<p>@rocafella The faculty member who called me about the Yale BBS (MCGD) told me that we would be contacted by the registrar about travel arrangements soon after new year’s. He said the general schedule (for the Feb 9-12 date) travel is Thursday and Sunday, interviews and other activities Friday and Saturday.</p>
<p>As another current Harvard BBS student, I would similarly defend my program alongside mollieb (despite being a few pages late to the conversation). A lot of Harvard bashing goes on, and all of it is unfounded. There is absolutely nothing cutthroat about any of the labs I’ve interacted with personally, nor have I heard about any such behavior in any of my fellow students’ labs. The program is incredibly responsive to student concerns, and I have experienced only sincere helpfulness in the vast majority of my dealings with faculty and administration. Sure there are a few surely professors, but what program lacks such people? Moreover, your experience is what you make of it. If you prefer a big, well-known lab with 30 postdocs and a jet-setting PI, then you can so choose. On the other hand, if you prefer a small lab where the PI is sitting at the bench alongside you doing a Western blot, then there are those labs too. What is consistent is that the faculty here give graduate students as much respect and independence as the postdocs. In fact, I’ve heard a few postdocs complain that we get treated too well. The only exception to any of the biosciences grad programs at Harvard that I can think of is that there is some competition in the MCB program due to limited number of spaces in “hot” labs. Anyhow, I think its worth dispelling any untrue notions about the program, despite it being too late for anyone to change their mind and apply this round.</p>
<p>As for the people who did apply to Harvard BBS and who are looking for answers, I can tell you definitively that the admissions committee is not meeting until Jan 6. Therefore, there is absolutely no chance that you will hear any news until the week following.</p>
<p>This year, unlike past years, there will be a nominal interview instead of straight acceptances, a dictum passed down from higher-ups in the university that requires all graduate programs to interview. Despite this change, the number of people invited to interviews will still be in the 125 range, with a projected post-interview acceptance rate over 90%.</p>
<p>Also, chances are, if your application is missing something, you would have already been contacted by now. Don’t bother emailing since more or less everyone is on holiday break.</p>
<p>Domestic students have a much greater chance of getting an interview/accepted. Many foreign applicants apply, but there are simply funding limitations that restrict the number of foreign students.</p>
<p>Interview weekends for Harvard BBS are 1/26-29 and 2/9-12, which is a couple weeks earlier than in past years.</p>
<p>Thank you xiv21 and mollieb for taking the time to clear up my misconceptions about Harvard. As you can imagine, my mentor did not enjoy his visit. My negative attitude was shaped by one person’s bad experience, which has been strongly reinforced and rationalized by other horror stories. </p>
<p>As you both have greater insight than anyone I have talked to, I’ll take your word for it. I will treat Harvard like every other university. I’m relying on the (new) interview process to make my own judgment, that is, if I get an interview! </p>
<p>Still, it’s very hard to rationalize why anyone would turn down Harvard ;)</p>
<p>Ah man! No interview invitations yet. Only 1 rejection hahaha! I still have 4 schools with deadlines in early Jan. that I have to submit though.</p>
<p>@xiv21 thank you for the insights. Do MCB and BBS have separate committee? I applied to both at Harvard and I’m not sure it that will increase my chance of getting admitted.</p>
<p>^Yes, they are totally separate programs and have separate admissions processes.</p>
<p>Northwestern IBiS interview! I received a call from a faculty member about half an hour ago.</p>
<p>Thus far,</p>
<p>Interviews: Hopkins BCMB, UWash MCB, Norwestern IBiS
Waiting on: Berkeley MCB, Yale BBS, Harvard BBS
Rejected: none</p>
<p>Hi - does anyone know for UCSF Tetrad, when they say they’ve scheduled an interview for Feb 24, what the exact date range is? I’m presuming that interviews last more than one day (on the order of 3 days as with other programs), so if anyone knows the dates of the entire interview “period” that would be great. Thank in advance!</p>
<p>@Inagaki UCSF Tetrad told me my interview was Feb 3rd and when i asked them the specific date range, they said applicants were expected to arrive Feb 2nd and leave Feb 4th in the morning. I would assume it would work the same for the other weekend, expected to arrive Feb 23rd and leave Feb 25th. They said they would send more specifics after the new year though.</p>
<p>Thank you very much, greenertea!</p>
<p>^ greenertea is correct. Traditionally, Thursday night, when most interviewees arrive, you’ll have dinner with current students, whereas the bulk of Friday is interview activities.</p>
<p>
I understand you’re probably being facetious when you say this, but the answer is: “Because it’s not the best fit.” That, of course, is a rationalization for turning down any school.</p>
<p>I bring this up to advise you against expressing that statement while at interviews. Last year, there was a student interviewing for my program who said, on multiple occasions, to multiple people, “I like this place and all, but how could I possibly choose it over Harvard?” A person so seemingly strung-up on prestige was not someone any of us felt should be admitted. Since students in my program have a say in admissions decisions, we mentioned this to the admissions office; the person did not get in.</p>
<p>I just received my final grades for this past semester. They are all A’s, and they are in stark contrast to my previous semesters’ GPAs. </p>
<p>Would it be too late to send to send a new transcript in? I have 3 interviews already and a few schools have a January 1st deadline. I think I could send the transcript to these schools, but what about schools whose deadlines were Dec 1 and mid-Dec? Some have already sent out invites (which I did not receive [UCSF, Northwestern, Weill]) and I take the absence of invites from these schools as a rejection. Could a new transcript in any way help my application? </p>
<p>I will contact these schools today or tomorrow, but I just wanted to see what people’s opinions on here were.</p>
<p>@langerhans-I wouldn’t take the lack of invitation from these schools as a rejection just yet. I think it is safe to assume this after January 7th or so when schools send out what appears to be the final wave of interviews. In terms of the transcript I am sure it wouldn’t hurt to send in the final version and most schools continue to accept materials past their deadlines.</p>
<p>january 7th?! don’t people get interview invites even in late january?</p>
<p>perhaps you are right, I was just speaking about schools I am applying to…the point is not to despair until after January</p>
<p>“I think it is safe to assume this after January 7th or so when schools send out what appears to be the final wave of interviews.”</p>
<p>Complete B.S., please think before you post false things, thanks.</p>
<p>Agree，AliG89 is right, I noticed that some people posted some really misleading comments which were confirmed to be false. If you are not sure about your intel, please keep it to yourself.</p>
<p>my daughter just got her first invitation for an interview.<br>
University of Chicago: Neuroscience.</p>
<p>Received an email 12/29.</p>
<p>Also just heard from UChicago neuro</p>