2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[Chrissymisha]

Also just got an invite to UPenn Neuro! I'm so excited. I was starting to feel kind of depressed that others had started to get invites, but at least I have one now! Good luck everyone

[Vene]

Does anyone know some approximate stats about interviews? ie what percentage of people that get interviews are accepted? I got a request for an interview already and just wanted to know what my chances are once I get to the interview stage?

Even though there's been some feedback already, I'll add my two cents.

 

Interviews are as much them evaluating you as it is you evaluating them. A university wants the best students so they're going to be selective, but at the same time they want to attract those particular students to come to their school and not another one. You don't exactly want to slack off and assume you're going to get in, but you're certainly on the short list at this point.

 

I can add that your academic credentials do meet their standards, so you don't have to worry so much about them anymore. The goal is to connect with professors and grad students and convince them you are the type of person they'd like to spend the next few years around.

 

Oh, and good luck.

[mayanway]

Congrats to those who have interview invites already!  Color me jealous - most of my programs haven't even started reviewing applications yet.  As far as I can tell, only 3 of mine do interviews/prospective student weekends, the other 4 just send out acceptance/rejection emails in the spring.  

[mha931]

Congrats to those who have interview invites already!  Color me jealous - most of my programs haven't even started reviewing applications yet.  As far as I can tell, only 3 of mine do interviews/prospective student weekends, the other 4 just send out acceptance/rejection emails in the spring.  

Also completely jealous, but congrats!! If its anyone I'm glad its people from the forums

 

For those of you who were invited- how early before the deadline did you submit applications?

[tuckbro]

Does anyone know some approximate stats about interviews? ie what percentage of people that get interviews are accepted? I got a request for an interview already and just wanted to know what my chances are once I get to the interview stage?

Really varies by school and program. In my field, BME, some schools Interview a ton of people and accept very few, others like MIT and JHU interview very few and accept most.

Edited December 6, 2014 by tuckbro

[Bonez]

Also completely jealous, but congrats!! If its anyone I'm glad its people from the forums

 

For those of you who were invited- how early before the deadline did you submit applications?

I've got 2 invites so far. I submitted all of my applications in mid October, so 1.5-2 months prior to any of my deadlines. Not sure if it made a difference for my applications at all, but my PI suggested I get them in early. 

[Dedi]

Congrats to those who have interview invites already!  Color me jealous - most of my programs haven't even started reviewing applications yet.  As far as I can tell, only 3 of mine do interviews/prospective student weekends, the other 4 just send out acceptance/rejection emails in the spring.  

None of my programs do interviews (as far as I'm aware--must be a Canadian thing). So I'm going to be sitting here twiddling my thumbs until spring.

[shadowclaw]

Congrats to everyone who had interviews so far! Most of my schools won't send out any invites until January or even later, so once I finish my last few applications, I'll be doing a whole lot of waiting! Although two of my schools do start sending out invites the week before Christmas. Hopefully I don't end up with any overlapping weekends.

[ForScience!]

Ahhhh people have gotten invites from Vanderbilt IGP and Emory, I still haven't received an email from either

[person5811]

Also completely jealous, but congrats!! If its anyone I'm glad its people from the forums

 

For those of you who were invited- how early before the deadline did you submit applications?

I submitted my app for UTSW on 11/12. The app didn't say "complete" until 11/17. I got the interview invite on 12/4. I think UTSW is a little different than other places in that they review apps as they get them, but other schools have a specific weekend where they get together and make decisions, so I wouldn't panic just yet. Good luck!

 

[Dedi]

According to the results search, U of T's psychology program does invite applicants to a recruitment weekend. I won't know until the end of January if I am invited.

 

Still will sit here and twiddle my thumbs...

[person5811]

Interview invites for UTSW DBBS (received yesterday) and UPENN Neuroscience (today)! Good luck to everyone else.

Congrats on the interviews! When are you planning on filling out that form UTSW sent us with the weekend preferences? I wanted to wait a little bit, just in case I hear back from other schools, but I don't want to wait too long. I was going to send them an email asking if there was a deadline, but no matter how I phrase it, it sounds like they are not my first choice, and I really don't want to give that impression.

[neuronsbeyondneurons2]

does anyone know when UNC-BBSP Neurobiology will begin sending out invitations for interviews?

[Vene]

As an FYI for people worrying about recruitment weekends. Last year I got one invitation to the University of Vermont on 12-9, I got another invitation to the University of Minnesota on 12-19. So, for those of you who haven't gotten notification yet there's still plenty of time. I also wouldn't be surprised if a lot of programs are waiting until after this semester's grades are due to make decisions.

[tito balisimo]

As an FYI for people worrying about recruitment weekends. Last year I got one invitation to the University of Vermont on 12-9, I got another invitation to the University of Minnesota on 12-19. So, for those of you who haven't gotten notification yet there's still plenty of time. I also wouldn't be surprised if a lot of programs are waiting until after this semester's grades are due to make decisions.

From what I am seeing, only a few people received an invitation, and that was only 1 out of their 10+ applications. So for the select few that received a single invitation, congrats, but the process is barely beginning now. I believe most schools haven't even got together and decided which group of people will get invites, and won't do so until the 15th of December or later when finals are done. Everyone should just be patient and not worry about those select few who got an early invitation. Realize they only have a single invitation and none of their other schools have even responded back yet. 

[glow_gene]

Just wanted to re-mention that I'm happy to talk about any schools in my signature (WUSTL/WashU in particular!). 

 

I know it won't seem like it...but interviews are/will be a lot of fun . 

 

Best of luck with your interviews/application seasons! 

[sxk055]

Congrats on the interviews! When are you planning on filling out that form UTSW sent us with the weekend preferences? I wanted to wait a little bit, just in case I hear back from other schools, but I don't want to wait too long. I was going to send them an email asking if there was a deadline, but no matter how I phrase it, it sounds like they are not my first choice, and I really don't want to give that impression.

Filled it out Friday morning. In hindsight, I probably should have waited a little longer since I received the UPENN invite that afternoon and one of their interview weekends clashes with the date I picked for UTSW. I would have preferred to attend the UPENN interview first since they are higher on my list but oh well. Tentatively, it looks like I will be traveling to UTSW on Jan 22 and UPENN on Feb. 13 (would have wanted it to be flipped). Since UTSW offers quite a few dates for interviewing I think that it would be okay to wait until the end of next week but I don't really know what the right answer is.

[gliaful]

From what I am seeing, only a few people received an invitation, and that was only 1 out of their 10+ applications. So for the select few that received a single invitation, congrats, but the process is barely beginning now. I believe most schools haven't even got together and decided which group of people will get invites, and won't do so until the 15th of December or later when finals are done. Everyone should just be patient and not worry about those select few who got an early invitation. Realize they only have a single invitation and none of their other schools have even responded back yet. 

Agreed!

I looked through the "results" and tabulated when schools are most likely to respond by looking at the last few years of interview results. This yields some interesting information, as some schools send out all interview invites on the same day (or within 2 days of each other) such as UW, while other send out invites within the span of a week or two (Pittsburgh, Utah).

I think this would probably be a beneficial approach to accepting and scheduling (if more than one choice) potential interviews. For instance, if you got an invite from a school that is lower on your list, but you knew your top choice might be sending invites two days later, you could tactfully wait and ensure that the dates you choose do not overlap.

[tito balisimo]

Agreed!

I looked through the "results" and tabulated when schools are most likely to respond by looking at the last few years of interview results. This yields some interesting information, as some schools send out all interview invites on the same day (or within 2 days of each other) such as UW, while other send out invites within the span of a week or two (Pittsburgh, Utah).

I think this would probably be a beneficial approach to accepting and scheduling (if more than one choice) potential interviews. For instance, if you got an invite from a school that is lower on your list, but you knew your top choice might be sending invites two days later, you could tactfully wait and ensure that the dates you choose do not overlap.

Absolutely. I am going to use the same approach if I receive multiple invites that will occur in the same time span. Glad to hear that other people have this mentality.

[insaneinthemembrane]

Hey everyone, 

 

I'm new here on this thread, finished all my submissions a week ago. 

 

Undergrad Institution: Small city school, liberal arts mostly but well known in the sciences
Major(s): Biology
Minor(s): Science Policy
GPA in Major: 3.7
Overall GPA: 3.3
Position in Class: Unranked
Type of Student: domestic, 1st generation college student, minority applicant

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:156 (64%)
V:166 (71%)
W: 5 (93%)


Research Experience: 1.5 years in a gene regulation/immunology/stem cell lab, 1 summer internship at Hopkins SOM

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: MARC Scholarship, Leadership Alliance, 5 presentations (3 at national conferences), Presentation award at SACNAS 2014

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Special Bonus Points: I've spoken to alot of program directors and deans at national conferences, I guess that counts for something right?

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

Applying to Where: Immunology divisions

University of Washington, Seattle

UCSF

Stanford

University of Chicago -Interview received 12/4

University of Minnesota

Weill Cornell

NYU

Mount Sinai

Johns Hopkins

Emory

[ghostoverground]

Hi everyone. I'm super new here and I know I'm late to the game, but I thought I'd post my info. If anyone has any idea what my chances at some of these schools might be, I'd really appreciate it, or any other advice for that matter. I feel like I'm just shooting in the dark (that's why I'm applying so many places!). Thank you!!

 

Undergrad Institution: Top 5-10 Liberal Arts college-- strong sciences I think?
Major(s): Math, Biology
Minor(s): Computer Science
GPA in Major: Does this include classes like chem and physics required for the bio major? If so, 3.98 for bio, 4.0 for math. If not, 4.0 for both. 
Overall GPA: 3.95
Position in Class: near the top I think-- was nominated for Phi Beta Kappa
Type of Student: domestic white female

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 165 (90%) kind of embarrassing for a math major but still good I know
V: 166 (96%)
W: 6.0 (99%)
B:

Research Experience: 3 summers of research at my school and some work during the academic years as well including this year (I'm a senior). Worked on 3 different projects, but no publications. Had posters at our school's research symposium twice, but that doesn't mean much. 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Phi Beta Kappa, Biology department book award ("outstanding junior bio major"), Dean's list, won some semi-competitive fellowships for summer research at my school (HHMI, etc.)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: none

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: none that I can think of

Special Bonus Points: Female going into a somewhat computational field? Not sure if that counts. Two of my recommenders are pretty successful but I wouldn't say famous... one just won an NSF CAREER grant last year. That's about it though. 

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I took one of my math classes Pass/Fail, and I have a "W" on my transcript for withdrawing from Orgo II due to an illness... I didn't explain these though, since I figured they aren't terrible and are kind of self-explanatory, and since the only reason I have the W is that you can't drop a class without special permission after the first few weeks of class at my school. 

Applying to Where:

Applied: 

UC Berkeley- Computational Biology

UC Santa Cruz- Bioinformatics & Computational Biology track of PBSE

U of Washington- Genome Sciences

U of Michigan Ann Arbor- Bioinformatics

Duke- Computational Biology & Bioinformatics

U of Colorado Denver AMC- Computational Biosciences

UPenn- Genomics and Computational Bio

Boston University- Bioinformatics

Cornell- Computational Biology

Stanford- Biomedical Informatics 

UNC BBSP- Bioinformatics & Computational Bio

Yale BBS - Comp Bio & Bioinformatics-- but I submitted this one a couple hours after the deadline, so I don't know if they will consider it or not. It was a spur of the moment type thing. 

 

Will probably apply (deadlines coming up): 

UC Irvine- Mathematical, Computational, and Systems Bio

UC San Diego- Bioinformatics and Systems Bio

Dartmouth- QBS

USC- Computational Bio and Bioinformatics

Albert Einstein

UCLA - Biomathematics (one of my professors/recommenders/research mentors went here so that should help)

Brown- CCMB (still not sure about this one, but leaning yes. One of my professors/recommenders is friends with one of the core faculty at this program, but I don't know if that will help or not.)

 

I haven't heard about an interview from UNC or UPenn like some of you have. Congrats to those who have though!

Edited December 7, 2014 by ghostoverground

[laminator]

Got my first interview request this morning, although the email shows it was sent Friday... Makes me kind of nervous that another request might just disappear entirely. They asked me to suggest faculty to meet with, and usually I'd have a good idea of who to pick. However, I actually had the opportunity to visit the school a few months ago, and got to meet with several of the faculty I'm most interested in then. Anyone have advice on how to make a list at that point? Should I meet again with the faculty I met with before to strengthen those connections, or try to branch out, or some of both?

[laminator]

I haven't heard about an interview from UNC or UPenn like some of you have. Congrats to those who have though!

It looks to me like all of us who have heard from Penn are applying to neuro, so I wouldn't worry about that.

Edited December 8, 2014 by laminator

[Chimeric Phoenix]

Hi everyone. I'm super new here and I know I'm late to the game, but I thought I'd post my info. If anyone has any idea what my chances at some of these schools might be, I'd really appreciate it, or any other advice for that matter. I feel like I'm just shooting in the dark (that's why I'm applying so many places!). Thank you!!

 

 

Will probably apply (deadlines coming up): 

UC Irvine- Mathematical, Computational, and Systems Bio

UC San Diego- Bioinformatics and Systems Bio

Dartmouth- QBS

USC- Computational Bio and Bioinformatics

Albert Einstein

UCLA - Biomathematics (one of my professors/recommenders/research mentors went here so that should help)

Brown- CCMB (still not sure about this one, but leaning yes. One of my professors/recommenders is friends with one of the core faculty at this program, but I don't know if that will help or not.)

 

I haven't heard about an interview from UNC or UPenn like some of you have. Congrats to those who have though!

 

Hey there, I would think you have a very strong application. You're planning to apply to a LOT of schools. I would suggest looking at all of the additional schools you're planning to apply to and making sure that there are at least 2-3 faculty with whom you'd like to work.

 

Good Luck! (but I doubt you'll need it) =)

Edited December 8, 2014 by Chimeric Phoenix

[Vene]

Got my first interview request this morning, although the email shows it was sent Friday... Makes me kind of nervous that another request might just disappear entirely. They asked me to suggest faculty to meet with, and usually I'd have a good idea of who to pick. However, I actually had the opportunity to visit the school a few months ago, and got to meet with several of the faculty I'm most interested in then. Anyone have advice on how to make a list at that point? Should I meet again with the faculty I met with before to strengthen those connections, or try to branch out, or some of both?

I can't answer that question, but I can give you something to consider. The faculty that you meet with should be those who you are most interested in working with and these are the people who will tell the committee if they recommend you for admission or not. You're also likely to meet with a member of the admission committee.