embym Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 Once you get an interview, does anyone know how hard it is to get into a program? I have an invitation to interview with UC Berkeley (as well as a couple other schools), and I want to know how nervous I need to be! I've heard from my PI and a couple other people that you really have to screw up on your interviews to not get accepted, but I'm wondering if that's the case for all schools. Any thoughts?
aberrant Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 Definitely not for all of the schools. Some schools offer formal interviews that they use this interview as the final stage of eliminating applicants from the program. while some other schools offer informal / less formal interviews that most of the interviewees are pretty much accepted by the program, in theory. And therefore if you are able to know whether your interview at Cal is a formal / informal interview will help a lot. You can ask the program director / coordinator about the interviews, even if the outfit/attire for the interview will give you hints, in my opinion. Of course, this is just a guessing game and ideally you wanted to be 1) somewhat prepared and 2) your natural self, regardless of the format of the interview. just my 2 cents.
coonskee Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 For the school I interviewed with, about 20% of applicants got interviews, and we were told that about 50% of the people being interviewed would be offered spots. We were told this by the program director during the weekend, so perhaps you'll be given similar statistics!
bluebla Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 In case you get the information, could you pass on what department at Berkeley are you interviewing at? I'm also nervous about Cal...
dhm0219 Posted January 30, 2012 Posted January 30, 2012 Yeah I've asked a few programs about the % of interviewees that get acceptances, and responses have varied. One school interviews 60 students for 10 spots (but will likely offer ~25-30 acceptances), one interviewed 50 people for 15 slots (a better school, so probably ~30 offers), and one school told me that they were bringing in 80 interviewees and would make offers to "most" of them. It really depends on the program. All of the departments where I inquired were very upfront about it and answered directly. I'd email one of the program coordinators though, and not someone on the adcomm to ask, just as I'd be worried about making a bad impression by asking a faculty member a question like that.
greenertea Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 Of the three interviews I've gone to, two of have been very upfront about how many people will get offers. UPenn said 90%, Columbia around 50%. UT didn't say anything specific, but professors hinted they were basically going to take anyone. Generally it seems that professors will be candid with you if you ask and will not take offense. A professor on the admissions committee at one of the schools I was at (I won't name names) spoke very freely on how they were going to evaluate students, how many would get acceptances and what you could do to increase your chances for admission.
Business2Biology Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 ... A professor on the admissions committee at one of the schools I was at (I won't name names) spoke very freely on how they were going to evaluate students, how many would get acceptances and what you could do to increase your chances for admission. I am sure that enquiring minds would love it if you'd be willing to share this info..
spew Posted January 31, 2012 Posted January 31, 2012 Why can't people just call and ask the programs themselves? What good is it getting guesses from us? Nomad1111 1
greenertea Posted February 1, 2012 Posted February 1, 2012 I am sure that enquiring minds would love it if you'd be willing to share this info.. As to what program/professor or what this professor told me?
ultrathick Posted February 2, 2012 Posted February 2, 2012 I had a skype interview with the admission committee at a low ranked(around 100 in overall biology) graduate program in Molecular Biology. It went average. So what are my chanes of getting accepting? I heard like the competitive programs screen a lot even after the interviews than the less competitive programs and the low-ranked programs would just accept all the interviewees. Is this correct? I am panicking !
Business2Biology Posted February 8, 2012 Posted February 8, 2012 As to what program/professor or what this professor told me? Definitely the latter! how they were going to evaluate students, how many would get acceptances and what you could do to increase your chances for admission.
greenertea Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 @Business2Biology, So a few things they told me: 1. If the school is really your #1 pick and you'd definitely go there if admitted, multiple professors encouraged us to contact admissions and let them know as this will bump you up if you're on the border. 2. If you have a serious girlfriend/boyfriend who will be in the area or going to the same school, it helps to mention this when contacting admissions because they do consider this an incentive for you to come and that you will commit to the program. 3. Although it's sort of late in the game for this, if you live in the area where the school is or if you happening to be visiting the area, it is possible to contact admissions and ask them if it's possible to schedule an interview since you "happen to be in the neighborhood". The professor I talked to told me if you're on the border for getting an interview, the committee will definitely consider this because it saves them money. Don't know if this will work for all programs, but this is what I was told when I visited Columbia. Hope it helps!
jayeyesee Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 @greenertea god.. i would so do #1 but i feel like i would risk sounding desperate lol.
greenertea Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 Oh also, the professor said we can also mention acceptances we have at other programs to get an advantage if you contact admissions, as long as you do it politely. Like, "I am considering this school, but I REALLY want to go to your school" I dunno how comfortable I'd feeling doing that though.
hyt5009 Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 Does any one know what Baylor College of Medicine's acceptance rate from interview？ Is it over 50%? On the website of the Immunology program, it said that usually they selected 12-14 applicants for interview, but I dunno how many spots they offer. I am just very anxious since this is the only interview invitation I have so far so I definitely wanna nail it.
alexhll6 Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 I contacted the admissions person at Mt. Sinai about my chances post interview, and she said that they are interviewing ~100 people and are looking to enroll 35-38. Does that mean they will admit more than that number? Does anyone know what enrollment roughly translates to in terms of admission?
jayeyesee Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 I contacted the admissions person at Mt. Sinai about my chances post interview, and she said that they are interviewing ~100 people and are looking to enroll 35-38. Does that mean they will admit more than that number? Does anyone know what enrollment roughly translates to in terms of admission? Most schools usually admit twice the number they are looking to enroll since not everyone will accept their offer. So if they are looking to enroll 35, Mt. Sinai might offer 70 people offers. Some schools admit more than that number... It really varies on the program but I would say x2 is standard.
aberrant Posted February 9, 2012 Posted February 9, 2012 I contacted the admissions person at Mt. Sinai about my chances post interview, and she said that they are interviewing ~100 people and are looking to enroll 35-38. Does that mean they will admit more than that number? Does anyone know what enrollment roughly translates to in terms of admission? Like jayeyesee said, 2x to 3x would be a probable range for acceptance, for they have to expect some people turn down their offers and so forth.
Business2Biology Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 ...Don't know if this will work for all programs, but this is what I was told when I visited Columbia. Hope it helps! Thanks for sharing that insider insight. What a game this is, no?! I actually played out item 3 "just happened to be in the area". Ended up spending 5 hrs with the PI and his lab group and received my invite to the recruitment event 1 day later.
hwbulls Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Anyone know how it works with waitlists? Do they accept the 2X as many and THEN accept off the waitlist, or do they accept their first round that they really want and then go from the list? I interviewed with about 30 others for about 8-10 spots and have been waitlisted... no idea how it works.
coonskee Posted February 22, 2012 Posted February 22, 2012 Anyone know how it works with waitlists? Do they accept the 2X as many and THEN accept off the waitlist, or do they accept their first round that they really want and then go from the list? I interviewed with about 30 others for about 8-10 spots and have been waitlisted... no idea how it works. When I interviewed at CU Integrated, a prof told me that the general breakdown is they accept 25% off the bat, reject 25% off the bat, and the rest are put in purgatory and they slowly go through the list at whatever rate. I presume that this means that if they see an abnormally high rate of immediate acceptances, then they might accept off the waitlist slower; if they aren't getting any yeses and/or are getting lots of nos, they might power through the waitlist a bit faster. I do know the director of the program said that they never send out all their acceptances at once, because they're aiming for a class of 8-12 - if they send out 30 acceptances all at one and over half of the people end up saying yes, they're kind of screwed in terms of funding etc. Also, the breakdown for my program was: between 60-70 being interviewed; expecting to send out 30ish acceptances for a class of 8-12.
hwbulls Posted February 24, 2012 Posted February 24, 2012 When I interviewed at CU Integrated, a prof told me that the general breakdown is they accept 25% off the bat, reject 25% off the bat, and the rest are put in purgatory and they slowly go through the list at whatever rate. I presume that this means that if they see an abnormally high rate of immediate acceptances, then they might accept off the waitlist slower; if they aren't getting any yeses and/or are getting lots of nos, they might power through the waitlist a bit faster. I do know the director of the program said that they never send out all their acceptances at once, because they're aiming for a class of 8-12 - if they send out 30 acceptances all at one and over half of the people end up saying yes, they're kind of screwed in terms of funding etc. Also, the breakdown for my program was: between 60-70 being interviewed; expecting to send out 30ish acceptances for a class of 8-12. Well I will just have to hold my breath... Sigh.
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