2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[expandyourmind]

got accepted to columbia and mount sinai yesterday!

Congrats lilbert5! I wanna ask you how you compare columbia and mount sinai. Next week I'm interviewing both of them and would like your input! PM me

[rhopalias]

I'm a little late to the party but, as the kids say, YOLO.

Undergrad Institution: Southern Illinois University-Carbondale (translation: not so reputable failing public school)

Major(s): Zoology

Minor(s): Chemistry

GPA in Major: ~3.8

Overall GPA: ~3.8

Position in Class: Towards the top, but not the summit I'm afraid.

Type of Student: Financially destitute Caucasian male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q:154 (maths are hard)
V: 158
W: 4.5

Research Experience:

Three years of ecological parasitology research in a laboratory at SIU. This research culminated in a poster given at a local research conference.

 

One year of parasite phylogenetics research, and this research was funded by an undergraduate research grant I secured. This research was presented at two local meetings and one regional parasitology meeting as both a poster and an oral presentation. 

 

One REU internship at the University of Chicago studying phagosome maturation.

 

(almost) Two years at NU Feinberg studying leukocyte recruitment in allergic disease, specifically allergic asthma. I've presented my research project at a regional research conferenece and also to the department of medicine at NU (that was scary). I will be first author on the publictaion corresponding to those research efforts. I have also helped significantly with other projects in the lab so I am third author on another publication, with one or two more to come before I leave.

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Lots of awards from my home institution. I was also honored for having “best presentation” at a regional parasitology meeting.  
 

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:
Research tech at NU Feinberg and I also tutor science/math on the side.

Applying:

University of California-Los Angeles. Molecular biology-program in immunology, microbes, and molecular pathogenesis.

 

University of Washington-Seattle. Program in immunology.

 

Scripps Research Institute. I don’t think this place had a focus, but I expressed interest in immunology related research.  

 

Stanford University. Biomedical sciences, program in microbiology/immunology

 

Columbia University New York. Program in microbiology, immunology, and infection.

 

Yale. Program in immunology.

 

Northwestern University. Driskill graduate training program in the life sciences.

 

University of California-San Francisco. Program in immunology.

 

The University of Chicago. Program in immunology.

 

Johns Hopkins. Program in immunology.

Edited January 30, 2015 by rhopalias

[nutellarain]

Heads up everyone, Stanford Bioscience rejections are coming in the mail. Just got mine, but I'm close by. Ah well, not a fan of Palo Alto anyways

[ribonucleic]

So I got an e-mail earlier today from a professor inviting me to interview at the Science Park campus of MD Anderson as part of my GSBS interview weekend. I would be having dinner with students in Austin on Feb 18th, and would visit the campus the following day to interview with faculty (the same day I would be traveling to Houston for the other portion of the interview). I'm guessing that they're offering me this opportunity because I live 30 minutes from Austin and 1 hour away from the campus. Either way, I'm getting even more excited about the GSBS program  Has anyone else received such invite?

 

Oh and I got a generic e-mail from CU-Boulder stating that they aren't going to offer me admission to their Biochem program...womp womp.

[mademoiselle2308]

So I got an e-mail earlier today from a professor inviting me to interview at the Science Park campus of MD Anderson as part of my GSBS interview weekend. I would be having dinner with students in Austin on Feb 18th, and would visit the campus the following day to interview with faculty (the same day I would be traveling to Houston for the other portion of the interview). I'm guessing that they're offering me this opportunity because I live 30 minutes from Austin and 1 hour away from the campus. Either way, I'm getting even more excited about the GSBS program  Has anyone else received such invite?

 

Oh and I got a generic e-mail from CU-Boulder stating that they aren't going to offer me admission to their Biochem program...womp womp.

 

I am doing the same thing when I visit that weekend, but I don't live anywhere near Texas. I think it is based on research interests. Looks like I will be seeing you mid February! :-)

[Chrischigta]

Just got accepted to UChicago CMB - I will be going to grad school in the U.S.!!!!

[ballwera]

Invite to Tennessee! and of course it conflicts with my other interview  . Looks like I will be stuck with a Skype/Phone interview. Has anyone had any luck with those? 

Edited January 30, 2015 by ballwera

[rhopalias]

Official rejections from the University of Chicago and UCSF today. I cry erry time. :'( </3

[ERR_Alpha]

Official rejections from the University of Chicago and UCSF today. I cry erry time. :'( </3

By far the best way I've seen someone deal with a rejection.

[expandyourmind]

Did anyone else have a weird time at northwestern this past weekend? What are your thoughts?

[bsharpe269]

Did anyone else have a weird time at northwestern this past weekend? What are your thoughts?

I didn't interview there but I'm curious about what you mean by weird time.

[blinchik]

Just got accepted to UChicago CMB - I will be going to grad school in the U.S.!!!!

 

I've reached my quota of positive votes (whatever that is), but congrats! It's a great program

[ss2player]

I didn't interview there but I'm curious about what you mean by weird time.

 

Also curious. There is a thread for awkward interview incidents on the forum somewhere...

[proteinlov]

My first time posting

 

Did anyone else have a weird time at northwestern this past weekend? What are your thoughts?

 

I was at NU-DGP interview this past weekend, and I had a great time. I loved talking to the grad students, and the faculty I met were very nice! The amount of alcohol being offered was a little weird for me since I don't drink but I didn't mind it. It was my first interview so I don't know if anything else was weird compared to other interviews.

[insaneinthemembrane]

In case anyone applied, I received a rejection from Hopkins CMM. Good luck to all those who applied and interview there!

[lilbert5]

In case anyone applied, I received a rejection from Hopkins CMM. Good luck to all those who applied and interview there!

That just goes to show how random this whole process is.....i got an interview from hopkins CMM but not from NYU

[expandyourmind]

I got kinda weird vibes from the people at NU. Most of the grad students seemed disconnected and didn't know anyone else in the other years (even though it was a pretty small class size) even at the party afterward it seemed a little "clique-y" to me. most of the other applicants seemed a little socially awkward, but maybe i just didn't push myself to meet other people or had a quiet table for lunch/dinners. I feel bad because the faculty is amazing and there are so many powerhouses in their fields, but i didn't really have a good time with the other interviewees and grad students. for my other interviews i had a blast, so it just stood out to me that i just got an awkward and weird vibe throughout the interview process.

[NSG-mdx]

I got kinda weird vibes from the people at NU. Most of the grad students seemed disconnected and didn't know anyone else in the other years (even though it was a pretty small class size) even at the party afterward it seemed a little "clique-y" to me. most of the other applicants seemed a little socially awkward, but maybe i just didn't push myself to meet other people or had a quiet table for lunch/dinners. I feel bad because the faculty is amazing and there are so many powerhouses in their fields, but i didn't really have a good time with the other interviewees and grad students. for my other interviews i had a blast, so it just stood out to me that i just got an awkward and weird vibe throughout the interview process.

 

Did you attend the interview in Driskill program?

 

I scheduled an interview in Northwestern University IBiS program on Feb. 2nd. However, my flight to Chicago was canceled (this is a really long story, my first flight was canceled on Saturday and I rescheduled a second flight but it was canceled on Sunday morning. Luckily I was able to catch a third flight but this one circled above the Chicago area for about half an hour but finally returned to Minneapolis because of low visibility and heavy snow). Fortunately, the program director helped me reschedule the interview and I will attend the second one on Feb 23rd.

 

Best wishes to all interviewees who made their trips to Midwestern area. Stay warm!

Edited February 2, 2015 by NSG-mdx

[expandyourmind]

Yes I interviewed at Driskill! IBiS is a great program and on a different campus than Driskill, so I think it should be very different from Driskill. At this point chicago is all snowed in! I won't be able to make my Mt. Sinai interview but I'm hoping I can somehow fly out later in the week for Columbia. But man flying anywhere right now is rough!

[Farafeelo]

can some of you share some of the questions you plan to ask the faculty during your interviews? i have my first interview this week and trying to prepare. thanks!

[expandyourmind]

can some of you share some of the questions you plan to ask the faculty during your interviews? i have my first interview this week and trying to prepare. thanks!

 

i never really had anyone ask too much of my research, just be able to succinctly talk abut your research and summarize well. In that sense, i didn't really prepare for my interviews because you either know or you don't know what you've done in the past few years. Most of them will want to talk about their research so it might be a short conversation about your interests (why do you want a PhD, why this program, why do you love science, what are your interests in your graduate work, etc).

 

Most of my interviewers just flat out asked me "what do you want to know about my research" and went from there, so definitely look into your interviewers' research beforehand (but don't freak out, reading abstracts are fine). Most of the people just want to make sure you're not crazy, that you are genuinely interested in their program/work, and want to know you didn't make up anything in your statement of purpose. Some of my professors didn't even talk about the program entirely, just sat down and gave me a really great perspective on science and life - he basically spend 30 minutes giving me a pep talk about being a scientist! 

 

don't stress, don't go overboard on preparing for these interviews (i've seen people make 10 page scripts of answers and that's not how to approach this interview). this should be a really informal chat with great minds about where you are, where you want to be, and why this program is the perfect fit. so in the end, this SHOULD be a fun process, i mean - how often will you be wined and dined while being able to talk to some great scientists, right? At this point they want YOU, so you just have to be yourself. 

[kewz]

can some of you share some of the questions you plan to ask the faculty during your interviews? i have my first interview this week and trying to prepare. thanks!

 

I kinda customized them. For instance, I've been reading some recent interesting developments in cancer genomics on Twitter lately, and some of them triggered quite some controversy and have even been in the popular media. So I brought them up with faculties who work on cancer genomics and asked about their opinions. Another guy I met discovered one of the important genes putting people at higher risk at T2D, so I asked about the approach he used that allowed him to make that discovery (I was genuinely curious). Yet another guy I met was on several committees running the graduate program, so I asked one or two of my unanswered questions about their program. Of course I still had a list of generic questions prepared beforehand just in case the conversation hits a dead end in spite of all efforts (what's your advising style; how many people do you have and/or plan to have in your lab; do you have more of a wet lab or dry lab; etc).

[rbear91]

I got accepted to Sloan Kettering!!!! 

 

I just returned from another interview trip in the US so I don't think it has quite yet sunk into my jetlagged brain, because I feel like I should be crying with joy. I've tried to imagine this moment so many times but it's finally here. All the hard work has been worth it. That is such a relief. 

[gliaful]

Most of my interviewers just flat out asked me "what do you want to know about my research" and went from there

This was not my experience, so I'll share what my interviews were like (at the one interview weekend I've been to so far).

All of my interviews started with some sort of "Where are you from?" or "Tell me about yourself". I used this to talk about how I just graduated and am continuing to work in the lab at my university. 

Then I'd get asked (you can bank on this) about what kind of research I was involved in.

(Spend however long giving an overview of my research)

Then, depending on who you're talking to, this is the part where you'll get genuine questions (prof is trying to clarify something) or you'll get grilled (prof is familiar with your subject area and is able to pull this off).

When things got quiet, I would ask them about their research (you can do this straight up, eg "What do you research?" if you feel comfortable, OR you can ask something in the form of "I understand you study X, could you tell me more about that?" to show that you know something about them).

Then they will talk and show you cool data and basically the most interesting things that have arisen and the questions that stem from those things.

I spent a lot of time asking questions about their research, but you could also ask about their perceptions of the graduate program/where their past students have gone on to/if they would be available for a rotation/etc.

[bsharpe269]

can some of you share some of the questions you plan to ask the faculty during your interviews? i have my first interview this week and trying to prepare. thanks!

 

I don't think I would prepare questions. You should just go have a genuine conversation with awesome scientists. They will ask about what you have done and are interested in and then will tell you about their work. They will probably choose a project that fits best with your interests to talk about. You should ask questions throughout that but you don't need to prep them. I feel like you either know the literature in your field and can comment on this sort of stuff or you don't. Also, they don't expect you to know everything, just know your interests and show curiosity. For example, I do computational studies of proteins and one of my best conversations was with someone who uses experimental methods which I know nothing about. Some of my questions were seriously like "I would study that idea with X computational technique but am not familiar with experimental methods. What sort of methods would you use to study that?" Its ok to not know stuff. They don't want someone who knows everything, they want someone who loves science and is curious. That interview went way over time and then he approached me to chat more at dinner. Just be yourself.