2012 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

[bluebla]

Whoa...I noticed someone got an interview from Berkeley MCB! I thought Berkeley didn't really send anything out till January...has anyone else heard (from MCB or other bio-ish Berkeley departments)?

[virion]

U Washington MCB - rejected by email.

[emmm]

Virion,

Sorry . . . here's hoping you get better news soon. The rejections are tough :-(

[virion]

Thanks emmm

[Krypton]

Whoa...I noticed someone got an interview from Berkeley MCB! I thought Berkeley didn't really send anything out till January...has anyone else heard (from MCB or other bio-ish Berkeley departments)?

I've heard that Berkeley MCB and UCSF TETRAD both want to send out all their invitations before the holidays this year.

Edited December 20, 2011 by Krypton

[obot]

Rejected from MIT CSBi today. Congrats to everyone with invites!

[fosgfp]

Rejected from MIT CSBi today. Congrats to everyone with invites!

Sorry to hear this. Surprised that MIT is sending out already...

[obot]

Thanks, fosgfp. Hoping to get interviews from other places soon!

[proteinnn]

I got invited to interview at UCSF Tetrad yesterday!

UW MCB only seems to have sent out a wave of rejections so far--is that normal to see a bunch of rejections before anybody else pops up with interview offers?

[volklskier]

U Washington MCB - rejected by email.

Yeah, I received the same email from them on Tuesday. I emailed MCB to get an idea of the applicant pool (what they were looking for/at) and this was the reply:

"Because we received over 470 applications to our Program and are only interviewing 70, the competition was very strong. The Committee did not write comments for the denials made but I can tell you that they were looking for applicants with high GPAs (3.5+), high GRE scores (88th percentile), excellent references regarding research experience in labs at good institutions as well as strong personal statements."

Not exactly unexpected but a bit more stringent than I expected. Oh well... Hopefully more good news down the road!

[paulio]

Rejected from MIT CSBi today. Congrats to everyone with invites!

Me too, bit disappointing, had hoped at least for an interview. Hope this isn't indicative of everywhere I've applied :-/

[fosgfp]

Interview at WashU (neuro)!

[SCellNeuro]

just joining in here, but so far invites from Stanford SCBRM, Ore. (OHSU, neuro), UCDenver Neuro, and Ohio state neuro.

Anyone heard from Harvard BBS or MCB yet?

[virion]

Yeah, I received the same email from them on Tuesday. I emailed MCB to get an idea of the applicant pool (what they were looking for/at) and this was the reply:

"Because we received over 470 applications to our Program and are only interviewing 70, the competition was very strong. The Committee did not write comments for the denials made but I can tell you that they were looking for applicants with high GPAs (3.5+), high GRE scores (88th percentile), excellent references regarding research experience in labs at good institutions as well as strong personal statements."

Not exactly unexpected but a bit more stringent than I expected. Oh well... Hopefully more good news down the road!

Thanks for that quote. It's interesting, we're applying to four of the same programs including that Washington rejection, and neither of us has heard from Penn. But I've heard from Pitt and you from UVa.

How early did you have your UVa application in? I only realized this week that their page says they begin looking them over in November. I pretty much submitted at the deadline last week.

Also, someone posted on the survey that they had a phone interview at UVa and were then invited to a proper interview weekend a few days later. Is this normal with them, or a special circumstance?

Edited December 23, 2011 by virion

[volklskier]

Thanks for that quote. It's interesting, we're applying to four of the same programs including that Washington rejection, and neither of us has heard from Penn. But I've heard from Pitt and you from UVa.

How early did you have your UVa application in? I only realized this week that their page says they begin looking them over in November. I pretty much submitted at the deadline last week.

Also, someone posted on the survey that they had a phone interview at UVa and were then invited to a proper interview weekend a few days later. Is this normal with them, or a special circumstance?

No problem!

I sent in my UVa app in early December (maybe the 5th?) and they actually called me on the 12th for an interview. However, I did my undergrad there and also worked in a lab there for several years, so I kind of doubt that a lot of others would have already heard but I could be wrong. I wouldn't get discouraged or anything.

The phone interview/proper interview thing sounds kind of strange... When I got the call, I was just invited and told that I'd get emails with details (just confirmed my weekend for Jan 12-14 earlier this week). I'd say that's out of the ordinary.

When did you hear from Pitt? I'm hoping that most of the other programs don't drag it out until late January...

[virion]

I heard from Pitt on Tuesday. Several other people did as well, but didn't necessarily seem like a huge wave of invites. A pretty quick decision, so I'm sure there will be more people invited and more than one interview weekend (Jan 20th is very soon indeed). The only slightly strange thing is that they didn't give a deadline to accept the interview by. For some that might be a little frustrating, considering how soon the interview is. But I've confirmed it anyway. Good luck!

[sysbio]

Undergrad Institution: Strong Midwest

Major(s): 1st: History, later: Chemistry; Then two MS degrees in Biology and Bioinformatics

GPA in Major: 3.1 UG; 3.9 Grad

Overall GPA: 3.1 UG; 3.6 Grad

Type of Student: Domestic, non-traditional. After law school and practicing, went back for a science UG and now finishing two MS degrees in Biology and Bioinformatics.

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 800 (94%)

V: 730 (99%)

W: 5.0 (87%)

Research Experience: 3 Years, developmental bio and bioinformatics. One publication, 2nd author, 2 more first author by the end of the year. Several conference poster presentations.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Funded RAs as MS student.

Applying to Where:

Systems Biology programs in stand alone departments, or in biology departments:

• MIT - CSBi
• MIT - Dept Of Biology (Computational and Systems Biology)
• Stanford - Chemical and Systems Biology
• UCSF - IPQB
• University of Washington - MCB
• Washington University in St. Louis - DBBS Computational and Systems Biology Program
• Harvard - HILS Systems Biology
• UPenn - Genomics and Computational Biology
• Northwestern - IBiS: Biotechnology Systems & Synthetic Biology
• UCSD - Bioinformatics and Systems Biology
• UCIrvine - Mathematical, Computational, and Systems Biology
  
  
  Systems Biology programs in Bioengineering:
  • UCSD – Bioengineering
  • UWashington – Bioengineering
  • UCBerkeley - UCB-UCSF Joint Bioengineering Program
  • UPenn -Bioengineering
  • UTSouthwestern - Biomedical Engineering through Basic Sciences
  • Caltech - Bioengineering: Synthetic and Systems Biology
  • WUSTL - Biomedical Engineering

[sysbio]

A couple of things for my first real post here:

(1) Rejected by email from MIT CSBi on 12/21 and Univ of Washington (MCB) on 12/20.

(2) I was really surprised by the UW MCB rejections posted across the board here. My UG GPA is low, but I'm a non-traditional student and it was from a quite some time ago. I've followed up with some MS work. Nevertheless, my apps are quite a crap shoot. Nevertheless, I thought I had a good chance on UW(MCB) based on their numbers in Peterson's.

Peterson's link to UW MCB stats

Peterson's has: 400 applications, accept 133 (33%) and 20 matriculate. Obviously the Peterson's stats tell a very different story than what was reported above for this year: 470 apps and 70 interviews. That's (guessing) 45 admits for 25 spots? That's a ~10% acceptance rate, not a 33% acceptance rate.

(3) On a positive note, no rejections yesterday! *grin* Good luck to all of you waiting. And if you are lurking, take a moment and post your profile and your experiences. I have really appreciated the posts in this thread and the survey database for the admissions process. It's a great source of otherwise unobtainable information about timing and interviews and where you stand. Plus it's really cathartic. The Survey

Edited December 23, 2011 by sysbio

[virion]

From what I recall of UW's stats posted for last year (on UW's own site) it was an 18% acceptance rate for MCB. Their micro department was around 10%. It will probably be a bit lower this year. More apps, less spots. I'm disappointed with the rejection, but not astonished. It is certainly a very competitive program.

What year is that Peterson's stat supposed to be from? It's an average over multiple years? I would have never believed a 33% acceptance rate for that program.

[sysbio]

It seems to be from the past year. Although some of the Peterson's data is suspect for some programs (and you can tell because it's incomplete or inconsistent, or obviously represents a whole department rather than a program) this came from one of their premium 'fleshed out' profiles with updated information. Nevertheless, it's clearly 'off'.

[fosgfp]

Whoever posted on the survey about a rockefeller acceptance-- did they also call? did they send it to your home or school mail? did you get an email? etc etc

[proteinnn]

UW MCB interview invite!

[paulio]

I'm surprised at how many people seem to be applying for systems biology/bioinformatics/computational biology - good to see the subject's generating interest!

I got my first interview invite today (NYU) - such a relief to at least have one, I thought I was a reasonably competitive candidate but seeing the kinds of profiles posted here I'm getting worried I won't get in anywhere!

[sysbio]

Congrats Paulio on your first interview!

Anyone else out there apply to Bioengineering PhD programs for Systems Biology?

I found that lots of the faculty doing Systems Biology were cross-listed, or were found in the BioE departments instead of the Biology side of things.

Systems Biology (as a traditional academic category) is kind of an odd duck - it doesn't quite fit in with the classical structure of Biology departments or Bioengineering departments. Arguably you need enough math and statistics to be on par with engineering curriculum, but it's nothing like the traditional fields in Bioengineering like biomaterials, cell and tissue engineering, etc. And it's obviously quite different than most molecular or developmental biology programs which require no more than basic statistical analysis.

I'm curious how programs where Systems Biology is a subprogram in the biology department will evaluate their applicants, and how that compares to 'stand alone' programs like CSBi at MIT or BioE programs. I imagine they'll look at applicants rather differently, despite all purportedly looking for the same type of folks.

[fmrp]

have most people heard back from MIT CSBi? i'm still waiting for a response, but it seems like a lot of domestic and international applicants have heard back. does anyone know?

also, i think it helps to specialize in order to be admitted into a systems biology-type program. that is, be a biologist looking to break into computation or a hard science / engineering graduate looking to break into biology. it's not really a jack of all trades field as you need to be solid in either biology or computation to find a niche.