2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[hippopotamus]

I recently received an online interview with Caltech biology for next week. I'm unfamiliar with the system - is the next stage an in person interview?

[Josie817]

3 hours ago, openmicrobenight said:

I got an email for a Skype interview next week is that what you got, or did you get a full-on interview invite?

I think the full interview...but they only gave me one weekend because they have a long waitlist already.

[double helix]

Received interview requests from Immunology programs at Penn and Emory last week

[Stemlike]

Is holding a Foreign Fulbright Scholarship a plus for your admission chances?

I would expect it would help since it's a 25K scholarship, but I've read that universities that accept Fulbright students have to waive their tuition, so it could actually hurt your chances of entering some of the richest and most sought colleges (the ones that already attract great cohorts of students and thus can pass well without you).

Does anybody have any experience/thoughts on this?

[kokobanana]

I posted this on another thread, but I think it is important to read now before too many invites get sent out.

First off, congrats to everyone getting their first invites!

Just as a reminder  - if you get an invite, resist the urge to accept it right away until you are ABSOLUTELY sure that it will not conflict with any other potential interview dates. You don't want to get stuck in the situation where you accept an invite and have to cancel it later. This looks bad on you and more importantly, could take away another student's spot. Same goes for accepting interviews knowing that you are not going to attend that program - many schools keep wait lists, and if you know school "A" isn't for you, give someone on the wait list (who thinks school "A" is their dream school) a chance to interview instead.

Some schools will allow you to interview at an alternative time, but I would strongly recommend only doing this if it is your only option. It's tough for both you and the faculty to get a sense of each other, and you likely won't be able to attend any talks/dinners/social events.

Be realistic about the number of interviews you will be attending. I know some people that interviewed at 10+ places - sounds great, right? From personal experience, after about the 4th interview, you will be exhausted. Traveling that many weekends in a row will take it's toll on your work/ school. And if you can't narrow your interviews down to less than 10, I would think that you didn't look deeply into each program. Yes, it's hard to say no to an interview, but you will have plenty of opportunities in the future to visit (for example, postdoc interviews or conferences).

For those of you waiting for invites, do not freak out if you haven't heard anything yet. Some schools send invites out in batches, others send them out all at once. At this point, it's all out of your hands, and you can relax!

And remember, there is some "randomness" in this process. I've met people that were accepted into MIT and Harvard, but didn't get interviews at less prestigious schools. The reviewers are human, and each committee looks for slightly different things.

[neuroundergrad]

14 hours ago, Stemlike said:

Is holding a Foreign Fulbright Scholarship a plus for your admission chances?

I would expect it would help since it's a 25K scholarship, but I've read that universities that accept Fulbright students have to waive their tuition, so it could actually hurt your chances of entering some of the richest and most sought colleges (the ones that already attract great cohorts of students and thus can pass well without you).

Does anybody have any experience/thoughts on this?

pretty sure it will benefit you for UCSD neuro

[neuroundergrad]

I was really scared to see that UPenn already started sending out interviews for neuro. Wasn't their deadline the 1st? I applied to UCSD, Johns Hopkins, Case Western, U of Chicago Boston University, MIT. Do you guys know when we are expected to hear back from any of these neuro programs?

I was really shooting for U of Chicago and Johns Hopkins and seeing that interviews are already being sent out is making me anxious as hell. I have no idea what to expect for this round

[Bioenchilada]

31 minutes ago, pitt_neuroundergrad said:

I was really scared to see that UPenn already started sending out interviews for neuro. Wasn't their deadline the 1st? I applied to UCSD, Johns Hopkins, Case Western, U of Chicago Boston University, MIT. Do you guys know when we are expected to hear back from any of these neuro programs?

I was really shooting for U of Chicago and Johns Hopkins and seeing that interviews are already being sent out is making me anxious as hell. I have no idea what to expect for this round

I believe you should hear back before New Years for the most part. Most of my invites came before the 20th. Also, why would you get anxious about UPenn if you didn't apply? They are different schools with different admissions processes. 

[Raptor Science Activate]

27 minutes ago, pitt_neuroundergrad said:

I was really scared to see that UPenn already started sending out interviews for neuro. Wasn't their deadline the 1st? I applied to UCSD, Johns Hopkins, Case Western, U of Chicago Boston University, MIT. Do you guys know when we are expected to hear back from any of these neuro programs?

I was really shooting for U of Chicago and Johns Hopkins and seeing that interviews are already being sent out is making me anxious as hell. I have no idea what to expect for this round

I haven't heard back from UChicago or UCSD neuro at this stage either.  I didn't apply to any of your other programs, so I cannot comment on those.  Elsewhere on the site, you can look up past interview notification dates by school.  Different schools notify at different times.  UCSD, for instance, looks like it doesn't send out interview offers until early to mid Jan.  Many of my other programs look like they'll send out notifications within the next 1-2 weeks.

[thezonehunk]

38 minutes ago, pitt_neuroundergrad said:

I was really scared to see that UPenn already started sending out interviews for neuro. Wasn't their deadline the 1st? I applied to UCSD, Johns Hopkins, Case Western, U of Chicago Boston University, MIT. Do you guys know when we are expected to hear back from any of these neuro programs?

I was really shooting for U of Chicago and Johns Hopkins and seeing that interviews are already being sent out is making me anxious as hell. I have no idea what to expect for this round

I'm applying to Johns Hopkins also, but for CMM and Immunology. If you're referring to the previous post about a Johns Hopkins interview from this thread, I believe that was for CMM, so I wouldn't stress too much about it.

[neuroundergrad]

1 minute ago, Bioenchilada said:

I believe you should hear back before New Years for the most part. Most of my invites came before the 20th. Also, why would you get anxious about UPenn if you didn't apply? They are different schools with different admissions processes. 

Because I have anxiety haha - seeing that a school already started sending interview invites when their deadline to apply was 10 days ago is freaky. Also 20th do you mean 20th of January?

[Bioenchilada]

Just now, pitt_neuroundergrad said:

Because I have anxiety haha - seeing that a school already started sending interview invites when their deadline to apply was 10 days ago is freaky. Also 20th do you mean 20th of January?

December 20th haha

I've said this before, but I first heard back on the 9th of December. 

[Katyya]

Okay does anyone know is admissions process is rolling anywhere? Some schools like Yale said - apply as soon as possible to ensure that your rec letters and GRE scores reach us in time. None of them said your application will be reviewed first if you apply in September or October right?

I mean committee does not even meet until after the deadline so does that mean even people who submitted Dec 1st have the same shot?

 

[yaybrains]

1 hour ago, pitt_neuroundergrad said:

I was really scared to see that UPenn already started sending out interviews for neuro. Wasn't their deadline the 1st? I applied to UCSD, Johns Hopkins, Case Western, U of Chicago Boston University, MIT. Do you guys know when we are expected to hear back from any of these neuro programs?

Johns Hopkins sent an email (can't remember when) saying they would try to send out interviews on Dec. 19th or 20th.

[Bioenchilada]

26 minutes ago, Katyya said:

Okay does anyone know is admissions process is rolling anywhere? Some schools like Yale said - apply as soon as possible to ensure that your rec letters and GRE scores reach us in time. None of them said your application will be reviewed first if you apply in September or October right?

I mean committee does not even meet until after the deadline so does that mean even people who submitted Dec 1st have the same shot?

 

Yes. Admissions is typically not on a rolling basis.

[VoidInColor]

I'm just sitting here forcing myself not to mindlessly refresh this thread and telling myself "Void, you still have one more final to go, just give it a day and you can freak out all you want." Plus some of the schools I'm applying to have Dec. 15th or Jan. 1st deadlines (or later), so I'll be waiting for a while...

[cmykrgb]

1 hour ago, pitt_neuroundergrad said:

I was really scared to see that UPenn already started sending out interviews for neuro. Wasn't their deadline the 1st? I applied to UCSD, Johns Hopkins, Case Western, U of Chicago Boston University, MIT. Do you guys know when we are expected to hear back from any of these neuro programs?

I was really shooting for U of Chicago and Johns Hopkins and seeing that interviews are already being sent out is making me anxious as hell. I have no idea what to expect for this round

if you check past record it should come out around next two weeks. I saw that Harvard neuro adcom is meeting on 12/14 and got the email from hopkins that they will send out invites on 12/19-20. I did noy apply to any other schools you listed tho. 

[blueyellow]

Does anyone know if Duke MGM has sent out invites yet? This is all happening super fast!

[Katyya]

2 hours ago, Bioenchilada said:

Yes. Admissions is typically not on a rolling basis.

Thanks! Do you know if UPenn Cancer Bio has sent out any invites yet? 

I contacted the head of admissions this year couple of weeks ago and asked him if I was a competitive enough applicant and he said I was very competitive and he was looking forward to receiving my application. But I wonder if that's what they tell everyone to get more apps.. Also I have 4 recommenders for all of my schools and I forgot to sent the 4th letter invite from Penn until mid November when my professor had a family emergency and had to leave campus so she still hasn't submitted her letter. Which is fine because I already have 3 letters in but I'm wondering if that looks bad (to have 4 invited recommenders and only 3 letters submitted). 

[Bioenchilada]

10 minutes ago, Katyya said:

Thanks! Do you know if UPenn Cancer Bio has sent out any invites yet? 

I contacted the head of admissions this year couple of weeks ago and asked him if I was a competitive enough applicant and he said I was very competitive and he was looking forward to receiving my application. But I wonder if that's what they tell everyone to get more apps.. Also I have 4 recommenders for all of my schools and I forgot to sent the 4th letter invite from Penn until mid November when my professor had a family emergency and had to leave campus so she still hasn't submitted her letter. Which is fine because I already have 3 letters in but I'm wondering if that looks bad (to have 4 invited recommenders and only 3 letters submitted). 

I have not heard anything from the department regarding recruitment. I don't think CAMB has reviewed apps, or at least hasn't extensively done so. The big meeting is scheduled on the 13th according to the google calendar, so you should expect to hear back after that. 

[blueyellow]

Is it at all appropriate to ask the directors when they will be sending invites out?

Edited December 12, 2016 by blueyellow

[abc0111]

Does anyone know the difference between Cornell's computational biology and Tri institutional computational biology and medicine programs??

[Bioenchilada]

8 hours ago, blueyellow said:

Is it at all appropriate to ask the directors when they will be sending invites out?

If you are going to do it, call rather than email. However, this won't really make the invites go out any sooner nor ease your anxiety much. 

[geneticginger]

Will any schools let you know that you did not get an interview? If not, when is it safe to assume that you're not going to get an interview and should move on and consider other schools?

[Bioenchilada]

21 minutes ago, geneticginger said:

Will any schools let you know that you did not get an interview? If not, when is it safe to assume that you're not going to get an interview and should move on and consider other schools?

Schools don't tell you that you didn't get an interview. In fact, I haven't even heard of schools that will repurpose your declined interview for someone else, but I might be wrong about this, especially with programs that have rolling-like admission/ invite requests. I can't really say when it's okay to actually just move on to another school because that depends on the program. For example, Harvard BBS sends invites on a single day so, if you didn't get an invite, you're done. Other might send them on a rolling basis but I think schools still stick to big batches rather than individual requests. 

If the interview weekend in less than two weeks away, or even three weeks, and you see that other people have been invited, it is highly likely that you got rejected.