RM17 Posted January 10, 2017 Posted January 10, 2017 6 minutes ago, cmykrgb said: this might be a silly question but how much does gpa matter after you received an interview? I don't think it'll matter much - once you've made it to the interview stage, I think they're mostly making sure that you are who you say you are, can talk about your research intelligently, and aren't some heinous asshole; getting the interview is really the main hurdle! Maybe if they need to cut down the pool and are looking towards the bottom of their list after offering to several people they'd go back to stats, but I think that if you've received an interview your stats have by and large been OKed. .letmeinplz// and cmykrgb 2
anxious15 Posted January 11, 2017 Posted January 11, 2017 @Bioenchilada if you received an opportunity to interview with UPENN CAMB, what are the chances of getting in post interview?
Bioenchilada Posted January 11, 2017 Posted January 11, 2017 3 hours ago, anxious15 said: @Bioenchilada if you received an opportunity to interview with UPENN CAMB, what are the chances of getting in post interview? Historically, I believe the post-interview acceptance rate is greater than 80%.
abcd1 Posted January 12, 2017 Posted January 12, 2017 A question about the interview process. I have my first interview in a couple of weeks and my interview invite mentioned that they will let me know the names of the 5 faculty members who will interview me. The invite also had a short survey with a list of faculty and asked me to check around 8 faculty members I would be interested in meeting. Unfortunately, the list didn't contain the names of the 3 faculty members I was really interested in and who I had mentioned in my application and personal statement. Now I am a little confused if the five faculty members who end up interviewing me are the ones with whom I will have to work or if I should remain flexible until (or if) I get an admission offer and then mention my interest in other faculty members? Are the people who interview you normally the ones whose labs you rotate through or can they just be members of the admissions committee evaluating your fit for the program?
Bioenchilada Posted January 12, 2017 Posted January 12, 2017 2 hours ago, abcd1 said: A question about the interview process. I have my first interview in a couple of weeks and my interview invite mentioned that they will let me know the names of the 5 faculty members who will interview me. The invite also had a short survey with a list of faculty and asked me to check around 8 faculty members I would be interested in meeting. Unfortunately, the list didn't contain the names of the 3 faculty members I was really interested in and who I had mentioned in my application and personal statement. Now I am a little confused if the five faculty members who end up interviewing me are the ones with whom I will have to work or if I should remain flexible until (or if) I get an admission offer and then mention my interest in other faculty members? Are the people who interview you normally the ones whose labs you rotate through or can they just be members of the admissions committee evaluating your fit for the program? The people you interview have nothing to do with who you rotate with, or who's taking students. It could just be that they had other things to tend to. abcd1 and Epigenetics 2
abcd1 Posted January 12, 2017 Posted January 12, 2017 1 hour ago, Bioenchilada said: The people you interview have nothing to do with who you rotate with, or who's taking students. It could just be that they had other things to tend to. Thanks. That is comforting.
RM17 Posted January 12, 2017 Posted January 12, 2017 15 hours ago, abcd1 said: A question about the interview process. I have my first interview in a couple of weeks and my interview invite mentioned that they will let me know the names of the 5 faculty members who will interview me. The invite also had a short survey with a list of faculty and asked me to check around 8 faculty members I would be interested in meeting. Unfortunately, the list didn't contain the names of the 3 faculty members I was really interested in and who I had mentioned in my application and personal statement. Now I am a little confused if the five faculty members who end up interviewing me are the ones with whom I will have to work or if I should remain flexible until (or if) I get an admission offer and then mention my interest in other faculty members? Are the people who interview you normally the ones whose labs you rotate through or can they just be members of the admissions committee evaluating your fit for the program? 13 hours ago, Bioenchilada said: The people you interview have nothing to do with who you rotate with, or who's taking students. It could just be that they had other things to tend to. Also - they tend to know what your interests are from your app. Last year I met with some folks I wasn't particularly interested in but I was worried I'd have to "fake it" when it came to talking about why I wanted to work with them. i sometimes think that it's a good litmus test for programs to see if you can talk about your work in a slightly less technical way and articulate your interests to people outside your field as well as inside it. Some of my more fun conversations were with faculty whose research interests didn't align with mine!
Infinito Posted January 12, 2017 Posted January 12, 2017 18 hours ago, Bioenchilada said: Historically, I believe the post-interview acceptance rate is greater than 80%. Heard last year it was 113/115 that were admitted.
anxious15 Posted January 12, 2017 Posted January 12, 2017 3 hours ago, Infinito said: Heard last year it was 113/115 that were admitted. That's a little comforting! It's my number 1 choice, I hope everything works out!!
Nomad1111 Posted January 14, 2017 Posted January 14, 2017 This question was asked in another section, but I thought this would be a good place to ask... How does the final decision work? Is it based off of interviews solely, do they revisit your documents and look at that plus interview? I know it'll depend on school/program, as well as how much the program over-interviews by, but any insight would be great!
ani927 Posted January 16, 2017 Posted January 16, 2017 Anyone been waitlisted? I got waitlisted in my top choice, GWU, and wondering if I should sent the department an email thanking them? And what are my chances of getting off the waitlist?
zam330 Posted January 16, 2017 Posted January 16, 2017 (edited) 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. Edited January 16, 2017 by zam330
BadWolf1321 Posted January 16, 2017 Posted January 16, 2017 Does anyone have any interview tips? I have my first interview weekend next weekend (and my second the next weekend) and I'm kinda freaking out. My main concern is I won't be able to ask good questions about the interviewers' research. So is there any way to prepare for that or are there any tricks anyone has?
BigThomason51 Posted January 16, 2017 Posted January 16, 2017 11 minutes ago, BadWolf1321 said: Does anyone have any interview tips? I have my first interview weekend next weekend (and my second the next weekend) and I'm kinda freaking out. My main concern is I won't be able to ask good questions about the interviewers' research. So is there any way to prepare for that or are there any tricks anyone has? Congrats on the interview! Which program?
BadWolf1321 Posted January 16, 2017 Posted January 16, 2017 4 minutes ago, BigThomason51 said: Congrats on the interview! Which program? The first one is at University of Florida, IDP Biomedical Sciences- Cancer Biology. The second is Emory University, BMD- Cancer Biology. I literally have one day between interview weekends. I'm going to be exhausted!
BigThomason51 Posted January 16, 2017 Posted January 16, 2017 15 minutes ago, BadWolf1321 said: The first one is at University of Florida, IDP Biomedical Sciences- Cancer Biology. The second is Emory University, BMD- Cancer Biology. I literally have one day between interview weekends. I'm going to be exhausted! You're in a great position! Although it will be exhausting, you're one step closer to your goal! What I would do is look at the mission statements for this school, research some potential laboratorys and also search around for common interview questions. One of my friends just had an interview, and they said they were mostly asked personal questions; Why do you want a Phd? What made you get into this field? They said none of the questions were about their specific research. However, it's good to be prepared for everything that they could throw.
BadWolf1321 Posted January 16, 2017 Posted January 16, 2017 Okay, Thanks! I just read something somewhere that said the interviewers talk about their research and expect you to ask questions. Maybe that's just what happens at that school. I want to be prepared anyway lol.
BadWolf1321 Posted January 16, 2017 Posted January 16, 2017 11 minutes ago, BigThomason51 said: You're in a great position! Although it will be exhausting, you're one step closer to your goal! What I would do is look at the mission statements for this school, research some potential laboratorys and also search around for common interview questions. One of my friends just had an interview, and they said they were mostly asked personal questions; Why do you want a Phd? What made you get into this field? They said none of the questions were about their specific research. However, it's good to be prepared for everything that they could throw. Okay, Thanks! I just read something somewhere that said the interviewers ask about your research and then talk about their research and expect you to ask questions. Maybe that's just what happens at that school. I want to be prepared though lol. I already have some questions about the specific programs. I just want to be as prepared as possible since I get really nervous. Also, does anyone know if it's acceptable to bring in a notebook with questions into an interview?
BigThomason51 Posted January 16, 2017 Posted January 16, 2017 7 minutes ago, BadWolf1321 said: Okay, Thanks! I just read something somewhere that said the interviewers ask about your research and then talk about their research and expect you to ask questions. Maybe that's just what happens at that school. I want to be prepared though lol. I already have some questions about the specific programs. I just want to be as prepared as possible since I get really nervous. Also, does anyone know if it's acceptable to bring in a notebook with questions into an interview? Yep, that's they they were very surprised when no questions about research were asked -almost thrown off guard. So, it's good to be prepared for anything they throw your way.
BadWolf1321 Posted January 16, 2017 Posted January 16, 2017 6 minutes ago, BigThomason51 said: Yep, that's they they were very surprised when no questions about research were asked -almost thrown off guard. So, it's good to be prepared for anything they throw your way. Honestly, personal questions probably scare me even more lol. I never know how to answer them.
LoveMysterious Posted January 16, 2017 Posted January 16, 2017 Hi everyone! I've got a question regarding applying to multiple programs at the same school. I applied to Loyola Chicago's masters program in Infectious Disease & Immunology MS, and I see that they also have a very similar program that is Microbiology & Immunology MS. The curriculum is nearly identical; but one program is more geared toward translational research. I'd be more than happy in either program and I want to apply to this other program as well. Is it generally discouraged to apply to multiple programs at the same institution? What about when the people on the admissions committee overlap?
jumbo1177 Posted January 18, 2017 Posted January 18, 2017 If you're going on an interview for one of your first choice schools, does anyone recommend making it clear in the interview that its your top choice? I just had my first interview weekend at one of my favorites (that has below a 50% post interview acceptance rate) and I was worried that I didn't sell myself enough during the interview that the school was my favorite! If they ask me why I like the program, should I say it is my top choice because....
breadwinner Posted January 18, 2017 Posted January 18, 2017 (edited) 18 hours ago, jumbo1177 said: If you're going on an interview for one of your first choice schools, does anyone recommend making it clear in the interview that its your top choice? I just had my first interview weekend at one of my favorites (that has below a 50% post interview acceptance rate) and I was worried that I didn't sell myself enough during the interview that the school was my favorite! If they ask me why I like the program, should I say it is my top choice because.... Yeah, I'd say it's fine to say a school is your top choice. I actually said something similar at most of my interviews (it just so happened that I liked each new school better than the last, so I really did think each was my top choice at the time) and I got accepted everywhere I interviewed. I also suspect that one of the places I got rejected (didn't interview there) rejected me in part because I failed to show great enthusiasm about them being a favorite school of mine, especially since it was technically less competitive than the places I was accepted. Edited January 18, 2017 by breadwinner
cuteDr22 Posted January 23, 2017 Posted January 23, 2017 I have started classes and realized that i am overextended - interview and class schedule. There is one school that I have scheduled an interview with but i know i will probably not attend. Canceling the interview would ease my schedule and also open the door for someone else. What is the best way to contact the school and politely cancel? I feel absolutely horrible about this. Please advise. Thank you, all!
Euprymna Posted January 23, 2017 Posted January 23, 2017 Quick question about thank-you emails - if I had been interviewed by 10+ people individually, do I send each of them a thank-you email? Is it too many people? I don't know how much I can personalise each of them, will the PoIs compare them and find out I've essentially written the same stuff? Should I keep them short because professors get enough spam as they do already? (Where I come from we don't really do thank-you emails after PhD interviews, so this is a bit new for me... freaking out!)
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