2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[hihello742]

6 minutes ago, AGradStudentHasNoName said:

Most of my programs don't send invites until January. Only 3 of them even send in December.

Ditto here! I suspect East coast schools send out invites SUUUPPPER early. Backpacking sounds great. I like to workout then throw back a glass of wine. Once at an interview, the question of "how do you handle stress" came up, and I am sure building a habit of healthy athletic activities now will only help us in grad school!

On another note, this forum is super helpful for those of us that are not currently in school, as it is hard to find my colleagues who are going through the same process!

[hihello742]

Did anyone have their GRE general scores sent out, but then the ETS website just somehow "dropped/forgot" to send your GRE subject scores? I checked my NYU Sackler application status, and it turns out they were missing my Subject scores!

 

I swear, these $27 score reports are getting expensive.

ASFADSF!!!

Edited December 16, 2016 by hihello742

[ilovelab]

34 minutes ago, hihello742 said:

 

Someone just posted in the results forum about an interview invite for NYU Sackler Biomedical Sciences  (Microbio/Immunology track). Interview dates are set for either: Jan 12-13 or Jan 26-27. Best of luck!

Ugh.... Hopefully each track is sending out their own invites. 

[jeanetics17]

Anybody know if CAMB-MVP sent out invites yet? asking for a friend. 

[chanoschanos]

39 minutes ago, Oddich55 said:

Got an interview at University of Chicago - Genetics, Genomics, Systems Biology . They said they would reach out in the next few days and schedule an interview. 

Omg. You're the man! 

[cosiva]

Just got an interview invite via email for Columbia's Biological Sciences program

[bionerd111]

Could someone with experience with Yale BBS share the post-interview acceptance rate? I read that its quite low relative to other programs (50%). I just wanted to confirm this was true as this the only interview offer I have received and it will impact whether I apply to other programs (in Canada) with January deadlines. Thanks in advance

[DGD4L]

Just looking at the results for harvard bbs. Why do some people say they got invites on the days other than the main day? Do you think that's a typo or what?

 

[hopefulgradstudent999]

Hi everybody, I was just wondering if anyone had any insight or idea of Dartmouth's post-interview acceptance rate? Any help at all would be appreciated!!

[Bioenchilada]

2 minutes ago, hopefulgradstudent999 said:

Hi everybody, I was just wondering if anyone had any insight or idea of Dartmouth's post-interview acceptance rate? Any help at all would be appreciated!!

Dartmouth MCB? 

[hopefulgradstudent999]

8 minutes ago, Bioenchilada said:

Dartmouth MCB? 

Yes! Sorry I forgot to specify

[Bioenchilada]

2 minutes ago, hopefulgradstudent999 said:

Yes! Sorry I forgot to specify

I believed they said the acceptance rate was 50-60% when I interviewed. I saw that you applied to Cornell's BBS program. I really liked the people and the program structure, so I hope you get an interview from there as well. They were very flexible about their acceptance rate, given that they told me that the amount of people they accept depends on the cohort. So, it can go from 0-100%, though this has never happened of course lol (I'd say it's probably around the same as Dartmouth's or maybe a little higher, realistically speaking) 

[hopefulgradstudent999]

2 minutes ago, Bioenchilada said:

I believed they said the acceptance rate was 50-60% when I interviewed. I saw that you applied to Cornell's BBS program. I really liked the people and the program structure, so I hope you get an interview from there as well. They were very flexible about their acceptance rate, given that they told me that the amount of people they accept depends on the cohort. So, it can go from 0-100%, though this has never happened of course lol (I'd say it's probably around the same as Dartmouth's or maybe a little higher, realistically speaking) 

Thank you for your kind words. I too am hopeful about hearing back from Cornell as well. But wow 50-60% acceptance rate for Dartmouth seems really low? That means they must be inviting quite a number of people if they only accept a little over half of them.

Edited December 17, 2016 by hopefulgradstudent999

[blc073]

19 minutes ago, DGD4L said:

Just looking at the results for harvard bbs. Why do some people say they got invites on the days other than the main day? Do you think that's a typo or what?

 

I believe that is a typo. 

To the best of my knowledge, the meeting was yesterday and invites went out today. 

[sitpwg]

4 hours ago, talkativet said:

Totally understand you!!! Part of me knows that SHBT has already gone out based off of previous years, but I'm holding out hope in the chance that there's someone else here who also applied and is still waiting 

@talkativet I also applied to SHBT and I haven't heard back yet - also feeling pretty worried at this point. 

[kevinrhinoceros]

I just got an interview offer by phone for the University of Washington (Seattle) Biological Sciences umbrella program!

[Bioenchilada]

9 minutes ago, hopefulgradstudent999 said:

Thank you for your kind words. I too am hopeful about hearing back from Cornell as well. But wow 50-60% acceptance rate for Dartmouth seems really low? That means they must be inviting quite a number of people if they only accept a little over half of them.

I don't really remember how many people interviewed with me at Dartmouth, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. Cornell BBS was a relatively small cohort though. 

[hopefulgradstudent999]

1 minute ago, Bioenchilada said:

I don't really remember how many people interviewed with me at Dartmouth, but it was nothing out of the ordinary. Cornell BBS was a relatively small cohort though. 

Well here is to hoping I get an interview at Cornell too! But any advice for the Dartmouth interview? It is looking like it will be my first interview and of course its at my possible top choice school.

[Bioenchilada]

3 minutes ago, hopefulgradstudent999 said:

Well here is to hoping I get an interview at Cornell too! But any advice for the Dartmouth interview? It is looking like it will be my first interview and of course its at my possible top choice school.

I think the advice for one school applies to many. For the actual interviews, make sure you know the GENERAL topic of your interviewer's research--no need to reads papers and whatnot. Besides that, relax and have fun! Talk to your potential peers and interact with the grad students, enjoy all the activities they have planned for you, and try to make the best impression you can when interacting with anyone involved with the program

[hopefulgradstudent999]

1 minute ago, Bioenchilada said:

I think the advice for one school applies to many. For the actual interviews, make sure you know the GENERAL topic of your interviewer's research--no need to reads papers and whatnot. Besides that, relax and have fun! Talk to your potential peers and interact with the grad students, enjoy all the activities they have planned for you, and try to make the best impression you can when interacting with anyone involved with the program

So my main concern really is how difficult I will be grilled on my past research/work and exactly how much/depth of the interviewers work I should know? I think I perform quite well in typical interview settings (I have been on a million job interviews) I am just a little uninformed on exactly how deep into both my own past work I should be able to regurgitate on demand (wrote my senior thesis paper almost 3 year ago) and how much of the interviewers work I should know. I am hoping to meet with mainly immuno faculty as that is my interest however a lot of my work has not been in immunology (none to be exact). The issue being am I supposed to start studying signaling pathways involved in their lab's research so that I can talk knowledgeably or will the shop talk be more cursory in nature?

[Bioenchilada]

1 minute ago, hopefulgradstudent999 said:

So my main concern really is how difficult I will be grilled on my past research/work and exactly how much/depth of the interviewers work I should know? I think I perform quite well in typical interview settings (I have been on a million job interviews) I am just a little uninformed on exactly how deep into both my own past work I should be able to regurgitate on demand (wrote my senior thesis paper almost 3 year ago) and how much of the interviewers work I should know. I am hoping to meet with mainly immuno faculty as that is my interest however a lot of my work has not been in immunology (none to be exact). The issue being am I supposed to start studying signaling pathways involved in their lab's research so that I can talk knowledgeably or will the shop talk be more cursory in nature?

Everyone has different approaches to their interviews but I just read up about their research an hour or less before their interview. The only material I read was the one posted on their webpage, that's it. Interviews are supposed to be conversational rather than a test. In fact, sometimes you don't even talk about your research, though you should know what you studied and why. Knowing some of the techniques is also a must; however, you do NOT need to go into painful details about it. You DO have to know WHY you want to go to X school though. It's a question that will come up almost in every interview, at least in my case. 

You can also be surprised by being assigned to someone whose research you're not interested in, or even someone outside of your field. So, don't hang on to the fact that you'll only that about immunology haha

[hopefulgradstudent999]

1 minute ago, Bioenchilada said:

Everyone has different approaches to their interviews but I just read up about their research an hour or less before their interview. The only material I read was the one posted on their webpage, that's it. Interviews are supposed to be conversational rather than a test. In fact, sometimes you don't even talk about your research, though you should know what you studied and why. Knowing some of the techniques is also a must; however, you do NOT need to go into painful details about it. You DO have to know WHY you want to go to X school though. It's a question that will come up almost in every interview, at least in my case. 

You can also be surprised by being assigned to someone whose research you're not interested in, or even someone outside of your field. So, don't hang on to the fact that you'll only that about immunology haha

Okay so it sounds much more cursory in nature then. I know my research very well but obviously if a PI throws out an obscure question I do not want to look like I did not know what I was doing. If you do not mind me asking, what was your response to when asked why you wanted to go to Dartmouth?

Thanks a ton for all the advice btw!

[Bioenchilada]

1 minute ago, hopefulgradstudent999 said:

Okay so it sounds much more cursory in nature then. I know my research very well but obviously if a PI throws out an obscure question I do not want to look like I did not know what I was doing. If you do not mind me asking, what was your response to when asked why you wanted to go to Dartmouth?

Thanks a ton for all the advice btw!

Lol a lot of times the PIs don't even read up on who you are extensively and don't know anything about your research. The questions is typically brought up as follows "Tell me about you. What have you done?", or a variation of that. I forgot to mention that why you want to pursue a PhD is a pretty common question too, so know that. 

I forgot exactly why I wanted to go to Dartmouth. I think I mentioned that the collaboration with the Norris Cotton Cancer Center sounded like it would be beneficial for my development as a scientist, and that they seemed to have good efforts to increase racial diversity on their campus which I appreciated. I also used to date someone that went to Dartmouth, so I heard a lot about the university from them. 

[systemicpoisoning]

Is MIT Biology/CSBi known to accomodate interviewees who cannot attent official recruitment weekends because of conflicts? I've looked at several threads about interview conflicts, but wanted to know if MIT, being so selective, would actually deign to individualize interview days... 

PS: I haven't actually received MIT invite, just worried because it looks like I won't be able to attent either of their weekends

Edited December 17, 2016 by systemicpoisoning

[hopefulgradstudent999]

1 minute ago, Bioenchilada said:

Lol a lot of times the PIs don't even read up on who you are extensively and don't know anything about your research. The questions is typically brought up as follows "Tell me about you. What have you done?", or a variation of that. I forgot to mention that why you want to pursue a PhD is a pretty common question too, so know that. 

I forgot exactly why I wanted to go to Dartmouth. I think I mentioned that the collaboration with the Norris Cotton Cancer Center sounded like it would be beneficial for my development as a scientist, and that they seemed to have good efforts to increase racial diversity on their campus which I appreciated. I also used to date someone that went to Dartmouth, so I heard a lot about the university from them. 

Haha I have been somewhat stressed about the intensity level of these upcoming interviews and you are just singing a completely different tune! You are making it sound much more like an industry interview (I have done many) than a sort of grilling about why I would be a good fit and how my research proves that. I think if it goes the way you say I should be fine. Still a little nervous for Dartmouth to be first gahh!!