2017 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

[lucky_panda]

I got an email from University of Arizona neuroscience this morning. The email says they will do a short Skype interview with me and the invitation for the recruitment event will be issued after the Skype interview. 

I am not sure why there is a Skype interview before the invitation to the recruitment event.

Is it because I am an international student so they want to test my English speaking skills? 

[cosiva]

Just got an e-mail from the director of PIBS at Univ of Miami for a Skype interview tomorrow or Wednesday

[jougami]

Got a call to interview at Princeton MolBio!

[balloons]

Received an invitation email from UMass-Med for interview!!!  

[plantguy]

Congrats everyone! It's mostly life sciences people here  , are there any plant biologists here?

does anybody know if UMass Amherst , UMaryland or UIUC has sent out invitations, or when they might send out invitations? I would be very happy to know? 

Also, does anybody recommends CSU FoCo and Rutgers, New Brunswick ? I would love to hear your opinions! 

 

[desmond.bo]

2 hours ago, lucky_panda said:

I got an email from University of Arizona neuroscience this morning. The email says they will do a short Skype interview with me and the invitation for the recruitment event will be issued after the Skype interview. 

I am not sure why there is a Skype interview before the invitation to the recruitment event.

Is it because I am an international student so they want to test my English speaking skills? 

 

Same question here but for different school. I got the Skype invitation from Caltech. Never heard about the preinterview before but does anyone know anything about this?

[desmond.bo]

11 hours ago, abc0111 said:

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

I applied to both. Seems like the tri-institutional is technically under the Weill Cornell rather than the Cornell itself. But tri-institutional has more connection with MSKCC, so would be more associated to cancer I guess?

[AGradStudentHasNoName]

11 hours ago, abc0111 said:

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

 

31 minutes ago, desmond.bo said:

I applied to both. Seems like the tri-institutional is technically under the Weill Cornell rather than the Cornell itself. But tri-institutional has more connection with MSKCC, so would be more associated to cancer I guess?

I applied to the tri-institutional one only. The faculty listings for the tri-institutional one have more than 4x the professors, tho some are more clinical or translational. The Sloan Kettering affiliation does make it much stronger in cancer and depending on your advisor you can live in NYC after the first year or two. I spoke with a Sloan Kettering professor who told me that. And the Weill Cornell Medical College and Sloan Kettering affiliations should make it better for more clinically relevant stuff or to get clinical collaborators for samples/data.

[eyesandheart]

Hey, sorry I'm late to the party, but just found this between obsessively checking my email at work. As indicated below, I have also heard from Johns Hopkins CMM and UMass Med as others have already mentioned here.

Undergrad Institution:

Engineering and science technical university, well ranked.
Major(s): Biology and Biotechnology
Minor(s): Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
GPA in Major: 3.82
Overall GPA: 3.84
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 162
V: 157
W: 4.5
B: N/A

Research Experience: 

1 year senior thesis project on genetics of C. elegans

1.5 year (will be 2 by enrollment) as a research technician at a well-known cancer research institution working with two PIs on cancer genetic projects.

 
Awards/Honors/Recognition: N/A

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Genetics Teaching Assistant as an undergrad

Summer work in a manufacturing lab

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: 
LORs from well known cancer researchers.

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

Tons of leadership/mentorship experience. I don't know how much this counts for, but it fills up the remaining space on my resume.

Applying to Where:

Johns Hopkins CMM (offered interview 12/8)

U Washington

Harvard BBS

Harvard Systems Bio

MIT Bio

UVA BIMS

UPenn CAMB

UCLA Biosciences

UCSD Biosciences

UChicago

UMass Medical (offered interview 12/12)

[asdfghjkl1]

Heard back from Yale immunobiology a second ago to all of those wondering about them. 

[cuteDr22]

Invited to University of Washington M3D interview - Feb 23- 25th! 

[pitchfork]

10 minutes ago, asdfghjkl1 said:

Heard back from Yale immunobiology a second ago to all of those wondering about them. 

I just heard back, too! Congrats!!

[thezonehunk]

@pitchfork @asdfghjkl1 I just checked, so excited! Can't believe they personalized our emails lol

Edited December 12, 2016 by thezonehunk

[Born-to-pipette]

7 minutes ago, thezonehunk said:

@pitchfork @asdfghjkl1 I just checked, so excited! Can't believe they personalized our emails lol

Congratulations!! They personalized it in what way? How nice!

[thezonehunk]

13 minutes ago, Born-to-pipette said:

Congratulations!! They personalized it in what way? How nice!

The email said they were excited to talk about my research and mentioned what I talked about in my application specifically.

[Kaede]

Congrats to everyone getting interviews so far!

[Actin]

Started stalking this page very recently. Can't help but join the discussion. Very anxious for interview replies (if any)...

Here's my stats:

Undergrad Institution: Top Public Research University
Major(s): Microbiology
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.7±0.1; depends how you define it, but everything I take is technically for my major requirements
Overall GPA: 3.75
Position in Class: Top 10%
Type of Student: Domestic Asian male, first generation

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 163 (85%)
V: 153 (60%)
W: 4.5 (82%)
B: Didn't take

Research Experience:

Undergraduate Researcher in Microbiology Lab at current institution - 1.5 years as of now, 2 years when I graduate

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

Prestigious Intra-university fellowship (>10,000$ between research and stipend)

Full need scholarship for 4 years from University for students from socioeconomically disadvantaged secondary schools

Honors Program

Maintained Honors GPA since freshman year

Dean's list for a semester

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Run Journal clubs for an on campus student organization

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: N/A

Special Bonus Points:

LGBT, grew up in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area

PI and 2 other recommenders are on the adcomm at my home institution where I am also applying

Completed an immunology grad course at the time of application. Was taking 2 graduate courses in microbiology at the time of applications

PI knows me well

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

Applied to NSF GRFP

Planning to go to a couple conferences before next Fall

Applying to Where:

Harvard BBS and BPH

Rockefeller

UPenn  CAMB

WUSTL DBBS

Stanford Bioscience

UC Berkeley Microbiology

UCSF BMS

UCLA Bioscience

UCSD BMS

 

My weakest points of my application are probably my verbal GRE and research experience. I think all of my schools are pretty reach, but I am open to taking a gap year to do a postbacc if no schools accept me. Nothing more I can do now. Just have to wait it out. I haven't heard back from any schools yet, but congrats to everyone with interview offers thus far. You guys deserve it!

Edited December 13, 2016 by Actin

[Bioenchilada]

14 minutes ago, Actin said:

Started stalking this page very recently. Can't help but join the discussion. Very anxious for interview replies (if any)...

Here's my stats:

Undergrad Institution: Top Public Research University
Major(s): Microbiology
Minor(s):
GPA in Major: 3.7±0.1; depends how you define it, but everything I take is technically for my major requirements
Overall GPA: 3.75
Position in Class: Top 10%
Type of Student: Domestic Asian male, first generation

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 163 (85%)
V: 153 (60%)
W: 4.5 (82%)
B: Didn't take

Research Experience:

Undergraduate Researcher in Microbiology Lab at current institution - 1.5 years as of now, 2 years when I graduate

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

Prestigious Intra-university fellowship (>10,000$ between research and stipend)

Full need scholarship for 4 years from University for students from socioeconomically disadvantaged secondary schools

Honors Program

Maintained Honors GPA since freshman year

Dean's list for a semester

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Run Journal clubs for an on campus student organization

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: N/A

Special Bonus Points:

LGBT, grew up in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area

PI and 2 other recommenders are on the adcomm at my home institution where I am also applying

Completed an immunology grad course at the time of application. Was taking 2 graduate courses in microbiology at the time of applications

PI knows me well

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

Applied to NSF GRFP

Planning to go to a couple conferences before next Fall

Applying to Where:

Harvard BBS and BPH

Rockefeller

UPenn  CAMB

WUSTL DBBS

Stanford Bioscience

UC Berkeley Microbiology

UCSF BMS

UCLA Bioscience

UCSD BMS

 

My weakest points of my application are probably my verbal GRE and research experience. I think all of my schools are pretty reach, but I am open to taking a gap year to do a postbacc if no schools accept me. Nothing more I can do now. Just have to wait it out. I haven't heard back from any schools yet, but congrats to everyone with interview offers thus far. You guys deserve it!

I don't think any of your schools have released interviews yet, so calm down

I think you should hear from Penn before friday, if they send invites quickly after the CAMB meeting tomorrow. 

Edited December 13, 2016 by Bioenchilada

[jmillar]

I'm also discovered this thread recently. It will be an exciting couple of weeks!

 

Undergrad Institution: Low Tier Public Research University
Major(s): Biology, Public Health
Minor(s): Mathematics
GPA in Major: 3.67
Overall GPA: 3.76
Position in Class: Top 10% (Only know due to Phi Kappa Phi)
Type of Student: Low income, first generation, LGBT

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 158 (70%)
V: 155 (68%)
W: 4 (58%)
B: Didn't take

Research Experience:

Undergraduate Researcher in Biology Lab at Undergrad institution - 4 years

Graduate Researcher in Biology Lab (same as Undergrad institution) - 2 years

Summer Fellowship in Bioinformatics at WashU

5 publications (2 primary), 4 others in review (3 primary)

>10 conference presentations

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

Sigma Xi Grant in Aid of Research

McNair Scholar

Several Intra-university fellowships/scholarships (>$20,000)

American Society for Microbiology Science Teaching Fellow

Several American Society for Microbiology grants/scholarships (>$2,000)

Honors Program

Pertinent Activities or Jobs:

Teaching Assistant in Statistics

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: 

Program in perl, R, bash. Skilled in SAS

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

Currently finishing Masters in Biology and Statistics

Applying to Where:

Emory PBEE

UC Berkeley Environmental Health

UMich Bioinformatics (offered interview 12/8)

UW Biology

Yale CBB

[Hr. Gore]

Anyone has an idea about Harvard OEB interview invites? When do they send those?

[Tarlax]

Undergrad Institution:

Massive Big 10 State School in the midwest
Major(s): Neuroscience (no physics)
Minor(s): 
GPA in Major: 3.5
Overall GPA: 3.35
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 155
V: 166
W: 4.5
B: N/A

Research Experience: 

1 summer in a behavioral neuroscience lab

4 months in a neurooncology lab during undergradaute

1.5 year (will be 2 by enrollment) as a research technician at a well-known, Harvard affiliated genetics research center

Awards/Honors/Recognition: Various athletic awards (was a collegiate athlete)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Current position as a technician

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: 
Very strong LOR from former research mentor, as well as hopefully strong LOR from my PI who is a "big wig" in our department and the realm of genetics

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

Like I mentioned above, DIvision I athlete for 5 years

Applying to Where:

BU Pharmacology

Tufts Sackler

UMASS Medical

Harvard Immunology

NYU Sackler

SUNY Stony Brook

Einstein College of Medicine

UCLA Molecular Pharmacology (subset of biosciences program)

USC Neuroscience

UC Irvine Neuro

Starting to get freaked that I haven't heard anything back from UMASS Medical yet, as people are already getting interview dates.  Any feedback on my profile/chances?

[Tarlax]

15 hours ago, eyesandheart said:

Hey, sorry I'm late to the party, but just found this between obsessively checking my email at work. As indicated below, I have also heard from Johns Hopkins CMM and UMass Med as others have already mentioned here.

Undergrad Institution:

Engineering and science technical university, well ranked.
Major(s): Biology and Biotechnology
Minor(s): Bioinformatics and Computational Biology
GPA in Major: 3.82
Overall GPA: 3.84
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 162
V: 157
W: 4.5
B: N/A

Research Experience: 

1 year senior thesis project on genetics of C. elegans

1.5 year (will be 2 by enrollment) as a research technician at a well-known cancer research institution working with two PIs on cancer genetic projects.

 
Awards/Honors/Recognition: N/A

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Genetics Teaching Assistant as an undergrad

Summer work in a manufacturing lab

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: 
LORs from well known cancer researchers.

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

Tons of leadership/mentorship experience. I don't know how much this counts for, but it fills up the remaining space on my resume.

Applying to Where:

Johns Hopkins CMM (offered interview 12/8)

U Washington

Harvard BBS

Harvard Systems Bio

MIT Bio

UVA BIMS

UPenn CAMB

UCLA Biosciences

UCSD Biosciences

UChicago

UMass Medical (offered interview 12/12)

Our of curiosity, when did you submit your application?  I read that they start reviewing applications in mid november, before the deadline.

[blc073]

31 minutes ago, Tarlax said:

Undergrad Institution:

Massive Big 10 State School in the midwest
Major(s): Neuroscience (no physics)
Minor(s): 
GPA in Major: 3.5
Overall GPA: 3.35
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 155
V: 166
W: 4.5
B: N/A

Research Experience: 

1 summer in a behavioral neuroscience lab

4 months in a neurooncology lab during undergradaute

1.5 year (will be 2 by enrollment) as a research technician at a well-known, Harvard affiliated genetics research center

Awards/Honors/Recognition: Various athletic awards (was a collegiate athlete)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

Current position as a technician

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: 
Very strong LOR from former research mentor, as well as hopefully strong LOR from my PI who is a "big wig" in our department and the realm of genetics

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

Like I mentioned above, DIvision I athlete for 5 years

Applying to Where:

BU Pharmacology

Tufts Sackler

UMASS Medical

Harvard Immunology

NYU Sackler

SUNY Stony Brook

Einstein College of Medicine

UCLA Molecular Pharmacology (subset of biosciences program)

USC Neuroscience

UC Irvine Neuro

Starting to get freaked that I haven't heard anything back from UMASS Medical yet, as people are already getting interview dates.  Any feedback on my profile/chances?

I heard back from Tufts Sackler on January 5th, FYI. 

Honestly, your profile is a bit of a toss-up. Your numbers are fine, but you only mention two LoRs and your research is below what most people have. You applied broadly, so that's great, but it will take strong letters and an outstanding SOP to do some convincing. Overall, I'm guessing you will get one or two invites. 

[eyesandheart]

33 minutes ago, Tarlax said:

Our of curiosity, when did you submit your application?  I read that they start reviewing applications in mid november, before the deadline.

I submitted all of my applications 11/16-11/23.  I don't know which day in particular I submitted UMass Medical.

[DGD4L]

UPenn CAMB group meets today for the "Ph.D. Long Admissions meeting" from 11-4! So we should hear back soon! 

Good luck everyone!