2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[biomednyc]

13 minutes ago, Bubbles_L said:

may I ask which program in camb? I am getting anxious...

I wouldn't get anxious just yet, it was an informal email from one of the faculty members I interviewed with who also happens to be on the admission committee wanting to congratulate me and let me know that I will be receiving the official acceptance soon. So they're definitely still working through things. I applied to cell biology, physiology and metabolism (CPM). Good luck, keeping my fingers crossed for ya 

[Bubbles_L]

Just now, biomednyc said:

I wouldn't get anxious just yet, it was an informal email from one of the faculty members I interviewed with who also happens to be on the admission committee wanting to congratulate me and let me know that I will be receiving the official acceptance soon. So they're definitely still working through things. I applied to cell biology, physiology and metabolism (CPM). Good luck, keeping my fingers crossed for ya 

Thanks for your info, and congrats!

I will try to calm down and prepare for my next interview. Finger crossed!

[cuteDr22]

1 hour ago, Bubbles_L said:

Chinese student here..

As far as I know, many European schools hope Chinese students to take fundings themselves. Otherwise, it would be difficult to find a suitable lab there.

In US, some top schools are requesting Chinese students to take funding from Chinese government now. 3 or 4 years ago Harvard BBS required students to take funding themselves (from the government), maybe HMS has stopped doing so these two years. Yale BBS is very very welcome to students taking fundings themselves (take 20 students per year). But these fundings have also put Chinese applicants who want to apply for full scholarships into a more difficult situation...

PS: I hope graduate schools will not be reviewing this forum, as there are too many restrictions for applying for funding from the government, some of which might hamper further postdoc training opportunities.

Thank you for the response. I didn't realize the difficulties international students face. Good luck with everything!

[Grassgrass]

On 1/16/2017 at 11:18 PM, ilovelab said:

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

Same same question. I saw only 2-3 got the interview and one rejection. 

[cancergirl]

has anyone gotten a rejection from emory cancer that did not interview yet?

[MCF10A]

5 hours ago, Roa Ni said:

Undergrad Institution: TOP10 University in China, Mainland, QS ranked 200 in Life science and Medical research ... not very famous comparing to PKU or THU
Major(s): Biological Sciences
Minor(s):NA
GPA in Major: 4.0/4.0
Overall GPA: 4.0/4.0
Position in Class: TOP
Type of Student: International, Male, Asian(China)

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 169
V: 152
W: 3.0
B: NA


TOEFL Total: 100

Research Experience: 

1 year for undergrad thesis, article in preparation

3 year in iGEM competition Best Composite Part X1, Gold Medal X2

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: National Scholarship X1 (top scholarship), and other scholarships

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: NA

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: 

Recommender: Prof. Junjiu Huang(yes, the guy in Nature-figures who conducted genetic modification on human embryo)

Research topic of my undergrad thesis, it's a really novel phenotype and all the faculties interviewed are curious about it

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

Applying to Where:

Harvard -BBS-stem cell biology, rejected
JHU -CMDB-stem cell biology, wait listed

UCLA-rejected

BCM-rejected

NYU-Sackler-stem cell biology-still interview

UTSouthwestern-rejected

Umich-PIBS-rejected

Umass Worcester-IGP-acceptted

UGA-ILS-acceptted

 

Faculty in NYU told me that this academic is extreamly harsh for international students, since US students have NIH grants but we can not.

Anyway, good luck to all applicants

I'm a international applicant too. Grad school admission is indeed very hard for us because of funding issue. One thing I noticed is that research experience in the US+rec letter from PIs in the US can be the deal breaker for intl applicants, especially for the most competitive schools. Most of the intl students I met in my interviews have such experience (undergrad, summer research, exchange semester, thesis research, etc in the US). Good luck on your NYU Sackler and JHU and wish you can get into both!

[Kaede]

Accepted by UC Merced QSB!

[fuongngh]

13 hours ago, Roa Ni said:

Undergrad Institution: TOP10 University in China, Mainland, QS ranked 200 in Life science and Medical research ... not very famous comparing to PKU or THU
Major(s): Biological Sciences
Minor(s):NA
GPA in Major: 4.0/4.0
Overall GPA: 4.0/4.0
Position in Class: TOP
Type of Student: International, Male, Asian(China)

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 169
V: 152
W: 3.0
B: NA


TOEFL Total: 100

Research Experience: 

1 year for undergrad thesis, article in preparation

3 year in iGEM competition Best Composite Part X1, Gold Medal X2

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: National Scholarship X1 (top scholarship), and other scholarships

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: NA

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: 

Recommender: Prof. Junjiu Huang(yes, the guy in Nature-figures who conducted genetic modification on human embryo)

Research topic of my undergrad thesis, it's a really novel phenotype and all the faculties interviewed are curious about it

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

Applying to Where:

Harvard -BBS-stem cell biology, rejected
JHU -CMDB-stem cell biology, wait listed

UCLA-rejected

BCM-rejected

NYU-Sackler-stem cell biology-still interview

UTSouthwestern-rejected

Umich-PIBS-rejected

Umass Worcester-IGP-acceptted

UGA-ILS-acceptted

 

Faculty in NYU told me that this academic is extreamly harsh for international students, since US students have NIH grants but we can not.

Anyway, good luck to all applicants

When did you get accepted from UGA?

[Roa Ni]

14 hours ago, cuteDr22 said:

Good luck to you!  Curious - if an international student is willing to attend a school with the understanding that he/she will not get a grant, is it possible to convince that institution to accept you?:  I'm not saying this is what you or anyone else would want, but i'm just curious if this is possible?

Just like bubbles said, many top-level US institues have built up a cooperation with Universities in China, like Yale-CSC world scholarship, of which the Chinese government pay the first 2 years' grants and that's why Yale can accept around 20 Chinese phD studens every year.

But, such CSC program is combined with many restriction set by Chinese government. For example, students have to take their research position in China after graduation and it's more difficult for these guy to apply for funding since "the government has sponsed you once"

[Roa Ni]

11 hours ago, Grassgrass said:

Same same question. I saw only 2-3 got the interview and one rejection. 

I have to edit my page since I received the interview invitation just 8 hours ago.

It's really shocking, I just regard the 'no reply' as a rejection.

I believe they are still scheduling the interview, good luck

Edited February 9, 2017 by Roa Ni

[Roa Ni]

2 hours ago, fuongngh said:

When did you get accepted from UGA?

" Integrated Life Sciences has unanimously recommended you for acceptance into our PhD graduate program with an Assistantship.  It was obvious that you would fit well within our program, so you are being contacted earlier than is customary.  Most students will not know their status till late February. " 

This is emailed to me on Feb.02

[L543]

Supposed to have my first interview this weekend, but flights canceled due to the snow. Really disappointed  People who have been in this situation in the past - did you skype interview at your scheduled time? Or interview another time? As far as I know, this is the only scheduled interview weekend for this program (UCSB BMSE)

[pitchfork]

8 hours ago, Roa Ni said:

Just like bubbles said, many top-level US institues have built up a cooperation with Universities in China, like Yale-CSC world scholarship, of which the Chinese government pay the first 2 years' grants and that's why Yale can accept around 20 Chinese phD studens every year.

But, such CSC program is combined with many restriction set by Chinese government. For example, students have to take their research position in China after graduation and it's more difficult for these guy to apply for funding since "the government has sponsed you once"

I'm in the same boat here. Started looking for fellowships/grants for international students a month ago after I got interview invites and unsurprisingly there're very few options (even fewer than previous years since HHMI suspended their international student fellowship indefinitely). I haven't looked too much into CSC but I think I've seen one for self-funded studies from them that doesn't seem to have much restrictions for what you do after grad school. That being said, the money from that grant is not even enough to cover housing alone, and I think you can only apply in your 2nd or 3rd year of grad school.

Also, I'm sure you already know this, but wherever you decide to go, definitely make sure the program can support you for the entire duration of your studies. I know a fellow international student getting into a grad program that didn't help him out when his PI ran out of funding and he ended up having to drop out.

Fingers crossed for your interviews and hope you have lots of good options!

[nile red]

7 hours ago, L543 said:

Supposed to have my first interview this weekend, but flights canceled due to the snow. Really disappointed  People who have been in this situation in the past - did you skype interview at your scheduled time? Or interview another time? As far as I know, this is the only scheduled interview weekend for this program (UCSB BMSE)

I'm in the same situation (for UCI). I'm fairly certain they're going to try their best to set up a Skype interview with most, if not all of the faculty members I was going to meet with at a later date. Probably the same for UCSB.

[Milind]

Got accepted to UC Davis BMCDB!
What a relief. The skype interview was pretty laid back

[cancergirl]

meanwhile I've been waiting at the train station for 2.5 hours because my train hit a tree. supposed to be going to philly for Drexel bio phd interview weekend.

[Nomad1111]

50 minutes ago, cancergirl said:

meanwhile I've been waiting at the train station for 2.5 hours because my train hit a tree. supposed to be going to philly for Drexel bio phd interview weekend.

Hit a tree?!?!

[Grassgrass]

15 hours ago, Roa Ni said:

I have to edit my page since I received the interview invitation just 8 hours ago.

It's really shocking, I just regard the 'no reply' as a rejection.

I believe they are still scheduling the interview, good luck

Thanks very much! I actually did a little bit research on the past posts of UTSouthwestern, they usually sent the invitations to domestics applicants before the Feb. and international applicants during the Feb. May I know if you are going to on-site interview or skype one? Good luck!

[L543]

7 hours ago, nile red said:

I'm in the same situation (for UCI). I'm fairly certain they're going to try their best to set up a Skype interview with most, if not all of the faculty members I was going to meet with at a later date. Probably the same for UCSB.

I was actually able to catch a flight and I am here now! Definitely a high stress day. But thank you for the response!

[L543]

7 hours ago, Milind said:

Got accepted to UC Davis BMCDB!
What a relief. The skype interview was pretty laid back

I am interviewing there in a couple weeks! Care to share anything about the things you talked about?

[Browncoat5871]

Is anyone else going to the Boston University PiBS interview this weekend?  I just drive six hours to make it here since the flights got canceled.  A little wired and tired and just hoping it goes well.

[Roa Ni]

11 hours ago, Grassgrass said:

Thanks very much! I actually did a little bit research on the past posts of UTSouthwestern, they usually sent the invitations to domestics applicants before the Feb. and international applicants during the Feb. May I know if you are going to on-site interview or skype one? Good luck!

Skype interview.

[Milind]

12 hours ago, L543 said:

I am interviewing there in a couple weeks! Care to share anything about the things you talked about?

Hi there!
My interview was on 18th Jan. 2 profs took it.
So they basically asked me to talk about myself, my research, asked some questions about it, then why Davis, plans after grad school and if i had any questions.
Yea i think this was it. 20 mins overall. The profs were chill.
All the very best!

[Nnnm]

Has anyone heard back from Emory GMB?

[nile red]

Accepted to Emory GMB!