2013 Applicant Profiles and Admission Results

[Gram Neutral]

Here I am, waiting.

 

My interview at MCW went great I thought, and they said they would be in contact with us on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday at the latest, and I got nothing. The pessimist in my asked at the question and answer if we could expect to hear from them even if we didn't get accepted/waitlisted. They said unless something terrible went wrong in our interviews, that shouldn't happen. In my opinion nothing terrible happened, but who knows...I'm gonna give them a call Monday.

 

Grad school isn't looking too good right now. 

[rockmsockm]

Here I am, waiting.

 

My interview at MCW went great I thought, and they said they would be in contact with us on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday at the latest, and I got nothing. The pessimist in my asked at the question and answer if we could expect to hear from them even if we didn't get accepted/waitlisted. They said unless something terrible went wrong in our interviews, that shouldn't happen. In my opinion nothing terrible happened, but who knows...I'm gonna give them a call Monday.

 

Grad school isn't looking too good right now. 

 

Trickster, are you IDP? I applied to the straight neuroscience program and I emailed them about a week ago because I had heard nothing. I was told that the neuro program was currently "in midst of reviewing apps and preparing to send interview invites shortly."

 

Would you happen to know anything regarding the neuro interviews? I feel like that is really late in the game to be just starting to send invites?

[ion_exchanger]

Now that I've officially heard from all schools, my wrap-up.

 

Undergrad: Small state school in MD

Major: Biology

Minor: Chemistry

Overall GPA: 3.5

Major GPA: 3.5

GRE: Middle of the road GREs, nothing too competitive, passed some initial screens, failed others.

 

Research Exp: One year of structural biology exprience at undergrad institution, followed by 2+ years and counting at protein biochemistry & structural lab at NIH.

 

Misc: Undergrad research fellowship. Undergrad merit scholarships. Multiple honor societies. Strong LORs from NIH faculty. Graduate courses in physical chemistry.

 

Applied: 7 programs

Rejected, no interview (4) : Sloan Kettering, JHU & GWU NIH GPP, JHU Program in Molecular Biophysics

Interview (3): University of Pennsylvania Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Georgetown University/NIH GPP, University of Maryland College Park Biological Sciences, concentration in molecular and cellular biology

Accepted (3): Everywhere interviewed

Attending: Georgetown University/NIH Graduate Partnership Program

 

Advice for future applicants reading this forum in preparation for applications

Applications: Research early and often for your perfect school. I am extremely happy with my choice of program, but there are other schools that I found out about too late on this forum that would have been good fits for me to apply. I ended up strongly disliking my first choice, however I was not invited to interview, so that's good. Be honest with yourself about the programs that you like. Listen to your professors/mentors' opinions, but make the final decision. I had no business applying to Sloan Kettering, but did so on the advice of someone else. When applying, research fit is arguably the most important component. Good research experience and fit can help other areas of deficiency in your application.

 

Interviews: These interviews are suppposed to be fun, whether the interviews are competitive or not. When I say competitive, I mean that I went on some interviews where it was assumed that the majority of attendees would be accepted, and others where they were only going to take less than 40% of us. Relax and know your research going into the interviews. The graduate students are there to help, ask them all of your questions, because they are there to answer the questions that the faculty can't. Refrain from talking about your interviews or acceptances to other programs with faculty or students, to avoid coming across as not as interested in that program. Don't get too drunk and say anything obnoxious either.

 

Future applicants, i would be happy to answer any questions that you have regarding the process. I'll still be on the site, just moving up to the enrolled grad school topics.

 

2013 applicants, it has been a great season, and it was nice to chat with everyone while going crazy over schools. Best of luck to everyone!

 

Edited March 25, 2013 by ion_exchanger

[biotinman]

After I have been approved by the department/program how much of a formality is the Office of Graduate Study's dean signing off the final approval?

[WhitH]

Acceptance by the program is almost always indicative of acceptance by the grad school. From what I understand it is usually a formality, although in extreme cases it could go otherwise. Wouldn't worry about it too much.

Edited March 25, 2013 by aryelh

[banksy]

all done. so much to do in the lab now.

 

attending Northwestern IBiS, is anyone else? 

[Gram Neutral]

Trickster, are you IDP? I applied to the straight neuroscience program and I emailed them about a week ago because I had heard nothing. I was told that the neuro program was currently "in midst of reviewing apps and preparing to send interview invites shortly."

 

Would you happen to know anything regarding the neuro interviews? I feel like that is really late in the game to be just starting to send invites?

 

They told us at the interview that we would hear from them Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday at the latest. I haven't heard anything from them, so I assume I did not get in.

 

Things aren't looking too good for me. I have started looking into getting a lab tech job.

[mrmolecularbiology]

Finally rejected by UC berkeley. LOL 

[rockmsockm]

They told us at the interview that we would hear from them Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday at the latest. I haven't heard anything from them, so I assume I did not get in.

 

Things aren't looking too good for me. I have started looking into getting a lab tech job.

 

Sorry you haven't heard anything from them. I've seen so many posts of students who have interviewed and then heard absolutely nothing, I do not understand why the grad schools do this, seems pretty crass. 

 

The neuro program does their own interviews, independent from IDP. So, i'm still (foolishly) holding out hope.

 

I see you had an interview at Loyola too, did you hear from them?

[Nirisng]

Hi Guys,

 

I am in need for some help at the earliest...I was informed today morning about a telephonic interview with the Pharmacology and Cancer Therapeutics program at Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY,  tomorrow at 3pm. Any pointers on the kind of questions that they might ask. If you have any friends who have got interviews from there?

 

Any help will be much appreciated!

 

Thank you so much!

[Biohopeful]

I haven't heard anything from anyone.  I'm still holding out hope for April 15th, but who knows.

 

I don't know about Roswell Park Cancer Institute, but I'm guessing they'll want you to talk about your research and that.

[mysinia]

Kind of a crazy demented roller coaster month for me so far. Got accepted to one program, but I'm not in love with it, so I'm passing on that offer. I got a slew of rejections about 2-3 weeks ago (see my lovely red signature), freaked out, and eventually resigned myself to working again for another year (or two) before re-applying, though I've been teching in a lab for 2 years since I finished undergrad in 2011. I was on fine terms with all of this  until this morning, when I found out that I was awarded a fellowship through NSF GRFP! I've heard of programs reversing their admissions decisions later on if they find out that an applicant has external funding, so right now I'm in the process of contacting people in these departments to see if they're reconsider my application. If this doesn't work, my rejections will be even more painful, since I'll have to give up my predoctoral fellowship (they don't let you defer for a year unless you're already in a graduate program). We'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks! Fingers crossed for everyone else still waiting on decisions... 

[bamafan]

Kind of a crazy demented roller coaster month for me so far. Got accepted to one program, but I'm not in love with it, so I'm passing on that offer. I got a slew of rejections about 2-3 weeks ago (see my lovely red signature), freaked out, and eventually resigned myself to working again for another year (or two) before re-applying, though I've been teching in a lab for 2 years since I finished undergrad in 2011. I was on fine terms with all of this  until this morning, when I found out that I was awarded a fellowship through NSF GRFP! I've heard of programs reversing their admissions decisions later on if they find out that an applicant has external funding, so right now I'm in the process of contacting people in these departments to see if they're reconsider my application. If this doesn't work, my rejections will be even more painful, since I'll have to give up my predoctoral fellowship (they don't let you defer for a year unless you're already in a graduate program). We'll see what happens over the next couple of weeks! Fingers crossed for everyone else still waiting on decisions... 

 

Did you already decline UConn? Why did you decide to do that if you didn't have any other offers in hand? Did you dislike the program that much?

[Biohopeful]

Officially waitlisted at UMass.  Still waiting to hear from the other two places.  Considering it's pretty much April and I don't have any offers of admission, it's not looking pretty for me.  I guess you'll be seeing me in next year's application cycle!

 

3 interviews and no offers.  I guess they really didn't like me, lol.

 

Again, congrats everyone!

[mysinia]

Did you already decline UConn? Why did you decide to do that if you didn't have any other offers in hand? Did you dislike the program that much?

 

Yes, I declined that a while back. I wasn't nuts about the program, and I didn't want to go to school this year just for the sake of it. So, I decided that I'd take more time off to work and strengthen my application, then re-apply and hopefully get into some programs that I'd be very enthusiastic about.

[ion_exchanger]

Officially waitlisted at UMass.  Still waiting to hear from the other two places.  Considering it's pretty much April and I don't have any offers of admission, it's not looking pretty for me.  I guess you'll be seeing me in next year's application cycle!

 

3 interviews and no offers.  I guess they really didn't like me, lol.

 

Again, congrats everyone!

 

Still hoping for good news for you. The good news is that April 15th is just around the corner, so you will definitely know one way or another. A lot of us have committed, but a lot of others are holding their decisions until the last minute to really weigh their options. Sincerely hoping one of your schools comes through for you. I wouldn't say they didn't like you, they just have many other candidates to accomodate.

[Nirisng]

@biohopeful

Thanks so much for getting back to me..The interview went ok.I hope to hear back soon from them..Dont lose hope just yet..Its not over till it is over..

[livinlite]

@Bassish101 ugh it's been really tough but I finally made my decision today! I'll be attending Harvard BBS in the fall So, so, so excited!

[Laggs0]

Finally made my decision as well. It was very difficult choosing between Stanford and Harvard, but Harvard won out for personal reasons in the end.

[Gram Neutral]

Sorry you haven't heard anything from them. I've seen so many posts of students who have interviewed and then heard absolutely nothing, I do not understand why the grad schools do this, seems pretty crass. 

 

The neuro program does their own interviews, independent from IDP. So, i'm still (foolishly) holding out hope.

 

I see you had an interview at Loyola too, did you hear from them?

 

I haven't hear dfrom them either, which is why I'm running out of hope. I'm basically over it and looking for a technician job. So if any of your labs are hiring...hahaha.

[cleverfool]

Just pulled the trigger and accepted the Wisconsin IPiB offer.

So excited to be done with this, and to start thinking about going back to school!

[chemaholic]

Just pulled the trigger and accepted the Wisconsin IPiB offer.

So excited to be done with this, and to start thinking about going back to school!

 

See you then in the fall, cleverfool!

[ion_exchanger]

So excited to be done with this, and to start thinking about going back to school!

 

Congratulations! I'm so excited to think about going back to school! After going for 16 years straight and being out for 3, I hope I haven't forgotten!

[cleverfool]

See you then in the fall, cleverfool!

Excellent! Can't wait.

Congratulations! I'm so excited to think about going back to school! After going for 16 years straight and being out for 3, I hope I haven't forgotten!

I know! I've been out for five...I'm confident in my research abilities, but slightly scared of getting back into the swing of coursework.

[mengyan528]

Accepted the offer from Albert Einstein College of Medicine :-)