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Dear lord.</p>
<p>This isn’t as egregious, but I had a recruit come up to me and my collaborator last year and inform us that he was interested in rotating in our lab, but only if he ended up here, which wasn’t likely because the people at Stanford were so much cooler. Definitely one of those “Well! Nice talking to you, too,” moments.</p>
<p>@davexuke, Don’t discourage people from posting. If something is wrong, somebody else will point out the error. That’s the beauty of this thread.</p>
<p>Question for those already in a program: Is it true that at interviews, schools will try to have grad students at events who will make the school look best? As in, the students who are the happiest in the program, etc.? A friend warned me yesterday about this, and I’m concerned as to how I’m supposed to judge a program if this is true. Do you think it’s rude if I ask grad students I meet, “Are you happy here?” “Are you REALLY happy here?” “What do you not like about the program?”</p>
<p>Any other general advice about how to get the most from an interview weekend (aside from reading papers and coming up with questions for professors, etc. etc.)? I figure it’s a good time now since there’s a bit of downtime until the next wave of interview invites after the new year. Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Just received an NYU shackled interview invite for 3/8-3/9</p>
<p>Sackler… Stupid iPhone…</p>
<p>@teamcentrosome-what program did you apply to at Sackler? hope I can get an interview there.</p>
<p>this thread is to bounce ideas off one another and to report on/get through the process, i offered an opinion and not fact. i don’t think its necessary to be so aggressive, we are all in this together</p>
<p>Sometimes, you have no idea how your false opinion gets people so nervous and anxious. Just be considered and take a minute to think about it before you post anything.</p>
<p>Yeah like me man</p>
<p>@nrds35 I applied to the grad program in Biomedical Sciences. I’ve heard that NYU does their offers on a rolling basis, and as there hasn’t been a flood of interviews on here or gradcafe it would seem that apps are still being reviewed. </p>
<p>@kesselrunner A buddy of mine received an interview invite a week or so ago from them.</p>
<p>Apologies for scaring anyone, I think we all need a vacation.</p>
<p>@centrosome-appreciate it</p>
<p>sadly, it is vacation.</p>
<p>@langerhans: I have sent a second round of transcripts with my Fall grades to my top schools. I have actually heard an admission person from NYU mentioning that it can only help you and not harm you in any way. So I’d say go ahead and send them if you don’t mind the extra cost. BTW congrats on the straight A’s.</p>
<p>Has anyone heard from Mt Sinai yet? I saw on last year’s thread that invites came on December 29.</p>
<p>@greenertea</p>
<p>Good questions. It’s still unclear to me what the interview process entails. I have one set up for next Friday that isn’t formal - so it’ll be me and a potential PI, one-on-one. It’s an exciting prospect, but I have no idea whether to treat it like a job interview, and prepare accordingly, or as an informal sort of “sizing up” and relax.</p>
<p>I’m all used to job interviews. This grad school “interview” business mystifies me. </p>
<p>People who have already been to interviews and recruitment weekends: please advise.</p>
<p>
I don’t think most programs will purposefully bar the students they know to be unhappy from attending interview events. All current students in my program, for instance, are invited to the interview weekend’s social events. However, interest in the new class of potential students and happiness with grad life both decrease with increasing graduate year, so that may be why it seems as if the unhappy students are largely absent.</p>
<p>Current students involved in the more “direct” interview activities (e.g., hosting, one-on-one Q&A, tours, etc.) volunteer to do so, so obviously they represent the program’s most enthusiastic (and maybe even enthusiastically pessimistic) students. Actually, a seventh year I know well, who is vocally bitter about grad school in general (not about my program in particular), got assigned to answer an interviewee’s questions last year. I’m sure she regaled the student with her tales of graduate woe; point is, no one tried to “hide” her or her perspective from visiting students.</p>
<p>All you have to do is keep in mind that NO program is 100% sunshine and fluffiness – in every program, there is going to be someone who, should you talk to him/her, will express only regret or disappointment about grad school to you. If you don’t actually encounter these people, take it as such perspectives being a minority in that program’s graduate community, rather than as the general happiness of the students you DO meet being a dishonest, one-sided facade.</p>
<p>Finally, it is absolutely NOT rude to ask, “What don’t you like about your program?” Remember, interviews are for you to get all the information necessary to make a thoughtful decision on what program is the best for you. No one is going to take offense at candid questions.</p>
<p>@neurogirl4-I heard from Sinai on dec 19</p>
<p>which program at sinai, nrds35?</p>
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<p>couldn’t agree more</p>
<p>@dietcokehead7-I applied to the Graduate School of Biological Sciences for a Biomedical Sciences degree and I put as my choices for training area Immunology (IMM), Neuroscience (NEU), and Systems Biology of Disease and Therapy (SBDT). Preferred study areas varied from immunobiology, cancer bio, pathobio, and cell bio.</p>
<p>From what I have read on the program and from contact with students, you are admitted under an umbrella program. I am pretty sure that there are no specific program invites, like with the other interview I have at Cornell where I was invited for the Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis program (IMP). Once you are in, if you know what you want to do you can associate with a Training program immediately or wait until later to do so after having sampled.</p>