2014 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[DirtyLabCoat]

Ok I'm convinced my email is just choosing not to receieve emails from these schools

[DirtyLabCoat]

II got an interview request a few days ago and I applied to Microbial pathogenesis and virology if that is helpful.

Great , that's what I applied for. Well this is a terrible holiday start

[Adenine_Monarch]

Great , that's what I applied for. Well this is a terrible holiday start

Well, look at it this way...at least it means you're still in the running Good luck.

[DirtyLabCoat]

True unless they want to wait to send their rejection letters to tease us

[Adenine_Monarch]

True unless they want to wait to send their rejection letters to tease us

I actually keep thinking about that...the sort of scenario where I just don't hear from a school in forever and wonder what I should do about it (assume the obvious? call? forget about it?). I think it would bug me not to have it straightened out one way or the other, though. And then find out: REJECTED! .... on April 16, of course.

[MrsWizard]

True unless they want to wait to send their rejection letters to tease us

I saw your stats. If you don't get in anywhere, I will lose all faith in humanity, lol. I am sure you will get in somewhere. Me, on the other hand.... I am hoping that the "life experience" card is in my favor.

[DirtyLabCoat]

I saw your stats. If you don't get in anywhere, I will lose all faith in humanity, lol. I am sure you will get in somewhere. Me, on the other hand.... I am hoping that the "life experience" card is in my favor.

Lol I mean only theory is my meh gre score put me in a pile they look at last or something and they'll be like "WELL WHAT DO WE HAVE HERE " LOL

[pyrocide]

Tufts Sackler ISP, Boston U MCBB, Harvard BBS, MIT Biology. It's getting a little nerve wracking.

 

Awww yeah Boston programs! I'm applying to BU-MCBB, Harvard-BBS, and the standard Tufts bio dept. For that last one, well, IHTFP. <3 

I'm still waiting for responses too, hopefully see you during one of the interview weekends! 

[MrsWizard]

And just to make all of you feel better about yourselves, here are my stats...

Undergrad Institution: Went to three (yes, three), over 7 years. All LI schools, nothing special to report

Major(s): bio

Minor(s):

GPA in Major:3.51

Overall GPA: not very good in the beginning. I screwed up.

Position: graduated with honors at last schools, but it was a climb from the bottom

Type of Student: (Domestic/Female/30-something

GRE Scores (revised/old version):

Q: 155

V: 162

W: 4.0

B:.... Are you ready for it?? 420 (21percentile) on biochem.... And that got reported to the schools. What a disaster that was.

Research Experience: masters thesis is nih funded arbovirus lab, 1 second author pub, one pub in the works, 3 conferences, 1 presentation

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: asv travel grant, grad research funding

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: lecturer at the school where I got my MS degree, coordinate general bio labs, molecular and cell bio labs, and teach labs as well as non-majors lecture. Research assistant and lab manager in my old mentors lab, and 15 years veterinary medicine experience as a technician

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: I graduated with my masters, and got a job right away! Nowadays, that seems like a major feat.

Special Bonus Points: chair of bio dept wrote letter of rec, as well as my mentor and another thesis advisor, all strong letters

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where: all ny area schools.

School - Department - Research Interest

School - Department - Research Interest

School - Department - Research Interest

[MrsWizard]

Oh, and I swear I am not an idiot, even though the gre subject exam says otherwise. I had to teach an overload this summer when I was supposed to be studying, on top of studying for the regular gre which was 3 weeks prior. And let's be honest, that test is just ridiculous. I should have taken the regular biology one, or none at all!

[DirtyLabCoat]

Oh, and I swear I am not an idiot, even though the gre subject exam says otherwise. I had to teach an overload this summer when I was supposed to be studying, on top of studying for the regular gre which was 3 weeks prior. And let's be honest, that test is just ridiculous. I should have taken the regular biology one, or none at all!

Yeah I just took the general gre to be done with it because I didn't see how it was critical to what I wanted to do

[perfectionist]

Did you guys see what UNC posted?

 

Attention BBSP applicants: Admissions committees are still working their way through your applications. Some interviews have been scheduled, and invitations are going out weekly. If you haven't had an email specifically from the BBSP admissions office, that simply means your application is still under consideration.

 

I wonder if this means people have been calling them like crazy.

[DirtyLabCoat]

Did you guys see what UNC posted?

Attention BBSP applicants: Admissions committees are still working their way through your applications. Some interviews have been scheduled, and invitations are going out weekly. If you haven't had an email specifically from the BBSP admissions office, that simply means your application is still under consideration.

I wonder if this means people have been calling them like crazy.

I hope this applies to other schools as well!

[rexzeppelin]

 

Did you guys see what UNC posted?

 

Attention BBSP applicants: Admissions committees are still working their way through your applications. Some interviews have been scheduled, and invitations are going out weekly. If you haven't had an email specifically from the BBSP admissions office, that simply means your application is still under consideration.

 

I wonder if this means people have been calling them like crazy.

 

 

Haha I would bet so,

 

just heard from Minnesota MCSB!

[BeakerBreaker]

I hope this applies to other schools as well!

This applies to most schools. This time last year, I only had one interview.  Some schools that eventually gave me interviews had already contacted people, but gave me my dates in January.  Don't worry too much!

Edited December 20, 2013 by BeakerBreaker

[medullate]

I have a question... 

How does "waitlisting" work? Do most grad programs have this?

Here's a scenario that I feel like could happen to me that I keep thinking about: I apply to a school, but I am not competitive enough or the PI I am interested in has a different applicant they are taking into their lab. But months later this other applicant who the PI was going to take into their lab decides to go to a different school. All the while I have never gotten a rejection letter. Suddenly, in like late April maybe, I get an interview invite or an acceptance letter.

Does this kind of thing happen often?

One professor told me it was a good idea to keep in contact with programs or POIs down the road, because something might happen and a spot could open up.

[BeakerBreaker]

It happens fairly often. When you get an acceptance offer, you are generally told to reply as soon as you can so that they can free up your spot for someone else if you decide not to accept.  The schools will typically accept X number of students, expecting that some percent of X number of students will actually accept; if more people than usual turn them down, they will pull from their waitlisting pool.

 

For that reason, if you haven't heard back from them in January or February, you are most likely waitlisted.  Sometimes you can be pulled off the waitlist when too many people decline interviews.

 

I guess a better way to put it: you can be waitlisted for interviews (post-application), and waitlisted for acceptance (post-interview).

Edited December 20, 2013 by BeakerBreaker

[Leuco]

So my info to those worried about rejections:

 

1) Don't worry. Chances are, the schools are just waiting.

 

In the worst case:

2) I'd wait till January-ish to call about your status.  Some schools send out rejections just after the interviews, some wait.  I got the waitlist for an interview the day after invites had been sent out.  The other rejections sort of varied, in how long they came after invites.

Last year, UCLA waited until July (!) to notify me that I'd been rejected - I obviously had assumed by that point, but still.

 

3) Utter worst case: It's not the end of the world if you don't get in this year. It sucks, it's one of the worst feelings ever, but you get a new take on life, you get to re-convince yourself that this is what you want to do for the rest of your lives, and you get a year to make some money.

 

I was rejected from four schools last year, even without interviews, and this year, have four invites so far!  So don't worry.  And if you have any questions, feel free to message me.

 

But honestly, and the last thing I want to leave you with - Most likely, you will still get interviews. I PROMISE, it's not too late. Just wait - good things'll come.

Edited December 20, 2013 by Leuco

[spaceimmunology]

Oh, and I swear I am not an idiot, even though the gre subject exam says otherwise. I had to teach an overload this summer when I was supposed to be studying, on top of studying for the regular gre which was 3 weeks prior. And let's be honest, that test is just ridiculous. I should have taken the regular biology one, or none at all!

 

Yeah, the biochem subject test looked really hard. I was feeling overly confident and decided to do a quick review the day before. Sat down for about 10 minutes before deciding that I wasn't going to show up the next day. 

[sys88]

Second interview! UC Denver CSD program!

[SysEvo]

Invitation from Harvard Systems Biology. Made my day.

[DirtyLabCoat]

Gahh where's my Harvard Immuno invite. Congrats though!

[joehanus]

Invitation from Harvard Systems Biology. Made my day.

 

Hi SysEvo, was it an email from a PI or did it seem to be a mass email?

[SysEvo]

Hi SysEvo, was it an email from a PI or did it seem to be a mass email?

It's from the administrator of the program. Hope it helps.

[rat.girl]

UC Denver Cancer Biology invite!  too bad their weekends overlap with ones I've already scheduled… Feb 6-9 and 20-23.  Hopefully they have another alternate!