<p>I love boston and won’t mind being here for next 5-6 years (if I get in) ;).</p>
<p>Do you know if Tufts is really tough to get into for neuroscience or pharmacology? I almost applied there but the person I spoke to when I called to inquire about the school wasn’t that nice. Kind of a ridiculous reason not to apply.</p>
<p>Now that I am seeing this huge amount of people who have applied to tiny neuroscience programs, I am thinking that I should’ve applied to more places (in big cities too) that accept more people and do rotations. </p>
<p>@talisshort: How many places did you apply to?</p>
<p>Sinai has a January 15th deadline. Also Neuroscience is in Tufts ISP, so it should be easier than for tiny neuro only programs. I have already received a Tufts ISP interview, so you should be hearing soon.</p>
<p>@ Neurohopes: I think the deadline’s tomorrow, but you could still try applying for the Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s umbrella program. You should hear something back reasonably soon, since the interviews are on the 15th/16th and 25th/26th of January.</p>
<p>Thanks, Serric! I just checked the website and it said the deadline is tomorrow, like you thought… I wonder if I could fill out the application, forward my transcripts (or upload them), send GRE scores, and the batch of letters that I have for UBC (obviously they are unopened so perhaps they could use them if I tell them the situation.) I really don’t want to bug my recommenders who each did a bunch of letters for me… Would it be worth it to try, do you think? The biggest problem will be the GRE scores because ETS takes forever. </p>
<p>Thanks, as well, Washu2010. Tufts was Dec. 15th, it looks like, so I think I missed that one altogether. Darn. I love Boston.</p>
<p>After days of waiting, finally got the interview from Baylor College of Medicine-Molecular and Human Genetics…really not easy for internationals to suffer such waiting…</p>
<p>By the way, I’ve seen nobody reporting WashU anymore…Has WashU sent out all interviews to internationals?</p>
<p>More, isn’t it weird that Harvard DMS cancel the interview secion and directly send offers/rejections instead? Anybody has any idea when Harvard would give news?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>The year I applied, I heard from Harvard BBS on January 26.</p>
<p>It’s just BBS, among all of Harvard’s biosciences programs, that doesn’t interview (not DMS – DMS is the division that contains BBS, the Program in Neuroscience, Immunology, and Virology). The reason I’ve been given by the program administrators is that, because there are so many PIs in BBS, and because admitted students meet with so many of them during recruitment, they don’t think they’d be able to actually get timely evaluations back from all of those PIs if they interviewed.</p>
<p>But the BBS recruitment weekend is identical to other interview weekends you’ll go on at other schools. The difference is that you know you’re accepted when you go, so the focus is on recruiting you.</p>
<p>Thanks, molliebatmit…
Do you mean Harvard BBS always doesn’t interview students, or, such policy starts this year?</p>
<p>I’m a Chinese applicant, as far as I know, every year Harvard BBS would interview Chinese students in person in Shanghai till last year. And somehow, seems this year they cancel in person interview and in the email they tell me they MAY interview by skype.</p>
<p>And I’m now totally lost about what Harvard BBS would do…</p>
<p>Harvard BBS hasn’t given interviews to domestic applicants for a long time.</p>
<p>gerrybio,</p>
<p>i have a feeling that the admission process in china is somewhat different from other countries (not really sure why this would be the case though…). my father’s student, who had completed his master’s in korea, was accepted to the harvard bbs program last year and he did not have an interview prior to his acceptance. so, i think the absence of an interview for the bbs program applies to all domestic applicants as well as to most international applicants. hope this helps. </p>
<p>happy new year everybody!</p>
<p>@gerrybio:
From what I know, (a friend who got into Harvard BBS 2-3 years ago) there is a sort of scholarship in Harvard that is set up apparently by a Chinese alumni, which would provide funding (this I am guessing) for unknown spots of Chinese students. Therefore a separate interview is conducted in China each year and take students via this route.
Now, I am unsure about the size of the funding, or how it works, or any other details. But I am fairly sure this mechanism exists for Chinese students.</p>
<p>happy new year everyone! Good luck on the upcoming interviews!</p>
<p>@ talisshort
Jan 15 deadline - University of Maryland Baltimore and Virginia Tech
Feb. 15 - U. Illinois at Chicago (GEMS program)</p>
<p>Update, Heard from University of Washington 12/27/09, did not get accepted to the MCB program. </p>
<p>Stats:
Cumulative GPA 3.67
Science GPA 3.8
3.5 years of research experience (2.5 as undergraduate researcher at CSULB, genetics and evolution plant research, 1 year as professional plant biochemistry research technician at Chapman University)
2 papers in manuscript stage, to be submitted January or February 2010
Poster presentation at international conference
Oral presentation of research at University science forum
Senior honors thesis
Graduated with honors in the major, Molecular and Cell Biology, CSU Long Beach
GRE Q 650 V 620 A 4.0
Biology subject 69 percentile</p>
<p>Assuming that you interview relatively well, how many interviews would you hope to get in order to feel reasonably sure you would get in SOMEWHERE? Just on odds, if nothing else.</p>
<p>It probably depends on how well you can discuss your own research, not just the methods but the concepts and relevance. I think if you are confident about interviewing, 1 or 2 should be safe.</p>
<p>Thanks, collegebound. Great stats, I wish I had as much research experience as you – I saw you got an invite at Berkeley. Good luck!</p>
<p>Moderators: Should you read a dozen of a PIs papers before you interview? I am not one hundred percent certain who I will be meeting with (am hoping it’s the professors I have corresponded with but since there are rotations for the first year in both the programs where I got interviews, I’m not sure if they will be there.)</p>
<p>I am also wondering if interviews are more to weed out people they think just won’t get along well in the lab or with others. Since your credentials already got you in the door, is the interview almost a technicality if you are reasonably good with people?</p>
<p>Also, since committees are still meeting for most programs, is it a good idea to follow up with PIs so your name will ring more of a bell when they get to you? There were a few programs where I did not make contact with the professors I listed in the first place.</p>
<p>Neurohopes: I don’t think anyone can answer how many interviews will equal at least one acceptance. Obviously, if you get a lot of interviews, it means that your application is strong. If you get only one or two, however, that’s not a bad sign.</p>
<p>If you have only one interview, it will be almost impossible to read a “dozen or so” papers written by each PI you are scheduled to meet. Obviously, you should be aware of what kind of research each does so you can ask intelligent questions during the interview, so reading some papers in advance would be a great idea. At the very least, you should be familiar with some of the literature that pertain to your stated research interests.</p>
<p>Each program is different when “weeding out” interviewees. Some take, say, 90% of all interviewees, with the interviews being more of a personality check than anything, while others might take only 60%, with the interviews used as critical supplements to the applications. Although you do need to be at the top of your game, there’s no sense in getting uptight about it. You can’t change who you are and what you’ve done. Enjoy being wined and dined and given glimpses into the labs, faculty, and students.</p>
<p>Momwaitingfornew, that is terrific advice, thank you so much. </p>
<p>Last night I emailed the post-doc I worked under at one of my labs and he also said similar things (especially about “being yourself.”) I tend to try to over-prepare and it sounds like that may not be possible, like you said. With the larger open programs (with rotations in the first year), do you think it’s appropriate to ask the administrator who will be meeting with you?</p>
<p>I remember you saying that your daughter had a applied to a certain number of programs to try and get a certain number of interviews… Was that mainly to make sure she had some choices or to make sure she got in somewhere?</p>
<p>Thanks again for all of your help. I really appreciate it!</p>
<p>Neurohopes: I think they will give you a schedule, either ahead of time or when you arrive. My D was asked to supply the names of PIs she’d like to meet with during the interview weekend. I’m sure they will try to use her list to arrange the schedule, although I remember last year that a few students were assigned interviews with PIs that they had not listed. </p>
<p>Just to clarify: my daughter applied only to schools she would love to attend. She figured there wasn’t much use in trying to identify “safety schools” (they don’t really exist in graduate admissions anyway) because she would rather take a year off strengthening her application, if necessary, than attending a program that she wasn’t wild about. But she was also realistic. She knew that she would not get interviews everywhere, no matter how good her application was. When I said that she applied to 9 programs with the hope that she would get 4 interviews, it wasn’t a hard and fast number or any special knowledge about the odds. She wanted choices, that’s all. She went in hoping she would be accepted by many but knowing that she could be rejected by all.</p>