<p>sabninim. I'm intl, rejected by MIT as well (which means I'm rejected both for undergrad and grad; and they will never get any application from me again... ever). </p>
<p>it's actually good that the schools tell us early. 1. it shows that the school isn't a super beaurocratic place. 2. it gives us more room for plan B.</p>
<p>hmm, i think i want to live my life not to prove anything to anybody--that would make them even more important than they already think they are-- but as good as i can. i want through my work to think of questions of science, try to understand them and do my best to answer them, and that's it. who knows how things turn up in the end?! who, if anybody, from this forum will have that Great idea?! </p>
<p>to autocell: all the best! i appreciate your work ethics...</p>
<p>also, people, let's not forget that what makes this forum so useful (?!) is knowing when the letters are sent, so let us know..spare our sleep...</p>
<hr>
<p>footnote: i feel i should add that, in all honesty, i'll do all of the above when i can. i'm not a machine, and faaaar from efficient</p>
<p>I also got rejected by MIT (I am an international student too):(. I wonder how many int'l student did they accept this year if they did any.</p>
<p>By the way, we have to choose only one school at the end so I think the rejection will make our job easier later on.....;)</p>
<p>
<p>Or better phrased - what are some reasons to NOT want to go to Harvard? Is it more competitive than other graduate schools? Do the PIs tend to be more drill sergeant-y? Is there a general sense of "we're the top" among either the students or faculty? Do people frequently leave early, due to failing quals or becoming discouraged, what have you? Are the other graduate students laid back, or is it a school of workaholics?
As far as I am aware, the answer to all of these questions is "no." I mean, of course there are crazy workaholic PIs who expect you to give up your life to work in their labs, but those PIs are everywhere. (Actually, in my second-year cynicism, I am tempted to say that all PIs are like that. :-P) And many of the PIs do feel that they're the best, but many of them are the best, so it's not unjustified.</p>
<p>But my program, and the other programs here that I have information on, care very much about getting graduate students through the program successfully and on time. My program has pushed up the date of the quals to November or January of second year so that students can finish earlier. We've only lost one of our entering cohort so far (she had a baby and took a leave of absence), and almost everybody has passed his or her qualifying exam on the first try. (Mine's on Thursday. Mrrph.) No program at Harvard will let you drown.</p>
<p>To be honest, I don't think there's much of a difference in terms of expectations and workload between any of the top programs in biology. It's going to be hard everywhere, and PIs are going to expect you to work hard, and you'll be frustrated and discouraged more than you'd like to be. And the culture of the program doesn't matter nearly as much as the culture of the lab you end up joining.</p>
<p>EDIT: Forgot to add that I am a model of bad decision-making. I chose Harvard because I was committed to going to graduate school with my significant other (now husband), and he wanted to get his master's in aerospace engineering at MIT. I chose Harvard over MIT because I went to MIT as an undergrad, and felt that it was best for me to go to a different school for my PhD. I genuinely liked the culture of the program, but I also really wanted to like it -- I'm not sure if I would have admitted to myself if I'd hated it at recruitment. :)</p>
<p>great thread! Hope I had found this earlier. </p>
<p>My stats:
Intl' student
BS: a decent research U in Asia, 2.9/4.0
MS: big ten plant program, 3.5/4.0
Publ: no
GRE: 510v/800q/4.0a
Rec: 1 from my boss, 2 from my qual committee, 1 from my DGS, hopefully strong</p>
<p>in general, kind of lame..~</p>
<p>Applied: HMS BBS, Harvard MCB, Yale BBS, Columbia Bio, Penn Bio, Cornell BCMB (not weill), Berkeley MCB
Interview: Penn Bio
Rejection: none
Accepted: none</p>
<p>I am aiming high at those ivies... In my country a diploma from those places sells. In addition, I will get to stay and get a PhD from my current U for another 2-3 years if I can't make it. so I just went ahead and tried my luck. :) Since I would like to switch from plants to animal systems, I applied many medical/MCB programs. </p>
<p>I read through this thread, and it seems every school I applied except columbia and cornell has made offers for admission/interviews. So I guess I am kind of done with them. But I am quite satisfied since my undergrad record sucks and I don't get a publication for 2 years in graduate school here. ~ Still a lover of biology research, I will at least work on towards a PhD and see what I can and would like to go from there.</p>
<p>I have 3 questions wishing anyone with more knowledge would kindly answer: </p>
<p>1, Is it helpful for admission to contact a professor that I am interested before/during applicationa? I haven't done this because I haven't had any PIs in mind yet. I decided on applying in a hurry and didn't have time to do this kind of research very thoroughly. </p>
<p>2, if the answer to the first question is yes, would it still be of any help to do it now?</p>
<p>3, I did some bioinfo. research on promoter recognition in my spare time and. I tested a method I derived and wrote a paper about it. But I haven't decided to submit it since i don't have a PhD as a co-author. In my application package I included the abstract page of this paper. Do you think it's helpful to my application if I submit the whole paper to a pertinant professor in the U I applied and let him read it? The reason why I may want to do this is because I believe the quality of this paper may be better than what the committee would assume i am capable of. </p>
<p>Some long questions, thank you for your attention.</p>
<p>I just learnt that Yale has made offers to international applicants out of US. So maybe they have made the majority of their decisions assuming they do that for intl' applicants after that for US applicants.</p>
<p>Has anyone heard from Stanford Biochemistry yet?</p>
<p>Hey 9bull,</p>
<p>I haven't heard from Stanford Biochemistry either and was wondering the same thing...</p>
<p>Bah, I represented my indecision poorly. Sorry about that.</p>
<p>It wasn't that I would just skip a Harvard interview to stay home - in order to attend either of their weekends, I would have to cancel one of my already confirmed visits with UWash or Yale. I am extremely interested in both of those schools, as well as Harvard. </p>
<p>However, I feel that Harvard isn't quite as good a match for me as UWashington (or Yale) - partially because of some of the insecurities I mentioned, but also because of the faculty and curriculum.</p>
<p>Anyway, most people seem to take it as a given that if you get an invitation to Harvard, you go. I was simply trying to figure out why that was, to make sure I wasn't making a terrible mistake in not going. </p>
<p>Of course, I will call them and see if they have alternate options if you can't make either recruitment weekend, but at this point I think some lucky-duck on a waiting list is moving up a spot!</p>
<p>New topic!
Did anyone else apply to University of Oregon? I'm still waiting to hear back from them.</p>
<p>I've been following this thread for weeks now, it's great. Time for me to finally contribute my two cents.</p>
<p>GPA: not too bad
GRE: upper quartile
GRE subject: upper quartile
B.S.: Biochemistry
Publication: no
Post-bac lab work: yes</p>
<p>Applied: UW MCB; Stanford Bioscience; UCSC MCDB; UColorado HSC Biomedical Science; UChicago Molecular Biosciences; Duke CMB; Yale BBS</p>
<p>Rejected; UW MCB - they sent my rejection over a week ago. <shrug> Last year (when i applied) I just barely missed the interview invitation. (I talked to the program director about it) And this year, with a year of labwork at the NIH under my belt, i still got denied. Whatever, right? But for those of you that are still irked about a UW rejection, FYI: I have a close contact within the UW administration who is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the way UW is being managed. After 20 some years of accomplished service, [said person] is now anxiously awaiting his retirement. So it's UW's loss, right?</shrug></p>
<p>Interviews: UColorado HSC Biomed. Science; UChicago Mol. Biosci.; Duke CMB; Yale BBS;</p>
<p>Offically accepted; Yale BBS - This was a surprise to me, but I'm game.</p>
<p>Still waiting for word from Stanford (looks like i'm not the only one) and UCSC. Both schools have said they'll have their invitations out before the end of January, so I guess I still have to wait and see.</p>
<p>If anyone hears from Stanford, please post. I'm stalling on two other schools because i want to hear from stanford first. </p>
<p>For the rest, best of luck, and it appears I may actually meet a few of you on these interviews.</p>
<p>hi KUNRD07, </p>
<p>yeah, i saw people here getting interview package from Stanford BMS already( genetics tho).....but seems no one heard any words from biochem yet tho</p>
<p>OK, question. Is Penn done with interview invites? They say not to call them, but I finished my application way back in November, and up till now I haven't heard from them. No rejection, no acceptance (I wish!), and no interview invite. What's up? Those of you who have got interview offers, how long did it take?</p>
<p>Molliebatmit,</p>
<p>Since you've attended both MIT and Harvard, do you think that the culture of those two places is similar or not? MIT seems to always emphasize that they are collaborative, cooperative, etc, while I always seem to hear that Harvard is notorious for intense inter-lab competition and secrecy. Do you think that there's any truth in those stereotypes today?</p>
<p>Joshbiomajor,</p>
<p>I submitted my ap to UPenn right before the deadline and heard back by email on Jan 11th, although I probably won't be able to make the interview unless they can give a different date, due to scheduling conflicts :(</p>
<p>It seems that the later it gets the less likely we are going to get invited but that depends on many factors. I'm still waiting on UCB, UChicago, Northwestern, Columbia, UCSD, & TSRI. An F-U would be a really generous use of my hard earned money, so that I can at least scratch them off my list...</p>
<p>buffkitten,</p>
<p>I agree with your logic. Harvard, Stanford and MIT are not the only only good schools out there, and they are not one tier above the rest. Yes, their professors publish in Nature and Science consistently, but that's really the major spirit of the place. If you like that, then sure, go, but it's not for everyone. There are many great schools that are great at graduate training, and people publish for the sake of science, not just to get their work into a magazine. I'm not saying that Harvard or Stanford is bad, but each school has a different style. Many students pass Harvard in preference for another school because they feel that they would be happier (and thus a better scientist) at the other school.</p>
<p>But I do agree that you should at least try to interview at Harvard (or any other school for that matter), if you can, just to see what it's like. Don't judge any school based on their reputation. Go there, talk to the profs, the students, and explore the city. If you do so, then in the end, you should be able to follow your heart and make the right decision, and you would never regret it.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>could those accepted by BBS kindly tell me the track you are accepted to? Thanks!</p>
<p>for those who are crazy for Penn
my previous boss is in the Penn Admissions committee. He told me that Penn has 3 interview weekends. I don't know what the distinction between those three weekends are besides the time. The first one maybe now but I think the last one could be in March. Be patient if you still don't get anything.</p>
<p>Oftentimes I'm not sure what the point of all these invite-updates are, besides to make us all more nervous and anxious than we need to be, or to give us something to obsess over. I just read a few posts back and realized someone got a call from WashU on Jan 17th. I got a call from them in December. In fact, they had an interview weekend on that same day. Obviously some schools do in fact make their invitations in batches. So knowing that someone else has gotten an interview doesn't help or settle anything. We all know we will keep coming back here and checking until we get that final rejection/acceptance/interview letter.</p>
<p>but nevertheless, dennycrane, the acceptances so far that I've heard (and received) are for the MCBGD track.</p>
<p>Hi Dennycrane, I applied to the CBB track at yale and haven't been accepted (or received any communication)- but I do know that they post the dates of their interview weekends on their website. For some programs (like CBB, whose interview weekend is the first in Feb) it seems a little late to hear any positive news this late in the game. But like most people say, you never really know.</p>