Biology applicants Fall 2010

[bumikaze]

@nutmeg

Me too! Exciting

[MarA]

Thanks for the compliments guys. Good luck to everyone of you.

[Krypton]

MarA, is your Stanford interview for Biochemistry?

[MarA]

MarA, is your Stanford interview for Biochemistry?

Yes, my interview is for the Biosciences program and will be hosted by the Biochemistry home program.

And congratz on your Harvard BBS admission!

Edited January 18, 2010 by MarA

[bb9931]

Just heard from Tufts Sackler Immunology via email. On a Saturday!

I too applied Sackler immuno and have not heard anything, or heard anything from anyone for that matter :-(. Hopefully I'm not waiting to get 10 rejections...that would be quite depressing. For the most part, is this relatively early in the interview cycle for most programs?

[bio1]

You're right, I just looked at the e-mail:

For your planning purposes, if you are invited to visit, we will be holding 3 recruitment weekends. The tentative dates of the weekends are February 4-7, 18-21 and March 4-7.

Seems like no one as submitted any "results" here about interview invites to Colorado, so perhaps they just haven't sent them out. I was considering it a "safety" school as well.

Expecting that UCSF Tetrad rejection any minute now.....too bad as it was my 1st choice

One of my friends just got an invite from Colorado MCDB. She's a rockstar applicant though, so I'm hoping she was one of the first people on their list and that they still have plenty of invitations to send.

[psychomeatball]

Just got an email invite from Tufts Genetics for the Feb interview. Still haven't heard from the other schools yet.

Anyone applying to the Genetics program in Tufts?

[disco]

One of my friends just got an invite from Colorado MCDB. She's a rockstar applicant though, so I'm hoping she was one of the first people on their list and that they still have plenty of invitations to send.

Yeah, I saw the interview invite in the results section. Still no word here. I actually sent them an e-mail last Wednesday asking about decisions/scheduling/etc, but I haven't heard back which is messing with my head.

[AlexM451]

Congrats!!! BBS is a terrific place to do research! I know some ppl there and they r all telents and hard-core!

Is it a terrific place to do research? I got accepted for Micro, but I've heard from lots of friends and faculty that Harvard is a really cut-throat environment. I've heard stories about experiments being sabotaged, and collaboration being discouraged due to its uber-competitive nature. Having said that, Harvard is the top program for Micro in the country. What do you guys think?

[ma7eb4i]

Is it a terrific place to do research? I got accepted for Micro, but I've heard from lots of friends and faculty that Harvard is a really cut-throat environment. I've heard stories about experiments being sabotaged, and collaboration being discouraged due to its uber-competitive nature. Having said that, Harvard is the top program for Micro in the country. What do you guys think?

I've heard this, too. According to a grad student I worked with as an undergrad, some departments of Harvard have the attitude of "Harvard doesn't need you, but you need Harvard." This would definitely be something to investigate among current grad students.

Also, a postdoc friend there said that some of the older faculty can be kind of crusty. Not sure exactly what that means, maybe that they just sit on the laurels of their old research and don't innovate anymore?

[disco]

Got an invite for Colorado MCDB this morning. Excited to visit Boulder--it seems like a pretty awesome place.

[bio1]

Got an invite for Colorado MCDB this morning. Excited to visit Boulder--it seems like a pretty awesome place.

I got an invite too!

[gremot]

so the UCSF rejection waive reached the international students - got a very polite personal email apologizing for not offering me admission and wishing me success etc...

they said they had exceptionally high number of applications this year and not so much space..

I was hoping that my full funding would help me get into this school as they are having hard times... but i guess not.

a little sad gremot

Edited January 20, 2010 by gremot

[Vassago]

Has anyone heard from the following schools yet?

Weill Cornell (Neuro)

UPenn (Biomedical)

Einstein (Biomedical)

NYU (CNS)

Mount Sinai (Neuro)

Thanks!

[dillon]

Has anyone heard from the following schools yet?

Weill Cornell (Neuro)

UPenn (Biomedical)

Einstein (Biomedical)

NYU (CNS)

Mount Sinai (Neuro)

Thanks!

I got an invite to Weill Cornell (Neuro) in December. The only other school we both applied to was UPenn (BGS Neuro). I still haven't heard from them and am pretty sure that ship has sailed (so bummed). Hope this helps.

[Vassago]

Would you say most of those schools send out rejection emails in Jan/early Feb or do you have to wait for a letter?

[BassAZ]

Out of curiosity: I've assumed that tufts sackler has 2 dates, the weekend of Feb. 5th and the last weekend in Feb. Someone care to confirm that for me? Thanks!

[gremot]

had a phone interview with Michigan PIBS today and 10 min after that I received an acceptance letter! happy happy!

[genotype]

had a phone interview with Michigan PIBS today and 10 min after that I received an acceptance letter! happy happy!

Congrats! That's got to be a good feeling.

[ahm319]

Got an invitation to interview from University of Chicago's Department of Ecology and Evolution today!

practical question: what do people wear at interviews??? (what is the expected dress?)

[psychomeatball]

Out of curiosity: I've assumed that tufts sackler has 2 dates, the weekend of Feb. 5th and the last weekend in Feb. Someone care to confirm that for me? Thanks!

Yes. I got an invite for either the 5th or the 26th. Don't know if different departments have different dates though. I applied for the Genetics program.

[MarA]

had a phone interview with Michigan PIBS today and 10 min after that I received an acceptance letter! happy happy!

Congratz!

[bumikaze]

Yes. I got an invite for either the 5th or the 26th. Don't know if different departments have different dates though. I applied for the Genetics program.

Tufts Sackler Immunology is the 1st and 16th of Feb.

[shorty06]

I've heard this, too. According to a grad student I worked with as an undergrad, some departments of Harvard have the attitude of "Harvard doesn't need you, but you need Harvard." This would definitely be something to investigate among current grad students.

Also, a postdoc friend there said that some of the older faculty can be kind of crusty. Not sure exactly what that means, maybe that they just sit on the laurels of their old research and don't innovate anymore?

This is one reason I didn't apply there. The lab tech in my lab's project got cut while she was a grad student there. Result: no PhD for no good reason. Also, (comparatively) very few faculty members have tenure there, so your mentor may not be there for the entire time that you will. Also, I've heard that the attitude towards women there in science is a bit hostile... still. The bottom line: It might be great for hyper-competitive people or if you get lucky, but I think happiness is worth more to me than reputation. Also, there are plenty of other great schools out there.

[Tsujiru]

Kind of late to the forum but I have found it useful reading the information others have posted and thought I ought to share as well.

GRE: 1st try: 660Q, 710V, 4.5A 2nd try: 730Q, 690V, 4A

Research: 2 years in C. elegans neuro lab, summer researching drosophila memory, summer researching effects of inhalational anesthetics on spatial reference memory in rats

Publications: None to date, but rat research was presented at an anesthesiology conference and will be published sometime this spring

Applied: Johns Hopkins, WUSTL , Tufts, Rockefeller, Columbia, UCSF, Stanford , Berkeley , Caltech 

Interviews: Hopkins, WUSTL, Tufts, WSBS

Rejections: UCSF

First to everyone hating on Harvard, yes it can be an extremely stressful place but I don't think it is especially cut-throat. In fact, for those of you applying to OEB there are some truly wonderful faculty members that you should not miss. Hopi Hoekstra who just had another publication in Nature is a rising star in the department and an incredibly friendly and nice person to boot. Naomi Pierce was the youngest tenured female professor in Harvard's history, a MacArthur "genius" fellow (seriously brilliant), and looks out for her graduate students for the rest of their careers. David Haig is a genius theoretician who is very good-hearted and who students adore. Yun Zhang is also very intelligent and ambitious scientist who is also very good to her grad students. Similarly I have heard good things about Scott Edwards and Farish Jenkins (a really entertaining lecturer if you have the chance to hear him). On the neuro-side, Nao Uchida of MCB does incredible research (he's best known for mapping the olfactory region of the brain in rats) and is very generous with his time. Josh Sanes of MCB loves what he does and that comes across in the way he teaches and the numerous and varied subjects he and his students are studying. I'm sure there are ways that someone could have a less than stellar experience at Harvard, but I honestly believe that with the right advisor that frankly wouldn't be the case!

I suspect that by now I've already heard from the places that are planning to offer me interviews, but I'm OK with that. After all, you only really need to get into one good place