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2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results


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Posted
7 minutes ago, charmquarkz said:

Also, I don't know if you've mentioned this already, but did you contact prospective mentors before applying to express your interest?

This is really important. If you have lower scores, but you really hit it off with a professor, they can go to bat for you during the admission process.

Posted
5 hours ago, zam330 said:

I understand that this thread is for admission results, but it also gets the most traffic so I'm sorry in advance. 

After not hearing anything back from my top school choice, I'm trying to determine what area of my application could use some work.  The only potential problem I could see would be with my statement of purpose, specifically my research interests and why I want to go to that school.  I'm interested in studying microbial life of extreme environments, and how that could relate to the environments of other planets.  This is quite vague, so I chose 1-2 professors whose research I was interested in (specifically one at this school).  I read his most recent publications and gave a 1-2 sentence summary, then posed a question along the lines of: " I’d be curious to see if there are other donors to the electron pool in relation to ATP synthesis, other than the already determined ones (I obviously named those in detail)" because a paper mentioned that inhibiting one of the determined donors led to equivalent amounts of ATP generated.  In a different app I posed a question along the lines of: "I'd be interested in determining environmental changes that would promote or impede the motility of the bacterium, which could be done by restricting key elements such as phosphorous."  

Did I misinterpret how I should go about stating my interests?  The thing is, I don't have a very specific set of interests. I'm open to molding my research based on the topics that my potential advisor is interested in.  I'm aware that unlike when I was choosing master's research based on projects available, a PhD advisor expects you to create your own project.  In my SOP I  wanted to show that I understand what is going on, and that I can develop a potential question relative to their research, even if it may be a small contribution to the subject.  

I second that that is much more specific than mine. When I mentioned professors, I just said that I would like to expand upon my previous work in X through [Professor's Name]'s work in Y, or that my previous work in X makes me a great fit for [Professor's name]'s lab.

Posted

I put nothing specific in my apps beyond "I think X program at Y school would be an amazing place for the next step in my scientific development" or something to that effect, I put nothing that specific. I'm telling you, they care about letters of rec and research experience most of all, so being able to show you know what you're getting into and are ready for it is really critical. 

I'd also say apply to more than two schools, I know you know your interests but having a bit more broad choice and options would probably be helpful.

Posted

Hello,

I just found out that I didn't send my official GRE score for one of my school (Yale) which had a deadline of 1/2. Do you guys think they will still take my GRE scores? I'm probably going to email them but just wondering whether anyone made a similar mistake before so that I can send in the GRE score now.

Thank you

 

Posted
8 minutes ago, Flux1100 said:

Hello,

I just found out that I didn't send my official GRE score for one of my school (Yale) which had a deadline of 1/2. Do you guys think they will still take my GRE scores? I'm probably going to email them but just wondering whether anyone made a similar mistake before so that I can send in the GRE score now.

Thank you

 

 

If Yale is one of your top schools, I would send the scores now AND email them.  If you only email them first, they may not respond for a while if they're busy, and then any slight chance will be completely gone.  It might be too late now, but it's still worth a shot and you're only losing out on $35 dollars. 

Posted
9 minutes ago, Flux1100 said:

Hello,

I just found out that I didn't send my official GRE score for one of my school (Yale) which had a deadline of 1/2. Do you guys think they will still take my GRE scores? I'm probably going to email them but just wondering whether anyone made a similar mistake before so that I can send in the GRE score now.

Thank you

 

I think you're fine. They would've e-mailed you if they didn't have the official report and needed it, I know a few schools I've heard from have been like "if you haven't sent the official score report please do so." Send it now but I wouldn't freak out.

Posted

Thank you all for the replies!

My application page does say incomplete, but I guess that wouldn't be too much of a problem hopefully...

Posted (edited)
22 hours ago, Oddich55 said:

I know a guy who got an invite Friday evening. They may be still going out though... Cancer bio is definitely a bigger program. 

When would you think it would be safe to assume that we didn't get the interview invite? I'm holding out on booking a flight for another interview in case i need to stay in the area. Has anyone contacted Stanford Biosciences admission?

Edited by hippopotamus
Posted

Does anyone know if UTSW has sent out all of their invites? I can only find two in the results thread. 

Posted
1 hour ago, hippopotamus said:

When would you think it would be safe to assume that we didn't get the interview invite? I'm holding out on booking a flight for another interview in case i need to stay in the area. Has anyone contacted Stanford Biosciences admission?

It goes by program, but at this point, I think your chances are a little low - I would go ahead and book your other interview.

I heard about a week ago for Biomedical Informatics - all who got invites heard within an hour of eachother. Granted, Biomedical Informatics is a much smaller program than Cancer Bio, but should work similarly.

Posted
9 hours ago, Oddich55 said:

It goes by program, but at this point, I think your chances are a little low - I would go ahead and book your other interview.

I heard about a week ago for Biomedical Informatics - all who got invites heard within an hour of eachother. Granted, Biomedical Informatics is a much smaller program than Cancer Bio, but should work similarly.

Ok. I also just think its a bit strange that we didn't see many cancer bio postings in the results search this year 

Posted
11 hours ago, zam330 said:

Thanks everyone!  I'm going to keep my hopes up for UW micro, even though it looks bad based on past trends.... good thing I have two more apps out there! haha

Rooting for ya man.  I think you're deserving of an acceptance.  Sucks that not many schools had be exact program you wanted.  But keep us updated! 

Posted
49 minutes ago, hippopotamus said:

Ok. I also just think its a bit strange that we didn't see many cancer bio postings in the results search this year 

On my cycle, they invited a very small group and invites were sent on the same day about a week ago.

Posted

Has anyone who got an invite to Stanford biosciences immunology on Dec. 20 received the formal invite from biosciences that the email mentioned?

Posted
27 minutes ago, ndjc17 said:

Has anyone who got an invite to Stanford biosciences immunology on Dec. 20 received the formal invite from biosciences that the email mentioned?

I haven't either. Emailed the contact person last week but she was out of the office. Guess that could have been why we're not hearing anything from them.

Posted
16 minutes ago, pitchfork said:

I haven't either. Emailed the contact person last week but she was out of the office. Guess that could have been why we're not hearing anything from them.

Alright as long as it's not just me I'm not too worried!

Posted
2 hours ago, Bioenchilada said:

On my cycle, they invited a very small group and invites were sent on the same day about a week ago.

For anyone wondering, I just contacted the program administrator and she said that all the invites have been sent out 

Posted

Now I'm in a very negative situation: one of my required computer science course holds on the mandatorily lab on Friday. I need to go to the lab to pass, and the lecturer refused to make any adjustments to accommodate the interviews; rather, he told me to move the interviews to Monday, which is totally impossible. What can I do? Will writing to the undergraduate program director help? Thanks a lot!

Posted (edited)

Just got the official rejection from MIT Biology :( 

#It only takes 56 words to break my heart.

Edited by MCF10A
Posted
20 minutes ago, SysEvo said:

Now I'm in a very negative situation: one of my required computer science course holds on the mandatorily lab on Friday. I need to go to the lab to pass, and the lecturer refused to make any adjustments to accommodate the interviews; rather, he told me to move the interviews to Monday, which is totally impossible. What can I do? Will writing to the undergraduate program director help? Thanks a lot!

Now, I don't know your institution, but I would go to the CS department chair or Academic Dean and be like "Man, you guys are supposed to be giving me a future, not screwing it up". Maybe in slightly better terms than that, but yeah.

Posted (edited)
13 hours ago, Oddich55 said:

It goes by program, but at this point, I think your chances are a little low - I would go ahead and book your other interview.

I heard about a week ago for Biomedical Informatics - all who got invites heard within an hour of eachother. Granted, Biomedical Informatics is a much smaller program than Cancer Bio, but should work similarly.

Just out of curiosity, have you received an email from Stanford BMI yet?

Edited by abc0111
Posted
14 minutes ago, abc0111 said:

Just out of curiosity, have you received an email from Stanford yet?

For travel arrangements and such from Molecular Biosciences? Yep =).

I head back maybe Thursday last week? The original invitation was a week and a half ago.

Posted
8 minutes ago, Oddich55 said:

For travel arrangements and such from Molecular Biosciences? Yep =).

I head back maybe Thursday last week? The original invitation was a week and a half ago.

I meant Stanford BMI, but I assume the email invitation was also sent more than a week ago?

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