Update on Harvard BBS Acceptance Rate

[PhDHopeful3]

Hi everyone,

I just heard some information that surprised me today that I wanted to share (as it's quite different than previous post-interview acceptance rates that I had heard for Harvard BBS). There are ~70 people attending the first (January) interview weekend, and ~50 people attending the second (Feb) interview weekend. They're also still expecting to hear back from a few more people who haven't yet signed up.

They are looking to fill 65-70 spots for this cycle. 

I was quite surprised, because I'd heard for Harvard BBS that if you get an interview, you're pretty much good (~90% post-interview acceptance rate), but these numbers don't indicate that.

Just wanted to share this info, as I know people are often talking about acceptance rates!

 

EDIT

I should have added that I was told that, yes, more offers go out than the 65-70 spots that they're looking to fill (makes sense, as we know students will choose other programs for various reasons). But absolutely not to the tune of 80-90% of interviewees receiving an offer of admission.

Edited January 12, 2017 by PhDHopeful3

[Kaede]

Thank you for this information! Better to go in with a competitive environment than feeling overconfident.

[PhDHopeful3]

Exactly! I think I was feeling too confident before I found this out!

[neuroslice]

I don't think this is as bad as it seems at first glance. 70 admits out of a group of 120 is approximately a ~60% acceptance rate, but you have to consider that even top programs don't have 100% enrollment rates. The students that end up getting offers from Harvard are going to be getting offers from other excellent schools, so they always have to send out more offers than they have spots in order to fill out their incoming class. This means that the the actual post-interview admissions rate has to substantially higher than 60% - I figure that somewhere around 80% is reasonable based on the numbers you mentioned.

Edit: Didn't see OP's edit to his original post. But I do think it's reasonable to expect an 80% rate.

Edited January 12, 2017 by neuroslice

[Epigenetics]

I can tell you fundamentally none of what you're saying is true. Yes they're trying to fill ~65 spots, because the program is large, but that is the post-acceptance matriculation number. They expect a large number of people not to attend, so if they anticipate a matriculation rate of 50% (from what I've heard that's about what they expect) then they have to accept 130 people to get that. I know for a fact their post-interview admission rate is 90-95%. Source: I work in a BBS lab.

[Nomad1111]

1 hour ago, Epigenetics said:

I can tell you fundamentally none of what you're saying is true. Yes they're trying to fill ~65 spots, because the program is large, but that is the post-acceptance matriculation number. They expect a large number of people not to attend, so if they anticipate a matriculation rate of 50% (from what I've heard that's about what they expect) then they have to accept 130 people to get that. I know for a fact their post-interview admission rate is 90-95%. Source: I work in a BBS lab.

Whew! That is reassuring!

[MCF10A]

2 hours ago, Epigenetics said:

I can tell you fundamentally none of what you're saying is true. Yes they're trying to fill ~65 spots, because the program is large, but that is the post-acceptance matriculation number. They expect a large number of people not to attend, so if they anticipate a matriculation rate of 50% (from what I've heard that's about what they expect) then they have to accept 130 people to get that. I know for a fact their post-interview admission rate is 90-95%. Source: I work in a BBS lab.

Wow that really relieved me! I feel kind of surprised by the ~50% yield rate tho, given that the MD and MD-PhD program at HMS both have 75%+ yield rates. Maybe many people who get in Harvard BBS tend to have multiple offers from other top programs, but getting into multiple top schools for MD/MD-PhD is way harder?

[MCF10A]

I actually found some data on HILS website and did some math based on the data. The result confirms what @Epigenetics just said:

(source: https://gsas.harvard.edu/programs-of-study/divisions/harvard-integrated-life-sciences)

(1)Last year all programs in HILS (BBS, BIG, MCO, immunology, chem bio, etc) accepted~396 students (2331 total applicants*17% admission rate), and the entering class is 210, which makes the yield rate ~53%.

(2)Since BBS is the largest cohort in HILS (~31% of the HILS), let's assume that the yield rate of BBS is similar to that number of the whole HILS. 

(3)In order to fill 65 spots, BBS needs to accept 65/0.53=122 students. If the # of spots to fill is 70, they need to accept 132.

(4)~120 people will attend two interview weekends, and there are more internationals do Skype interview. Harvard BBS has ~30% intl students, let's assume that among 30%, half (15%) reside in the US and are already included in the 120, and the remaining 15% will do skype. The total interviewee number (onsite+skype)=120/(1-0.15)=142. 

(5)The conclusion: BBS will interview ~140 students and accept 120-130 students, which makes the post-interview acceptance rate 86-93%. Not bad at all.

So guess we can just chill

[desmond.bo]

5 hours ago, MCF10A said:

I actually found some data on HILS website and did some math based on the data. The result confirms what @Epigenetics just said:

(source: https://gsas.harvard.edu/programs-of-study/divisions/harvard-integrated-life-sciences)

(1)Last year all programs in HILS (BBS, BIG, MCO, immunology, chem bio, etc) accepted~396 students (2331 total applicants*17% admission rate), and the entering class is 210, which makes the yield rate ~53%.

(2)Since BBS is the largest cohort in HILS (~31% of the HILS), let's assume that the yield rate of BBS is similar to that number of the whole HILS. 

(3)In order to fill 65 spots, BBS needs to accept 65/0.53=122 students. If the # of spots to fill is 70, they need to accept 132.

(4)~120 people will attend two interview weekends, and there are more internationals do Skype interview. Harvard BBS has ~30% intl students, let's assume that among 30%, half (15%) reside in the US and are already included in the 120, and the remaining 15% will do skype. The total interviewee number (onsite+skype)=120/(1-0.15)=142. 

(5)The conclusion: BBS will interview ~140 students and accept 120-130 students, which makes the post-interview acceptance rate 86-93%. Not bad at all.

So guess we can just chill

 

 

 

I love you. 

Edited January 17, 2017 by desmond.bo
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[SysEvo]

5 hours ago, MCF10A said:

I actually found some data on HILS website and did some math based on the data. The result confirms what @Epigenetics just said:

(source: https://gsas.harvard.edu/programs-of-study/divisions/harvard-integrated-life-sciences)

(1)Last year all programs in HILS (BBS, BIG, MCO, immunology, chem bio, etc) accepted~396 students (2331 total applicants*17% admission rate), and the entering class is 210, which makes the yield rate ~53%.

(2)Since BBS is the largest cohort in HILS (~31% of the HILS), let's assume that the yield rate of BBS is similar to that number of the whole HILS. 

(3)In order to fill 65 spots, BBS needs to accept 65/0.53=122 students. If the # of spots to fill is 70, they need to accept 132.

(4)~120 people will attend two interview weekends, and there are more internationals do Skype interview. Harvard BBS has ~30% intl students, let's assume that among 30%, half (15%) reside in the US and are already included in the 120, and the remaining 15% will do skype. The total interviewee number (onsite+skype)=120/(1-0.15)=142. 

(5)The conclusion: BBS will interview ~140 students and accept 120-130 students, which makes the post-interview acceptance rate 86-93%. Not bad at all.

So guess we can just chill

I envy you

Was told by the secretary during Sys Bio interview that the acceptance rate was ~60%

[hippopotamus]

Does anyone know if Harvard BBS sends out the list of faculty that you'll be interviewing with?

[desmond.bo]

1 hour ago, hippopotamus said:

Does anyone know if Harvard BBS sends out the list of faculty that you'll be interviewing with?

Don't think so. Still waiting on that.

Got contact with my student host though.

[hippopotamus]

8 minutes ago, desmond.bo said:

Don't think so. Still waiting on that.

Got contact with my student host though.

Did your grad student host contact you directly?

[desmond.bo]

32 minutes ago, hippopotamus said:

Did your grad student host contact you directly?

Yep. I suppose they are doing these independently. 

[hippopotamus]

Does anyone know when we hear back from Harvard BBS?

[PhDHopeful3]

20 minutes ago, hippopotamus said:

Does anyone know when we hear back from Harvard BBS?

From looking at the previous two years, it looks like the first round of interviews hears today.... not sure if that's the case this year, but that's how it has been previously.

[desmond.bo]

10 hours ago, PhDHopeful3 said:

From looking at the previous two years, it looks like the first round of interviews hears today.... not sure if that's the case this year, but that's how it has been previously.

Nothing happened to me today. Did you guys heard about anything?

[hippopotamus]

56 minutes ago, desmond.bo said:

Nothing happened to me today. Did you guys heard about anything?

i don't think anything came out today. maybe tomorrow

[Nomad1111]

Nothing today!

[MCF10A]

So another day of silence I guess?

[hippopotamus]

I haven't heard anything either

[desmond.bo]

Me neither 

[Nomad1111]

Neither!

Nothing in the results section either

Edited February 2, 2017 by Nomad1111

[Kaede]

Come on BBS, let's try for today for week 1!

[jeanetics17]

Maybe they're adjusting how many people they admit this year based on last year's results which they told us was a very big class (~70-75). Since so many people accepted last year, they probably think a similar trend will occur this year, and of course those are huge numbers in terms of cost for the program. When we didn't hear back last week, I suspected something was up and perhaps (I suspect) the 1st group of interviewees won't hear back until after the 2nd interview. Basically, I think they are going to pool all interviewees and cut from that instead of each weekend (reducing the amount accepted in total).