<p>Thanks for the info. Also, are professors in college, biology professors in this case, willing to do research with students pursuing other majors(math,econ,english,history,etc,.)</p>
<p>I would daresay yes as long as you can convey your level of enthusiasm and sense of responsibility to them. Undergrad researchers are free labor after all, regardless of what major they're pursuing :) But not every professor is willing to train someone from the "bottom up" -- most undergrads looking for research positions will already have had a few lab courses under their belts. If you look like you just walked off the street and can't tell the difference between a centrifuge and beaker, they might tell you to take a few introductory courses first.</p>
<p>hi beefs,</p>
<p>I think it depends on how "unrelated" your field is. If you're talking engineering/chemistry/computing science/math, most biology professors will LOVE you (speaking from someone who also did an undergrad in one of those "unrelated" fields). however, do err on the side of caution--if you want to do basic biology, you really have to take a lot of courses or teach yourself biology. Otherwise, professors will give your projects that will utilize your undergrad experience (eg. programming, statistical analysis, etc). But that can be good if that's what you want.</p>
<p>However, I'm talking about getting a research project with a prof. Getting a prof to see a spot for you in his/her lab is different from getting a grad school to want to pay for you for the next 5 years. As everyone has said, I'm not sure the biology grad school admissions committee would be too impressed to see any application that has no prior biology-related research experience. Plus, I'm not sure if you should really be devoting 5 years of your life to grad school if you haven't even tried it out.</p>
<p>Also, nowadays there are a lot of interdisciplinary fields (eg. bioinformatics, biomedical engineering, biostatistics). I think if you apply to one of those, the admissions committee may not look for biology-related experience as much.</p>
<p>I have my first interview coming and I was wondering if anyone could tell me how long interviews normally last. At ucsf they said it would be a 9-5 all-day deal of interviewing. It seems unlikely for an interview to last more than an hour, but it also seems unlikely to have 8 profs have time to interview just one person. Does anyone have prior experience here?</p>
<p>At Johns Hopkins, the interviews were about 45mins each and everybody interviewed with 6 PIs. I think it was from 10am-4pm (with 1 hour or so for lunch)
so you can definitely interview with 8 PIs in one day. good luck! (UCSF is really fun)</p>
<p>BAH! For UChicago they aren't telling us which faculty we will interview with until we arrive!</p>
<p>Fortunately, they only asked us to give 5 names for people we preferred to interview with, so I guess I'll just read up on the ones I listed.</p>
<p>amc85, you will also be doing other things, like taking a tour of the campus, meeting with students, sightseeing around the city, hearing lectures on student and faculty work, and learning about housing and leisure options. It's pretty standard to meet with 5-8 professors for 45 minutes to an hour over the course of an interview weekend.</p>
<p>autocell, the BCM interviews were pretty relaxed. We had 6 interviews, 45 minutes each. They took us to look at several housing options, museums, dinner at the dean's house, dinners with grad students, Houston zoo, and some bars. Although it was fun, it was an absolutely exhausting weekend.</p>
<p>For the interviews themselves, it mostly involved discussing your own research and then listening to the interviewers research. It didn't seem like the interviewers expected you to know too much about what they do. Sometimes there were a few minutes left and we'd just talk about random things (like sports, hobbies, etc.). </p>
<p>I was definitely impressed with the program/faculty and could definitely see myself there for the next 5-6 years.</p>
<p>amc85, the format at UCSF BMS last weekend was six interviews, each thirty minutes long, four before lunch and two after. If you're going for Tetrad, who knows :)</p>
<p>Expect to be "interviewing" to a lesser extent throughout the trip as you have dinner with faculty, go to happy hours and poster sessions, listen to presentations, and talk to the current students. People will be asking you about your research, your interests, where else you're applying - the major interview questions - all of the time just to make conversation. In a way, the interviews themselves are less stressful because you can see them coming and because you get to sit down. No one will "test" you or try to trip you up (Mike McManus and Brian Black are possible exceptions, according to other students), and everyone there is very friendly and low-key, but in the end each conversation is another opportunity to accidentally expose yourself as a mouth-breather (just like an interview!). So try to be smooth throughout the weekend.</p>
<p>P.S. - You were right Mollie, they are "sporty!" I dig it :D</p>
<p>Hey everyone, thanks for the info and great advice. I really appreciate it.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the help so far! My first interview is next weekend and I really did not know what to expect. I have one question I have not seen addressed yet, but...what do you wear? I have been getting conflicting advice from my current professors. To those that have gone to interviews already, what is the typical dress code? Thanks in advance.:)</p>
<p>I interviewed at Columbia Medical Center last week and I saw everything from tennis shoes and cargo pants to all out suits and ties. From the impression I got the professors didn't care one way or the other.</p>
<p>Can you guys tell me how long schools normally take, after the interviews, to notify if we have been accepted or not?</p>
<p>If you're in, they'll often tell you within a week. If you're not in, or if they're waiting on some other people to decline before offering you a spot, they'll notify you sometime before April 15.</p>
<p>hey New_User, what was the format/itinerary for your Columbia interview?</p>
<p>catwoman,</p>
<p>The first day consisted of four 30 minute interviews with faculty throughout the day, lunch with graduate students, a tour of campus and housing, dinner with faculty and graduate students, and going out to a bar afterwards with graduate students. The second day was spent entirely with graduate students and consisted of brunch, followed by central park and museums like the met, moma, etc., dinner at Times Square, drinking at a rooftop club until 4am, and finally some delicious New York style pizza before passing out at the hotel.</p>
<p>Did i read this right, some one in this forum is actually interviewing with james watson?????
YAY for u pal. i hope it goes well...!!!!</p>
<p>I interviewed with Watson this past friday. he's a funny little man, he mostly just waxed philosophical about science for half an hour. Every student who interviews at Cold Spring Harbor will interview with him.</p>
<p>i'm not yet 21, so what should i do about going to happy hour/a bar with graduate students and faculty? should i just let them know and then not attend, or will this hurt my chances at an interview weekend (less time w/them, etc.)? but if i go, and get carded or tell them my age, this could also look bad, right?</p>
<p>Just got back from my Yale weekend. There was more hooking up than I expected - maybe people were relaxed because it was an accepted students weekend and not an interview? - but besides that it was pretty standard.</p>
<p>Anyway, I think this has been said before, but always having a question to ask is crucial when meeting with professors. Even if it's something fluffy (how big is your lab? what do most graduate students at X do after they compete their degree?), talking is much better than awkward silence.</p>