2014 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[Adenine_Monarch]

I am trying to stay positive, but I woke up to an empty email box again this morning. Still no word....from anywhere. Nothing like getting an ulcer for Christmas!

LOL, well at least it seems like you haven't lost your sense of humor! All of my invites so far came rather later in the day, so there's that, if it makes you feel any better. My one reject was yesterday early morning, so! They got that off their chest quick... 

 

When are the UTSW interview weekends for those of you that have got interviews already?

 

Do any of you know about the Univerisity of Utah? Thanks.

Edited December 20, 2013 by Adenine_Monarch

[elanorci]

More Princeton interviews on results search. Congrats to you lucky lurkers! Fingers crossed that I get good news soon... 

[stizz]

Got my JHSPH MMI Interview rescheduled. They have a 2nd interview weekend Mar 6-8. I would imagine they are still sending out responses because it seemed like everyone who heard thus far was scheduled for the Feb 6-8 weekend.

 

Good luck everyone!

[DirtyLabCoat]

Yet another morning with no emails...

[rat.girl]

LOL, well at least it seems like you haven't lost your sense of humor! All of my invites so far came rather later in the day, so there's that, if it makes you feel any better. My one reject was yesterday early morning, so! They got that off their chest quick... 

 

When are the UTSW interview weekends for those of you that have got interviews already?

 

Do any of you know about the Univerisity of Utah? Thanks.

 

UTSW has 6 weekends based on interest.  I forget exactly when they all are, but one is Feb 6-8th.

[ERR_Alpha]

Another morning with no emails here too

[MrsWizard]

ERR alpha and dirtylabcoat... If we don't get in, let's start our own lab!

[Azia]

For those of us still lacking in interviews just remember the majority seem to come in early- mid January, after everyone gets back from the holiday/ New Year. So if you are like me and still stressing that you haven't heard anything yet, keep this in mind. 

 

I have noticed a lot of the schools I have applied for a starting to send out invites for other Bio related departments but barely any for my specific programs.

 

So if we don't hear today, we should all try and enjoy the next couple weeks of the holiday and relax. Also I should probably catch up on sleep and stop stalking the results page every 20 minutes.

 

I hope everyone has a great Christmas and New Year!

[DirtyLabCoat]

ERR alpha and dirtylabcoat... If we don't get in, let's start our own lab!

yes

[MrsWizard]

Btw, I have already gone through the stages of grieving and it's only the very beginning, lol. In my head I have switched careers 6 times, went through all of my plan B's and have given up on science to become an artist. Cheers to a meltdown!

[ERR_Alpha]

Mine and my boyfriend's backup plan is for me to work a bench job and for us to open a bar.

 

The results section is freaking me out. People posting interviews from two days ago today made me think Yale emailed someone today...

[DirtyLabCoat]

Mine and my boyfriend's backup plan is for me to work a bench job and for us to open a bar.

 

The results section is freaking me out. People posting interviews from two days ago today made me think Yale emailed someone today...

What program in BBS at yale did you apply for? I did Microbio and haven't seen anything yet. But there is already one email for Harvard Immuno from yesterday...

[ERR_Alpha]

What program in BBS at yale did you apply for? I did Microbio and haven't seen anything yet. But there is already one email for Harvard Immuno from yesterday...

I applied BBSB. A few people have heard from that track already. I had an issue with my GRE scores being received there and my application was just finally complete today. I'm hoping they review without official scores. I was kind of hoping that it'd be like, "oh, we have her scores now! email her!" Haha wishful thinking.

[DirtyLabCoat]

I promised myself that I wouldn't check my e-mail until after lunch lol

[Leuco]

Ach! Someone posted a Wisconsin-Madison MDTP interview!

(runs in circles)

[DirtyLabCoat]

I currently spot a few lurkers on this thread...show yourselves!!!! lol

[Leuco]

Haha. Never mind. I just got my email.  Why do I look at that page and panic? Why?

[ERR_Alpha]

I'm pretty sure I'm just going to be in a continual state of freak out until I know where I'm going... Then I'll be freaking out about actual grad school. It never ends.

[elanorci]

I agree 100% with whoever said that they wish they still had classes... I finished my last final yesterday and now I am literally just watching Netflix and compulsively checking my email and this forum and results search with nothing to distract me ): 

 

I would feel sooo much better if I stopped checking results search and seeing that Princeton interviews are going out, but alas, I can't muster the self-control to stop.... 

Edited December 20, 2013 by elanorci

[ERR_Alpha]

Congrats to whoever got the Princeton mol bio invite!

[elanorci]

I wonder if many programs go through applications in the order they were submitted? The only interviews I've gotten are for programs to which I applied more than a week before the deadline. That's what I'm hoping, anyway! 

[Azia]

I wonder if many programs go through applications in the order they were submitted? The only interviews I've gotten are for programs to which I applied more than a week before the deadline. That's what I'm hoping, anyway! 

 

I sure hope not considering I submitted all of my applications the last week of October/ first week of November. That means bad news for me!

[dembugsdo]

I'm going to try to steer clear from this forum as much as possible in an attempt to maintain sanity this month. But, I wanted to post my profile in case people want to see an applicant with a low undergrad GPA and not a bunch of different research experiences. I applied to doctoral programs last year and got rejected from all but 1 master's program, so for people that don't have such a great application season, try to recognize that it's not necessarily the end of the world (hard, I know). 

 

Undergrad Institution: Top liberal arts college
Major(s): Biology, Chemistry
Minor(s): Biochemistry
GPA in Major: 3.6 bio, 3.1 chem
Overall GPA: 3.2

Position in Class: Positively stellar, clearly
Type of Student: Domestic lady

Master's Program: Environmental microbiology

Master's GPA: (as of the first semester): 4.0

*Note: I sent unofficial transcripts for this semester to my programs once they were available in mid-December; some places said that they'd take them into consideration, but others said that my file was closed for review (including programs that still offered me interviews).

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 158 (72%)
V: 164 (93%)
W: 5.5 (97%)
B: 790 (83%)

Research Experience: 2.5 years as a tech in a micro/immuno lab at a top institution (1 2nd author publication, 1 third author publication in top tier journal, 1 middle author publication in top tier journal, several poster presentations); 6 months in environmental micro lab; 1 summer ecology internship in undergrad. All publications were just manuscripts in preparation at the time that I applied last year, so the fact that they're now published may be helpful.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 2 years of guaranteed predoctoral funding via external fellowship

*Applicants of the future: Apply to these things!! With my grades and not a ton of research experience, I figured I had no chance in hell at getting anything like this. You really can't lose anything by applying, and with some luck it just might work out.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Tech job, master's position

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Nope (unless you want to count playing a varsity sport during undergrad, which nobody cares about)

Special Bonus Points: PI from my tech position knows a lot of people in the field; very strong recommendations 

Applying to Where:

Interested in host-pathogen interactions (innate immunology and microbial pathogenesis)

 

Stanford (micro & immuno)

NYU Sackler (micro)

Tufts Sackler (molecular micro)

UCSF BMS (virology & microbial pathogenesis)

UC Berkeley MCB (immuno & pathogenesis)

Yale BBS (immuno)

Cornell Weill (immuno & microbial pathogenesis)

U of Washington (immuno)

 

 

Got an interview offer at Berkeley yesterday afternoon via phone, and an interview offer from NYU this morning via email.

 

Good luck to everyone else!! This is a soul-sucking process, especially the second time around, so just hang in there. Try your best to occupy yourselves in order to avoid checking these boards/your email obsessively. I recommend leaving your phone at home and going out to see friends for a few hours, or shutting the damn pocket computer off and re-watching all episodes of game of thrones on HBO-GO.

[DuongVat]

I wonder if many programs go through applications in the order they were submitted? The only interviews I've gotten are for programs to which I applied more than a week before the deadline. That's what I'm hoping, anyways!

At least here, that's not the case.  All of the applications that were submitted before the deadline were divided up between members of the admissions committee for them to read individually, regardless of submission date.  After all applications were read by the respective committee members the entire committee met and decided who to send interview invites to.  After the committee met, the interview invites were sent the next business day.

[DirtyLabCoat]

At least here, that's not the case.  All of the applications that were submitted before the deadline were divided up between members of the admissions committee for them to read individually, regardless of submission date.  After all applications were read by the respective committee members the entire committee met and decided who to send interview invites to.  After the committee met, the interview invites were sent the next business day.

Where is "here"