<p>Hooray, I just got invited to interview out at Caltech for the graduate biology program in mid-February! (So, in response to my question in this</a> thread... hey, having non-lab ECs must not have been too much of a handicap ;))</p>
<p>You guys better manufacture some better weather for this visit than you did for my last visit (you know, that parade thing last week that turned into a monsoon?).</p>
<p>See you guys on Feb 16!</p>
<p>PS -- Anything I should definitely do while I'm on campus, assuming I have free time (which may or may not be a good assumption)? What's the grad housing situation around campus? Any other relevant info?</p>
<p>One important factor to consider in making your choice: As an MIT cheerleader and thus an attractive geeky female, you'll have your pick of guys at Caltech.</p>
<p>On which note, if you like younger guys, I might end up in Pasadena next year.........</p>
<p>Mollie!! Yay : ) Congratulations. I'm thrilled for you.</p>
<p>You should go up to the 9th floor of Millikan and look at the mountains, and you should walk around Old Pasadena in the evening if you have the time and get ice cream or something . I'm sure grad students will be able to show you their apartments -- which are pretty nice, and all located in a complex right across the street from the biology buildings :-P (but farther from the math building). Also, I recommend just walking around the campus and soaking it in. And the good weather, this I promise ;-)</p>
<p>Sorry, Vintor and GuitarMan, but I already have a rocket scientist boyfriend (whose need for a good aero/astro program is, of course, one reason I applied to the schools to which I applied). :) You can still come say hi if we all end up in the same place.</p>
<p>Ben, thanks so much! I am really excited too. Eeeeee!!!</p>
<p>Ben: I assume from your response that an invitation to visit for a graduate school applicant is a very good sign. Does Caltech also extend invitations to highly desired applicants to the undergraduate program?</p>
<p>Mollie can offer more details, but usually being offered a visit means you got into grad school (assuming, obviously, that you get the invitation after your application is submitted, etc.). For undergrads, you always get an official response first and then later all the admitted students are also invited out for a campus visit.</p>
<p>Yeah, grad school interviews are part "let's see how you are in person rather than on paper" and part "let's wine and dine you so you'll want to come to our program". They're all expenses paid. ;)</p>
<p>The idea behind them is both that the graduate school wants to learn more about you as a candidate, and also that you'll want to meet potential advisors; getting an advisor you'd be happy doing your PhD with is, as you might imagine, pretty important.</p>
<p>It's a particular honor to get invited to interview with Caltech's biology program -- they only accept about 12 out of 300 applicants every year, so getting invited to interview means I've made it past a pretty substantial first cut.</p>
<p>Congrats, Mollie. I'm currently still planning to come back to Caltech after next year, so maybe we'll meet. How is your boyfriend's app with the Aero department going?</p>
<p>Oh, he's a year behind me, so no apps for him this year. I just needed to know about grad programs because he and I are planning on going to the same school/same geographical region for grad school... so wherever I pick, he goes!</p>
<p>Yeah, I got into Harvard's program a few weeks ago, which takes some of the nervousness out of my interviews.</p>
<p>Haha, Joe, like I could get him to sit down and pick out faculty to work with! He won't even graduate from MIT without me sitting down and making a spreadsheet with all the classes he needs to take. :) When I need to decide in April, I will drag him to the computer by the ear and make him pick out faculty.</p>
<p>Mollie, that reminds me of a couple I knew very well at Caltech (they got married the summer we all graduated). She had his life completely organized. I don't think he would've applied to grad school or done anything if she hadn't! They both ended up at MIT (but both decided they were tired of school and are leaving after finishing the classes for their MS's).</p>