<p>i'm seriously considering graduating a semester early. i've already applied to grad school. maybe the senioritis is hitting me hard, but i don't want to be in school / class anymore. will graduating a semester early hurt me in any way? i would ideally use my extra semester + summer to travel the world...something i've always wanted to do. thoughts?</p>
<p>also, what are the chances i'll hear back from schools by december/january? i would feel much more comfortable about graduating early if i have a few responses under my belt.</p>
<p>oh man. i never knew there was a term for this (senioritis).
uh… man. if you have the opportunity to graduate a semester early, and you feel the way i feel right now about class… DO IT.</p>
<p>ugh…when are interviews usually? february? any chance i’ll have an interview before that? and yes, senioritis is the official term…i am so done with school.</p>
<p>Interviews are generally Feb and March. And no, unless the school/program does not interview and invites you to visit after you are accepted, the interview are before acceptances.</p>
<p>Interviews are generally for applicants to PhD programs in the biomedical sciences. The process seems to mirror the med school application process, only six or so months later. Students for master’s programs don’t have to go through this – at least, not that I’ve heard.</p>
<p>Here’s how the process goes: you apply to PhD programs. The faculty committee for graduate student admissions meets and begins to winnow down the applicants. The top candidates are then invited to interview at the program’s expense. If you get an interview, it means that you made the first cut and have anywhere from a 50% to a 90% chance of being admitted, depending on the program. You must interview, or you will not be accepted.</p>
<p>Edited to add: last year, the first interviews were held at the end of January and continued until mid-March.</p>
<p>From what I’ve heard most bio-type programs do interviews prior to admissions. Most engineering and other sciences do interviews after giving out acceptances. It’s not a hard and fast rule, though. I got into a number of grad schools for materials science, but one of them did require an interview prior to acceptance.</p>
<p>It’s also a good idea to visit schools if you have the chance so you can meet various professors and see how much your interests match up with theirs. I knew the school I had really liked on paper and liked the research of the professors wound up being my last choice. All the professors whose work I liked either turned out to be a-holes or had changed the focus of their research within the past year or so.</p>
<p>That said, I graduated a semester early since I ran out of classes to take. There were only two requirements left to fulfill. My senior capstone project and a seminar class. I don’t think it was seen as a negative, especially since I wound up working in one of my former professor’s labs from February until August (three years ago and still getting papers out of it!).</p>
<p>interviews are feb-march. My earliest interview was the last week of january. It was basically 6 weeks of being gone every weekend. You probably won’t want to travel much for a little while after interview season is done. The summer before grad school is a great time to travel</p>
<p>My first interview was the third week of January and my last one was third week of February. If you find you love a program early on and get accepted after the interview, you could always cancel your remaining interviews.</p>