2014 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[tuba250]

sorry lol it is just so nerve-racking to find out someone else has heard before you. I will try and complain less

 I know the feeling   but to see some one with better stat freak out makes you feel ..i dont know how to put it.Guess we are on the same boat but i think its tough for you guys as its holiday time for y'all.Working 10 hours in the lab is my saving grace right now.Never thought i would say this,but i am wishing I had to work longer hours so that I didnt get any time to think about grad school.

[ERR_Alpha]

Completely agree.

 

I was signed up for the Biochem GRE, feeling pretty good about it, took a practice test and BOMBED IT (34th percentile). Realizing that a score like that would bring down my application chances like a ton of bricks I switched to the regular biology GRE via standby testing and scored much higher (93rd percentile). Their difficulty levels are way out of sync

I took the practice biochem GRE and bombed horribly. Cried, reevaluated my life, then skipped it to play a rugby game. I figured hey, if they reject me because of that, whatever.

[mvp713]

I got 54th percentile on the biochem GRE and sent it to every school. UT Southwestern still gave me an interview...if this helps even one person that is unnecessarily freaking out over the subject gre, it'd be worth it.

[Adenine_Monarch]

 Hi Adenine_Monarch! I just noticed you got invites from USC PIBBS and BCM IMBS.When did you apply?

Applied to USC Nov. 18 (and actually heard back about a week later...before their actual deadline even...  ). Applied to Baylor Nov. 24.

[Methylmadness]

First time poster, long time lurker.

Undergrad: small Liberal arts
Major: biochemistry
GPA: 3.71
Graduate school: MPH degree from Columbia
GPA: 3.93

GRE (old):
V: 570
Q: 780
W: 4.5

Applying to:
Harvard BPH- Genetics and Complex Diseases
Harvard School of Public Health- Environmental Epidemiology/Epigenetics
BU- PiBS
MIT-Biology
BUSPH- Environmental Epidemiology

Applying mainly to Environmental Health programs focusing on environmental exposures and their effects on epigenetics, mainly methylation and histone modifications. 

Is anyone else looking at the Harvard Biological Sciences in Public Health (BPH) program?

[lengtq]

Got Cornell BBS invite today! Wasn't actually expecting that one with the glaring grammar/syntax errors I found in my Sop lol

 

Yup, same here.. didn't find the similarly glaring grammar error in all my US grad school Sops (Incl. Harvard Immunology, Stanford Microbiology+Immunology and Weill Cornell IMP) until I was working on the Oxford application after Dec 10th. *Sigh* No wonder I haven't heard from any one of these three lol.

[lengtq]

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...

Oh NOOOO WAY.. I tried to reach Susan the program officer yesterday but all three calls were directed to voice mail.

[tuba250]

Hi tuba, if it helps any, I applied to UTHealth only two days ago (this is for Houston). Yeah, should've done it earlier, but I held it up because I wanted a better transcript *sigh* Anyway, last year their FB page stated they had the first round of interviews in mid January, but when I checked last year's boards on here and a few people were getting invites to UTHealth around the same time, presumably for a latter interview date. I guess it depends in which batch they put you, but since we applied late, I'm afraid we might be in the latter group.

 

I applied on Nov 30.So its been 22 days ( yes, I am counting days now    ) but didnt get any response. I was wondering if they got my GRE +TOEFL scores on time and stuff like that. How did you check that for UTHealth? Don't know if I should mail their office to ask about it or should wait a couple of days more to do so.

[BostonBio153]

Harvard BBS interview invite this morning 

 

Now I can actually breathe again...

[elanorci]

Seems like you should have been breathing just fine with your many awesome interviews!! Many congrats

 

Harvard Biophysics doesn't interview, so I'm just sitting here waiting for an actual decision, which is terrifying!!!! (Probably not until Jan, though.)

Edited December 21, 2013 by elanorci

[DirtyLabCoat]

Good morning all, congrats to the other Harvard bbs interview today. I still haven't received anything yet

[marisahom]

Harvard BBS interview invite this morning 

 

Now I can actually breathe again...

Congrats! I got my interview invite this morning too . Do you know which weekend you're planning in picking?

[DirtyLabCoat]

Oh wait, I totally am having a moment...I forgot there was a BBS-Immunology+Microbiology and then a GSAS Immunology program at Harvard. I don't think we have seen any from GSAS for immune yet..

Edited December 21, 2013 by DirtyLabCoat

[marisahom]

Marisa and Boston, what specific program did you choose within bbs

In my app i put 1) Metabolism and Physio, 2) Stem Cell Bio, and 3)Cancer Bio. but I didn't refer to any of those programs in my SOP. I'm not sure how they reviewed the apps

[nns91]

Looks like I won't get an invitation from Harvard BBS

[BostonBio153]

In my app i put 1) Metabolism and Physio, 2) Stem Cell Bio, and 3)Cancer Bio. but I didn't refer to any of those programs in my SOP. I'm not sure how they reviewed the apps

 

I put 1) Cancer Bio 2) Molecular Genetics and 3) Genomics

[spaceimmunology]

Congrats! I got my interview invite this morning too . Do you know which weekend you're planning in picking?

 

Got my invite this morning. Considering the second weekend, just so that I can fit MIT biology without rescheduling elsewhere in case I get it.  But I worry that second weekend might have a lower acceptance rate?

[BostonBio153]

Congrats! I got my interview invite this morning too . Do you know which weekend you're planning in picking?

 

Congrats to you too! I'm not sure when I'm planning on going, but it'll probably be Feb 6-9. Since I work in Boston I don't really need to make travel arrangements, so it should be a little easier to plan...

[ERR_Alpha]

Nothing here either. Woooooo.

[ERR_Alpha]

From what I can tell on the results page it looks like all of the acceptances have higher GPAs and GREs than me. Makes sense haha. Congrats you guys!!

It almost makes me feel better when there's a direct numbers reason for not getting an interview. Weird.

[DirtyLabCoat]

It shouldn't be just that, and I'm sure they don't only look at that. I'm not trying to be pompous or anything at all but I cramed as much research as I could into before, during, and now after college so my gre score can't say much to what I have done

[DirtyLabCoat]

Plus an interview I feel is also supposed to give those a chance who's his or gre might not have been the best but has a ton Of research to show off what they really know to prove themselves

[SysEvo]

From what I can tell on the results page it looks like all of the acceptances have higher GPAs and GREs than me. Makes sense haha. Congrats you guys!!

It almost makes me feel better when there's a direct numbers reason for not getting an interview. Weird.

relax, I got 3.5 in GRE writing. yours will arrive soon.

[ERR_Alpha]

Plus an interview I feel is also supposed to give those a chance who's his or gre might not have been the best but has a ton Of research to show off what they really know to prove themselves

They have to pick somehow... Idk, at least for BBS it seems a lot of people had top GPAs and GREs. Every program is a little different in how they evaluate. I figure the more applications means the more they go off numbers. A lot of research experience could make up for low numbers too.

[DirtyLabCoat]

They have to pick somehow... Idk, at least for BBS it seems a lot of people had top GPAs and GREs. Every program is a little different in how they evaluate. I figure the more applications means the more they go off numbers. A lot of research experience could make up for low numbers too.

My freshman and some sophomore years were abysmal. Honestly they were so embarrassing. But Junior and Senior years (my speciality classes for my major and interest) were all As. I had a rough time for a few reasons during that time. But I'm they have to consider these things. Our school had negative curves some science intro classes during that time had a C+ average...