mop Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Got my North Carolina itinerary. I didn't get interviews with my top two POIs. The ones I did get are tangentially related to my research interests (they're cardiac, I'm interesting in musculoskeletal dev). One is completely different (cancer), but I'm assuming they're on the adcom? Is it common for an assistant prof to be on the adcom? Considering I was pretty explicit in my interests in my SOP, how should I approach the cardiac interviewers? I don't want to come off as uninterested, but unfortunately the people I'm meeting with are not my top POIs and I think that shows with the descrepancy in my SOP versus their work. Finally, there are six scheduled interview slots but I only got a list of five interviewers. Is this common? Will I get a mystery person day-of, or just skip a slot? Thanks a bunch, guys! Also, if anyone else is going to UNC this weekend, shoutout to you! Hope to meet you there! Yes it is very common to get POIs you did not ask for. don't worry about getting profs you didn't ask for. There will likely be about 40 or more inteviewees, making it impossible to schedule 200 individual interviews. PIs are busy enough as it is, or they could be out of town, etc. The empty one interview slot you should have free to do whatever, though there will be a location to hang out with other applicants. The extra slot just helps with the scheduling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ion_exchanger Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 In my interviews, an empty slot was free time for me, it happened at two of my interviews. They'll have a place for you to sit and relax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elanorci Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Just missed a call and then checked the voicemail to find that I got into Caltech Bio! It was from a professor whose work I'm really interested in and came around 5:30 their time, so I suspect POIs are calling kind of on their own schedule. That was quick turnaround post interview! lasercats11, pstar465, immuno555 and 11 others 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ashcanpete Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Got my North Carolina itinerary. I didn't get interviews with my top two POIs. The ones I did get are tangentially related to my research interests (they're cardiac, I'm interesting in musculoskeletal dev). One is completely different (cancer), but I'm assuming they're on the adcom? Is it common for an assistant prof to be on the adcom? Considering I was pretty explicit in my interests in my SOP, how should I approach the cardiac interviewers? I don't want to come off as uninterested, but unfortunately the people I'm meeting with are not my top POIs and I think that shows with the descrepancy in my SOP versus their work. Finally, there are six scheduled interview slots but I only got a list of five interviewers. Is this common? Will I get a mystery person day-of, or just skip a slot? Thanks a bunch, guys! Also, if anyone else is going to UNC this weekend, shoutout to you! Hope to meet you there! Yes it is very common to get POIs you did not ask for. don't worry about getting profs you didn't ask for. There will likely be about 40 or more inteviewees, making it impossible to schedule 200 individual interviews. PIs are busy enough as it is, or they could be out of town, etc. The empty one interview slot you should have free to do whatever, though there will be a location to hang out with other applicants. The extra slot just helps with the scheduling. Yeah I totally agree with what mop said, this happens all the time. At my Northwestern NUIN interview weekend, I got scheduled for 2 people I didn't request, and both were fine. Also, one of my interviews got switched to a different PI (but another one I requested) about 2 hours before the interviews started. And then, about 5 min before my first interview there, they discovered that the PI was out of town (and he didn't tell anyone, lol). They switched me to someone I hadn't asked for, but it was totally fine and I enjoyed hearing about his research and telling him about mine. In the end, I liked all of my interviews, and it all worked out great. (I got accepted!) I've been told that they mainly want to see if you can converse intelligently about science in general. They're not necessarily interested in discussing every detail of your or their research. Anyway, don't sweat it too much, they really just want to get to know you, so just relax and be yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.J Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Got an official reject email from Weill-Cornell - BCMB program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunpenguin Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Just missed a call and then checked the voicemail to find that I got into Caltech Bio! It was from a professor whose work I'm really interested in and came around 5:30 their time, so I suspect POIs are calling kind of on their own schedule. That was quick turnaround post interview! Congratulations! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RR1 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Got an official reject email from Weill-Cornell - BCMB program. same T.J 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BinaryFission Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Did they mention how soon they'd start getting back to you guys in terms of decisions? about a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zinde Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Can anyone who's interviewing with the Harvard BBS program this weekend say whether they've gotten a list of faculty they're meeting with? Not sure if I've missed an email somewhere or if they just haven't sent anything yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lordofthedoge Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 about a week. Great! Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BostonBio153 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Can anyone who's interviewing with the Harvard BBS program this weekend say whether they've gotten a list of faculty they're meeting with? Not sure if I've missed an email somewhere or if they just haven't sent anything yet. I spoke with some students and we won't know who we're interviewing with until we receive an interview packet from our host student on Thursday night. zinde 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zinde Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 I spoke with some students and we won't know who we're interviewing with until we receive an interview packet from our host student on Thursday night. OK great, thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BostonBio153 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 FYI for those applying to Biological Sciences PhD programs at Columbia, the post-interview acceptance rate is ~50%, based on last year's numbers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iheartplants Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 On a similar note, Berkeley IB PhD post-interview acceptance rate this year will be 80.4% to all those who may be interested. Just found this out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knightrunner Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 I haven't been here for a few days, but I just got my official rejection from UCSD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevintoy Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Just got an invite to skype interview with Syracuse. They aren't my first choice, but that's off topic. Does anyone know why they'd elect for a 20-30 min skype interview as opposed to an in person visit? I've never heard of skype interviews for domestic applicants before. Additionally, a lab mate of mine received the same email to skype interview with them, so its not just me. Any thoughts? Penn Biology has skype interviews for the first round and on-campus interview afterwards. It might have to do with budget. Do they have any follow-up interview though? MackF 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MackF Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Penn Biology has skype interviews for the first round and on-campus interview afterwards. It might have to do with budget. Do they have any follow-up interview though? They didn't say in their email. I'll have to find out from their program coordinator. Thanks for the input. MackF 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
user165 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 FYI for those applying to Biological Sciences PhD programs at Columbia, the post-interview acceptance rate is ~50%, based on last year's numbers. That's much lower than I expected! Do you know what the rates are for Harvard BBS and PENN CAMB? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
username1824 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Penn CAMB post-interview acceptance rate is really high. Probably 80% or even higher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BostonBio153 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 That's much lower than I expected! Do you know what the rates are for Harvard BBS and PENN CAMB? Not sure about the exact %, but I know that BBS (at least for domestic applicants) accepts ~80% of interviewees. As for PENN CAMB, I'd go with what username1824 says. I've only heard numbers for BBS through word-of-mouth, but the Columbia % was on a sheet they gave us during the interview weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
username1824 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Not sure about the exact %, but I know that BBS (at least for domestic applicants) accepts ~80% of interviewees. As for PENN CAMB, I'd go with what username1824 says. I've only heard numbers for BBS through word-of-mouth, but the Columbia % was on a sheet they gave us during the interview weekend. Just out of curiosity, but who did you hear the BBS number from? Word of mouth from BBS students or from people on here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BostonBio153 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Just out of curiosity, but who did you hear the BBS number from? Word of mouth from BBS students or from people on here? BBS students. But I'm sure it varies year-by-year, probably just an approximate number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gram Neutral Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Really starting to get nervous. I doubt Florida and Pitt are still gonna give out interviews so I've ruled them out in my head, although I haven't gotten an official rejection. Same with the other ones. Notre Dame I am holding out hope for a second round of interview invites. With Loyola and MCW I know they are still considering me, but it's really nerve racking. I thought with an extra year of experience I would get more interviews than last year, not less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BinaryFission Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Does anyone know when I should be getting Columbia's Micro&Immuno itinerary/hotel info? They sent me an invite, asked for a faculty list, and then seemingly died. It's soon, so I'm getting worried. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvp713 Posted February 5, 2014 Share Posted February 5, 2014 Just got into freak-out mode a little bit. I found out one of the PI's on my interview itinerary is one of the PI's whose work basically gave birth to my project. Someone reassure me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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