<p>I received an invitation to interview! I was worried about making it past the initial triage because my cumulative college GPA is lower than both the program’s and the school’s minimum (2.92, due to serious health issues my first year). Minus my first year, my GPA is above the cutoff, but still not as high as it could be (3.25). There are a few of factors which explain why my GPA isn’t higher (including: I went to a highly competitive liberal arts school, I was a successful multi-sport varsity athlete and captain, and I do better in hands-on learning situations than in lecture).</p>
<p>Questions:
1. If I made it to the interview, does that mean they will overlook my cumulative GPA being below the cutoff? I know they can accept students with GPAs below if there are extenuating circumstances. </p>
<p>1a. I have also heard that if I make the interview process, I’m on equal footing with everyone else and GPA doesn’t matter. Is this true?</p>
<ol>
<li>Will the professors I meet with have read my entire application, including my transcript, and will I be expected to discuss my undergrad academic performance?</li>
</ol>
<p>2a. If so, what is my best argument? I can clearly explain my health issues first year, but I don’t want to sound as if I’m making excuses for the rest—I’m sure plenty of other people applying were athletes, etc. and have better GPAs. I intend to be fully focused on my coursework in grad school—how do I assure them of that?</p>
<p>Notes: I have ~2 years of post-undergrad research experience under my belt, and have excellent letters of recommendation from that.
My major GPA is 3.25
My GRE scores are v168/m161/w5.5</p>
<p>My overall plan for interviews is to focus on my passion for research and my subjects of interest.</p>
<p>Thanks for any advice!</p>
<p>If you made it past the initial screening into an interview, your GPA doesn’t really matter anymore - that means that the rest of your package was good enough that they were willing to overlook the GPA. (I’m assuming it’s because your major GPA and GRE scores are so high, and because you have two years of post-undergrad experience.) In my experience I would say that you are on equal footing with the rest of the applicants and now they are evaluating you for fit; if you don’t get in at this point, it’s going to be because of that elusive “fit.” My department does interviews and I would say that we generally accept about 50% of the people we interview; any of them would be good enough to enter our department, and the interviews are really just about which of them we think will fit best in our department and who professors really want to work with.</p>
<p>So unless they ask you about it (which I doubt they will), don’t address your GPA. Focus on the positives about you, and discuss your passion for research and your areas of interest.</p>
<p>If they do ask you about it, definitely don’t give the reasons you gave in this post. You will likely have some lecture courses, or at least a few lectures in some classes, and you will probably be expected to go to departmental colloquia which are lecture-style. And at a top immunology program, many students are going to be coming from competitive liberal arts colleges. I would sort of redirect the question - like “I understand your concern. In the two years since undergrad, I’ve been focusing my attention on my research, and I’m confident that I’ve honed the discipline I need to really succeed here. In the program I plan…” and then redirect to talk about your research interests and what projects you’d like to work on. Don’t apologize profusely and don’t spend too much time on the past; talk about how you plan to move forward.</p>
<p>
Just one small redirection here – in an interview situation, you’re not going to be talking about your passion for research, you’re going to be talking about your research. In a typical interview, you’ll tell the faculty member about your previous research experience and what you’d like to do as a graduate student, and the faculty member will tell you about his/her research program, and you’ll ask each other questions about the research. </p>
<p>They’re not looking for an explicit beauty pageant spiel about how passionate you are about your work. They’re looking for that to come through implicitly in the way you discuss your work and future plans.</p>
<p>Awesome, thank you both for your input. I really appreciate it!</p>
<p>molliebatmit, how specific should I be about the projects what I want to work on in grad school? </p>
<ul>
<li><p>There are a few broad questions I’m interested in and they could be addressed in a number of labs I’ve identified in this program.</p></li>
<li><p>In terms of techniques, there are a few I prefer, like human cell culture, and a few I’m not so fond of, like mice. I also have found I really enjoy projects where my time is divided between wet work and data analysis/programming.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>However, all this is flexible and I’m totally open to exploring new techniques and questions.</p>
<p>I know I don’t want my interests to appear too broad and unfocused, but I also don’t want to pigeonhole myself. Should I come up with a few example projects I could see myself working on in specific labs, or is that too detailed? Or should I come up with a list of questions I would want to pursue in my labs of interest?</p>
<p>Also, from what I’ve heard the interview process will include a poster session of some sort where we can walk around and talk to professors about their work. Do I make it very clear to my 2-3 top choice professors that I really want to work in their labs and discuss projects I’d like to work with them on, or should I stay slightly more general so they don’t worry I won’t want to work in any other labs?</p>
<p>FYI this program does have rotations.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>In a one-on-one interview, it’s totally fine to stick to broad questions and methods, and the sorts of things you’re saying here are spot-on. They’re not expecting you to propose your thesis project on the spot. Keep in mind that you’re going to be interviewing (hopefully) with people whose research you find interesting, because most programs ask for your preferences before scheduling your appointments.</p>
<p>It’s not necessarily a problem to have broad interests at this point – it’s true that you don’t want to look entirely unfocused, but the whole point of an umbrella program is that you don’t have to specialize yet. </p>
<p>
Sure.</p>
<p>
No, this isn’t something you need to be worrying about.</p>