2014 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[persimmony]

Did you go to Boston yet? How was it? I still have no idea what is going on with them.

 

Not yet, going there on Feb 10.

[immuno555]

I felt that even when the interviewer was just spouting off about their work, it was important to ask analytical questions. By doing so you are able to prove to them that your mind works at the capacity of work at their academic level. I had an interviewer say, "wow that's a really great question, I have no idea. I think I'm going to look into that. " I felt phenomenal. I think it's key not to let them get carried away. Interrupt them. Do it! But in an informative additive way. It certainly got me this far... Also when talking about your own work, don't forget to talk about when your experiments DIDN'T work. This is key in bioscience grad school. By the time we all have PhD's we will know 250+ ways how not to prove something. Gluck all !

[theycombinator]

I know exactly what you guys mean. I wanted the same opportunity as you did. The only reasons why I think they might do that is if most of the people they send offers to tend to go elsewhere (so they choose to impress rather than "grill" you), or if they had already made up their mind before you got there or needed a certain percentage of ethnicities, age groups, etc. and the interview was just an informality. I guess admissions have a reason why they do interviews the way they do - there's a reason for everything.

 

To be fair, this frustrating situation I mentioned didn't take place in the US, but at a top UK institution instead.

 

Part of my frustration stems from the fact that I hoped all this admissions process to be more predictable. I was quite ill during Fall, so I couldn't send many applications. I chose to send a really tiny set (3) to very specific places that I supposed to be good matches.

 

In retrospective, it's been a disaster so far even though I've been interviewed in all 3 places---with one offer I declined and no rejections so far. The other two places might or might not reject me, but I don't think they have a good picture of who I am. And that sucks cause it feels like playing the wheel of fortune, with just 2 attempts...

 

Although I have some strong points, I'm rather old (29), so I guess that waiting till next year, which I wouldn't otherwise care much about, could turn admissions into a really uphill battle.

[msr420]

  When I looked it up on Petersons it says an acceptance rate of 9% from the applicant pool which was 181. I think the numbers are probably from either last year, or the year before, but hopefully that helps

Thank you so much. 

[walkinlove]

What are y'all doing in terms of attire? A number of my interview invites have told me to "dress comfortably".  I understand there will likely be a decent amount of walking and am really not looking forward to wearing heels - but can I wear sneakers?  Jeans and a nice shirt? Black plants and a nice blouse? 

 

I'm E&E, which I think is a bit more laid back than the biomedical side of things.  Any tips?

[RatsWithHats]

What are y'all doing in terms of attire? A number of my interview invites have told me to "dress comfortably".  I understand there will likely be a decent amount of walking and am really not looking forward to wearing heels - but can I wear sneakers?  Jeans and a nice shirt? Black plants and a nice blouse? 

 

I'm E&E, which I think is a bit more laid back than the biomedical side of things.  Any tips?

 

I've been to 3 interviews so far, and honestly as long as you don't look unprofessional I don't think it matters what you wear. You can tell that it is someone's first interview when they show up in the suit haha. You can't go wrong with pants and a button down and/or sweater. Jeans work if you can still look professional (dark jeans+sweater or nice shirt?). With it being january and all of these storms hitting the country I would say it's more important to dress for the weather then to try to impress scientists, a stereotypically unfashionable group of people, with your keen sense of style. It's snowed at each of my interviews so I have been wearing boots and felt perfectly appropriate, and much happier walking around campus then those wearing soaked loafers or slipping on ice in heels.

[kimthi1011]

Hi guys,

So I've got an interview from U Maryland CP, BISI. I was assigned for the Feb 20-22 weekend, but this schedule overlaps with UTMB. To me UTMB> UMD, so I emailed the co-directer to see if they can put me into another weekend. Apparently there are many other weekends (I was provided with a link to sign up for one of those, but in the email, the co-director specifically wants me to attend the Feb20-22). The co-director says that she can't put me into another interview weekends because the flight ticket is more expensive(!). Then I asked if I can offer to pay PART of the ticket. And she didn't respond to me at all. That was very rude.

 

But before that, I've talked to the director and he seems very nice. I am thinking about emailing the director about my situation instead, because part of me also wants to visit UMD CP (personal reason). In terms of ranking, UMD> UTMB, but in terms of research in immunology and anything else, UTMB>UMD.

What do you guys think about this?

[mini0n01]

What are y'all doing in terms of attire? A number of my interview invites have told me to "dress comfortably".  I understand there will likely be a decent amount of walking and am really not looking forward to wearing heels - but can I wear sneakers?  Jeans and a nice shirt? Black plants and a nice blouse? 

 

I'm E&E, which I think is a bit more laid back than the biomedical side of things.  Any tips?

 

In my opinion, I would not wear jeans. I've been on 4 so far, and I've only seen one person wear jeans and she seemed to feel visibly embarrassed by her attire. If it's cold, you can wear tights under your slacks. Also, hard, hard pass on the heels. Just don't do it. I wore heeled boots to my first interview because I didn't have time to hem my pants (I know, horrible idea), and it was not worth it. Go to Payless, Walmart, Target, whatever to find sensible interview shoes. With that said, I don't think that the interviewers care too much about what shoes you're wearing and maybe not even what clothes you're wearing, but if everyone else shows up professionally dressed and you're in jeans, you could feel uncomfortable. If it's really bad, you could carry a spare pair of comfortable shoes and switch right before the interview.

[aba1984]

Is anybody applying to University of Arizona by any chance? Did you have your interviews yet?

[ERR_Alpha]

Hi guys,

So I've got an interview from U Maryland CP, BISI. I was assigned for the Feb 20-22 weekend, but this schedule overlaps with UTMB. To me UTMB> UMD, so I emailed the co-directer to see if they can put me into another weekend. Apparently there are many other weekends (I was provided with a link to sign up for one of those, but in the email, the co-director specifically wants me to attend the Feb20-22). The co-director says that she can't put me into another interview weekends because the flight ticket is more expensive(!). Then I asked if I can offer to pay PART of the ticket. And she didn't respond to me at all. That was very rude.

But before that, I've talked to the director and he seems very nice. I am thinking about emailing the director about my situation instead, because part of me also wants to visit UMD CP (personal reason). In terms of ranking, UMD> UTMB, but in terms of research in immunology and anything else, UTMB>UMD.

What do you guys think about this?

I would reach out to whoever you had spoken to before. To me, if I didn't really want to go somewhere and I was sure id have enough options, I wouldn't take the interview if they couldn't work around my schedule. I'm a broke college student, I couldn't pay for my own flights! It seems rude to me that they can't accommodate you another weekend.

[kimthi1011]

A question for UT Southwestern interviewees:

I saw there are rejections posted for UT southwestern. Can you figure out why you didn't get the acceptance?

I am wondering how hard it is to get accepted to UT Southwestern after you got to the interview round.

[ion_exchanger]

In regards to the umd question, I didn't know that they could choose which trip you can take based on price. Shouldn't it be that if you are granted an interview, they will pay anyway, no matter the cost?

I will say that for umd, they grouped the interviews based on concentration, so not going with your concentration group is not as fun/informative.

[0908]

Is anybody applying to University of Arizona by any chance? Did you have your interviews yet?

  Yeah I did. The first round of interviews were the Jan 23-25th. The admissions committee started sending out acceptances already.

[kimthi1011]

In regards to the umd question, I didn't know that they could choose which trip you can take based on price. Shouldn't it be that if you are granted an interview, they will pay anyway, no matter the cost?

I will say that for umd, they grouped the interviews based on concentration, so not going with your concentration group is not as fun/informative.

I saw that you've been accepted at UMD CP. How're the people over there? Any signs of aggressiveness? (especially with the co-director Michelle Brooks?)

 

The co-director says nothing about grouping according to interests at all, and it seems that everything she is concerned about is the price (She says it exceeds the limits for travel etc). Well, and even when I offer to pay partially, maybe it will involve more issues dealing with the payment, so she didn't care to reply me. 

 

I don't know much about UMD CP in immunology research. I applied there merely because there is hope that I can be closer to my boyfriend who is also doing his Ph.D at UMD CP. I hope it is a good program?

[ion_exchanger]

Umd was actually my favorite interview. It's short, sweet, to the point, and fun. Michelle brooks, from what I can remember, was extremely nice and pleasant, she smiles a lot. I had no problems with anyone there, but I was a local candidate. All of the faculty were great, and the phd students are really nice. The students interviewing were also really nice. For dinner they took us to a nice restaurant downtown. Overall, a pretty nice place to be.

[Adenine_Monarch]

Baylor update: Baylor accepts 4-5 students, and they interview 14. They will meet Monday about this interview weekend that just ended to possibly make some decisions before the interview next weekend.

What program are you referring to?

 

Someone asked me a while ago (was it ERR_Alpha?) to talk about the Caltech bio interview, so here it is. It ran from Wed to Fri. I arrived pretty late on Wednesday night and was up bright and early on Thursday, so I was really tired. We had a nice breakfast, during which a director of the program (I think?) gave us an overview of the curriculum and structure -- one year of classes, two or three rotations, pretty standard stuff. Then we had a short look around some of the graduate housing and some of the campus, and then we had interviews; some first and second year grad students helped us find our way around, and they were really helpful! My interview experiences were very surprising. I had 5 interviews, 4 of which I had requested the professors for and 1 of whom I assume is on the admissions committee or something. Only 2 asked me about my own research at all, and one of these was the one I hadn't requested. The other 3 just talked pretty much nonstop about their own research for the full 30 - 45 minutes. Overall, the interviews were really interesting and enjoyable, and I only heard about a couple bad experiences. 

 

There were also a fair number of reception/social type things: a reception/poster session, a dinner at a faculty member's house, a trip to a bar. ~5-7 grad students showed us around and were extremely nice and informative for the entire trip. I never once talked to a 3rd year or older, which was a little strange, but I heard that someone else ran into one. On the last day, we toured some facilities, some people had more interviews, and then we spent a while lying around at the beach, which was really wonderful! 

 

Overall, it was a pretty relaxed experience, and I had a ton of fun, although I was totally exhausted for a lot of it, as activities ran for more than 12 hours (8 am - midnight or so) on the first day, and I got the impression that a lot of other people were really tired too. I really liked everyone I met, especially the other interviewees -- everyone was really nice and really impressive, which is a pretty rare combination! 

 

Hope this helps. This was my first interview, and it definitely taught me not to worry that much about them: most of my time was spent hearing about cool science, not being grilled! 

It was me that asked you about it. Glad it went well for you. What do you mean about laying around at the beach, though?  That sucks about the year distribution of the students you spoke to. I'd be a little skeptical of a place that does not have many (or any!) older students advocating the school/program. I wonder why the grad school told me that they don't even do interviews necessarily (something about it being at the discretion of the adcomm or something). Maybe it was someone that was just clueless? Sounds like you had a pretty typical experience. Maybe they like keeping it on the down low?

 

This is very frustrating, and I have experienced it last week. Short interviews with almost no technical content, just vague questions like where do you see yourself in 5 years time. Hard to distinguish yourself or impress anyone in this framework. Many if you're a good speaker, but that doesn't have any correlation with science.

I disagree with this. I keep getting the "where do you see yourself" question (and I've been on three interviews so far) and I think it helps the interviewer gauge the thoughtfulness of your plans for grad school. What planning have you done, where does this program fit in, how knowledgeable are you about your options after graduation, what do you hope to accomplish, etc., in other words I think what they DON'T want to hear is something along the lines of "I want to be a PI and run my own lab," with no further explanation (of course it is okay to say this if that is truly your goal, but you better put your money where your mouth is and explain why). I think there's a lot of meat you can put on an open-ended question like that if you've thought enough about it. You should be able to discuss that sort of question at length if asked about it or to elaborate further. I think they want to see that you've truly thought about it and therefore are committed to this career choice (and, by extension, the Ph.D). And that can be just as impressive as science talk about your project since it is also a demonstration of critical thinking skill. Or perhaps even more impressive since maybe your interviewers already are familiar with the sort of field you're in and understand it better than you do!

 

And I absolutely think that being an articulate speaker is related to science. Talks and presentations are as common as breathing and good communication (whether oral or written in a paper/thesis) is a must. At any rate, it certainly doesn't hurt to be a good communicator. Your project comes alive to people when you can explain yourself well.

[Adenine_Monarch]

I felt that even when the interviewer was just spouting off about their work, it was important to ask analytical questions. By doing so you are able to prove to them that your mind works at the capacity of work at their academic level. I had an interviewer say, "wow that's a really great question, I have no idea. I think I'm going to look into that. " I felt phenomenal. I think it's key not to let them get carried away. Interrupt them. Do it! But in an informative additive way. It certainly got me this far... Also when talking about your own work, don't forget to talk about when your experiments DIDN'T work. This is key in bioscience grad school. By the time we all have PhD's we will know 250+ ways how not to prove something. Gluck all !

I agree with this. Definitely ask questions - it will convey your interest and they will like seeing you tackle "their" problem analytically. Critical thinking is important to acquire as a student and they will want to see you trying to do just that.

 

What are y'all doing in terms of attire? A number of my interview invites have told me to "dress comfortably".  I understand there will likely be a decent amount of walking and am really not looking forward to wearing heels - but can I wear sneakers?  Jeans and a nice shirt? Black plants and a nice blouse? 

 

I'm E&E, which I think is a bit more laid back than the biomedical side of things.  Any tips?

In my opinion, I would lay off the jeans, sneakers and sandals for any sort of interview (actually saw some girls wearing sandals and was surprised - I guess this was their take on "comfortable."). And I definitely would keep the heels at home unless you want to come back with blisters. I did a ton of walking at my last interview since the campus was so huge. What I did was invest in a good pair of black, flat, leather, mid-calf boots - easy to wear under slacks or with tights and a skirt and good if the weather is cold or snowy. I made sure they were comfortable. I spent more money on them than I'd normally like, but they have served me very well so far and have not been uncomfortable at all, so I think it's been a good investment. I think so long as it's obvious you made the effort to look nice and professional, it doesn't matter what you wear (whether it's a suit, blouse, sweater, skirt, pants, etc. I have seen all of these on my interviews so far. People actually seemed to be dressed up more than I initially expected, but they didn't seem out of place to me) Don't be the dude at my last interview that wore the tight pink jeans, orange belt and casual polo shirt. I actually saw one of the students ask for his name like he was taking notes on candidates.

 

Is anybody applying to University of Arizona by any chance? Did you have your interviews yet?

I went to their first weekend and just got my acceptance over the phone on Friday. They said they'd take about a week and that's exactly what they did! It's my first acceptance and I enjoyed the weekend there, so I'm excited!

[elanorci]

 

It was me that asked you about it. Glad it went well for you. What do you mean about laying around at the beach, though?  That sucks about the year distribution of the students you spoke to. I'd be a little skeptical of a place that does not have many (or any!) older students advocating the school/program. I wonder why the grad school told me that they don't even do interviews necessarily (something about it being at the discretion of the adcomm or something). Maybe it was someone that was just clueless? Sounds like you had a pretty typical experience. Maybe they like keeping it on the down low?

 

 

I have no idea about whether or not an interview is required for admission -- they told us literally nothing about the admissions process, so I'm pretty in the dark. Maybe you could call or email to clarify? It is odd that they told you that with no further explanation. 

 

Definitely agree about the skepticism -- esp since it seems to be in the 3rd/4th year that people start to drag, get discouraged, etc. It would have been nice to talk to some older students about whether that was happening to them and how their PIs were helping/hurting.

 

(About the beach: on the last day, after everyone's interviews were over, the grad student hosts took us to the marine lab building, situated on the beachfront! We hung out on the beach and played frisbee and lay around for ~7 hours or so. I think the intention was to show us how some of the grad students spend their downtime, as they said that they come here and surf fairly frequently on weekends.) 

[RR1]

Has anyone heard from UIC - GEMS or the Medical College of Wisconsin? And has baylor college of medicine sent out rejections for the Integrative Molecular and Biomedical Sciences program? 

 

Thanks!!

Edited February 3, 2014 by RR1

[Science_Nerd]

Is there anyone who already interviewed at Baylor College of Medicine?? ( Translational Biology and Molecular Medicine Graduate Program, or TBMM)

I was just curious what the atmosphere was like at Baylor.

 

 

So far I attended two interviews (one was biomedical science program and another was interdisciplinary program), and both of them were so friendly, welcoming and hmmmm what's the word I'm looking for....well, whatever, everything went great, although I haven't received any admission decisions yet.

 

 

I was wondering if grad school interview is all like this.

[ERR_Alpha]

Reminded me of you guys!   Also it was mailed from my area... wow!

Edited February 3, 2014 by ERR_Alpha

[Etern]

So, I made up my mind, I shall attend the Sanger Institute from October onwards :) I just accepted their offer and rejected the others! SO SO SO happy It was my first choice

 

So, in the end my situation was like this:

 

Sanger Institute- 4-year PhD -Interview - Acceptance - 20000£ per year - ATTENDING

 

Oxford- Genomic Medicine and Statistics - Interview- Acceptance- 20000£ per year

Oxford- NDM Prize Studentship - Interview- Acceptance- 18000£ per year

Cambridge- Mathematical Genomics and Medicine - Interview - Withdraw

Imperial College- Genomic Medicine - Interview - Rejection

Harvard- Biostatistics- Withdraw

Harvard- Public Health: Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics - Withdraw

Yale- Biostatistics -Withdraw

UC Davis- Entomology- Interview - Withdraw

Penn State- Entomology - Acceptance - 26000$ per year + tuition fee waiver

Cornell- Genetics, Genomics, and Development - Interview - Withdraw

[theycombinator]

So, I made up my mind, I shall attend the Sanger Institute from October onwards :) I just accepted their offer and rejected the others! SO SO SO happy It was my first choice

 

So, in the end my situation was like this:

 

Sanger Institute- 4-year PhD -Interview - Acceptance - 20000£ per year - ATTENDING

 

Oxford- Genomic Medicine and Statistics - Interview- Acceptance- 20000£ per year

Oxford- NDM Prize Studentship - Interview- Acceptance- 18000£ per year

Cambridge- Mathematical Genomics and Medicine - Interview - Withdraw

Imperial College- Genomic Medicine - Interview - Rejection

Harvard- Biostatistics- Withdraw

Harvard- Public Health: Genetic Epidemiology and Statistical Genetics - Withdraw

Yale- Biostatistics -Withdraw

UC Davis- Entomology- Interview - Withdraw

Penn State- Entomology - Acceptance - 26000$ per year + tuition fee waiver

Cornell- Genetics, Genomics, and Development - Interview - Withdraw

 

Congrats! Did you hear back from Cambridge MGM?

[Monochrome Spring]

Since we have a decision made (congratulations!), I think I'll start the get to know you/decisions thread. Is there anything you guys want included in the first post that people should indicate when they introduce themselves?

[seanwilson]

Did anyone here attend the first Harvard MCO interview weekend this weekend? How was it?