<p>Can anyone offer advice on Vanderbilt vs. Tufts? Totally different locations, totally different program sizes. I LOVE Boston, but I have had a lot of experience there and I am wondering if I should give another area of the country a try, especially since I’d love to look into Boston for postdoc/settling down. Anyone have opinions on Nashville (I’m used to bigger cities and I get nervous, although I loved it during the interview), the program, etc? I liked Tufts a lot, but something tells me I shouldn’t rule Vanderbilt out just because it’d be a big change. I really just go back and forth over and over!</p>
<p>Has anyone heard from UCSD Biochem? i interviewed there on March 11 and still haven’t heard back… Should I be worried at this point?</p>
<p>anyone have any comments on UNC BBSP versus UCSD BMS? (other than the obviously location factor) I’m pretty torn… UNC is probably a better research fit for me perhaps just because they have a LOT more faculty, but I think the UCSD BMS program overall is more solid with an amazing med-into-grad program, uniquely amazing from all others. Anyone else have any thoughts on this that can help??</p>
<p>@cbck</p>
<p>where did you go for undergrad? That might make a difference whether you’d like vanderbilt</p>
<p>@protein11: I don’t want to say just for privacy, but if you’re from the area you’ll probably be able to get the jist from this: I went to a mid-sized, private university about six miles outside of downtown Boston. pretty closed-in campus in the middle of a wealthy area (so not much to do unless you went into the city…), and while I was close to downtown, I only actually went in a few times a month. I love it, though. It’s really one of my favorite cities in the world (although I could be a little biased). I want to stay in a Boston-sized city or smaller. I lived in London for a little and while it was great, it was a little hectic. I just really loved the Vanderbilt program- lots of translational stuff, and that’s definitely what I’m interested in. </p>
<p>To whoever asked about BU a few posts up- I heard from molec med about two weeks ago, but I haven’t responded to them yet. I plan on doing that this week though.</p>
<p>@cbck98</p>
<p>I was wondering if you could tell me when exactly did you hear from BU. I interviewed there on 18th March and haven’t heard back from them so I was wondering. Also, have you decided which program to accept?</p>
<p>@meddreams: I heard the first week of March, I interviewed mid-February. I think it was an early offer, though. I just spoke to them and they said the rest of the offers go out soon. They aren’t done. I am not 100% sure right now which program I will accept, that’s this week’s goal :)</p>
<p>@cbck98</p>
<p>Thank you on the update. I guess there is some teeny tiny hope left. All the very best for deciding on programs. and Congratulations:)</p>
<p>For posterity…</p>
<p>3.23 GPA from a LAC, biology major
640V 760Q 5W
840(93%) Biology subject GRE
4+ years research experience, mainly in biotech post-graduation
Interested in cancer biology, both genetic and therapeutic aspects</p>
<p>Applied: UCSF BMS, Scripps, BU CMB, Tufts Genetics, Dartmouth PEMM, NYU, Gerstner Sloan-Kettering, Georgetown Tumor Biology, UVA Molecular Medicine, UNC BBSP, Duke CMB, UMich PIBS
Interviews: Tufts, BU, Georgetown, UVA, UNC, Dartmouth (declined)
Accepted: BU, Georgetown, UNC
Attending: UNC!!!</p>
<p>Note: I declined the Dartmouth interview after I was accepted to UNC, my top choice</p>
<p>@mbr484</p>
<p>hey Congratulations on admit and all the luck for the program. I was wondering which program did u apply for @ UVa?</p>
<p>@meddreams
Thanks. It was the Molecular Medicine program at UVA.</p>
<p>@cbck98</p>
<p>where did you decide to go?</p>
<p>Anybody attending UAB Micro Theme or Emory MMG Program?</p>
<p>For anyone interested next year:</p>
<p>Stats:
GRE: 800Q 630V 5.0W
GPA: 3.7, physics major
Publications: 3, all co-author
Research experience: Comp bio software development
3 great recs, from what I hear
I also have an MS</p>
<p>Applied: UCSF iPQB, Stanford Biomedical Informatics, UCSC Bioinformatics, UC Berkeley/UCSF Bioengineering, Yale BBS (Comp Bio & Bioinformatics), Columbia Comp Bio & Bioinformatics (C2B2), U Chicago Computer Science, UCLA CS, U Washington CSE, UC Davis CS, NYU CS, Princeton CS</p>
<p>Interviews: Berkeley/UCSF BioE, UCSF iPQB, Stanford, Yale (declined), Columbia (declined)
Accepted: Berkeley/UCSF BioE, UCSF iPQB, UCSC, Davis, U Chicago, U Washington
Rejected: NYU, UCLA, Princeton, Stanford (post-interview)</p>
<p>Small tidbits I picked up: I didn’t need to apply to this many schools. It’s always hard to say what a good number is, and personally I’m glad I applied to too many rather than too few, but as a rule of thumb I would recommend limiting your list to 10 or fewer if possible. If you get into all ten you’ll never be able to visit all of them anyway (unless you’ve got a LOT of free time).</p>
<p>Interviews are pretty relaxed at most places. For the most part, they are trying to figure out if you are truly engaged in your field of interest. Don’t worry about trying to act like a genius, just be able to answer questions about your own research experience and interests, and make sure to ask a few questions about each faculty person’s work. You don’t need to study a lot about each faculty interviewer, just have a basic idea of the type of research they do. If you’re really interested in joining their lab it’s fine to do more, but it’s not really necessary. Most places, you have a pretty good shot at getting in once you have an interview, so just relax, do your best and enjoy the experience. I wound up visiting UC Davis, UC Berkeley, U Chicago and UCSF for interviews or recruitment, and I found the experience highly enjoyable at each university.</p>
<p>The one place that I felt the interviews took on a different tone was Stanford. Applicants to biomedical informatics at Stanford should know that this year they interviewed 21 people for 4-6 spots. This was out of about 120 original applicants. I heard that was a pretty typical number of interviewees (although I think they are accepting fewer people this year, due to over-enrollment last year). I felt like people were jockeying for position within the applicant pool more at Stanford than anywhere else I visited, so the visit was less fun for me. The faculty are really much more focused on the medical/clinical/translational aspect of biomedical informatics as well, so if you’re more of a basic biology person that’s a bit of a downside. I did enjoy meeting the faculty and current students there, so I’m not discouraging people from applying or anything. I’m just saying, be ready for a different experience if you want to go into this particular program at Stanford. Bring your A-game to the interviews.</p>
<p>Best of luck to anyone who is going into this field this year or in the future! Despite the stress, I really enjoyed many aspects of the whole process. If you let yourself have fun with it, it can be a very exciting and engaging experience.</p>
<p>Hello all,</p>
<p>I’m not sure if USC necessarily conducts interviews for PIBBS for all prospective students (international as well), or just US students. Could anyone please let me know?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>Alright, my final results for posterity (and to hopefully help people out in the future!):</p>
<p>Stats:
GRE: 710Q 690V 5.0W
GPA: 3.51, double degree with honors from a public ivy
Research experience: 1 year undergrad in an environmental health lab, 2 years post-bac in a high impact genetics lab
2.5 years volunteering at a local science museum
No publications, 1 rec from a very well known researcher, 2 other good letters</p>
<p>Applied: Tufts molecular micro, Boston University micro, Harvard biological sciences in public health, Brown pathobiology
Interview: Tufts, BU
Rejected: Harvard, Brown
Accepted: BU, Tufts
Attending: BU</p>
<p>One final note! Before I applied, I visited Yale, Tufts, BU and Harvard to get a feel for the programs. I decided not to apply to Yale after getting hints from current students and witnessing a very uncomfortable moment at a weekly meeting.
I do feel that my pre-application visits to BU and Tufts hugely helped me get noticed in the applicant pool. I know I’ll do well in my program, but my undergrad experience had a lot more of a humanities focus than I think they’re used to, and my application would have been considered middle-of-the-road. I know it’s kind of weird to visit schools before hand, but it definitely helped me connect with potential advisors and get them on my side for entrance. I was able to use the excuse that I was visiting the city to see if I wanted to live there, since I had previously never been to the east coast, so use that if you can! 
Also, I only applied to a handful of schools due to an old fashioned two-body problem. Good thing it worked out! I’ll be at BU and he’ll be at MIT. </p>
<p>Best of luck to everyone who’s still waiting and others who will be reading these for next year.</p>
<p>hi all! </p>
<p>accepted to both Vanderbilt Interdesciplinary grad. program and Baylor College of Medicine, program in immunology… Which one do you think is better one? Thanx!</p>
<p>@viraldu - MMG has me on some sort of waitlist. I would have normally accepted had they not waited until the last few days before April 15th to let me know their decision. Looks like UNC for me…the Micro department at UAB were really nice though!</p>
<p>I finally get to wrap-up!</p>
<p>It has been a stressful decision making process.</p>
<p>Stats:
GRE: Q-740 V- 610 AW-5.0
GPA: 3.65 from large research university
Research: 1.5 years in plant bio lab at university
1.5 years as post-bac at NIH (one small paper, published after I submitted my apps and interviews)</p>
<p>Applied: Weill Cornell (BCMB), Sloan-Kettering, UCSF (BMS), USC (PIBBS), Columbia Integrated, NYU Sackler, UC Irvine CMB, UCLA ACCESS, UC Berkeley (MCB), Stony Brook Genetics, Tufts Genetics, NIH-GPPs @ JHU, GW and Georgetown.</p>
<p>Interviewed: Weill Cornell, USC Columbia, NYU, UCI, UCLA, UCB, Tufts (turned down interview), Stony Brook (turned down interivew) NIH-GPP for JHU and GU (turned down GWU)</p>
<p>Rejected: UCSF, Sloan-Kettering. Columbia, UCLA, and GU (rejected after interviews)</p>
<p>Accepted: USC, UCI, NYU, UC Berkeley, Weill Cornell</p>
<p>Attending: UC Berkeley MCB!</p>
<p>It was a very tough decision between NYU and Berkeley, but I ultimately decided I was just more excited about Berkeley, and wanted to move home to California!</p>
<p>@All4Smylez</p>
<p>Congratulations on UNC-Chapel Hill! Just curious, were you one of the students who came to Surin West for lunch while interviewing for UAB Micro, and you interviewed with Dr. Elena Frolov.</p>