2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[insaneinthemembrane]

I think you're only allowed to look at the past month. Has anyone been able to use this to look at the 2014 applicant pool?

 

If you just type in the name of the school in the search bar, you can see all activity related to that school. For example, type in NYU and you will see that they sent in alot of notifications for interview on Dec. 20th. You can also see when they sent rejections and acceptances as well.

[Vene]

I think you're only allowed to look at the past month. Has anyone been able to use this to look at the 2014 applicant pool?

If you search it will show older results. For example, I searched for 'Pennsylvania cellular' and got results from 2014, 2012, and 2007.

[ballwera]

How long does it take from "review session" to decision? For instance I know the first review session for one of my programs is today, when should I expect news?

[Dedi]

I think you're only allowed to look at the past month. Has anyone been able to use this to look at the 2014 applicant pool?

I just searched for the school and program I want to know about and they give you the results from years past.

[neuropanic]

Question on "awards." Say I was nominated for an undergrad departmental award in English. Would you include that? I'm a Bio major looking at neuro schools.

[gliaful]

Question on "awards." Say I was nominated for an undergrad departmental award in English. Would you include that? I'm a Bio major looking at neuro schools.

Include it in your CV. What do you mean by "Would you include that?" Put it somewhere, yes.

Writing skills are important, and another CV bulletpoint can't hurt.

[rabbitlocks]

@rabbitlocks, you seem like a competitive applicant to me - I understand your rationale for applying to so many schools, but seeing as you already have one interview lined up at a competitive program, I would not apply to more programs unless you really REALLY want to and there are many faculty members at that program whose interests line up with yours. I decided where to apply based on post-PhD placement rates, supervisor/mentor advice, and looking at which institutions consistently do the sort of research that I am interested in. I would recommend using a more research-targeted approach for your remaining program applications if that's not what you have been doing already. 

 

You're right, I don't think it makes sense to add any more schools at this point. Even financially speaking, the thought of having paid all those application fees makes my head spin a little :| . All of the programs I've applied to are doing research that I have genuine interest in. I get the feeling that my interests are not as focused as a lot of other applicants, and that made it hard for me to narrow down my schools. On my SOP I defined a specific research focus that was tailored towards each school, but in reality I'm way more open-minded. 

 

Both you and insaneinthemembrane have good thoughts regarding choosing programs based on post-Phd statistics. That is not something I've given much thought to. Thanks!

[Vene]

You're right, I don't think it makes sense to add any more schools at this point. Even financially speaking, the thought of having paid all those application fees makes my head spin a little :| . All of the programs I've applied to are doing research that I have genuine interest in. I get the feeling that my interests are not as focused as a lot of other applicants, and that made it hard for me to narrow down my schools. On my SOP I defined a specific research focus that was tailored towards each school, but in reality I'm way more open-minded. 

 

Both you and insaneinthemembrane have good thoughts regarding choosing programs based on post-Phd statistics. That is not something I've given much thought to. Thanks!

At this point if you've not already paid the fees required I honestly wouldn't even bother to complete the current list. You already have interviews lined up for Duke and Chicago, both of which are very good schools. I would be surprised if you didn't get more interviews. It may feel good to have 5, 6, or 7 interviews, but that's over a month of flying across the country, which would be quite exhausting.

[Mabester]

You're right, I don't think it makes sense to add any more schools at this point. Even financially speaking, the thought of having paid all those application fees makes my head spin a little :| . All of the programs I've applied to are doing research that I have genuine interest in. I get the feeling that my interests are not as focused as a lot of other applicants, and that made it hard for me to narrow down my schools. On my SOP I defined a specific research focus that was tailored towards each school, but in reality I'm way more open-minded. 

 

Both you and insaneinthemembrane have good thoughts regarding choosing programs based on post-Phd statistics. That is not something I've given much thought to. Thanks!

 

I'm sure that you'll get interviews at many of the schools, especially given the 2 you have already gotten interviews to. Not to mention also that many schools, like Duke (since I'm at that school), allow you to transition between programs, even if you're accepted into another. That way if your interests do change, you can adapt within the school. You'll probbaly have to turn down schools for interviews because they'll either 1)have interview dates that clash or 2) you'll be so exhausted from all the events you're going to!

 

Good luck!

[neuropanic]

Include it in your CV. What do you mean by "Would you include that?" Put it somewhere, yes.

Writing skills are important, and another CV bulletpoint can't hurt.

 

Oops, didn't explain that very well. I guess I meant would you consider that an "award" or an "honor" if I was only nominated?

[gliaful]

Oops, didn't explain that very well. I guess I meant would you consider that an "award" or an "honor" if I was only nominated?

As a bulletpoint in the award section of your CV, you could put:

• 20XX Departmental Award in English, nominee
• Nominated for Departmental Award in English, 20XX

(Or whatever the official title of the award is - I just needed a title to work with for my purposes)

 

Of course, if you get more awards through your years in school, you may not feel the need to include it at all. But for now, one of the above bullets is how I would phrase it.

[gliaful]

Just got an interview at Iowa! Jan 29-31.

[ballwera]

Admissions committee met today and no interview invite...I see a couple people got one from the program on the results page. When do I start to worry?

[ballwera]

Just got an interview at Iowa! Jan 29-31.

CONGRATS!!

[gliaful]

Admissions committee met today and no interview invite...I see a couple people got one from the program on the results page. When do I start to worry?

Keep watching the results and see if they continue to trickle in the next couple days. I heard some schools do "area based admissions", where applicants are sorted by research interest and subcommittees evaluate the groups individually. Perhaps those that got interviews were in a different group. Don't lose hope just yet!

 

CONGRATS!!

THANK YOU!! I was starting to feel really down and inadequate, like I wasn't going to get an interview anywhere.

[aiyaa]

Things I learned last year:  Don't apply to top 10 programs unless your GPA is 3.8+ or 3.6+ from the Ivies, you have several first-author pubs, and you've cured cancer

 

Seriously? I was totally under the impression that GPA doesn't matter as long as you're above the cutoff and have solid research/GREs. fffffff

[person5811]

Seriously? I was totally under the impression that GPA doesn't matter as long as you're above the cutoff and have solid research/GREs. fffffff

I know someone that got into Harvard with a 3.3, someone that got into Yale with a 3.5, someone that got into UCSF with a 3.6, and someone that got into UCSD with a 3.2. All top programs. I think a lot of people are forgetting that your research experience and letters of rec. are key to getting into a good program. You definitely don't need to have cured cancer, or even have publications (only the Harvard person had one from the people I just mentioned). Also, it's your money, so I say if you want to spend it applying to dream schools, go for it. So, what if they say no? At least you tried.

[ss2player]

Seriously? I was totally under the impression that GPA doesn't matter as long as you're above the cutoff and have solid research/GREs. fffffff

 

GPA definitely matters; when these top schools are getting 1000+ applications, it often comes down to a numbers game. If you have several mostly equal applicants in terms of research, GRE, rec letters, and interview quality, they're going to go with the higher GPA, pretty much always. You CAN get in with a low 3.0, but it's stacked against you, just know that. In smaller programs with less competition it might be less of an issue, but they're also taking less students to begin with. There are schools out there that are more holistic; my school is one, but I think our dean being a first-gen student who went through a lot of struggles herself has something to do with that.

 

If I had known this in undergrad I totally would have focused on class more, but I'm a late science bloomer and didn't decide on this until after working several years post-grad.

[username1824]

Admissions committee met today and no interview invite...I see a couple people got one from the program on the results page. When do I start to worry?

Not necessarily. Usually when they decide on who to offer interviews to, they assign certain professors to contact you. Some professors may contact you that same day, others might way a few days.

[lilbert5]

Just got an email to interview for Johns Hopkins Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences!!!

[poweredbycoldfusion]

Keep watching the results and see if they continue to trickle in the next couple days. I heard some schools do "area based admissions", where applicants are sorted by research interest and subcommittees evaluate the groups individually. Perhaps those that got interviews were in a different group. Don't lose hope just yet!

My friend who goes to Penn confirmed that this is true, btw, at least in that school.

[Ivey0126]

Just got an email to interview for Johns Hopkins Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences!!!

 

Congratulations

[virus guy]

I know someone that got into Harvard with a 3.3, someone that got into Yale with a 3.5, someone that got into UCSF with a 3.6, and someone that got into UCSD with a 3.2. All top programs. I think a lot of people are forgetting that your research experience and letters of rec. are key to getting into a good program. You definitely don't need to have cured cancer, or even have publications (only the Harvard person had one from the people I just mentioned). Also, it's your money, so I say if you want to spend it applying to dream schools, go for it. So, what if they say no? At least you tried.

YES! Couldn't agree more. The admission people I have talked to have all singled out letters of recommendation being one of the most important aspect of your application. In addition research experience is just as important as your letters. 

[insaneinthemembrane]

Congrats to everyone getting interviews! 

 

I also just got an interview from Emory Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis!!  

[tito balisimo]

Just got an email to interview for Johns Hopkins Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences!!!

Very nice!