2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[Guest]

12 minutes ago, kimmibeans said:

I think i sent thank yous to the program directors as well as faculty. It can't hurt.

Eff, I only sent mine to the faculty. Do you think it will hurt me? I interviewed on the 12th of February, so I'm guessing it's a little late to send 'thank yous' to the program directors as well. 

[Neuro PolarBear]

19 minutes ago, Purkinje said:

Eff, I only sent mine to the faculty. Do you think it will hurt me? I interviewed on the 12th of February, so I'm guessing it's a little late to send 'thank yous' to the program directors as well. 

I haven't sent emails to any of the faculty after I've interviewed, and I don't think it has made at difference at any of the places. I'd only email someone to follow-up if you 1) had a really great conversation and 2) would want to continue it further since you're interested in their work and interested in rotating / working with them. To me it seems a little insincere and formulaic to reach out beforehand.

If you're worried about UCSF, judging from the survey it looks like they were waiting until after the second weekend to let people know if they've been accepted?

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Micecroscopy said:

I haven't sent emails to any of the faculty after I've interviewed, and I don't think it has made at difference at any of the places. I'd only email someone to follow-up if you 1) had a really great conversation and 2) would want to continue it further since you're interested in their work and interested in rotating / working with them. To me it seems a little insincere and formulaic to reach out beforehand.

If you're worried about UCSF, judging from the survey it looks like they were waiting until after the second weekend to let people know if they've been accepted?

Thanks Mice! You're awesome. That made me feel better. 

[HopefulPHD14]

11 hours ago, Purkinje said:

Question: do you guys typically send thank you emails to the program directors, or just to the faculty who interviewed you?

 

I sent emails to everyone at the schools I really liked (program coordinators, program director, faculty I met, student hosts...) and only to the program coordinator and director at the schools I didn't like.  

From my experience it really didn't matter.  I got in at both schools.  YMMV.

Edited February 29, 2016 by HopefulPHD14

[kimmibeans]

2 hours ago, Purkinje said:

Eff, I only sent mine to the faculty. Do you think it will hurt me? I interviewed on the 12th of February, so I'm guessing it's a little late to send 'thank yous' to the program directors as well. 

I don't think it will hurt you that you didn't. I don't think most people send it to the program director unless they were heavily involved in your interview process.

Edited February 29, 2016 by kimmibeans

[ms_green_genes]

Is Vandy ever going to tell anybody anything? Still waiting to hear after the January 29-30 weekend, when an answer was predicted to come by February 8. Also waiting on Duke and Columbia. 

[ForScience!]

1 hour ago, ms_green_genes said:

Is Vandy ever going to tell anybody anything? Still waiting to hear after the January 29-30 weekend, when an answer was predicted to come by February 8. Also waiting on Duke and Columbia. 

Which program for Columbia? 

[ms_green_genes]

19 minutes ago, ForScience! said:

Which program for Columbia? 

Integrated Program in CMBS.

[PASD693]

Just now, ms_green_genes said:

Integrated Program in CMBS.

I applied to systems biology (also under the integrated program) at Columbia and haven't received an official acceptance letter, so I called the graduate school of biomedical sciences.  Apparently the dean was out of office till today, which might explain the delay. 

[Earl]

For those interviewing at Stanford Biosciences later this week: has anyone gotten their interview schedules yet???  I hope they send out in advance!

[Gram Neutral]

6 hours ago, Micecroscopy said:

I haven't sent emails to any of the faculty after I've interviewed, and I don't think it has made at difference at any of the places. I'd only email someone to follow-up if you 1) had a really great conversation and 2) would want to continue it further since you're interested in their work and interested in rotating / working with them. To me it seems a little insincere and formulaic to reach out beforehand.

If you're worried about UCSF, judging from the survey it looks like they were waiting until after the second weekend to let people know if they've been accepted?

I thought it was standard procedure to write thank you letters to the professors you interviewed with. It helps show interest. Otherwise it could seem like you don't care. I also got positive feedback from some which made me feel good. I didn't email any program directors etc unless I interacted with them. Sending an email more than a few days after you interviewed is also mostly worthless because by then they have already submitted their review of you to the AdComm, unless you want to rotate in their lab or something. 

[mwgskol]

14 minutes ago, Earl said:

For those interviewing at Stanford Biosciences later this week: has anyone gotten their interview schedules yet???  I hope they send out in advance!

Hey, do you mean the list of people you're interviewing or the exact time? I got the list of people last week

[AgingBio123]

hey guys, does anyone have any idea of how likely you are to get into a program if you end up on the waitlist? Class size for the program is around 19-18 and they interviewed like 24...I just want to know whether I should hold out for this or whether I should move on

[Ferroportin]

12 minutes ago, Gram Neutral said:

I thought it was standard procedure to write thank you letters to the professors you interviewed with. It helps show interest. Otherwise it could seem like you don't care. I also got positive feedback from some which made me feel good. I didn't email any program directors etc unless I interacted with them. Sending an email more than a few days after you interviewed is also mostly worthless because by then they have already submitted their review of you to the AdComm, unless you want to rotate in their lab or something. 

I don't think it makes that big of a difference whether or not you send them. I chose to send them to faculty I interviewed with because their responses can often be used as an informal gauge regarding how you stood out in their eyes. 

[ForScience!]

1 hour ago, ms_green_genes said:

Integrated Program in CMBS.

 

1 hour ago, PASD693 said:

I applied to systems biology (also under the integrated program) at Columbia and haven't received an official acceptance letter, so I called the graduate school of biomedical sciences.  Apparently the dean was out of office till today, which might explain the delay. 

I work at Columbia and I talked in person to the graduate program coordinator today. She said that if it's C2B2 (systems biology) or any of the other disciplines within the Integrated program, the first round of invites for them have already been sent out. However, since Columbia has rolling admissions, more offers MAY be sent out in March based up on the number of people who accept/reject from the initial batch.

Offers for Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine will be sent out tomorrow or Wednesday.

Also the Dean was out for Thursday and Friday of last week, and the first round of Integrated program offers were all sent out on Wednesday. 

Edited February 29, 2016 by ForScience!

[PASD693]

16 minutes ago, ForScience! said:

 

I work at Columbia and I talked in person to the graduate program coordinator today. She said that if it's C2B2 (systems biology) or any of the other disciplines within the Integrated program, the first round of invites for them have already been sent out. However, since Columbia has rolling admissions, more offers MAY be sent out in March based up on the number of people who accept/reject from the initial batch.

Offers for Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine will be sent out tomorrow or Wednesday.

Also the Dean was out for Thursday and Friday of last week, and the first round of Integrated program offers were all sent out on Wednesday. 

Was it Diana who said this?  When I emailed asking for an update on my application (~10 days ago), she mentioned that the faculty voted to accept me and that the decision was being forwarded to the dean/graduate school for formal processing etc. Maybe I misunderstood?  Thanks for the update!

[ForScience!]

1 hour ago, PASD693 said:

Was it Diana who said this?  When I emailed asking for an update on my application (~10 days ago), she mentioned that the faculty voted to accept me and that the decision was being forwarded to the dean/graduate school for formal processing etc. Maybe I misunderstood?  Thanks for the update!

I talked to Ms. Zaya Sivo. I think it's possible that Ms. Sivo was referring to the fact that they have already made a decision from the systems biology department, but it could be that the formal processing takes a bit longer because of having to go through so much red tape. If Dr. Diana Murray told you that you have been accepted, I am sure you will get an offer from them soon. Since she is the department head of Systems Biology, I am definitely sure that she knows what she is talking about!  

However, as for CMBS, I have seen that a few people have already made posts about receiving offers from the program (http://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=Columbia+integrated).

Edited March 1, 2016 by ForScience!

[Earl]

48 minutes ago, mwgskol said:

Hey, do you mean the list of people you're interviewing or the exact time? I got the list of people last week

what, really??!! which program in stanford biosciences are you interviewing for? i am in stanford immuno but have not gotten any list of the interviewers yet

[mwgskol]

2 minutes ago, Earl said:

what, really??!! which program in stanford biosciences are you interviewing for? i am in stanford immuno but have not gotten any list of the interviewers yet

I'm in biology! They sent out the list last week and the student host had already contacted me during the weekend. can't speak for immuno tho!

[Earl]

1 minute ago, mwgskol said:

I'm in biology! They sent out the list last week and the student host had already contacted me during the weekend. can't speak for immuno tho!

ah ok! thanks for letting me know! 

has anyone interviewing at stanford bioscience immunology gotten their list of interviewers yet??!

 

[biosci]

30 minutes ago, mwgskol said:

I'm in biology! They sent out the list last week and the student host had already contacted me during the weekend. can't speak for immuno tho!

I am interviewing for Genetics and haven't gotten the list yet, but have been in contact with my student host

[dinny]

I'm good friends with a current PHD student at columbia maybe i can help you guys?

[PASD693]

7 minutes ago, dinny said:

I'm good friends with a current PHD student at columbia maybe i can help you guys?

Just stressing since I got an unofficial acceptance (email) but haven't received the official letter yet . Hoping it's just a delay in processing!

[pot8o]

1 hour ago, Earl said:

For those interviewing at Stanford Biosciences later this week: has anyone gotten their interview schedules yet???  I hope they send out in advance!

I'm interviewing in the Chemical and Systems Biology home program, and they sent an email that the list of interviewers/final schedules will be posted on March 2nd, due to last minute changes which often happen.

Edited March 1, 2016 by pot8o

[Earl]

19 minutes ago, biosci said:

I am interviewing for Genetics and haven't gotten the list yet, but have been in contact with my student host

 

1 minute ago, pot8o said:

I'm interviewing in the Chemical and Systems Biology home program, and they sent an email that the list of interviewers/final schedules will be posted on March 2nd, due to last minute changes which often happen.

thanks guys for letting me know..!