ethanolllll Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Does anyone have any advice on what to talk about/ask the faculty liaison from a particular program? Jefferson gave me a faculty liaison contact and the person reached out to me yesterday (also happens to be a POI). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expandyourmind Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Does anyone have any advice on what to talk about/ask the faculty liaison from a particular program? Jefferson gave me a faculty liaison contact and the person reached out to me yesterday (also happens to be a POI). Definitely ask about their mentoring philosophy and really make sure it vibes with how you want to work. If you're a more independent person in the lab, you might want a mentor who is more hands off. On the other hand, you may just like someone who's really hands on. Also ask where the PI's previous grad students are. Maybe what the PI expects of a successful graduate student and what he/she does for grads in terms of conferences/papers/presentations/etc Is it taboo to ask about funding? I feel like this is important but a very touchy subject... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoDUDE! Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Sorry. Not biology here, but if you consider funding a touchy subject then be prepared to talk about a touchy subject an awful lot in graduate school. Any advisor who gets offended if you ask about their open or grants about to be submitted should be ceremoniously marked off your list. Run, don't walk away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss2player Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) Definitely ask about their mentoring philosophy and really make sure it vibes with how you want to work. If you're a more independent person in the lab, you might want a mentor who is more hands off. On the other hand, you may just like someone who's really hands on. Also ask where the PI's previous grad students are. Maybe what the PI expects of a successful graduate student and what he/she does for grads in terms of conferences/papers/presentations/etc Is it taboo to ask about funding? I feel like this is important but a very touchy subject... Good stuff! If you're seriously considering them as a mentor, ABSOLUTELY ask about funding. You can phrase it as "Would you be able to support students for 5 years if they joined the lab?" as opposed to "LET ME SEE DEM GRANTS YO". Edited January 13, 2015 by ss2player gliaful, mop, poweredbycoldfusion and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crucial BBQ Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 So I have a question for you guys: did biology experience a change in the amount of graduate applicants this year (up or down)? I know some disciplines have seen a decrease in the size of its applicant pool, but the examples I know about were in humanities instead. Biology in general has been a popular subject to pursue at the graduate level for a really long time. Admittance into graduate schools peaked in 2010 or so iirc and have been on the decline since. Health care and business are on the rise, however, and humanities are down. Overall applications to graduate schools have increased, however. It's just that programs got smaller due to budget cuts, lack of funding, and so on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poweredbycoldfusion Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Is it taboo to ask about funding? I feel like this is important but a very touchy subject... NIH reporter is your friend here. You can investigate a department and specific PIs before/after interviews. Also, the program should tell you about their funding, so that's not something I'd be asking a PI. You're applying to grad school to research. Talk about research. virus guy 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
expandyourmind Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 NIH reporter is your friend here. You can investigate a department and specific PIs before/after interviews. Also, the program should tell you about their funding, so that's not something I'd be asking a PI. You're applying to grad school to research. Talk about research. I don't think NIH reporter takes into account all the grad students/postdocs that the PI has. The PI may have a lot of funding, but it might be going to other places other than students. Yes, it will give you a good idea about the grant writing in the lab, but I don't think it will really tell you if a PI is able and willing to take a grad student, which is a pretty critical piece of information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamrock_Frog Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I have an interview at UT-Houston/GSBS on Feb 5-7. Anyone else going? Anyone have any experience of what the recruitment weekend for this school is like? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ballwera Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I don't think NIH reporter takes into account all the grad students/postdocs that the PI has. The PI may have a lot of funding, but it might be going to other places other than students. Yes, it will give you a good idea about the grant writing in the lab, but I don't think it will really tell you if a PI is able and willing to take a grad student, which is a pretty critical piece of information. This. You could look up the P.I for the lab I'm working in and see a large chunk of change. However, this doesn't take into account the 2 - 3 postdocs we have any given time, the 3 - 4 students we have or the Research Techs, coordinators etc. etc. etc. This doesn't even get into the cost of experiments or supplies. I think it's more than reasonable to ask what the funding outlook is like and to ask if funding may be available for specific projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mademoiselle2308 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I have an interview at UT-Houston/GSBS on Feb 5-7. Anyone else going? Anyone have any experience of what the recruitment weekend for this school is like? I have an interview with them February 18 - 21. Please let me know how your interview goes and good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
insaneinthemembrane Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 To anyone waiting for Hopkins Immunology, I just gave them a call and all interview invites have been sent out To anyone waiting for Hopkins CMM, they are still reviewing applications and should get back to us soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutellarain Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 If anyone is waiting on Stanford Biosciences, I emailed and got the following response, "The applications are still under review. In general, if one has not heard about a possible invitation by the end of January, it is unlikely that you will be invited to Stanford or admitted. Applicants who are not selected for an interview will receive a letter which states that no further action will be taken on their application by the Committee on Graduate Admissions and Policy" I think this is probably just an automatic response for all bioscience inquiries and doesn't really apply to whatever home group you ask about... amertume 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mha931 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) If anyone is waiting on Stanford Biosciences, I emailed and got the following response, "The applications are still under review. In general, if one has not heard about a possible invitation by the end of January, it is unlikely that you will be invited to Stanford or admitted. Applicants who are not selected for an interview will receive a letter which states that no further action will be taken on their application by the Committee on Graduate Admissions and Policy" I think this is probably just an automatic response for all bioscience inquiries and doesn't really apply to whatever home group you ask about... It may be a general response, but at least apps are still under review! Then again, the "till the end of January" thing is probably just to reserve their right to invite people if anyone turns down their interview invite (*gasps*). I haven't seen anything new on the results thread, but I'll be stalking it diligently until I hear either way.. Also, thanks for e-mailing!! Edited January 13, 2015 by Lana193 amertume 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxyyxx Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 anyone else still waiting on Scripps? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexOckham Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Concerning the Biosciences Program at Stanford, and especially for the Biomedical Informatics program, I think we should also take into account the fact that last week there was the Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing in Hawaii. A fair amount of core faculty members attended this conference. That could explain why only two people have reported invitations to interview so far. But that's only an hypothesis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutellarain Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 It may be a general response, but at least apps are still under review! Then again, the "till the end of January" thing is probably just to reserve their right to invite people if anyone turns down their interview invite (*gasps*). I haven't seen anything new on the results thread, but I'll be stalking it diligently until I hear either way.. Also, thanks for e-mailing!! I hope so! I specifically asked about the micro and immuno home area, but they didn't acknowledge that in the email. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamrock_Frog Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 anyone else still waiting on Scripps? I have heard nothing from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shamrock_Frog Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I have an interview with them February 18 - 21. Please let me know how your interview goes and good luck! Do you have any idea what their post-interview acceptance rate is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velli Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) @nutellarain: I emailed and got a similar response with no acknowledgement of my home program. I did some more reading and I found that if you applied for more than one home program, all of the home programs you applied to get together to discuss your application and which home program you belong to. That might be a reason why some people have already been invited for interviews while others may have to wait a while longer. Edited January 13, 2015 by velli Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ss2player Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 I have an interview with them February 18 - 21. Please let me know how your interview goes and good luck! PSA: I'm a first year student at this program and will be involved in recruitment. Can't wait to see you new hopefuls! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mademoiselle2308 Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Do you have any idea what their post-interview acceptance rate is? I have no idea.I really hope to receive an admittance from them, though! I have had my eye on this program for a very long time and was thrilled to receive an invite to interview. Shamrock_Frog 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amertume Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 anyone else still waiting on Scripps? Meeeeeee, but also too scared to call/email to ask haha Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xxyyxx Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Meeeeeee, but also too scared to call/email to ask haha I have heard nothing from them. I called yesterday and they said that they were still reviewing apps and to keep an eye out these next couple of weeks. I'm just antsy because I thought I had an in amertume and Biochemistry 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spaceimmunology Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Someone called MIT and all invites were indeed sent on 01/09 Can confirm. Just got email from program, all invites went out on Friday and 95 applicants were invited for recruiting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutellarain Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 (edited) @nutellarain: I emailed and got a similar response with no acknowledgement of my home program. I did some more reading and I found that if you applied for more than one home program, all of the home programs you applied to get together to discuss your application and which home program you belong to. That might be a reason why some people have already been invited for interviews while others may have to wait a while longer. Whelp, I hope that is the case! I searched "Stanford" in last years thread and it seems you need to actually contact the home program administrator (http://biosciences.stanford.edu/contact/home-programs.html) to get a real response. I feel bad bugging them as well; I will probably just wait until the end of the week to email them. Edited January 13, 2015 by nutellarain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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