<p>I have just received an interview invitation from Cornell Weill Medical College (btw, I applied to their neuroscience Ph.D. program). Just wondering if anyone knows a thing or two about neuroscience interviews or just interviews in general so I may know what to expect. Thank you in advance!</p>
<p>congrats! i'm in the application process myself in biomedical sciences/molecular and cell bio, and from what i know, they give you some tour and dinner reception along with the formal (or informal) interview. i heard that you just talk about your own research, the research done by the faculty, and that's pretty much it. </p>
<p>i think molliebatmit on this forum would give you more detailed info as she has already gone through many of these interviews, and i believe her interest was in neuro as well. i'm sure you can also find previous posts on this topic on this forum.</p>
<p>i got one from baylor college of medicine so far, and i'm still waiting for my top choices. i believe stanford gave out their invitations on the 12th of january last year for its biosciences applicants... i'm so nervous right now; i'm checking my email almost once every hour lol.</p>
<p>(First thing, for ccmad -- I heard from Stanford on Jan 13 last year, so don't worry if other people hear before you do. They have a lot of people to interview, and it takes time to call that many people. :))</p>
<p>Here is a list of things that generally happen during interview weekends:
1. You meet and go out to a meal with current students in the program.
2. You attend research talks either by students or by faculty members.
3. You meet and go out to a meal with faculty members in the program.
4. You go out to bars on the department's dime.
5. You go to department socials and nosh on wine and cheese while talking to other applicants, current students, and faculty members.
6. You go on sightseeing trips around the school's area.
7. (Obviously) You meet with professors one-on-one for interviews.</p>
<p>The interviews are not really that much to worry about, and actually, I thought they were kind of fun. You do need to be able to talk intelligently about your previous research experience, and you need to be able to listen intelligently as the faculty member talks about his or her research. You will probably also want to have a few standard (not lame) questions about the program, because professors will usually want to sell the program to you a little bit.</p>
<p>You don't need to go in there knowing every last experiment the faculty member has done in the last five years, but it's good to have a general idea of what sort of research they're doing. (Usually you'll get your interview schedule a day or two in advance.) During one Stanford interview last year, the faculty member asked right off, "I'm curious -- what about my research piqued your interest?" and I couldn't remember for the life of me what she did. :)</p>
<p>Any other questions? I did six interview weekends last year, so I'm a bit of a battle-scarred veteran.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reassurance. Although it would be great if I did get in, I think I will still be ok if I get the rejection. </p>
<p>Actually, my previous PI was a former research associate in the program I am applying to, and she did write a LOR for me, so I'm still clinging onto the minute hope that I'll get an invitation ^_^;</p>
<p>btw, what did you say when you blanked out? I'm guessing that you replied honestly?</p>
<p>I said something like, "Perhaps you could remind me what exactly your lab studies?" And she told me, and I told her that I liked X, Y, and Z.</p>
<p>Luckily it didn't seem to annoy her that I had absolutely no memory of what it was that she did. :)</p>
<p>i just got a letter from stanford!! it was a big packet, so i knew it must be good. and sure enough, i got an invitation! i yelled so loud once i saw the envelope!</p>
<p>hearing from my top choice school this early is very reassuring.</p>
<p>mollie,
Did you happen to have any overlapping interviews? And if so, how did you handle it? My son just called me, just received his interview weekend at Emory, but knows that there is a possibility that if he gets an interview at his top school that they may overlap. I can't imagine having to turn either down and he ask me how he should handle it...and to be honest...I haven't a clue what to tell him....any advice? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>I did have one weekend that was going to overlap, and it was with a school I liked quite a bit and a school about which I wasn't quite so enthusiastic. I had already booked my tickets for school #2, but I called them and told them I would be unable to attend (this was about a week and a half before I was due to fly out). They didn't seem too fazed -- I think it happens fairly often.</p>
<p>It was somewhat easy for me, because I knew I had enough interviews that I could afford to not interview at/get into school #2. If your son still wants to interview at Emory, I would suggest that he call them as soon as he hears from the #1 choice school -- they'll likely have a backup interview date, or perhaps will allow him to do a telephone interview.</p>
<p>And ccmad, congrats on Stanford! :D Which home program will you be interviewing with?</p>
<p>thx mollie, i'll be going to the cancer biology program interview. i'm getting pretty worried about the interview now, which i shouldn't be doing right now but i'm just pretty cynical in that way. do you remember the percent of interviewees who get admitted at stanford, or other schools? </p>
<p>i was also thinking about the interview conflict situation as well, but thanks for clearing that up. i'm just grateful that i can receive solid advice from someone who's been through the whole process; all the grad students i talked to weren't as helpful in regards to the admission/interview process as you were. </p>
<p>to the OP, i'm very sorry for hijacking your thread- i hope your interviews go well!</p>
<p>I am actually not sure how many students got in at Stanford -- I think it may vary by home program. I'll email one of my friends who applied/interviewed with cancer bio and see if he has any impressions. </p>
<p>(It's hard to estimate, of course, because it's considered bad form to say "Oh, so did you get into school X?" to another applicant, so I don't know how many people in my interview cohort actually ended up getting into Stanford. :))</p>
<p>Mollie,</p>
<p>Thanks for the info!</p>
<p>I have the same question as cc, I was wondering how many % of interviewees actually got accepted. Mollie, do you have a rough estimate, like x% to y% ???</p>
<p>Finally, I'd like to ask a question about dresscodes. Just found out the Cornell interview is going to be a 3-day event. On the day that I'll be interviewed one-on-one with the professors, I think obviously, I'll need to wear a suit. What about the other 2 days? I'll be having dinner with the department on the first day and on the last day, touring the campus with the graduate students and visiting New York. What did you wear during your interviews? </p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>jojo,</p>
<p>it's been the advice given by many previous interviewees, as well as from my invitation letter from stanford, that you should not wear a suit for these interviews. you should wear something nice and comfortable; i'm probably going to wear a buttoned down shirt and some jeans :)</p>
<p>funny thing i heard from somewhere was that wearing a suit can actually hurt your chances of acceptance, as the faculty might be led to believe that you care so much about your clothes and appearances that you won't like to get a bit dirty when doing research, or something along those lines.</p>
<p>i actually had a dream just now where after landing at an airport for an interview, i turned back because i was so scared that they would ask me a question that i couldn't answer about my own research. haha</p>
<p>I wore either a sweater and khakis or a sweater and a skirt for all of my interviews. In general, you should wear what makes you comfortable, and if you want to wear a suit, you're certainly allowed to do so. (You'll see several suits the first interview weekend, then progressively fewer at later weekends. ;))</p>
<p>I ended up wearing khakis all weekend on my interviews, mostly because I wanted to fit everything in a small suitcase, but that's my perception of "dressed up nicely but not too much." So whatever your perception of one notch up from normal is, wear that for most of the weekend, and wear two notches up on the day that you're being interviewed. And make sure you wear comfortable shoes on the day you walk around New York!</p>
<p>I would estimate that all of the schools at which I interviewed accepted at least 60% of the people who interviewed, and the schools who make a more stringent cut prior to interviews probably accept 80% (maybe more?). That's obviously a really rough estimate, but at least know that the odds are now in your favor.</p>
<p>On the subject of interviews, I just found out I got an interview for MIT's BE program!</p>
<p>I'm happy :), but even though it's two months away, I'm already nervous! :(</p>
<p>Also, because I'm anal... should I send a reply "thank you" email to the professor who informed me of my interview invitation?</p>
<p>Congrats!
When was your app completed? I applied to to BE as well but my app was completed only 5 days ago. Did you get a phone call or just an email?</p>
<p>Take care!</p>
<p>I submitted my app pretty early, around 12/15 or so. I thought MIT's deadline was 12/31, or am I mistaken? It was just an e-mail.</p>
<p>Yup! Dec 31 was the deadline. I spent the whole morning finishing my app. To which other programs did u apply?</p>
<p>C ya :)</p>
<p>ps: have you heard from them? I applied to Bioengineering too and some science (neuroscience and biology).</p>
<p>I applied to only BE/BME programs: MIT, Caltech, UCSD, UCB/UCSF, Harvard, and UCLA. Haven't heard back from anyone except MIT. I think none of the rest have interviews, which is good hehe. So I prob won't hear back till like March.</p>
<p>I wouldn't worry about sending a thank-you email.</p>
<p>But congratulations!</p>