<p>just got an interview from weill cornell pbsb. interview dates: feb 22-24.</p>
<p>ucsd bms interview :)</p>
<p>congrats pumiliod, I got rejected by UCSD, and I didn’t even pass the pre-app. They told me they only take 1 or 2 out 400 international applicants each year.</p>
<p>Quick question all. I got the call from Berkeley MCB the Thursday before Christmas, but no email yet. Anyone else in the same boat? I’m hoping they haven’t sent them out yet rather than me getting lost in the shuffle.</p>
<p>Haha yes, me too! The prof said I would get an email later…but I haven’t…I think I will call on Monday, since it was probably winter break and stuff?</p>
<p>does anyone know if there was a wave of weill cornell pbsb invites that happened yesterday?</p>
<p>^^yep…i got an email from the program coordinator yesterday night with an invite.</p>
<p>thanks davidxuke. im domestic, and a CA resident, so i’m not crazy surprised.
did you ever get invited for an in-person interview after your skype interview at UCLA ACCESS?</p>
<p>GradSchoolYayy, from the UCB phone call, i recall them saying the email will be sent in the new year.</p>
<p>@pumiliod: I have not heard of anything back from the ACCESS program after the interview</p>
<p>@ asinine & GradSchoolYayy</p>
<p>From my UCB phone call, the professor definitely said I would receive an email after the new year with details about arranging the interview</p>
<p>Hey All,</p>
<p>Seems that I discovered this thread a bit late, but nonetheless here’s my spiel.</p>
<p>Undergrad-University of Illinois, Biochemistry
GPA-3.7
GRE-166Q 153V 3A</p>
<p>Schools Applied To:</p>
<p>University of Wisconsin (Have interviews for both Biophysics and iPIB programs, separate weekends)
University of Michigan (Have interview for PIBS)
WashU-Have interview for Biophysics
Harvard Biophysics-Haven’t heard from
Yale Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry-Haven’t heard from
MIT-Haven’t head from</p>
<p>From briefly going through other comments, it seems that Harvard/Yale/MIT haven’t sent out anything yet. Is that correct?</p>
<p>@greenertea:</p>
<p>The current students that are involved in planning and organizing events during interview weekends are more or less all volunteers. Therefore, there is some selection for students that view the program favorably. I’ve been involved in my program’s recruitment in past years, and I do so because I want to keep my program fun and exciting. Although this year we technically have interview weekends, and not just recruitment, I think the goal of the students involved in planning the weekends is still the same.</p>
<p>Of course, I think graduate students that you meet will be candid in their opinions, as we are all aware that different graduate programs are a better or worse fit for a given applicant. At the top tier schools, there isn’t any benefit to deluding incoming students of a program’s greatness, just to have them drop out later. Matriculation yield is rarely a problem (usually I hear of programs that having problems with high yield, rather than low), and retention is a far more important statistic.</p>
<p>As for what to do to prepare for interview weekends, it is also a good idea to prepare yourself and read up on the faculty that will be interviewing you. Have questions planned for each faculty. This doesn’t have to just be about their research, but I often also asked questions like, “How do you like it here?” or “Where did you do your graduate schooling and how does it compare?” You should also be prepared to field questions about your own research project. If your project is complex, some people find it useful to even print some slides to show during an interview. In general, the interview will half be about your research and half be the faculty answering your questions. However, the best advice is to be polite, respectful, and relaxed. Remember, most programs accept the vast majority of interviewees.</p>
<p>commence obsessive email checking for the week</p>
<p>Yep. Here we go again. Hoping to hear from another school within the next two weeks. Already heard from UNC-CH (Pending) and Mayo (scheduled interview on Feb 9-12th).</p>
<p>What’s up UPenn CMB Feb 2-4</p>
<p>all is quiet…</p>
<p>very quiet…</p>
<p>So I got the email containing the Berkeley details, which stated </p>
<p>“Below is the link to our website with the information regarding your interview visit at Berkeley. You will be able to select one of our two visits. Please remember that the visits are limited to 65 students each on a first come, first served basis.”</p>
<p>Now, did they invite more than 130 students and if I don’t make my arrangements ASAP they won’t have a spot for me, or does this just mean if I wait I might not get the day I want?</p>
<p>^ It means you might not get your first-choice date if you’re too late signing up.</p>
<p>I guess I should post my stats and stuff:</p>
<p>Undergrad: University of Kansas</p>
<p>Major: Math with lots of CS/Biology/Chemistry coursework</p>
<p>GPA: 3.74 (including a pretty bad final semester)</p>
<p>Research: I’ve done projects in genetics, computational biology, and synthetic biology over about 3.5 years. I graduated in 2011 and have been doing research since then.</p>
<p>Publications: one minor-author on a Nature paper, and minor paper in submission</p>
<p>GRE Scores: 800Q, 660V, 5.0AW</p>
<p>Other: Amgen Scholar and some school-level awards/honors</p>
<p>Programs:</p>
<p>UW-Seattle Bioengineering
UW-Seattle Biology/Computational Molecular Biology
Berkeley/UCSF Bioengineering
Stanford Bioengineering
MIT CSB
Harvard Systems Biology
BU Biomedical Engineering
Northwestern IBiS
UC Davis Biomedical Engineering
U of Utah Bioengineering</p>
<p>So far:</p>
<p>Interview invites for UW-Seattle Biology and Northwestern IBiS.</p>