greenertea Posted March 20, 2012 Posted March 20, 2012 Got a third post-interview rejection today. Fortunately, I'm in at my first choice, but it's hard not to take it personally and feel a bit led on after what seemed like three fantastic interviews. Anyone else feeling this way? I've had 4 post interview rejections and am expecting a 5th one soon. I know how you feel, it's hard not to take it personal. I've contacted a couple of the schools I was rejected at and it seems they mostly rejected me because of my lack of outward enthusiasm for the program (which I attribute to my generally quiet demeanor and being tired from so much plane travel all the time) . It sounds like this could be true in your case if you already had another school as top choice?
jayeyesee Posted March 20, 2012 Posted March 20, 2012 @greenertea any idea where you think you might go?
spew Posted March 20, 2012 Posted March 20, 2012 (edited) Got a third post-interview rejection today. Fortunately, I'm in at my first choice, but it's hard not to take it personally and feel a bit led on after what seemed like three fantastic interviews. Anyone else feeling this way? I've had 4 post interview rejections and am expecting a 5th one soon. I know how you feel, it's hard not to take it personal. I've contacted a couple of the schools I was rejected at and it seems they mostly rejected me because of my lack of outward enthusiasm for the program (which I attribute to my generally quiet demeanor and being tired from so much plane travel all the time) . It sounds like this could be true in your case if you already had another school as top choice? Did you do anything differently at these interviews than the places you got accepted to? I got acceptances from my first 2 places and post-interview rejections from my last 2 schools I visited. It sucks. I'm super angry and I'm trying to run my mind through why. Few possibilities; 1) I did not wear suits to these last 2 places. 2) They were both out-of-state schools and I talked a lot about "moving" or "having to move." 3) I talked a lot about my other schools/interviews with current students and 4) I asked a lot of "how does this place differ from other institutions?" so I might have come off as arrogant with the demeanor of what could your school offer me? Maybe these were all bad ideas. So on my last interview, I tried doing everything opposite of my last 2 interviews: I stepped up my game again and tried to channel whatever magic I worked during the first 2 interviews. I packed the suit, kept my mouth shut about other schools/interviews, and acted like I HAD to be there. Crossing my fingers and I'll let you know how it turns out. Edited March 20, 2012 by spew liastra, spew, Pitangus and 1 other 2 2
joefc Posted March 20, 2012 Posted March 20, 2012 I am an international student. I applied to a PhD program in Biology (NS track) from CUNY on Nov 28th, and I have not heard anything from them to date. This is torture the acceptances for cuny biology are coming out now...they've already had their open house and i believe some interviews. sorry, but all is not lost, you may be on the waitlist.
manofhonor Posted March 20, 2012 Posted March 20, 2012 I got waitlisted at UT Houston, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences. I spoke with the program coordinator and she told me that I was at the top of the wait-list (top 3, actually). Does anyone have an idea as to what my chances of getting off of the wait-list can be? I am an international applicant, BTW. And I already let them know that their program would be my top choice and I would definitely accept, if I was offered an admission.
nozzin Posted March 20, 2012 Posted March 20, 2012 Has anyone been accepted to Tufts Sackler school - Immunology program? (Specifically immunology because the different programs seem to be operating on different schedules).
dhm0219 Posted March 20, 2012 Posted March 20, 2012 Just filled out my acceptance form for the offer from MIT! Very excited to be done with this whole process and to get started in the fall!
OldGrad2012 Posted March 20, 2012 Posted March 20, 2012 I got my first two post interview rejections already. I am expecting my third post interview rejections also. Fortunately, I am accepted to two after the interviews. Unlike @spew, I got accepted at my later 2 interviews and got rejected at my first 2 interviews. I think my attitude was different or I gained more experiences going to the later interviews compare to the first two interviews. It also depends on the schools too I think. So I have a question. If you have not heard of a school that did not interview you by now, does that means that you can assume rejections also? I have not heard from 4 schools, no interviews or anything.
jayeyesee Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 I got my first two post interview rejections already. I am expecting my third post interview rejections also. Fortunately, I am accepted to two after the interviews. Unlike @spew, I got accepted at my later 2 interviews and got rejected at my first 2 interviews. I think my attitude was different or I gained more experiences going to the later interviews compare to the first two interviews. It also depends on the schools too I think. So I have a question. If you have not heard of a school that did not interview you by now, does that means that you can assume rejections also? I have not heard from 4 schools, no interviews or anything. Congrats on your offers! As for the schools you are waiting to hear from.. I am 99% sure UCLA (ACCESS), USC (PIBBS?) and Scripps are done. Even if you were waitlisted without an interview (although getting waitlisted without an interview is extremely rare nowadays), they probably have a pool of waitlisted candidates that interviewed to choose from if they do not meet their matriculation number. April 15th is fast approaching and it would be extremely rare for a graduate school to still be inviting people to interview this late in the game. A postdoc I know did get accepted without interviewing to several schools around this time but this was like 8-10 years ago lol.
greenertea Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 @greenertea any idea where you think you might go? I'm debating between Penn and Weill Cornell at the moment. I liked both schools a lot actually, definitely taking the edge off of all the rejections. I'm leaning towards Penn at the moment but I would really love living in in New York and did like a lot of the faculty I met at Cornell. Also, I worry that since Cornell was my 7th interview and Penn was my first I have an inherent bias towards Penn :/ Lol, this is all more complicated than I ever imagined.
Zahraa Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 the acceptances for cuny biology are coming out now...they've already had their open house and i believe some interviews. sorry, but all is not lost, you may be on the waitlist. - I sent an email to my potential advisor on Feb 9, and this was what he said: We will know by next week. They do not have a decision yet. The only problem with your application is that the GRE number is slightly lower than the required (1200). However, I feel positive about it. - And again yesterday: Zahraa, they have no decision yet. There is only one person who posted acceptance in the results page, and also last year (F11) ppl kept receiving acceptances till May! *fingers crossed*
joefc Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 (edited) Got a third post-interview rejection today. Fortunately, I'm in at my first choice, but it's hard not to take it personally and feel a bit led on after what seemed like three fantastic interviews. Anyone else feeling this way? yea i was rejected post interview from cornell the week after, meaning i wasnt even considered for the waiting list. really pissed me off. and really took it personally. i killed the interviews as well as any science talk, was always positive and enthusiastic without being phony, and they never brought up anything about my work or application that was negative. i even talked up the woefully boring ithaca about how i love the outdoors and am sick of the overcrowded city! my gf thinks it had a lot to do with the relocation (a city boy moving to ithaca) and i did ask the students quite a bit about their lives up there and what they did. also i did let slip at the dinner at their amazing five star hotel with one faculty member that if there was one thing and one thing only about the program i didnt like, its that ive never experienced country/community life so it would be a big change for me. shouldve kept my mouth shut! at least, that sounds like a nice reason to not hurt my ego. the reality is likely that i may not have been one of their top choices, and they loved all their top choices that they invited. therefore, i wont be moving to ithaca anytime soon. probably brooklyn instead. Edited March 21, 2012 by joefc
joefc Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 has anybody heard from the Columbia GSAS Biological Sciences PhD program? interviews, rejections, acceptances, a timeframe for all this stuff to happen? applied a month early, still havent heard a peep, though i did miss the supposed recruitment weekend anyways (if the interview dates topic is to be believed, which it probably is)
spew Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 yea i was rejected post interview from cornell the week after, meaning i wasnt even considered for the waiting list. really pissed me off. and really took it personally. i killed the interviews as well as any science talk, was always positive and enthusiastic without being phony, and they never brought up anything about my work or application that was negative. i even talked up the woefully boring ithaca about how i love the outdoors and am sick of the overcrowded city! my gf thinks it had a lot to do with the relocation (a city boy moving to ithaca) and i did ask the students quite a bit about their lives up there and what they did. also i did let slip at the dinner at their amazing five star hotel with one faculty member that if there was one thing and one thing only about the program i didnt like, its that ive never experienced country/community life so it would be a big change for me. shouldve kept my mouth shut! at least, that sounds like a nice reason to not hurt my ego. the reality is likely that i may not have been one of their top choices, and they loved all their top choices that they invited. therefore, i wont be moving to ithaca anytime soon. probably brooklyn instead. You had the exact same problem I did (see my post above). I don't know why they take negatively to asking questions about what it's like to live someplace else. Jesus, I'm so p*ssed. That's why at my very last interview, when the Chair asked me what I thought [of the interview weekend], instead of talking about how much I liked the city, I mainly highlighted the research and faculty.
sokipdx Posted March 21, 2012 Posted March 21, 2012 It's not a Masters or PhD program, but has anyone heard back from the UMass Med School PGSP?
fosgfp Posted March 22, 2012 Posted March 22, 2012 Asking for a friend-- anyone know about NYU dev?? He emailed last week and they said they they were finishing interviews and were still deciding and he would hear at the beginning of this week, but not a peep yet. I saw on the results survey that in past years people have heard through April.
blacklotus90 Posted March 22, 2012 Posted March 22, 2012 Finally done with the whole 2-month interview process, what a relief! Overall the interviews were a great experience and now I've got the most difficult choice of my life ahead of me. Congrats to everyone else who has also been through this entire ordeal! Anyone have any input on the choice between Caltech/UChicago/Yale? Updated stats are in my sig and my info can be found earlier in the thread in case it can help anyone applying to schools in the future.
milam1186 Posted March 22, 2012 Posted March 22, 2012 Finally done with the whole 2-month interview process, what a relief! Overall the interviews were a great experience and now I've got the most difficult choice of my life ahead of me. Congrats to everyone else who has also been through this entire ordeal! Anyone have any input on the choice between Caltech/UChicago/Yale? Updated stats are in my sig and my info can be found earlier in the thread in case it can help anyone applying to schools in the future. Congrats on all your acceptances... those are all great schools, so really it just comes down to your research interests. Look at the publications from the labs you're interested in, can you picture your name along side the other authors? If not, that's a good indication you're not really feeling the type of research they do. Location also factors in some for me... I'd totally go to San Diego... but out of those three places... Chicago has the best feel to me, but really, I just don't like LA at all and haven't been to New Haven so that's not a totally informed opinion. blacklotus90 1
spew Posted March 22, 2012 Posted March 22, 2012 (edited) Anyone have any input on the choice between Caltech/UChicago/Yale? These are all top-tier schools and you will be able to find any academic job coming out of any of these schools. The only obvious difference is location, which might matter if you're looking for an industry job (eg. a boss at a company in LA may prefer to higher CalTech grads...). But here are the general differences in location, as I understand them: CalTech - LA - California has a great track record for making millionaires and dreams come true. It's an opportunistic place, and Pasadena, CA is no different. It is one of the richest towns per square foot. How does a tiny town like that host the Rose Parade every year? $$$. But even though you'll probably find students with the best work-life balance here, CalTech is extremely competitive. UChicago - Chicago - You'd think a school in the midwest would be very friendly, but UChicago is in a league of its own. Often labeled as an "honorary Ivy," UChicago is the most desired school in the mid-west. For that reason, it's very competitive and you won't see much collaboration. But Chicago is one of the most vibrant cities in the world. Yale - The northeast region of the U.S. has the highest density of intellectuals. For that reason, expect the most competitive environment and be prepared to fend for yourself. Collaboration is virtually inexistant. Many Ivy Leaguers describe an extremely unwelcoming, isolating, and socially exclusive community that is most common at Harvard and Yale. Edited March 22, 2012 by spew blacklotus90, virion and aberrant 3
greenertea Posted March 22, 2012 Posted March 22, 2012 (edited) Finally done with the whole 2-month interview process, what a relief! Overall the interviews were a great experience and now I've got the most difficult choice of my life ahead of me. Congrats to everyone else who has also been through this entire ordeal! Anyone have any input on the choice between Caltech/UChicago/Yale? Updated stats are in my sig and my info can be found earlier in the thread in case it can help anyone applying to schools in the future. Congrats! Although I would pick schools based on how many faculty are there that you'd be interested in working with and whether the location is minimally livable, I would say one thing about Caltech. I live in the city of Los Angeles and I wouldn't consider Pasadena really a part of LA. I wouldn't let the proximity of Pasadena to L.A. be a selling point for you. If you don't have a car, forget it completely. If you do, the traffic will be enough of a hassle to keep you from going very often. Potentially you could live in L.A. and commute, but it'll be a pain. Just thought I'd give some advice in case you were partially drawn to Caltech because it's "in LA". Hope it helps. Also, I would have to respectfully disagree with Spew - every Caltech student I've met (grad and undergrad) has been really unhappy with their work-life balance and couldn't wait to get out. Caltech is a place for type A personalities to thrive, but can be a bit much for everyone else. Edited March 22, 2012 by greenertea blacklotus90 1
nicknameless Posted March 22, 2012 Posted March 22, 2012 Anyone have any input on the choice between Caltech/UChicago/Yale? I can sympathize with wonderful, but difficult problem of deciding which excellent school to go to (my top choices are MIT/Princeton/Berkeley, so if anyone wants to weight in, I'll gladly take your 2 cents). I'm currently working at a lab at UChicago and, while not a student, I have worked quite a bit with IGSB labs. It is a pretty collaborative environment here - if your interests have an evolution of cis-regulatory elements/gene networks or strong cytoskeletal/mitotic machinery cell biology interest, I think Chicago has people who are particularly strong in those areas. Chicago is a great place to do research - Hyde Park and the University have a pretty unique environment which encourages intensive work. blacklotus90 1
AutumnLover Posted March 22, 2012 Posted March 22, 2012 @ nicknameless I was choosing between MIT/Berkeley. (didn't look at princeton so no help there) For me it really came down to environment outside of lab. I felt there were equal number of labs I was interested at both places, along with equal quality of science. Therefore I couldn't make a decision based purely off science. MIT's first year program didn't appeal to me since i've been out of school for 3 years due to the emphasis on classes. Berkeley seemed to focus a bit more on teaching good scientific communication. Berkeley came across as more collaborative, while MIT seemed more intimating-ly smart(Not a bad thing, but for me a turn off). Location also influenced me. I'm currently in Boston, but originally from the west coast. So moving back to a milder climate was appealing. Another thing i liked about Berkeley was the commitment to getting you out in 5.5-6 years. I anecdotally know of multiple grad students taking 7-9 years to graduate from MIT. For them it was a mixture of bad luck/personal/lab issues, but that seemed less likely to happen at Berkeley. For others I’m sure MIT was a better fit. But for me, I went with Berkeley.
SamreenF Posted March 23, 2012 Posted March 23, 2012 If any one got an acceptance from University of Southern California neuroscience program kindly let me know.Pretty please virion 1
HopfieldNet Posted March 23, 2012 Posted March 23, 2012 These are all top-tier schools and you will be able to find any academic job coming out of any of these schools. The only obvious difference is location, which might matter if you're looking for an industry job (eg. a boss at a company in LA may prefer to higher CalTech grads...). But here are the general differences in location, as I understand them: CalTech - LA - California has a great track record for making millionaires and dreams come true. It's an opportunistic place, and Pasadena, CA is no different. It is one of the richest towns per square foot. How does a tiny town like that host the Rose Parade every year? $$$. But even though you'll probably find students with the best work-life balance here, CalTech is extremely competitive. UChicago - Chicago - You'd think a school in the midwest would be very friendly, but UChicago is in a league of its own. Often labeled as an "honorary Ivy," UChicago is the most desired school in the mid-west. For that reason, it's very competitive and you won't see much collaboration. But Chicago is one of the most vibrant cities in the world. Yale - The northeast region of the U.S. has the highest density of intellectuals. For that reason, expect the most competitive environment and be prepared to fend for yourself. Collaboration is virtually inexistant. Many Ivy Leaguers describe an extremely unwelcoming, isolating, and socially exclusive community that is most common at Harvard and Yale. why try to talk about something you have no idea about? this is total garbage. blacklotus90, virion and aberrant 3
virion Posted March 23, 2012 Posted March 23, 2012 why try to talk about something you have no idea about? this is total garbage. Pretty funny, though!
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