BU PiBS/UMD Bisi/UMB

[hazelgrace]

On 2/10/2021 at 9:35 PM, Irene39 said:

Hi I finished BUSM PiBS program interview on Monday. There was three interviews, and the rest of them was just information session. One professor asked me very detailed questions related to the Genetics part of my current research (RNA-seq, scRNAseq). The other two were very easygoing. Introducing their research to me rather than me speaking to them. 

PiBS program itself was very nice, have a lot of research funding. Program for NEIDL was super cool (BSL4 lab facility). There were about 900-1000application, invited 140 people for the interview. They are going to select about ~25 people. Stipend for upcoming year is set for $36,782/year. No TA. 

Please let me know if you have more questions and good luck on your interviews

Hi Irene!
Thanks so much for giving me an update! They're going to accept 25 only out of 140? That's tight, huh?!
Yes, PiBS is a big program. NEIDL Program, I heard, is one of the best at BUSM.  May I know the Professor who interviewed you? including the one who gave detailed questions?
No TA? hmm, interesting!
All the best for both of us! Will send prayers for your acceptance in this program!
 

[hazelgrace]

On 2/10/2021 at 9:35 PM, Irene39 said:

Hi I finished BUSM PiBS program interview on Monday. There was three interviews, and the rest of them was just information session. One professor asked me very detailed questions related to the Genetics part of my current research (RNA-seq, scRNAseq). The other two were very easygoing. Introducing their research to me rather than me speaking to them. 

PiBS program itself was very nice, have a lot of research funding. Program for NEIDL was super cool (BSL4 lab facility). There were about 900-1000application, invited 140 people for the interview. They are going to select about ~25 people. Stipend for upcoming year is set for $36,782/year. No TA. 

Please let me know if you have more questions and good luck on your interviews

Hi Irene,
I have some additional questions. Are the Professor you've interviewed with work on relevant field as your area of interest?

Thank you so much!

[Irene39]

21 hours ago, hazelgrace said:

Hi Irene,
I have some additional questions. Are the Professor you've interviewed with work on relevant field as your area of interest?

Thank you so much!

I was interested in Genetics. I did an interview with Dr. Yuriy(asked very detailed technical questions related to my previous research), Dr. Farmer, and Dr. Deeney. Two professors are from the Genetics concentration, but one professor was from nutrition and metabolism, which I did not show an interest to it. They all read your statement and CV. All the questions were from there. 

Good luck on your interview. I know you will do well. Please let me know if you have more questions. I am happy to answer them. 

[hazelgrace]

23 hours ago, Irene39 said:

I was interested in Genetics. I did an interview with Dr. Yuriy(asked very detailed technical questions related to my previous research), Dr. Farmer, and Dr. Deeney. Two professors are from the Genetics concentration, but one professor was from nutrition and metabolism, which I did not show an interest to it. They all read your statement and CV. All the questions were from there. 

Good luck on your interview. I know you will do well. Please let me know if you have more questions. I am happy to answer them. 

Omg! I know those 3 Professors.
Dr. Deeney is my Professor! Very close to him and I worked in his lab.
I also know Dr. Farmer. He gave some lectures in my class.
 

Thank you so much Irene. I will do an interview with 3 Profs that I'm totally unfamiliar with and not so related to my research interest. 

Good luck for both of us!

[Irene39]

Just now, hazelgrace said:

Omg! I know those 3 Professors.
Dr. Deeney is my Professor! Very close to him and I worked in his lab.
I also know Dr. Farmer. He gave some lectures in my class.
 

Thank you so much Irene. I will do an interview with 3 Profs that I'm totally unfamiliar with and not so related to my research interest. 

Good luck for both of us!

I actually had a great time with Dr. Deeney and Dr. Farmer. They introduce their own research and I also asked questions about that. Dr. Yuriy's interview was very detailed but nothing hard or making me nervous about it. It was all written in my statement. They all were very nice. A lot of people commented that their interview was very friendly not like interrogation room. 

[hazelgrace]

1 minute ago, Irene39 said:

I actually had a great time with Dr. Deeney and Dr. Farmer. They introduce their own research and I also asked questions about that. Dr. Yuriy's interview was very detailed but nothing hard or making me nervous about it. It was all written in my statement. They all were very nice. A lot of people commented that their interview was very friendly not like interrogation room. 

Ah, such a relieved!
Yes, Dr. Deeney is a very fun person.
And I like Dr. Farmer's project as well. I wish I got Dr. Farmer. 
I remember Dr. Yuriy's lecture on my Pathology class years ago, he talked about interesting stuff!

Thanks Irene!

[ood63]

Has anyone received their official acceptance letter from UMD BISI?  Just wondering their timeline.

[hazelgrace]

Hi,
Have you heard anything back from BU PiBS?

[queerorpheus]

On 2/25/2021 at 4:33 AM, ood63 said:

Has anyone received their official acceptance letter from UMD BISI?  Just wondering their timeline.

I just received mine last night! Super duper excited!!!

[Irene39]

14 hours ago, hazelgrace said:

Hi,
Have you heard anything back from BU PiBS?

I got an offer last night from BU PIBS program. 

[Irene39]

7 hours ago, queerorpheus said:

I just received mine last night! Super duper excited!!!

Congratulation! Do you know whether they will send an offer to international students in a different date or not? I just wonder because they had different admission committees for domestic and international students. 

[queerorpheus]

16 hours ago, Irene39 said:

Congratulation! Do you know whether they will send an offer to international students in a different date or not? I just wonder because they had different admission committees for domestic and international students. 

I'm not sure about when offers will be sent to international students. I was told the first wave will be sent within a week or two, but I don't know if that includes domestic and international students or just domestic. The program director mentioned some issues with funding that are preventing them from releasing all offers at once, but I would say no news is good news and to sit tight! 

[ni2021]

On 2/10/2021 at 8:38 AM, Irene39 said:

For international student, admission is little different from domestic students. I already had an interview in January. They said there is no more interviews for us. We might be in the same group yesterday and probably today since I applied to MOCB track. I talked to several professor that I am interested for their research via emails. Because my research interest is both molecular and computational, I am also talking to the director of CBBG today. I reach out to him yesterday whether I can talk to him. 

I did not expect that many people to come for the recruitment event yesterday. Hope for the best. Please let me know how the result come out for you. We might go to the same program

 

Hi Irene, I am also an international student. I was interviewed by one professor for UMD BISI program on Jan 22, and the professor gave me an unofficial offer during the interview, and I could choose not to be interviewed by more professors. Is it the same case as you? I have not received the official offer letter yet. Are you the same? I saw two offers posted on grad cafe last week and two weeks ago, and my email to Winkler(the coordinator for MOCB）got no response. I am even not sure if I could get the final official offer, because the whole process seems too smooth...

[ni2021]

On 2/10/2021 at 8:35 AM, Irene39 said:

Hi I finished BUSM PiBS program interview on Monday. There was three interviews, and the rest of them was just information session. One professor asked me very detailed questions related to the Genetics part of my current research (RNA-seq, scRNAseq). The other two were very easygoing. Introducing their research to me rather than me speaking to them. 

PiBS program itself was very nice, have a lot of research funding. Program for NEIDL was super cool (BSL4 lab facility). There were about 900-1000application, invited 140 people for the interview. They are going to select about ~25 people. Stipend for upcoming year is set for $36,782/year. No TA. 

Please let me know if you have more questions and good luck on your interviews

Hi I also applied for BU, but it’s the biology PhD program. Do you know anything about this program?

[queerorpheus]

On 3/12/2021 at 11:28 PM, ni2021 said:

Hi Irene, I am also an international student. I was interviewed by one professor for UMD BISI program on Jan 22, and the professor gave me an unofficial offer during the interview, and I could choose not to be interviewed by more professors. Is it the same case as you? I have not received the official offer letter yet. Are you the same? I saw two offers posted on grad cafe last week and two weeks ago, and my email to Winkler(the coordinator for MOCB）got no response. I am even not sure if I could get the final official offer, because the whole process seems too smooth...

Did you apply to MOCB? It's my understanding that acceptances from a single professor are really only common for the BEES concentration area, so I'd be interested to hear the concentration area you applied to and who you talked with. Even with an unofficial offer from a professor, these decisions are made by an entire committee, so while a professor's support is helpful it's not the end all be all. UMD also isn't making more offers than they can fund, so you may be on a waitlist or something. 

[ood63]

Anyone accepted to UMD BISI MOCB track have their portal change with the acceptance?  Received acceptance letter but portal has not changed from under grad review for 2 weeks now.  Any insight?

[ood63]

On 2/27/2021 at 11:27 AM, queerorpheus said:

I just received mine last night! Super duper excited!!!

My friend received the offer letter for UMD MOCB BISI about same time as you did (she is not on grad cafe) and her UMD portal has not been updated.  Has yours?

Were you able to accept the offer?  Any info would be appreciated!

Congrats!

[queerorpheus]

2 hours ago, ood63 said:

My friend received the offer letter for UMD MOCB BISI about same time as you did (she is not on grad cafe) and her UMD portal has not been updated.  Has yours?

Were you able to accept the offer?  Any info would be appreciated!

Congrats!

My portal hasn't been updated to my knowledge. 

I also just received an offer to another program that I thought I had no chance with, so my decision is a lot harder now! I really enjoyed my visit with UMD and it's going to be tough deciding where to go. 

[Irene39]

On 3/12/2021 at 11:31 PM, ni2021 said:

Hi I also applied for BU, but it’s the biology PhD program. Do you know anything about this program?

I applied to BU medical school program, so I am not sure of biology program in BU. 

For UMD, I am in the same situation as you. I guess we are all waitlisted. 

[ni2021]

23 hours ago, Irene39 said:

I applied to BU medical school program, so I am not sure of biology program in BU. 

For UMD, I am in the same situation as you. I guess we are all waitlisted. 

During my interview with UMD on Jan 22nd, the PI, on behalf of the committee, told me that I was on their top list, no more interviews, and an early offer might be possible... I also emailed her two weeks ago for update and she replied me”I think the office has only sent domestic offers. I will follow up with them”.

Actually I consider this as an unofficial offer... but now I become to think about the possibility of being waitlisted..omg

 

how was your interview? Did the professor implied anything about unofficial offer?

[ni2021]

On 3/14/2021 at 7:44 PM, queerorpheus said:

Did you apply to MOCB? It's my understanding that acceptances from a single professor are really only common for the BEES concentration area, so I'd be interested to hear the concentration area you applied to and who you talked with. Even with an unofficial offer from a professor, these decisions are made by an entire committee, so while a professor's support is helpful it's not the end all be all. UMD also isn't making more offers than they can fund, so you may be on a waitlist or something. 

Yes I applied to MOCB. But the professor said she was on behalf of the committee to interview me, and told me that I was on the top list, no more interview, and an early offer might be possible. I really consider this as an unofficial offer...... now I don’t know whether I misunderstood something or not

[Irene39]

I actually heard the same thing. That was how I interpret, too. 

[ni2021]

2 hours ago, Irene39 said:

I actually heard the same thing. That was how I interpret, too. 

I’m thinking maybe we were interviewed by the same person..... have you emailed the professor asking for update? Do you think there might be a possibility that offers for international students have not been sent out yet?

[queerorpheus]

17 hours ago, ni2021 said:

I’m thinking maybe we were interviewed by the same person..... have you emailed the professor asking for update? Do you think there might be a possibility that offers for international students have not been sent out yet?

I think that's definitely possible. It seems like the University had some issues with state funding, so the number of people they accept is changing. This might have impacted international students even more than usual.

[ni2021]

3 hours ago, queerorpheus said:

I think that's definitely possible. It seems like the University had some issues with state funding, so the number of people they accept is changing. This might have impacted international students even more than usual.

what is the status of your online application portal? I heard that, if it’s under program review,that means the application is still under review. If it’s under graduate school review, that means the program is reviewed and in the process of funding