2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[gyrase]

  On 12/22/2015 at 8:05 PM, jordy_protein said:

I got the invite as well! But both interview sessions conflict with other interviews I have

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  On 12/22/2015 at 8:15 PM, Ferroportin said:

In the same boat. I emailed the program coordinator and she said that they keep a running list of students interested in Skype interviews. She'll contact everyone on the list if/when the adcom decides to allow for Skype interviews. So here's to hoping there's enough of us with scheduling conflicts! 

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Congrats guys! Yeah it sucks that there are only so many weekends between now and April 15... But I hope it works out for you!  

[Ferroportin]

For those that received TSRI invites to the California campus, have you already committed to an interview date? I'm hesitant since one of the dates overlaps with Stanford and we probably won't hear back until the deadline...

[biosci]

  On 12/22/2015 at 8:46 PM, Ferroportin said:

For those that received TSRI invites to the California campus, have you already committed to an interview date? I'm hesitant since one of the dates overlaps with Stanford and we probably won't hear back until the deadline...

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Have the exact same problem!

[Immunolog]

 

  On 12/22/2015 at 5:12 PM, Bacterrific said:

Does anyone happen to know the interview dates for UPenn Immunology or Weill Cornell Immunology&Microbial Pathogenesis? I am trying to debate if I should turn down an interview on February 11-13th. Also is it inappropriate to call and ask those programs when their interviews are/if they are done sending out invites? 

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Cornell only offered Jan20-23

[fucun]

  On 12/22/2015 at 8:46 PM, Ferroportin said:

For those that received TSRI invites to the California campus, have you already committed to an interview date? I'm hesitant since one of the dates overlaps with Stanford and we probably won't hear back until the deadline...

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Which focus area/ track did you put down for TSRI? Thanks!

[Immunolog]

Hey guys, 

Need some advice. UCSF BMS falls on the same weekends as NYU-Sackler and Cornell. I'm wondering if I should hold onto the hope that UCSF BMS might extend an invitation in January. I already confirmed Cornell. NYU is now asking for a reply ASAP. I'm wondering if I should ask NYU for an alternate date even though I am perfectly open. Advice is much appreciated!

[Focus]

I think I missed the boat on UC Irvine CMB and WashU Immunology invites, but to my delight I was just invited to interview with OHSU PMCB. What a wonderful early Christmas present.

 

 

[Immunolog]

  On 12/22/2015 at 9:53 PM, SL52 said:

Undergrad Institution: UK institution (top 20 in biosciences)
Major(s): Biomedical science (hematology)
Minor(s): /
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA:  4.0 (UK first class honors)
Position in Class: top 5%
Type of Student: international white male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 56% (boo)
V: 79%
W: 90%

Research Experience: undergraduate and masters dissertations. Carried out a 1 year research internship with a PI renowned within my chosen research area in the USA, which formed the basis of my masters dissertation. Led the project, produced a lot of data that went into a grant application. no paper(s) (yet). Undergraduate dissertation was for about 6 months and focused on regeneration in a primitive flatworm species (specifically looking at the CNS)
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: /

Special Bonus Points: Well connected to one of the universities to which I am applying, strong LORs, outstanding sporting achievements.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:  /

Applying to Where:

Vanderbilt- IGP

IUPUI- IBMG

Baylor college of medicine- graduate biomedical sciences

Possibly- University of Nevada

Also a couple of UK universities- To be honest, I am much more confident about my chances in my UK applications despite them generally being much better globally ranked than any of my US applications! 

Have absolutely no idea how competitive I am with my application.. very hard to gauge against the american standards and systems. Hoping that awful GRE quant score won't hurt me too badly.. simple mis-timing issue during the test and only 3 weeks to study whilst writing personal statements at the time etc. Also, my lack of publications is worrying :/. Any thoughts on how competitive I'll be to the universities mentioned above?

Thanks!

 

 

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Have you already applied? I would fear that the low GRE score may have gotten your application tossed upon first pass. Other schools do use a more holistic approach to apps, so you might want to look back on this forum to see the trends of your school choices. Also, plenty of people get in without publications so long as you have the research experience!

[partydon'tstarttillIwalkin]

  On 12/22/2015 at 9:53 PM, SL52 said:

Undergrad Institution: UK institution (top 20 in biosciences)
Major(s): Biomedical science (hematology)
Minor(s): /
GPA in Major: 4.0
Overall GPA:  4.0 (UK first class honors)
Position in Class: top 5%
Type of Student: international white male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 56% (boo)
V: 79%
W: 90%

Research Experience: undergraduate and masters dissertations. Carried out a 1 year research internship with a PI renowned within my chosen research area in the USA, which formed the basis of my masters dissertation. Led the project, produced a lot of data that went into a grant application. no paper(s) (yet). Undergraduate dissertation was for about 6 months and focused on regeneration in a primitive flatworm species (specifically looking at the CNS)
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: /

Special Bonus Points: Well connected to one of the universities to which I am applying, strong LORs, outstanding sporting achievements.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:  /

Applying to Where:

Vanderbilt- IGP

IUPUI- IBMG

Baylor college of medicine- graduate biomedical sciences

Possibly- University of Nevada

Also a couple of UK universities- To be honest, I am much more confident about my chances in my UK applications despite them generally being much better globally ranked than any of my US applications! 

Have absolutely no idea how competitive I am with my application.. very hard to gauge against the american standards and systems. Hoping that awful GRE quant score won't hurt me too badly.. simple mis-timing issue during the test and only 3 weeks to study whilst writing personal statements at the time etc. Also, my lack of publications is worrying :/. Any thoughts on how competitive I'll be to the universities mentioned above?

Thanks!

 

 

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I think your sporting achievements will possibly assure that you are both physically and mentally stable, which is important to as long as several years of graduate study. Your GPA is perfect, but the GRE quant score might hurt. Not having publication is okay. In fact, having publication itself could not help, unless you're the first author and the work is published at a renowned journal. 

 

This may sound random, but since you're from the UK I want to ask how the graduate application system goes there. For example, do I have to contact or mention only one PI in my application, or several of them? I'm applying to a couple of UK universities for oncology, and a bit confused with the seemingly different system. Thanks in advance for your reply! 

Edited December 22, 2015 by partydon'tstarttillIwalkin
typo

[S.K.P.]

Has Princeton Molecular Biology sent out all their invites? I don't know who to contact to ask about it  

[Farafeelo]

  On 12/22/2015 at 3:39 PM, mythologyking said:

Has anyone heard back/gotten official interview letters from Penn (Immunology) and WUSTL (Molecular Microbio)?

 

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yes i got an invite from washu micro on dec 15

[SL52]

  On 12/22/2015 at 11:03 PM, partydon'tstarttillIwalkin said:

I think your sporting achievements will possibly assure that you are both physically and mentally stable, which is important to as long as several years of graduate study. Your GPA is perfect, but the GRE quant score might hurt. Not having publication is okay. In fact, having publication itself could not help, unless you're the first author and the work is published at a renowned journal. 

 

This may sound random, but since you're from the UK I want to ask how the graduate application system goes there. For example, do I have to contact or mention only one PI in my application, or several of them? I'm applying to a couple of UK universities for oncology, and a bit confused with the seemingly different system. Thanks in advance for your reply! 

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Yeah I'm pretty annoyed at that GRE score tbh, as it seems ridiculous that could pretty much relegate me straight away, whereas in the uk (where the GRE doesn't exist) I could get into a top tier school  anyway...

Here it can vary, sometimes you'll be applying directly to work with a PI on a specific project for three years. Other cases, such as many welcome trust funded or other 4 year programmes, you just apply to an umbrella programme, do rotations in the first year, then pick a project to work on. Generally I think if it's a 3 year programme, I would contact the PI of the specific project you're applying to and focus the personal statement towards that work specifically. Some unis will have an online application system, others will just ask for materials (LORs, cv, personal statement ROTC) to be sent to a specific person.

cheers

[partydon'tstarttillIwalkin]

@SL52 thanks for your kind explanation. and cheers to you, too!

[Superres]

  On 12/22/2015 at 8:46 PM, Ferroportin said:

For those that received TSRI invites to the California campus, have you already committed to an interview date? I'm hesitant since one of the dates overlaps with Stanford and we probably won't hear back until the deadline...

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Don't we have to give them our dates by the 27th? I guess you could try emailing them to see if you could give them a decision later, but I bet they want to know so that they can send out another round of invitations.

[Nicholas_Chen]

I'm from China, (International Student) and I just received a interview invitation from Cornell BMCB.

The dates are Feb 4-7, 2016 and Feb 18-21, 2016.

I guess international students tend to receive the invites much later. Hope this will help somebody.

[Jmoney$$]

  On 12/22/2015 at 7:25 PM, Nero_Mustbethefeeling said:

I got an official rejection from the University of Washington Genome Sciences program. 

No worries though it just means Seattle is not in my future. Ill definitely check out the city though at some point, never been there 

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Me too! Guess I'm out for sure, good to know though.

[Jmoney$$]

  On 12/22/2015 at 9:12 PM, biosci said:

Have the exact same problem!

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  On 12/22/2015 at 8:46 PM, Ferroportin said:

For those that received TSRI invites to the California campus, have you already committed to an interview date? I'm hesitant since one of the dates overlaps with Stanford and we probably won't hear back until the deadline...

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Were you guys offered the Feb date? thats what I'm doing...

[biosci]

  On 12/23/2015 at 1:44 AM, Jmoney$$ said:

 

Were you guys offered the Feb date? thats what I'm doing...

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I am already booked that weekend.  

[biochemgirl67]

  On 12/22/2015 at 9:49 PM, Immunolog said:

Hey guys, 

Need some advice. UCSF BMS falls on the same weekends as NYU-Sackler and Cornell. I'm wondering if I should hold onto the hope that UCSF BMS might extend an invitation in January. I already confirmed Cornell. NYU is now asking for a reply ASAP. I'm wondering if I should ask NYU for an alternate date even though I am perfectly open. Advice is much appreciated!

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When I emailed the coordinator, he said all the invites were out and he would send rejections in a couple weeks.  So... Yeah.  Accept NYU.

[jordy_protein]

  On 12/18/2015 at 10:28 PM, Ferroportin said:

Just got a phone call to interview with UC Berkeley MCB! 

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Hey I have a question for you! Did they mention any dates? I see on their website that they say interviews are Jan 31-Feb 2 or Feb 21-23, but I know my UC Davis interview conflicts with the second one so just wondering if you think they'd let us pick.... (That is, if I get an interview at all! Haha Jan 4 can't get here soon enough)

[Jmoney$$]

  On 12/23/2015 at 2:15 AM, jordy_protein said:

Hey I have a question for you! Did they mention any dates? I see on their website that they say interviews are Jan 31-Feb 2 or Feb 21-23, but I know my UC Davis interview conflicts with the second one so just wondering if you think they'd let us pick.... (That is, if I get an interview at all! Haha Jan 4 can't get here soon enough)

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Dude! Now I have to turn my phone on.

 

Why do they call and not email? Jeez.... How are we supposed to do labwork.

[Ferroportin]

  On 12/23/2015 at 1:44 AM, Jmoney$$ said:

 

Were you guys offered the Feb date? thats what I'm doing...

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  On 12/23/2015 at 1:50 AM, biosci said:

I am already booked that weekend.  

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I'm hoping for an invite from Stanford and UCLA but their dates fall on the March and Feb dates respectively...so I have to either drop TSRI, Stanford, or UCLA. I'll probably just bite the bullet and go for the Feb date and hope I get a Stanford interview in March...

[Bioenchilada]

The director of my program at Cornell nominated me for the Dean's Scholar Fellowship!! ❤️

[Ferroportin]

  On 12/23/2015 at 2:15 AM, jordy_protein said:

Hey I have a question for you! Did they mention any dates? I see on their website that they say interviews are Jan 31-Feb 2 or Feb 21-23, but I know my UC Davis interview conflicts with the second one so just wondering if you think they'd let us pick.... (That is, if I get an interview at all! Haha Jan 4 can't get here soon enough)

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Yup! They mentioned the dates you said. The POI told me that we can pick either one when the email comes out, but its first come first serve so just keep an eye out for it in Jan!

[jordy_protein]

  On 12/23/2015 at 2:29 AM, Ferroportin said:

Yup! They mentioned the dates you said. The POI told me that we can pick either one when the email comes out, but its first come first serve so just keep an eye out for it in Jan!

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Ok thanks sooooo much! <3