2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[Ragneo]

I got an interview invite at Vanderbilt IGP-BBS! I applied the day before the deadline.

[Chrischigta]

Was in a weird situation yesterday: Got a notification, that a person from the United States took a look at my ResearchGate profile (it is an automated service that they show you how many people viewed your page and where they come from). As I do not have any scientific relationships to the US, this has to mean that someone from an admission committee did some online research on me, right? Should be a good sign, but totally freaked me out at first

[thudson686]

Was in a weird situation yesterday: Got a notification, that a person from the United States took a look at my ResearchGate profile (it is an automated service that they show you how many people viewed your page and where they come from). As I do not have any scientific relationships to the US, this has to mean that someone from an admission committee did some online research on me, right? Should be a good sign, but totally freaked me out at first

Someone from Rutgers looked at my Linkedin the other day. Goes to show you how important online profiles are. I'm getting excited!

[VLSB4Life]

Vanderbilt IGP interview e-mail came today!

[shadowclaw]

Someone from Rutgers looked at my Linkedin the other day. Goes to show you how important online profiles are. I'm getting excited!

 

I wonder what exactly they look for. Somebody looked at my ResearchGate profile the other day, but it doesn't say anything more than what's on my CV. Of course, I believe there may have been a program or two that didn't require a CV, so I guess it could be useful after all!

[Crucial BBQ]

I opened an academia dot account a few years ago.  Occasionally I get an email stating that someone looked for me.  I don't  have any real information up in my profile outside of my name/school.  My profile pic is not me, but it would be hard to tell because "I" am fully zipped up in an ocean survival "gumby suit".   According to the analytics, I was found through a google search.   

[tuckbro]

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.

This was my experience in BME top 10 as well. 

[tito balisimo]

What I find fascinating is that so many of the people that posted their stats are applying to the same schools:

 

Harvard

MIT

Duke

UCSF

WUSTL

Stanford

Johns Hopkins

 

This doesn't even include the many people that do not even know this forum exist, or the people that get accepted/invited. From my understand of a few of these schools, at least their neuroscience programs, they end up admitting about 4-7 people and sometimes FEWER. It is not always the case, and it varies year by year. But there are going to be a ton of unhappy individuals based on how many of you applied to these campuses. Even if they admit over 10 people, they get over 200-300 applications, and sometimes more. That really is about a 1% chance if you meet their qualifications. With that being said, congratz to those who get invites from these schools, you are in an elite class and deserve to be there.

[chibimolinero]

Well. This is a depressing thought, haha.

 

In positive news, I just got my first interview offer (Wisconsin)!

[neuronsbeyondneurons2]

congratulations!

[KINGLOUP]

I think you are quite off with your estimations. Take MIT's BCS (Brain and cognitive Science), they receive over 400 applications and admit about 40 (only 10-20 eventually enroll). Duke's neurobiology program has similar stats with over 175 applications and 15-20 students admitted. Thus roughly 10% of the applicants are admitted to those top programs. Moreover, if you consider that many applicants are not qualified (low GPA + low GRE+ no publications + did not cure cancer) but apply to their dream school just for the sake of it, is isn't that depressing.

[Crucial BBQ]

I think you are quite off with your estimations. Take MIT's BCS (Brain and cognitive Science), they receive over 400 applications and admit about 40 (only 10-20 eventually enroll). Duke's neurobiology program has similar stats with over 175 applications and 15-20 students admitted. Thus roughly 10% of the applicants are admitted to those top programs. Moreover, if you consider that many applicants are not qualified (low GPA + low GRE+ no publications + did not cure cancer) but apply to their dream school just for the sake of it, is isn't that depressing.

MIT claims to have received 24K total grad school applications in 2013 and only offered admissions to 3,300.  I have heard that the Biology Department as a whole admits something like 24% of their applicants with some individual programs being as low as 4%, but I cannot find any factual data on that one.  

 

http://web.mit.edu/facts/admission.html

[tito balisimo]

I think you are quite off with your estimations. Take MIT's BCS (Brain and cognitive Science), they receive over 400 applications and admit about 40 (only 10-20 eventually enroll). Duke's neurobiology program has similar stats with over 175 applications and 15-20 students admitted. Thus roughly 10% of the applicants are admitted to those top programs. Moreover, if you consider that many applicants are not qualified (low GPA + low GRE+ no publications + did not cure cancer) but apply to their dream school just for the sake of it, is isn't that depressing.

You just confirmed what I wrote. If 20 people enroll after 400 applicants on average, thats 5% admissions. 20 is being generous, as you said 15 can be on the lower end which is close to 1%.

 

I mentioned my understanding of a few of them, not all, but they are all Ivy-tier, and similar in most ways. UCSF had over 350-400 applications for the neuro program, and invited around 30-40 people. They admit much less than that. 10% invited, and < 5% admission. Its even worse for MIT and Stanford. This is my point, you have to match their criteria and be a good research fit, and only then do you stand a shot. Despite these facts, hundreds apply. Some of the aforementioned even have there stats on Peterson's and its less than 5% admissions. I read a few of these forums, and it seems that many people apply to these schools. Based on these facts, I will say that many will be dissapointed with the outcome.

 

By the way, your data came from a biology program. Neuro programs are usually even more competitive as the biology is more general. Some schools like Princeton and Brown admit less than 5 people in some years. I did the research on this, this is actually an optimistic thought, not a pessimistic one. There are a lot of other factors that lower your chances like race, international status, and school you got your undergrad from.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Ted Binsky

[gliaful]

http://www.sfn.org/~/media/SfN/Documents/Professional%20Development/NDP/SurveyReportAY20102011.ashx

 

Some stats compiled by the ANDP (subsequently taken over by the Society for Neuroscience) for 2011 about Neuro graduate admissions, including the average applicant profile, the average number of applicants and admits, and a bunch of other information. Scroll to the end of the document to see all of the graduate programs that participated in this survey.

 

What is fascinating is that the survey claims an average 23% acceptance rate, with the average program receiving 88 applications per season (range of 4 to 200). So, for all of the programs like Johns Hopkins, MIT, and Stanford bringing acceptance rates down and number of applicants up (these three WERE surveyed here), there must be a significant number of programs counterbalancing those data points.

[VLSB4Life]

Baylor invite today also came! Two interviews this early is a pretty nice surprise and sure makes finals week feel easier. 

 

Sort of related but has anyone who applied previously know if people ever email programs they have not heard back from yet about expected interview dates in order to organize/prioritize everything? I tried looking at last years dates but the list is incomplete and I'm sure things change from year to year. 

[tito balisimo]

Well folks I just got my first interview!!!! University of Arizona for Neuroscience skype interview. It says that my application was favored by the department and I can pick a time block next week!!!!!!! 

 

Apparently they want to do a pre-interview, and if its favorable they will invite me for the recruitment weekend.

Edited December 11, 2014 by Ted Binsky

[KINGLOUP]

You just confirmed what I wrote. If 20 people enroll after 400 applicants on average, thats 5% admissions. 20 is being generous, as you said 15 can be on the lower end which is close to 1%.

 

I mentioned my understanding of a few of them, not all, but they are all Ivy-tier, and similar in most ways. UCSF had over 350-400 applications for the neuro program, and invited around 30-40 people. They admit much less than that. 10% invited, and < 5% admission. Its even worse for MIT and Stanford. This is my point, you have to match their criteria and be a good research fit, and only then do you stand a shot. Despite these facts, hundreds apply. Some of the aforementioned even have there stats on Peterson's and its less than 5% admissions. I read a few of these forums, and it seems that many people apply to these schools. Based on these facts, I will say that many will be dissapointed with the outcome.

 

By the way, your data came from a biology program. Neuro programs are usually even more competitive as the biology is more general. Some schools like Princeton and Brown admit less than 5 people in some years. I did the research on this, this is actually an optimistic thought, not a pessimistic one. There are a lot of other factors that lower your chances like race, international status, and school you got your undergrad from.

 

The two programs I mentioned are neuroscience programs, not biology programs. Also, you totally mixed up what I said. 20 people enrolling out of 400 applicants is not synonym with 5% admission. There is an important distinction between being accepted to and attending a given program. Not everyone who gets accepted to a program eventually goes there. It is much more informative to look at admission data to estimate your chances of getting admitted. 

 

So, 40 people admitted out of 400 applicants at MIT (http://bcs.mit.edu/academics/grad_howtoapplyfaqs.html)  or 15-20 out of 175  at Duke (http://www.neuro.duke.edu/admissions/general-information) is roughly 10%. If you look at Petersons' data, you find similar things for other highly competitive programs (11% for UCSD's neuroscience program, 10% for the cognitive neuroscience program at Duke, 9% for the David Rockefeller program).

Edited December 11, 2014 by KINGLOUP

[tito balisimo]

The two programs I mentioned are neuroscience programs, not biology programs. Also, you totally mixed up what I said. 20 people enrolling out of 400 applicants is not synonym with 5% admission. There is an important distinction between being accepted to and attending a given program. Not everyone who gets accepted to a program eventually goes there. It is much more informative to look at admission data to estimate your chances of getting admitted. 

 

So, 40 people admitted out of 400 applicants at MIT (http://bcs.mit.edu/academics/grad_howtoapplyfaqs.html)  or 15-20 out of 175  at Duke (http://www.neuro.duke.edu/admissions/general-information) is roughly 10%. If you look at Petersons' data, you find similar things for other highly competitive programs (11% for UCSD's neuroscience program, 10% for the cognitive neuroscience program at Duke, 9% for the David Rockefeller program).

This is straight from your link on MIT's site

 

"The number of students admitted into the graduate program annually is around five percent of the total number of applications received."

 

I wont clog up the chat anymore, you can be as optimistic as you like, but in reality programs like MIT, Stanford, and UCSF admit 5% and lower. UCSD is up there as well.

[Tptp]

Baylor invite today also came! Two interviews this early is a pretty nice surprise and sure makes finals week feel easier. 

 

Sort of related but has anyone who applied previously know if people ever email programs they have not heard back from yet about expected interview dates in order to organize/prioritize everything? I tried looking at last years dates but the list is incomplete and I'm sure things change from year to year.

Hi there, what day did you submit your bcm app, if you don't mind sharing?

[expredator]

When are invitations to Harvard BBS coming up?

Edited December 11, 2014 by expredator

[gliaful]

When are invitations to Harvard BBS coming up?

They were mostly December 21st last year. I just checked the results survey.

[VLSB4Life]

Hi there, what day did you submit your bcm app, if you don't mind sharing?

I submitted the app in mid November and my LOR's were submitted right before 12/1. 

[poweredbycoldfusion]

U Arizona biomedical sciences offered me an interview!

[tito balisimo]

U Arizona biomedical sciences offered me an interview!

Congrats!

[bsharpe269]

U Arizona biomedical sciences offered me an interview!

 

Congrats!!

 

I assumed that interview invites would come over email. On the results pages though it looks most people get phone calls. Can someone elaborate on who calls you and what this conversation entails? Is it my POI or the admissions office? Should I be ready to confirm interview dates or anything?