2010 Official Biosciences Interviews and Results

Graduate School
2541

<p>Now that everything’s done:</p>

<p>Applied: Stanford, Berkeley, UCSF, UCSD, Johns Hopkins, Duke, Cornell Weill, Yale, Harvard, MIT</p>

<p>Interviews: Stanford, Berkeley, UCSF, UCSD, Penn, Johns Hopkins, Duke (declined), Cornell Weill, Yale (declined), MIT</p>

<p>Rejections: Harvard (silent treatment)</p>

<p>Acceptances: Stanford, Berkeley, UCSF, UCSD, Penn, Hopkins, MIT</p>

<p>GPA: 3.5
GRE: 770V, 800Q, 6.0A
Research: 4 years, 2 undergrad and 2 as a tech</p>

<p>About the quantitative part of your application - yes it is important, and not just in initially screening you. During my interviews, a lot of professors were looking through my entire application and remarking on my scores. I think those scores can subconsciously influence their review of you. The same thing applies for your SoP. I had a few professors ask me specific questions about things in my SoP. Essentially, your interviewer’s impression of you is a huge part of the admissions decision process so try to appeal to them both in person and on paper. That might already be obvious, but I was surprised by how closely a lot of professors read my application.</p>

2542

<p>^Totally agree with you!
But I’d add LORs. If you go to a school where people do research in the area you work at, then, your recommenders (and the quality of their LORs) are VERY important. That was very clear during an interview, where the professor told me my recommenders (one of them a well known person in his area) were very enthusiastic and that they were excellent recommendations.
So… again, quite obvious, the best your app, the best they’re looking on your file…</p>

2543

<p>5600bp which school are u attending and what is your research area of interest?</p>

2544

<p>I haven’t decided yet! It’s between MIT, Hopkins, Stanford, and UCSF but they’re all great in their own way. I’m interested in cancer bio, broadly, but from a biochemistry perspective.</p>

2545

<p>Hey everyone, I just got my Harvard rejection letter on the 9th, it said I was given “full consideration”… but alas, no admission: I bet they say that to all the girls :P</p>

<p>@5600bp: One of the first questions out of a professor’s mouth was about my SOP, he said “so it appears you pulled yourself up by your boot straps” I just laughed, and steered the conversation back to science. No way I could go into the long uphill battle that got me there in 30 minutes, and grill him on the school :)</p>

2546

<p>Oh! It appears Harvard has been sending out all it’s rejections recently: thegradcafe has a long list of them in the last week. </p>

<p>[harvard</a> • thegradcafe.com](<a href=“Grad School Admissions Results for 2006–2023 • thegradcafe.com”>Grad School Admissions Results for 2006–2023 • thegradcafe.com)</p>

2547

<p>I feel like I’m about to throw up, supposed to hear from my first choice today or Monday. I had a dream last night that I got in but a dream the night before that they delivered a rejection package to my office and included a list of community colleges where I should try to get my PhD instead.</p>

2548

<p>Yeah, I got my Harvard rejection. I didn’t like their letter at all. Oh well.</p>

<p>@Emily, do something relaxing… chill out. And good luck!</p>

2549

<p>Anyone like to offer advice? I’ve narrowed my choices to MIT Biology and Harvard MCB. I thought both programs were fantastic…</p>

2550

<p>Finally done!
International Student (did undergrad in US)</p>

<p>Applied: Harvard BBS, Stanford Biosciences, MIT biology, Yale BBS, Duke CMB, Columbia CMBS, UChicago Cancer Biology, Weill-Cornell (Sloan) BCMB, UPenn CAMB, WashU DBBS (MCB), Baylor (CMB)</p>

<p>Accepted/Declined (by me): All but MIT </p>

<p>Attending: HARVARD BBS…Hell yeah Boston/Harvard for at least 5-6 more years!</p>

2551

<p>Ok MolBioPhd…now you’re getting me curious. Any news from Stanford MCP?</p>

2552

<p>Is anyone still waiting to hear back from U Chicago Molecular Biosciences cluster? I interviewed there on 2/18-20 and it’s been almost a month… I almost gave up, but I’d like to hear an official decision whether it’s good news or bad news !!! :(</p>

2553

<p>@lifesciencesgeek
On my end? Nope. On another friend’s end? Nope. What about yours? </p>

<p>Think we’re all three rejected?</p>

2554

<p>I interviewed on the same weekend at UChicago Molecular Biosciences, and I got a call from Sean Crosson, an official acceptance letter, and an email on Wednesday. Maybe you should call them. Good luck!</p>

2555

<p>Nope, no news from me. As for all three of us being rejected, i HIGHLY doubt it. Remember the funding horror stories? Idk, I wasn’t the best fit and I know that, so if it was just me, I wouldn’t have been surprised, but the three of us…HIGHLY unlikely.</p>

2556

<p>@transform
to be clear, you’re referring to U of Chicago. since there are two discussions going on here, good to point that out. </p>

<p>@lifesciencesgeek
The scientist in me agrees that the other 6 literally being the 6 admits is statistically less likely than the possibility that they’re just not telling anyone anything. I’ll admit, I’m surprised they’re waiting on notifying us either way since a) it was a very tiny interview pool for few spots, and b) it’s very late in the season, meaning that each one of us is eager to make a decision and move on with our lives. We’re all done interviewing, and we know where we stand with other schools. I think your reaction of being increasingly less interested is natural. Although I don’t feel the same. I’m just increasingly anxious and pessimistic.</p>

2557

<p>@lifesciencesgeek, MolBioPhD</p>

<p>Heard from Stanford MCP a few days ago, so they aren’t being totally silent… anyone have any thoughts on deciding between UCSF Tetrad, MIT Biology, Harvard MCB, and Stanford MCP?</p>

2558

<p>@oodledoodle,
Thank you for your post, and congratulations on admission!</p>

<p>@lifesciencesgeek,
I guess they’re going for a smaller class size than we all thought, or anticipating a very high matriculation rate if they’re looking to ultimately have 4. It’s good to know we can all move on, but it’d be nice if they’d shoot us a rejection email.</p>

2559

<p>Stanford cancer bio told us there is significant waitlist action within the next few weeks. This is in part due to Stanford being the last interview weekend for most applicants, so many people have either already made up their minds or are going to do so very soon. Also, NSF, NIH, etc fellowships get awarded in early April/late March so that often frees up some space for more admits. I would believe this applies to other programs at Stanford as well.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, that means waiting. Lots of applicants just want to move on and will make a decision way before the April 15th deadline. It’s been the case in the past that the program will offer a few more late admissions but they’ll all be turned down for the above reason. There have been a few classes that were smaller than intended because of that.</p>

2560

<p>I am going to UCLA next year!! Got the call at the very end of the workday yesterday. I’m super excited. And on top of that they were just awarded the connectome grant which is exactly what I want to do!
I definitely enjoyed a few margaritas last night</p>