<p>I totally agree that you are interviewing them just as much as they are interviewing you. I also think asking them what they think of the program is appropriate. I just don’t think that phrasing is right because it might make them a bit defensive. I think it might be better to ask how the research environment is, or the facilities, or collaborations. Basically, something that does not ask them to directly list negatives. I think asking more directed questions keeps it honest and neutral, so the faculty member can take it any direction they wish instead of asking ‘what’s wrong here’ which seems sort of negative to me. Anyway, the students will give you much more honest answers to questions like those than a professor would.</p>
<p>This is very nice of you. May I ask why the program at Sackler is not good for you?
So what I can assume from your experience, is that graduate students (at least at NYU Sackler) also take part of the admission decision…</p>
<p>Someone posted on Grad Cafe that they found out they were rejected by Yale BBS through the website. I just checked my application and there is no mention of rejection. I’ve heard rumors of them keeping a tiny waitlist (unofficial, of course)… does anyone know what’s going on?</p>
<p>I wonder this as well. Why would they reject a few people but not all people, especially since it’s an umbrella program which apparently only had one recruitment weekend. I would think that they would have just had a slightly bigger interview session then choose from that lot. Perhaps they rejected the people with incomplete applications. That happened with me and wisconsin, i applied to their major CMB program by accident in addition to the program I meant to apply to. They rejected me fairly early, which makes sense since i didn’t have any recommendations or transcripts attached.</p>
<p>For those who stayed in hotels at their interviews – did the school let you know in advance if you’d be sharing a room or not? Not a huge deal to me, I just haven’t been expecting a roommate but I’m starting to hear that sharing rooms is pretty much the status quo (definitely makes sense for the grad school).</p>
<p>Also – if you read your interviewer’s paper(s), how much time did you spend talking about it/them? (I already plan to ask them about their funding for grad. students, why their program is better than others, and their management style in the lab) I have 30 minute interviews and will have read a paper or two by each faculty member, but I often have a hard time coming up with specific questions about their work in the specific paper. Any tips?</p>
<p>I recently received a list of professors I will be interviewing with. 3/5 of them have research interests very different from what I talked about in my statement of purpose. For instance, I described how I wanted to focus on cancer biology, but 3 of the professors are plant biologists. Is this unusual?</p>
<p>For those interested in the BPH program of Harvard - (altho there doesn’t seem to be many of you who applied in the first place ;))
I’ve been told that they will take 8 students this semester but have invited between 20-30 students</p>
<p>No, it is not. They try to schedule you with people who you chose or whose research interests match yours, but there are always scheduling conflicts.</p>
<p>I got accepted to NYU Sackler and VCU School of Medicine today. I am ecstatic. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone with upcoming interviews and congratulations to those of you with acceptances. It’s a pretty amazing thing to even get the opportunity to go to college, so getting into a PhD program is overwhelming.</p>
<p>Is UNC BBSP still sending out interview invitations?<br>
They have six interview weekends, and how many interviews are done?
Am I probably rejected???</p>
<p>I asked the coordinator what the rate of admission after interview was, and she told me that they are taking 8 students this season
She didn’t tell me the actual ‘rate’, but later, one of the first year grad students at the BPH program told me they usually invite 20-30 students - but I’m not sure if there really will be that many this year and I really hope there won’t :(</p>
<p>Is 8 the target number of students that will ultimately choose to attend, or is 8 the number of acceptees? If it’s the former, then that sounds pretty much in line with all other graduate programs in terms of the number of students that decide to attend out of the total number of interviewees.</p>
<p>
One program informed me interviewees would be in doubles and that roommate matches were made based on compatibility (of background and research interests, or something similar?).</p>
<p>neurohopes: congrats! I am very happy for you!!</p>
<p>miRNAgirl: I will PM you. neurohopes interviewed with me, so you may want to ask her what she liked about the program to get a different opinion.</p>
<p>NYU Sackler was very specific during the Jan 14-16 interviews that they will contact everyone they interview on Jan 27. If you are interviewing there, they will tell you when they will contact you. Other programs differ widely in the time between interview and notification.</p>