2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[Effloresce]

36 minutes ago, Infinito said:

Every school appears to be different. Some tell you they will give it to you X units of time ahead of the interview. Others specifically and explicitly state you will get it at check-in. 
Either way, I recommend keeping an excel spreadsheet with the professors you ranked for the interviews (if you had a choice to choose either after being invited, or when you originally applied), and make like a quick summary of what their research specialty is, and maybe an abstract of a recent paper.

that's a good idea re: the spreadsheet. my first interview is this week, so I'll start on that now.

[123hardasABC]

3 hours ago, Gram Neutral said:

So I applied to a program and got an email that my application was complete cause I was missing a letter of rec, which I knew. He submitted the letter before the deadline and it says it was submitted, so everything was fine. The email said when they receive the missing stuff they will email me saying my application is complete, or they will email me saying I am still missing stuff, and not to email them about the status of my application. However, the deadline was Dec 30, and I still haven't gotten an email saying it's complete. Could they still be processing the applications? Do you think I should call and ask? 

When in doubt, call them. 

[vestigialtraits]

3 hours ago, Gram Neutral said:

So I applied to a program and got an email that my application was complete cause I was missing a letter of rec, which I knew. He submitted the letter before the deadline and it says it was submitted, so everything was fine. The email said when they receive the missing stuff they will email me saying my application is complete, or they will email me saying I am still missing stuff, and not to email them about the status of my application. However, the deadline was Dec 30, and I still haven't gotten an email saying it's complete. Could they still be processing the applications? Do you think I should call and ask? 

If it says not to email and ask, I would assume that generalizes to all forms of communication and not call. Like they said in other posts, admins have a lot of stuff to do and this school specifically said not to contact them...

[charles14]

2 hours ago, shadenitro said:

Repost:

 

Has anyone heard back from the Columbia Biological Sciences PhD or Cornell BMCB?

 

Danke!

I heard back from the Columbia's integrated program for an interview on Dec 21. 
(international applicant with Bachelors in the US here)

[MidnightShow]

Does anyone know if any of the following program are still sending invites?

Northwestern - Driskill 

Yale - BBS (MMPP)

UNC - BBSP

JH - CMM

 

Thanks! I've been checking this thread for months, but just made an account. Hello to you all and congrats on interview invites! 

Edited January 11, 2016 by MidnightShow

[YouCantBcereus]

12 minutes ago, MidnightShow said:

Does anyone know if any of the following program are still sending invites?

Northwestern - Driskill 

Yale - MMPP

UNC - BBSP

JH - CMM

 

Thanks! I've been checking this thread for months, but just made an account. Hello to you all and congrats on interview invites! 

I applied to UNC BBSP as well! They still have some invites to send and from what I've seen we should know this week or next week. 

[MidnightShow]

Just now, YouCantBcereus said:

I applied to UNC BBSP as well! They still have some invites to send and from what I've seen we should know this week or next week. 

Cool! Thanks for letting me know! Good luck to you if you haven't heard back yet! 

[YouCantBcereus]

3 minutes ago, MidnightShow said:

Cool! Thanks for letting me know! Good luck to you if you haven't heard back yet! 

Good luck to you too! I'm still waiting as well, and beyond nervous. 

[Effloresce]

2 minutes ago, YouCantBcereus said:

Good luck to you too! I'm still waiting as well, and beyond nervous. 

random question: will you be at UVA this weekend?

[YouCantBcereus]

2 minutes ago, Effloresce said:

random question: will you be at UVA this weekend?

Not this weekend, I'll be there the 18th-20th of next month! Is your interview this weekend? Good luck, I hope it goes well

[Effloresce]

1 minute ago, YouCantBcereus said:

Not this weekend, I'll be there the 18th-20th of next month! Is your interview this weekend? Good luck, I hope it goes well

yep! i'm incredibly nervous, haha.

thank you, good luck to you as well!

[Effloresce]

4 hours ago, immuno91 said:

Out of curiosity, has anyone here been in a position where, of the four faculty interviewers you've been assigned, none of them are people you've requested and only one of them is even remotely involved in research in your field of interest (even then it's a stretch - bacteria and inflammation is their field and my field of interest is virology)? I'm not really sure how to go about preparing for this. However, I'm also concerned that I'm going to get a very negative impression of the program because I won't be meeting with anyone whose research interests me. Has anyone that has gone through the process had to deal with this and, if so, how did you handle it? Or is this a situation where you just have to grin and bear it?

i'm in this situation right now..out of the 6 I chose, there is 1 person that I'm not interested in at all so I'm wondering how to handle this situation..

[onceinalifetime]

On 1/6/2016 at 2:21 PM, Immunolog said:

Anyone apply to Caltech Biology? Apparently they do not do interviews, but rather send out acceptances from Dec15 all the way to April 15. 

I applied to Caltech biology, but at this point am not feeling confident about my chances. I got an email from the coordinator (I think Liz Ayala or something) saying that all interview invites would go out by Jan 6...and I didn't get one.

Where did you hear that they don't do interviews? I've seen plenty of people post on here that they got int invites for caltech bio. I hope what you're saying is right, but from what i've been told, things are not looking good.

[HopefulPHD14]

22 minutes ago, Effloresce said:

i'm in this situation right now..out of the 6 I chose, there is 1 person that I'm not interested in at all so I'm wondering how to handle this situation..

I certainly do not know for sure, but I say enjoy it for what it is! This is what I would do...

You can be honest with that person that you do not see yourself working in their lab.  Tell them your interests do not really line up with what they are working on at the moment and you think other labs will likely end up being a better fit.  I think most people will understand that.  We all have slightly (or occasionally vastly) different scientific interests.  But, at the same time, that shouldn't stop you from telling them about yourself and learning about who they are.  They are still an important part of your interview.  Still do your research about their lab and learn about what they are doing.  Interviews are an awesome chance to learn about all the cool things that happen in science... even if you have no interest in ever being involved in those specific parts of science.  

There is likely just a logistical problem going on with the interviews.  There are x number of students and y number of professors and not everyone is going to line up perfectly to interview with all the POIs that are perfect matches.  Occasionally you have to interview with someone that doesn't perfectly match up with your interests.  The person interviewing you can see your application, they will probably even know that you are not interested.  

I say use it as an opportunity to impress/WOO them.  You can still know your stuff and talk about their research and show them who you are without making it seem like you want to end up in their lab.  Show an interest in them and what they do without showing an interest in devoting your life to their lab for the next 5+ years.

If all of your interviews feel that way and nobody seems like a good fit....well then maybe the interview was a good experience and should warn you that you may not want to have that school as your first choice.

Edited January 11, 2016 by HopefulPHD14

[lethalallele]

5 hours ago, immuno91 said:

Out of curiosity, has anyone here been in a position where, of the four faculty interviewers you've been assigned, none of them are people you've requested and only one of them is even remotely involved in research in your field of interest (even then it's a stretch - bacteria and inflammation is their field and my field of interest is virology)? I'm not really sure how to go about preparing for this. However, I'm also concerned that I'm going to get a very negative impression of the program because I won't be meeting with anyone whose research interests me. Has anyone that has gone through the process had to deal with this and, if so, how did you handle it? Or is this a situation where you just have to grin and bear it?

I am wondering this as well. I have a Skype interview for a program on Thursday and they told me today which two professors will be doing my interview. Neither of them are even from the DEPARTMENTS I am interested in. It's an interdisciplinary program. My interests on application are biochemistry/molecular biology, cancer biology, personalized medicine, and stem cell biology. The professors are from Pharmacology, Toxicology, and Therapeutics (ok I can see how that is minimally relevant but his research is not), and then Anatomy and Cell Biology. So kind of have no clue what to expect. 

[Immunolog]

47 minutes ago, onceinalifetime said:

I applied to Caltech biology, but at this point am not feeling confident about my chances. I got an email from the coordinator (I think Liz Ayala or something) saying that all interview invites would go out by Jan 6...and I didn't get one.

Where did you hear that they don't do interviews? I've seen plenty of people post on here that they got int invites for caltech bio. I hope what you're saying is right, but from what i've been told, things are not looking good.

I called the coordinator as well. She seemed annoyed. I didn't believe it either, hence my post. 

[pot8o]

2 minutes ago, Immunolog said:

I called the coordinator as well. She seemed annoyed. I didn't believe it either, hence my post. 

I called and talked to the same lady and asked if she could look up my file. She told me I was not on the interview list. I assume I was rejected.  

[peachypie]

20 hours ago, breaker746 said:

I'm right at the cusp of a graduation honors and don't wanna miss out so I'm definitely a bit worried. I'm probably not gonna enjoy my senior year as much as I should. But at the same time I'm pretty sure there's a good amount of free time in grad school, so I'm not as concerned about cherishing my last few months of freedom as I would be if I were working full time next year

You'll have less free time than working a full-time job. 

[HopefulPHD14]

8 minutes ago, peachypie said:

You'll have less free time than working a full-time job. 

Don't get me wrong, I am super excited about grad school, but I'm going to miss the full time job gig.  I have so much free time right now.  

I guess the good thing is you don't want extra time as a grad student because you do not have much extra money to go along with it.

[biochemique1]

Has anyone heard from Stanford Biochemistry? There was that weird post from Jan 9...but anything else?

[peachypie]

9 hours ago, biosci said:

weird question, but as I am preparing for interviews, I am trying to read a couple of my POIs' papers, but my school does not have access to them.  Would it be appropriate to email the POI and ask for a copy? Or would that be seen as annoying? 

First reading an abstract should still be accessible and I think that should hit on some major points for you to think about.  Second there should be a fair amount available on open access journals these days so maybe try to read what is available.  I wouldn't email a POI at this point.  It is not THAT important.  You certainly can ask about it at an interview though (they often give out papers for you if you are interested).  You may say if it comes up "would you mind emailing me or providing a copy of *name specific publication*.  I tried to read it but unfortunately don't have access to the journal". 

[peachypie]

7 hours ago, HopefulPHD14 said:

My boss (who oversees what I do in the lab) is super supportive and wrote me a letter of rec and is totally okay with me going back to school.  In fact most of the R&D team at my work knows and is encouraging.  It is upper management that is not, and will not be, excited about me leaving.  

And that's my problem.  I have already taken my PTO down to 1 day....and I have 5 schools yet to hear from.  Also I have a fun vacation planned in June and I have to save up PTO for that.... My work lets me go negative in vacation, but I calculated it and in order to quit my job around the time I want to, I can only go negative 1 day, which means accepting only one more interview (or suddenly getting sick for a weekend)

Maybe nix the fun vacation or quit before that?

[breaker746]

21 minutes ago, peachypie said:

You'll have less free time than working a full-time job. 

I did banking last summer, so was referring to that since that could've been my sad future (~80-100 hrs a week). Curious though, what are the typical hours for a grad student like? 

[miky]

1 minute ago, breaker746 said:

I did banking last summer, so was referring to that since that could've been my sad future (~80-100 hrs a week). Curious though, what are the typical hours for a grad student like? 

I think your "hours" are dependent on a number of things including your lab atmosphere, your own work ethic, the demands of your project and your PI's expectations. I know some grad students who are in the lab 9AM-3PM, sometimes less than 5 days a week. I know others who spend at 80+ hours a week in lab, coming in during the weekend and holidays. Others self-enforce a 8-4/9-5 work schedule. 

[cytok]

9 hours ago, biosci said:

weird question, but as I am preparing for interviews, I am trying to read a couple of my POIs' papers, but my school does not have access to them.  Would it be appropriate to email the POI and ask for a copy? Or would that be seen as annoying? 

18 minutes ago, peachypie said:

First reading an abstract should still be accessible and I think that should hit on some major points for you to think about.  Second there should be a fair amount available on open access journals these days so maybe try to read what is available.  I wouldn't email a POI at this point.  It is not THAT important.  You certainly can ask about it at an interview though (they often give out papers for you if you are interested).  You may say if it comes up "would you mind emailing me or providing a copy of *name specific publication*.  I tried to read it but unfortunately don't have access to the journal". 

If you don't have access to the specific journal that you're trying to get a paper from, you can just email the journal directly to request a PDF copy of the paper and they will typically send it to you  Make sure you use your institutional/school email address.