2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[BiochemMom]

Nah no reason to pester. Plus UNC is closed for snow all day yesterday and today. I live in NC and go to a different school that also closed the past two days so I checked theirs too.

[elkheart]

YES!! Got my first official offer today! Happens to be from the same school that rejected me two years ago. 

 

[ilovelab]

YES!! Got my first official offer today! Happens to be from the same school that rejected me two years ago. 

 

 

 That has to be satisfying!

[person5811]

For people who did not apply to Yale or declined their Yale interview, what is the rationale? I thought Yale was a top school in the Biosciences, but I'm seeing more and more people are biased against their BBS program.  Can someone explain this to me?

I decided not to apply to Yale for two main reasons (that I can think of right now). First, a person I know goes there and is fairly miserable, he doesn't get along with his classmates and he didn't do well with classes his first semester, he is now worried he will get kicked out of the program, so from the outside and the little information I have it does not look like a very supportive environment. And second, it is in New Haven which is not a very big city (and I would go crazy living in a small town for a prolonged period of time) and not very safe (I've heard some people call it Drug Haven and crime rate is pretty high).

[ERR_Alpha]

I decided not to apply to Yale for two main reasons (that I can think of right now). First, a person I know goes there and is fairly miserable, he doesn't get along with his classmates and he didn't do well with classes his first semester, he is now worried he will get kicked out of the program, so from the outside and the little information I have it does not look like a very supportive environment. And second, it is in New Haven which is not a very big city (and I would go crazy living in a small town for a prolonged period of time) and not very safe (I've heard some people call it Drug Haven and crime rate is pretty high).

They don't call it Gun Wavin' New Haven for nothing... Haha. I was born near there and my parents left ASAP. Although I know plenty of people who live there without issue. You just have to be more careful.

[h3k4me3]

Can anyone share their impression of Harvard BBS interview weekend? How were the students and faculties? 

[threading_the_neidl]

For people who did not apply to Yale or declined their Yale interview, what is the rationale? I thought Yale was a top school in the Biosciences, but I'm seeing more and more people are biased against their BBS program.  Can someone explain this to me?

First, know that a general top school in "biosciences" doesn't mean it's a top school in any given research interest. If someone's really into molecular virology or computational cell dynamics, Yale may not actually be a top school or good choice for fit.

Second... Ugh. Yale. I'm sure that there are perfectly lovely and happy people there, and I've collaborated with a couple great labs, one of my classmates worked there for many years, and New Haven is not THE WORST city in the world. But I went on an informal visit to see if it would be worth my time even applying, and the old men who were in charge of the department and would be my advisors for many years said some things that really didn't sit right with me. I felt extremely uncomfortable and even though the students were extremely nice, I knew I couldn't be happy in an environment where I felt so bad after just a couple hours. As I've shared my own anecdotal experience with others in person, I often hear other women tell me their experience was similar, so I don't think this was a one time thing. It might be that there's enough of an underground reputation there that prospective students who don't want to deal with that BS don't even apply.

[Ascinflamm]

I just didn't want to apply to any Ivy League schools. I'm from the Big 10, and the sense of competition and community is very different between Big 10-like schools and Ivy League schools. [...]

 

 

I have heard bad things about the Ivies being extremely competitive and cut throat ( people actually lock up their lab notebooks and sabotage other people's experiment). [...]

Having done my undergrad at a top 10 but non-Ivy institution, I definitely had the same preconceived notions about these Ivy institutions coming into the application season. However, after applying to 3 graduate programs at Ivy schools and actually interviewing at 2 (my third and last, Yale BBS, is coming up this weekend so I can't say much about it specifically yet) my impression has been completely changed. The amount of mentoring and dedication to training their students at these places is above and beyond what I had expected, and the current students really seem to get along with each other very well and are generally happy. The fact that I got to hang out/interact with 6 or 7 fifth-year students over the interview weekend of a program that matriculates only 10 students per year says a lot about how much the students love their educational experience in that Ivy league program. Also, the faculty absolutely collaborate and do so extensively because they recognize that that's the only way big and important questions can be solved these days. I can honestly say that I felt a strong sense of community, rather than just a department. 

 

Another relevant thing that I noticed is that the quality of interviewee pool is higher at these Ivy league programs (probably because the reputation of the institutions attracts many applicants, which in turn allows the adcoms to really cherry-pick the best applicants for interviews). Since your fellow interviewees will be your future colleagues and friends for a long time, you might be interested in sticking with the most talented and dynamic cohort of people--all other factors being equal. Of course if the New England weather by itself just rules out the whole Ivy league for you then there's not too much to consider about these programs. 

 

Edited February 18, 2015 by Ascinflamm

[strand_invader]

I see that there are acceptances and rejections on the results survey for the UC Davis BMCDB program. I know they already held at least one interview weekend, but I didn't receive the invite. Has anyone else (who hasn't received an interview offer) not heard back yet?

[Farafeelo]

Everything about this process just always makes you feel like shit no matter how hard you work.

[ERR_Alpha]

Everything about this process just always makes you feel like shit no matter how hard you work.

Graduate school in a nutshell...

[Biochemistry]

Everything about this process just always makes you feel like shit no matter how hard you work.

Don't let it get you too down :/ I know the process sucks sometimes. You'll make it through.

[Chimeric Phoenix]

If anybody attending the Johns Hopkins Immunology interview weekend has any questions feel free to send me a PM

[insaneinthemembrane]

Is anyone else still doing their undergrad and going through this process?? I wanna know if anyone is managing to survive missing all of these classes and making up for it in their free time. 

[h3k4me3]

Anyone?

Can anyone share their impression of Harvard BBS interview weekend? How were the students and faculties?

[notsaxophones]

Is anyone else still doing their undergrad and going through this process?? I wanna know if anyone is managing to survive missing all of these classes and making up for it in their free time. 

 

I'm still doing my undergrad, but I'm in a special situation. I only applied to 4 places (because I knew I would go crazy missing too many classes), and I'm only in 3 "real" classes. All of the professors are understanding of my being gone, as they also went to grad school and know what I'm going through. I've just found that going and talking to the professors makes making up the work a lot easier. But you're definitely in a worse situation than I am, seeing that you have a lot more interviews than I do

[insaneinthemembrane]

I'm still doing my undergrad, but I'm in a special situation. I only applied to 4 places (because I knew I would go crazy missing too many classes), and I'm only in 3 "real" classes. All of the professors are understanding of my being gone, as they also went to grad school and know what I'm going through. I've just found that going and talking to the professors makes making up the work a lot easier. But you're definitely in a worse situation than I am, seeing that you have a lot more interviews than I do

 

Yea my professors have been understanding but it's just hard trying to do all the work that I normally have 7 days for in about 4 because I can't really be productive on interview dates with all the travel and activities they have planned for us. I just realized I have 2 quizzes and an exam next week and they snuck up on me. 

[Biochemistry]

Is anyone else still doing their undergrad and going through this process?? I wanna know if anyone is managing to survive missing all of these classes and making up for it in their free time. 

 

Yup. I'm still in undergrad. 

I'm managing to survive, but it's really taken a toll, and I'm definitely not in a happy state. I can do the work in advance, that's no problem, but it's not the work... In the beginning of the semester, I had a lot of problems figuring out my schedule. One class (not needed for graduation) straight-up told me to drop because they'd fail me and wouldn't work with me. My major professors were understanding, but missing classes sucks. I miss notes and key concepts and have to do more self-study, then on quizzes/exams I miss a couple points I might not have if I had been in class to take my own notes and listen, which in turn makes me feel stupid. It doesn't help the people I asked to give me notes haven't even though I've asked a few times. 

[person5811]

Anyone?

 

I personally didn't like the BBS program as much as other places I've visited. If I was to rank the places where I've been so far I'd say it's MIT Bio > Harvard MCO > Berkeley > NYU > BBS > UCSF. There are some nice people in the BBS program, definitely, but some of the students I met where incredibly conceited (not true at Harvard MCO!) and some of the fellow recruits were obnoxious. The program for me seems too big, so you'd never get to meet all your classmates which I want as a grad student, and the general interest of people in the program is too translational for me. Also, one of my interviewers "forgot" she was interviewing me (cancelled 5 mins beforehand, only place this has happened) and I was not the only one with that issue. Also, I got 0 of the faculty I wanted to meet (that I mentioned in my statement). That being said, the faculty I did meet were nice, they have nice facilities, they offer the highest stipend I've seen (37K), and it's in Boston which is a great place to live.

[JML]

Got a call yesterday that I was admitted to University of Washington Immunology! This was by far the best (if you value rankings and reputation) school that I interviewed at. I loved Seattle, the people were awesome, and the facilities blew everything else I've seen out of the water. I'm a little hesitant though that the faculty don't align perfectly with my interests. I have a more applied immunology background, and they're almost exclusively basic immunology. 

 

What do you guys think? Do faculty have to be doing exactly what you think you want to do, or are you open to researching new areas within your general field of interest if the faculty/school is great?

 

I'm trying not to sabotage this for myself, since there are a mountain of pros and only one con. 

[notsaxophones]

It's not an acceptance yet, but my main POI at Washington sent me an email offering to help me distinguish between the two programs there and determine which would be a better fit. I'm really excited about this because I hadn't contacted any POI's before the interviews (it wasn't something I was aware that people did), and he sounds like he would be interested in my rotating in his lab if I go there! YAY RESEARCH!!!

[StemCellFanatic]

Has anyone who went to the second weekend Jan 29-Feb 1 for Columbia CMBS heard anything?

[ss2player]

Got a call yesterday that I was admitted to University of Washington Immunology! This was by far the best (if you value rankings and reputation) school that I interviewed at. I loved Seattle, the people were awesome, and the facilities blew everything else I've seen out of the water. I'm a little hesitant though that the faculty don't align perfectly with my interests. I have a more applied immunology background, and they're almost exclusively basic immunology. 

 

What do you guys think? Do faculty have to be doing exactly what you think you want to do, or are you open to researching new areas within your general field of interest if the faculty/school is great?

 

I'm trying not to sabotage this for myself, since there are a mountain of pros and only one con. 

 

By all means go there, that one con isn't a big deal. As long as you can muster enough enthusiasm for their research to work with them, you'll do fine. It doesn't really matter what you do for your PhD research anyway, if you're planning on academia, your postdoctoral work will carry much more weight.

 

Also: Fred Hutch is there, you can always collaborate for translational stuff.

Edited February 18, 2015 by ss2player

[elkheart]

Got a call yesterday that I was admitted to University of Washington Immunology! This was by far the best (if you value rankings and reputation) school that I interviewed at. I loved Seattle, the people were awesome, and the facilities blew everything else I've seen out of the water. I'm a little hesitant though that the faculty don't align perfectly with my interests. I have a more applied immunology background, and they're almost exclusively basic immunology. 

 

What do you guys think? Do faculty have to be doing exactly what you think you want to do, or are you open to researching new areas within your general field of interest if the faculty/school is great?

 

I'm trying not to sabotage this for myself, since there are a mountain of pros and only one con. 

 

First - congrats! Second - this is a very good question that I'm sure is going to be case-specific, but here are my two cents:

 

Grad school is the time and place to learn what you need to learn to become a full-fledged, independent scientist. It is almost certainly not where you will do your best work (if you do peak in grad school that’s probably a bad thing). You are going in order to learn how to devise good research questions, how to follow a project through from beginning to end, and what it is like to be responsible for your own work. And of course at the end of it you should have x-number of publications demonstrating objectively that you can do this type of work. Does this mean the work you do as a grad student has to be the work you will do for the rest of your career? Not necessarily. As long as you learn all the skills you need to learn, and are successful in your demonstration, then there is wiggle room. But I would throw in an important modifier: if the work you commit to doing bores you then you’re going to be in real trouble. Every grad student horror story I have seen traces back to a profound misalignment between the suffering grad student and the lab/field they committed to.

 

I’d love to hear what others think about this important question.

Edited February 18, 2015 by elkheart

[bsharpe269]

Blinchik, when was/is your bbsp interview? If already passed, have you heard back yet?

I fell in love with UNC and they skyrocketed to my top choice after meeting the POIs. I'm going to be floored if I don't get an acceptance because three of my interviewers offered to fund me to start in the summer after our interviews were over and one emailed me daycare info for my kid, unsolicited, the night of the interview while I was still there for the dinner.

The wait is killing me! Stupid snow.

 

FYI, I interviewed at UNC Jan 22-24 and received an offer this week. My interest areas are Comp Bio/Biophysics.

 

At the interview, I was told that BBSP sends offers to some students in the weeks following the interviews and then sends the majority of offers in March. I was told this by someone from BBSP in general, not by my specfic phd program.

 

I left with the exact same vibe that you got... I had one intervewer tell me that I was a "shoe in" and the others invited me to come for summer rotations. It worked out decently for me so good luck... based on what you say, it sounds like you should expect an offer in the next few weeks! I dont think everyone leaves with this impression. I chatted with several students who said that they couldn't tell whether their interviews went well or not.