2014 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[pyrocide]

Oh boy. Who did you email? Wondering if I should email just for the closure.

Hah, I'm tempted to do the same thing. -.-

[katethekitcat]

Natasha. She responded quickly on a previous email. Perhaps I should call.

 

Calm down, guys If every single person is e-mailing and calling to find out about their own status, they have to deal with hundreds of individual requests instead of working on sending out invites!

[pstar465]

Calm down, guys If every single person is e-mailing and calling to find out about their own status, they have to deal with hundreds of individual requests instead of working on sending out invites!

Hmm sure, but some of us need to secure employment and such if we don't get into grad school, and therefore need to know sooner rather than later. The anxiety is warranted

[ERR_Alpha]

Hah, I'm tempted to do the same thing. -.-

Let's just send one email with all of our names? Hahahaha. Minimize email traffic. 

[stizz]

Ha! Just got a call from an unknown south san francisco bay area phone number. Picked up thinking that maybe there was a chance it was Stanford, but it was some guy named "John" from Toyota.. wrong number.  Once again, I am distracted by grad school responses and I need to be writing my M.S. thesis and submit it to my committee on Thursday!

[DirtyLabCoat]

Ha! Just got a call from an unknown south san francisco bay area phone number. Picked up thinking that maybe there was a chance it was Stanford, but it was some guy named "John" from Toyota.. wrong number.  Once again, I am distracted by grad school responses and I need to be writing my M.S. thesis and submit it to my committee on Thursday!

You Micro&Immuno as well?

[stizz]

You Micro&Immuno as well?

 Yep. Best of luck!

[threading_the_neidl]

For you guys asking about BU PiBS, while I can't say with certainty that every interview is out, I know that there's already as many invites out as were given last year. As to not responding, there was a pretty large nor'easter last week that caused a snow emergency and most non-critical employees stayed home Thursday and Friday.

Edited January 6, 2014 by threading_the_neidl

[sayitaintso]

Has anyone heard from UPenn CAMB cancer biology yet? I know I've seen some UPenn stuff, but I'm pretty sure each subsection has its own admissions committee.

Yea I received an invite on Dec 16.

[pstar465]

For you guys asking about BU PiBS, while I can't say with certainty that every interview is out, I know that there's already as many invites out as were given last year. As to not responding, there was a pretty large nor'easter last week that caused a snow emergency and most non-critical employees stayed home Thursday and Friday.

Haha from your username, I presume you're a student at BU. Thanks for the info!!

[threading_the_neidl]

Or an avid TWIV fan. But yes, somehow you managed to find me out. I didn't ask our advisor or anyone on the adcom, so I don't know if it's all done, but we got an email saying that 100 invites were out, which is what we had last year. I also have no idea if or how people who pass on the invite play into the numbers game here.

[persimmony]

Or an avid TWIV fan. But yes, somehow you managed to find me out. I didn't ask our advisor or anyone on the adcom, so I don't know if it's all done, but we got an email saying that 100 invites were out, which is what we had last year. I also have no idea if or how people who pass on the invite play into the numbers game here.

 

Do you happen to know how many of those people get extended an offer of admission?

[persimmony]

Just got a University of Wisconsin-Madison CMB invitation via email! Really wasn't expecting that after that initial email saying they had over 400 applicants.

 

Edit: both weekends they offer interfere with interviews I've already established. WHYYYY

Edited January 6, 2014 by persimmony

[threading_the_neidl]

Maybe? This is only the 2nd year we've had the umbrella program, so not only am I more removed from the group of people who make the decisions, but admissions methods are still being optimized. Part of the difficulty in giving a useful percentage is that they do their best to make sure each program in the umbrella gets an appropriate number of admits who show interest in the field. For instance, if biochem labs suddenly have a huge influx in funding, they'll get more students who seem interested in it (and are qualified!) admitted, but if they had absolutely no money and no open labs, the number of biochem-type admits is going to go down. That said, it IS an umbrella program and there is a fair amount of overlap even within labs, so it's not a definite determining factor. I know that some programs tend to get the most qualified applicants and they still admit them, so just pretending you like a low-interest field isn't going to help much.

 

So, with that caveat (excluding any information about various programs funding levels, number of open labs, etc), they interview ~100. I think (this is only a vague memory so don't quote me on it) they aim for a class of 20-25. They didn't tell us how many admits they sent out last year, but I'd personally estimate it at about double that, so roughly a 50% admit rate.

 

One cool thing is that there are a few international students in this year's class, so I guess we have more funding for internationals than normal. I have no idea where it comes from, but I like it. So for prospective students next year, give us a go! I guess we have money?

[crazyscientist]

Just got a University of Wisconsin-Madison CMB invitation for an interview via email. Btw, I am an international student so I guess there is hope for people like us!

Edited January 6, 2014 by crazyscientist

[ERR_Alpha]

Ignore this. Accidentally double posted.

Edited January 6, 2014 by ERR_Alpha

[ERR_Alpha]

I'm so confused about where I stand with BU. I got an email right after I submitted my application from the chair saying I was a "highly competitive candidate" and he looked forward to meeting me but I was missing LORs in order for them to review my app. (Computer system glitch). Also I had a GRE score issue and they didn't have my official scores until late December. I really hope all the invites haven't gone out!

End rant. Haha

[neuroticism]

Just got a University of Wisconsin-Madison CMB invitation via email! Really wasn't expecting that after that initial email saying they had over 400 applicants.

 

Edit: both weekends they offer interfere with interviews I've already established. WHYYYY

 

Me too on both counts.  Don't you wish these schools would all agree to send their invites at the same time?  UCSD contacted me super-early, and now I have to rebook my flight there because I got a Berkeley interview that's in the same week (and I'm on the East Coast, so flying back in between for one day is obviously a no-go).  I feel bad for having UCSD pay for a flight I can't use, and I'm also mildly concerned that nobody is going to cover my flight from San Francisco to San Diego.  These places pressure you to make your travel plans right away and then later you're kind of up a creek.  (Not that I'm not super excited and grateful to have these interview opportunities, it's just that the logistics are a huge pain).

[Opto]

Received an invite to interview via email from MIT BE this morning! The interview weekend is March 7 and 8th. My first official one!

 

Hi tuckbro, do you mind me asking which field are you applying in MIT BE? I was wondering if the invitations went out in one wave.

[persimmony]

Me too on both counts.  Don't you wish these schools would all agree to send their invites at the same time?  UCSD contacted me super-early, and now I have to rebook my flight there because I got a Berkeley interview that's in the same week (and I'm on the East Coast, so flying back in between for one day is obviously a no-go).  I feel bad for having UCSD pay for a flight I can't use, and I'm also mildly concerned that nobody is going to cover my flight from San Francisco to San Diego.  These places pressure you to make your travel plans right away and then later you're kind of up a creek.  (Not that I'm not super excited and grateful to have these interview opportunities, it's just that the logistics are a huge pain).

 

Yeah I remember freaking out a little when I had to schedule Duke and Boston back to back, but I was lucky enough to get the interviews within a few days of each other to work everything out before confirming.

 

I replied to the UW-Madison email saying I've already committed to interviews on both dates but do not want to miss the opportunity to interview with them as well...I just gave them all the days I was available. If worse comes to worst, I'll have to reschedule my UC Denver interview to the earlier time slot and miss my boyfriend's yearly company weekend getaway...which I already RSVP'd to. My calendar is getting quite sloppy...

[DirtyLabCoat]

Gah speaking with a Stanford faculty member of the program I am applying to Wednesday. He seems like an amazing faculty to work with but I have no idea if this impacts committee selections at all. I put them in my application as someone of interest but Idk when this week decisions will be made

[mvp713]

University of Washington Immunology just came in!!!  I'm out of my mind!! Feb 20-22nd weekend but I'm asking if the previous weekend is available

[threading_the_neidl]

I'm so confused about where I stand with BU. I got an email right after I submitted my application from the chair saying I was a "highly competitive candidate" and he looked forward to meeting me but I was missing LORs in order for them to review my app. (Computer system glitch). Also I had a GRE score issue and they didn't have my official scores until late December. I really hope all the invites haven't gone out!

End rant. Haha

 

Like I said, it's only the second year of this system, so it's a lot less predictable than it was when I applied. There is no chair of PiBS, only departmental chairs, so maybe one of those numbers games I mentioned before came into play with your application. For instance, maybe you were highly competitive in one department, but not others, or maybe the department that you fit very well has very little space/money this year. As far as that stuff goes, I'm only familiar with my own department, and even then, there's plenty of stuff that they don't deign to tell the grad students. Alternately, maybe your invite is still coming! It's all still quite nebulous, even to us!

 

What I can definitely attest to, though, is that you didn't get dinged at all by having trouble with your official GRE score. Everyone knows that stupid stuff happens with that all the time, and so they trust your self-reported score and just make sure you get them an official one if you're admitted for your record. Clearly if someone lied about it, it would be obvious then and I'm guessing the offer would be repealed, so it's not something that they worry about.

[ERR_Alpha]

Like I said, it's only the second year of this system, so it's a lot less predictable than it was when I applied. There is no chair of PiBS, only departmental chairs, so maybe one of those numbers games I mentioned before came into play with your application. For instance, maybe you were highly competitive in one department, but not others, or maybe the department that you fit very well has very little space/money this year. As far as that stuff goes, I'm only familiar with my own department, and even then, there's plenty of stuff that they don't deign to tell the grad students. Alternately, maybe your invite is still coming! It's all still quite nebulous, even to us!

 

What I can definitely attest to, though, is that you didn't get dinged at all by having trouble with your official GRE score. Everyone knows that stupid stuff happens with that all the time, and so they trust your self-reported score and just make sure you get them an official one if you're admitted for your record. Clearly if someone lied about it, it would be obvious then and I'm guessing the offer would be repealed, so it's not something that they worry about.

Thanks for the reply! The man who emailed me was the chair of the admissions committee. Keeping my hopes up anyway!

[username1824]

No one has gotten any news on Stanford then?