2014 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[iheartplants]

I'll add to what wolbachia said. Sometimes, professors only have a certain number of students that they can meet on a given interview weekend. You just may have just not have made it into their slots.

 

 

Hey guys,

 

quick question for those that are more well informed about the interview process. When I requested to meet with a few faculty members for the interview, a couple of them were on the finalized list whilst 2 others were added. Does this mean that the others I requested are not interested/dont have spots or could it have just been a scheduling issue and I could approach them if and when I get admitted.

 

Thanks in advance!

This exact thing happened to me for my upcoming interview weekend. I was asked to select 6 faculty to meet with, and when I got the schedule, I found that I am only meeting with 3/6 of them. The others sound cool too though!

[Science_Nerd]

Hey guys,

 

quick question for those that are more well informed about the interview process. When I requested to meet with a few faculty members for the interview, a couple of them were on the finalized list whilst 2 others were added. Does this mean that the others I requested are not interested/dont have spots or could it have just been a scheduling issue and I could approach them if and when I get admitted.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

From what I was told at my interviews, while they really try hard to match you with faculty of your interest as much as possible, they also want you to talk to at least one member of the admissions committee too.  It's just that those who had all the requested faculty in the final list were fortunate that their faculty of interest were in the committee.  

 

I wouldn't worry at all even if only one or two of your requested faculty got in the final list.

[lordofthedoge]

For anyone that attended the Northwestern DGP interview last weekend or knows anything about this. What's their admission offer percentage post-interview? To me, it seemed like it would be fairly high seeing as in the past they have made 60-70+ offers and interview about 90 kids.

[MackF]

MackF,

 

when did you hear from Pitt MCDB? I haven't heard anything from them, and I'm beginning to think I am rejected as well....

 

Hi Activationenergy,

 

I got my rejection via e-mail on Jan 24.  Here's what it said:

 

Dear [real name]

We recently completed a major round of review of the applications for the Fall of 2014. Unfortunately, we were unable to offer you a position. The application process was extremely competitive this year, and the number of high quality applicants far exceeded the number of students that we could accept.

We thank you for your interest in our program and for your patience with the review process. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Best regards,

Jon Boyle, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Member, Graduate Admissions Committee

LSA 102

Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA

[Activationenergy]

Hi Activationenergy,

 

I got my rejection via e-mail on Jan 24.  Here's what it said:

 

Dear [real name]

We recently completed a major round of review of the applications for the Fall of 2014. Unfortunately, we were unable to offer you a position. The application process was extremely competitive this year, and the number of high quality applicants far exceeded the number of students that we could accept.

We thank you for your interest in our program and for your patience with the review process. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Best regards,

Jon Boyle, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Member, Graduate Admissions Committee

LSA 102

Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA

Huh, sorry to hear about that. Anyway, maybe i'm on some sort of waitlist, or maybe they just haven't rejected me yet through e-mail. Thanks!

[Fun_Cookie]

Harvard was amazing. They really cared about us prospective students. That is all.

Edited February 4, 2014 by Fun_Cookie

[SysEvo]

Harvard was amazing. They really cared about us prospective students. That is all.

Could you please be more specific? Though we are not in the same program, but waiting for decision making is really painful...

[MackF]

Huh, sorry to hear about that. Anyway, maybe i'm on some sort of waitlist, or maybe they just haven't rejected me yet through e-mail. Thanks!

 

No big deal.  Happy to share information.  I'd bet you're spot on in your prediction.  Probably on a wait list of some sort.  I imagine they sent out interview invites already at least for the first round.

[emily24092491]

I applied to Vanderbilt's IGP, and I have a competitive application, but I haven't heard back from them yet.  I want more than anything to be accepted into this program.  I'm about to send off some emails to the program coordinator and a few of the faculty (to express my interest in their research), but is there anything else I can do?  Is there a chance I could still get in?  

[lordofthedoge]

I applied to Vanderbilt's IGP, and I have a competitive application, but I haven't heard back from them yet.  I want more than anything to be accepted into this program.  I'm about to send off some emails to the program coordinator and a few of the faculty (to express my interest in their research), but is there anything else I can do?  Is there a chance I could still get in?  

 I don't think it'd hurt you to send some e-mails (beyond anecdotal evidence I couldn't tell you whether it helped or not). Also they're still rolling through their admissions so there's definitely still a chance you could get in. I believe this weekend will be their 5th weekend of 8 assuming they've had one every week since the first one they did (Jan 10th) so I would imagine that they're still looking at people to invite for the later weekends. As for perspective, if you do get an interview they mentioned that they give offers to about 88% of the people they interview and if I recall correctly they're looking for a class of about 65.

 

Hope this helps!

[seanwilson]

Harvard was amazing. They really cared about us prospective students. That is all.

Good to hear! You were in MCO, right? How were your actual interviews?

How was the weather? I'm heading there next weekend and I'm from Arizona so this is a big deal for me.

[lordofthedoge]

Good to hear! You were in MCO, right? How were your actual interviews?

How was the weather? I'm heading there next weekend and I'm from Arizona so this is a big deal for me.

Being from New York I can give you a little perspective on the weather haha. It's been fairly calm for the past few days so I would assume the weather has been nice. We're supposed to get that triple storm rolling through starting tomorrow so I can only imagine that the weather and travel is about to get worse (especially if you're making a connection in O'Hare or anything east, if you make it through Atlanta you might have better luck).

 

Good luck though! Both travel and interview wise.

[Fun_Cookie]

Good to hear! You were in MCO, right? How were your actual interviews?

How was the weather? I'm heading there next weekend and I'm from Arizona so this is a big deal for me.

 

Students are really nice. Faculty are super smart and also nice during interviews and dining events. Everyone in MCO enjoys each other and it is really like a family, which is surprising to think about considering Harvard is a big school with big departments. If you are the type of person who likes having a close-knit community and more support & attention from people who wants you to get a PhD, then this would be the place. Harvard BBS is too big for this kind of support. I didn't actually think I will like it but now if I don't get an acceptance from them I will be very sad.

 

Weather was in 40's F but it's not too bad. Just bring some jackets.

Edited February 4, 2014 by Fun_Cookie

[BinaryFission]

For anyone that attended the Northwestern DGP interview last weekend or knows anything about this. What's their admission offer percentage post-interview? To me, it seemed like it would be fairly high seeing as in the past they have made 60-70+ offers and interview about 90 kids.

 

They told us they have a yield of about 40% and expect a class of 20-30 so yeah, pretty high acceptance rate. However, I don't know if it goes down with each weekend.

[seanwilson]

Students are really nice. Faculty are super smart and also nice during interviews and dining events. Everyone in MCO enjoys each other and it is really like a family, which is surprising to think about considering Harvard is a big school with big departments. If you are the type of person who likes having a close-knit community and more support & attention from people who wants you to get a PhD, then this would be the place. Harvard BBS is too big for this kind of support. I didn't actually think I will like it but now if I don't get an acceptance from them I will be very sad.

 

Weather was in 40's F but it's not too bad. Just bring some jackets.

That sounds awesome! This is something that I think is really important in a grad program. Did you pick up any interesting tidbits like the post-interview acceptance rate, expected incoming class size, etc?

 

Also, jackets will be fine? I don't really own jackets in the plural but it's been suggested to me that I get a down jacket, is this the sort of jacket that you mean?

Edited February 4, 2014 by seanwilson

[ERR_Alpha]

Got my Dartmouth itinerary! So exicited!

[sys88]

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!

[nns91]

Just got my first acceptance to UMass Medical! Now I won't have to be that stressed about my upcoming interviews

[lordofthedoge]

They told us they have a yield of about 40% and expect a class of 20-30 so yeah, pretty high acceptance rate. However, I don't know if it goes down with each weekend.

Did they mention how soon they'd start getting back to you guys in terms of decisions?

[0908]

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!

  You are honestly worrying about the interviews too much. You will probably spend most of the time talking about your research. It doesn't matter that you aren't interested in their research, they know that already. Your interviewers have already seen you SOP. I wouldn't worry about how many interviewers you have, I doubt you will get a mystery person. They probably couldn't get an extra person for you. Which honestly is a good thing, its one less PI to interview with.

[elanorci]

Have you made it out yet? I'm going to Princeton on Thursday. I just barely made it out to St. Louis last week, and I don't want a repeat this week.

I did get here eventually! Made it in around 11:30. The weather is supposed to get bad sometime this week, so I hope you make it here ok!! All the QCB people were really nice about handling all my delays and told me all about how they have to deal with winter travel mishaps frequently during interviews, though, so don't stress too much if something does go awry (though it sucks, i know).

[sys88]

  You are honestly worrying about the interviews too much. You will probably spend most of the time talking about your research. It doesn't matter that you aren't interested in their research, they know that already. Your interviewers have already seen you SOP. I wouldn't worry about how many interviewers you have, I doubt you will get a mystery person. They probably couldn't get an extra person for you. Which honestly is a good thing, its one less PI to interview with.

Haha, probably. Thanks for the reassurance:)

[qualitative]

Earlier today, I called the BBSP office at UNC-Chapel Hill to inquire about my application status. The lady who picked up the phone (Sue) said ALL the interview invitations have been sent out for the BBSP training programs and informed me I was rejected. She also said that many applicants will not receive formal notification of rejection for several weeks, mentioning some crap about how it will come through the UNC graduate school. I was betting on an interview invitation from UNC-CH, and am very disappointed in the outcome. On another note, does anyone know if UTSW is done sending out interview invitations? Also, I applied to a joint molecular biophysics and structural biology program between Pittsburgh and Carnegie Mellon University. Has anyone received any news from that program? Thx

 

Hi, I've been following this thread for so long now. I emailed the AdCom and the chair of the recruiting com of the joint Pitt-CMU program and the chair of the rec.com. responded right away stating that " I don't really know about the status of the review process in any detail (aside from the fact that it is ongoing)". Also, "it is not unusual to not yet have heard about any decisions yet, at this time of year." 

 

He says he'll try to touch base with the AdCom and email me back once he has some update on the process. 

 

Good luck!

[MackF]

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?

Edited February 5, 2014 by MackF

[sqxz]

I did get here eventually! Made it in around 11:30. The weather is supposed to get bad sometime this week, so I hope you make it here ok!! All the QCB people were really nice about handling all my delays and told me all about how they have to deal with winter travel mishaps frequently during interviews, though, so don't stress too much if something does go awry (though it sucks, i know).

 

Looks like rain in Philadelphia and "ice pellets" in Newark, which are my connection and destination, respectively. Happily, this weather is expected on Wednesday, and I won't be flying out until Thursday.  Glad you made it there eventually! I'm sure everyone is nice about inclement weather as there is nothing we, as candidates, can do about it, but I'd still like to avoid spending any more time than necessary in airports if at all possible.