS/BE

MIT BE/Biology/Media lab (got one interview from one of my POI at Media Lab)

Princeton MAE

Berkeleu Biophysics (Talked to a prof on admission committee and he likes me)

UChicago PME

Yale BE

CMU BME

Gatech BE

USC BME