2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[Milind]

1 hour ago, MCF10A said:

Congrats! I think Yale can reimburse $500 towards travel and extra 1-2 days of hotels for international travel (I only knew this because they thought I wasn't residing in the US lol). If the plane tickets from India to New Haven are expensive, you can consider flying to one of the NYC airports (LGA, NWR, JFK) and take the airport shuttle to New Haven, which will be cheaper than connecting flights to New Haven.

In terms of the research quality at Yale, I think overall it's top notch. The immunology department is one of the best in the nation, so many PIs doing amazing science. Their structure biology is also one of the best in the nation(Thomas Steitz, Anna Pyle, etc). I'm not particularly familiar with MCGD (since I applied to MMPP), but my impression is that it's very strong as well. There are 3 HHMI investigators in MCGD (Ronald Breaker, Tian Xu, Joan Steitz), several NAS members, which are good signs of great science and reputation. But the key is whether there are faculty members you want to work with in your specific area of interest. These are just my impression, and it's one of my top choice school for sure. 

Good luck!

 

Thanks a lot! 
I will think more on this
So are you also coming for the interview weekend?

[MCF10A]

8 minutes ago, Milind said:

Thanks a lot! 
I will think more on this
So are you also coming for the interview weekend?

Yeah I'll come to the interview weekend. I'm living in the US now so I just need a domestic flight, so that's really a no brainer lol. But I do understand your dilemma. Long I nternational flights and jet legs are not pleasant at all and I have experienced a lot of these. Hope you can figure it out soon

[britmact]

i feel like i have a lot of open weekends, but everyone's only options for interviews are january 20 or february 3 ?

[MCF10A]

So have anyone heard anything from Weill Cornell (or the travel agency) after submitted the interview response form? 

[RaganSmash]

I am really confused by University of Washington Immunology. In previous years they sent out interview invitations up to a week before Christmas, and this year still no one has posted that they received one - just one rejection as of yesterday. Furthermore, the program coordinator emailed me several days ago and told me the committee was still making decisions. So I don't know whether this year, for the first time, no one on The Grad Cafe received an interview invitation or for the first time, they are sending invitations out late.

[jmillar]

1 hour ago, RaganSmash said:

I am really confused by University of Washington Immunology. In previous years they sent out interview invitations up to a week before Christmas, and this year still no one has posted that they received one - just one rejection as of yesterday. Furthermore, the program coordinator emailed me several days ago and told me the committee was still making decisions. So I don't know whether this year, for the first time, no one on The Grad Cafe received an interview invitation or for the first time, they are sending invitations out late.

Didn't apply to UW Immunology, just to the general UW Biology, but invites appear to be going out late this year. Just got a call on Wednesday for interview weekend in January.

[VoidInColor]

9 hours ago, RachanaDS said:

Check out Buffalo's Biomedical Sciences Program. Here's the link..

http://medicine.buffalo.edu/phdprogram/about/why_choose.html

And then there is Virginia Tech's TMBH program, kinda new so underrrated but it has some great professors. And here you go..

http://www.tbmh.vt.edu/about/index.html#

 

Thanks for the VTech mention, I didn't see it when I first looked at the school and the program actually looks like it might have some research that matches my interests (which is a rarity). Depending on how things go in the next week I'll definitely consider applying.

[xyzaki]

5 hours ago, MCF10A said:

So have anyone heard anything from Weill Cornell (or the travel agency) after submitted the interview response form? 

I submitted the form last week and have not heard back yet either.

[blankens]

Happy new year everyone, I hope 2017 is healthy and successful for everyone here!

[Pepperoni]

happy new year all! hope we all start hearing from schools again this week!

just waiting to hear from uchicago-cancer here

[emfarce]

Happy new year everybody!

So I had some thoughts regarding interviews. It appears that they contact strong domestic applicants mostly for interviews, but if you don't get one, are you likely to get rejected by that school?

Not all applicants will commit to a program they got in to, and I do wonder if schools just seek strong domestic applicants in the interview and ignore all others. I would think that strong-ish applicants that are not interviewed are kept waiting, and if the program can take on more students, they will contact said applicants. Some of my friends have gotten into schools without an interview, making me even more unsure how this already random process works.

Anyways, just some ramblings from me. Only heard back from Michigan State's Plant Sciences program, and have an interview scheduled early February. Best of luck to all of you!

[Bioenchilada]

18 minutes ago, emfarce said:

Happy new year everybody!

So I had some thoughts regarding interviews. It appears that they contact strong domestic applicants mostly for interviews, but if you don't get one, are you likely to get rejected by that school?

Not all applicants will commit to a program they got in to, and I do wonder if schools just seek strong domestic applicants in the interview and ignore all others. I would think that strong-ish applicants that are not interviewed are kept waiting, and if the program can take on more students, they will contact said applicants. Some of my friends have gotten into schools without an interview, making me even more unsure how this already random process works.

Anyways, just some ramblings from me. Only heard back from Michigan State's Plant Sciences program, and have an interview scheduled early February. Best of luck to all of you!

Not getting an interview is pretty much equivalent to getting rejected. However, some schools send their invites in waves. If more people than anticipated decline interviews, they might send more, but the likelihood of doing is really low at top schools. Schools typically admit more people than the expected class size. If the yield is unexpectedly low, the school will just deal with a smaller cohort rather than interviewing more people. 

For the schools that admit without interview, this is probably due to the fact that they operate this way rather than admitting the strongest candidate. The best candidate will still have to interview at schools that require an interview. 

Have a happy new years, and I hope you get good news soon! 

Edited January 1, 2017 by Bioenchilada

[abcd1]

Slightly off topic question. I have received interview calls from couple of places and need to book my travel. Since I am an international student (currently in the US) I would like to do some sightseeing after my interviews. Would it seem unprofessional or inappropriate if I ask the university to book my return flight a couple of days after the interview or from a different place (I have an interview in New York but wanted to visit Philadelphia or Washington)? 

[Bioenchilada]

45 minutes ago, abcd1 said:

Slightly off topic question. I have received interview calls from couple of places and need to book my travel. Since I am an international student (currently in the US) I would like to do some sightseeing after my interviews. Would it seem unprofessional or inappropriate if I ask the university to book my return flight a couple of days after the interview or from a different place (I have an interview in New York but wanted to visit Philadelphia or Washington)? 

They usually don't ask why you are flying to X place at X date, but just make sure you don't tell them it's for sightseeing if they do lol

[abcd1]

32 minutes ago, Bioenchilada said:

They usually don't ask why you are flying to X place at X date, but just make sure you don't tell them it's for sightseeing if they do lol

Haha I'll keep that in mind.  

[chanoschanos]

I just got accepted for an interview at Penn State U Plant Biology Ph.D. program. Happy New year!

[RaganSmash]

1 hour ago, abcd1 said:

Haha I'll keep that in mind.  

I disagree entirely. Do some research on your own to see what flight costs would be. If they are comparable then be honest and say you're excited to see the area and was hoping to visit DC while there, so would they mind booking your return flight from blank. As long as there isn't a huge price difference they won't mind and will probably think it's cool that you want to experience the country. This is school you are applying to, after all.

[blueyellow]

Hi! Sorry I'm kind of freaking out right now, I have my interview for NYU Sackler on Jan 12th, and I have gotten emails confirming all the travel information (flights/hotel etc) but have yet to receive an actual schedule of events.  Is anyone else interviewing there and have you received a schedule? is it appropriate to e-mail to ask if they have finalized scheduled events yet?

 

thanks again! 

 

Edited January 2, 2017 by blueyellow

[jeanetics17]

5 minutes ago, blueyellow said:

Hi! Sorry I'm kind of freaking out right now, I have my interview for NYU Sackler on Jan 12th, and I have gotten emails confirming all the travel information (flights/hotel etc) but have yet to receive an actual schedule of events.  Is anyone else interviewing there and have you received a schedule? is it appropriate to e-mail to ask if they have finalized scheduled events yet?

 

thanks again! 

 

I think it's appropriate to send them an email. It's also fine to ask who you will be meeting with if you don't already know. However, given the holidays, they might not be done finalizing until the end of this week. 

[blueyellow]

1 minute ago, jeanetics17 said:

I think it's appropriate to send them an email. It's also fine to ask who you will be meeting with if you don't already know. However, given the holidays, they might not be done finalizing until the end of this week. 

Thank you! I don't know who I will be meeting with so it would be wonderful to find out. thanks again for the advice!  and Happy New Year!

[Bioenchilada]

1 hour ago, blueyellow said:

Hi! Sorry I'm kind of freaking out right now, I have my interview for NYU Sackler on Jan 12th, and I have gotten emails confirming all the travel information (flights/hotel etc) but have yet to receive an actual schedule of events.  Is anyone else interviewing there and have you received a schedule? is it appropriate to e-mail to ask if they have finalized scheduled events yet?

 

thanks again! 

 

It'll be fine. Some schools literally sent my  schedule a day or two before the interview lol

Edited January 2, 2017 by Bioenchilada

[AndyDr]

Interview BCMB @ Weill Cornell

Do you guys have some suggestions for the interview (how many interviewers? topic?)?

Thanks a lot!!

Edited January 2, 2017 by dragonzz

[AndyDr]

On 2016/12/31 at 4:44 AM, MCF10A said:

So have anyone heard anything from Weill Cornell (or the travel agency) after submitted the interview response form? 

Nothing received after the interview invitations. 

[STEMC]

5 hours ago, dragonzz said:

Interview BCMB @ Weill Cornell

Do you guys have some suggestions for the interview (how many interviewers? topic?)?

Thanks a lot!!

 

When did you receive the E-mail from Weill Cornell? Are they still sending invitations?

 0

[CozyEnzymes]

Heard back from Vanderbilt IGP this morning with three interview weekend choices (Feb 3-5, 10-12, 17-19). Has anyone heard from Stanford Biochem or MIT Biology yet?