<p>got an invite from Dartmouth PEMM</p>
<p>@Jeanx11</p>
<p>from what I understand about Emory they over invite to their interview weekend and then select their class from that sample. I have given up on them since on their site they only list on weekend for interview.</p>
<p>I also just got an invite from Dartmouth PEMM!</p>
<p>I’ve heard a lot of conflicting things about interviews, and I was wondering if someone could give some insight. I’ve heard some people say that if you get an interview, as long as you prove you’re somewhat competent, you’ll get admitted. Others have told me that an interview is no guarantee. Obviously, I’m going to give each interview my best effort, but does anyone know (in a very general sense) what percentage of interviews end up in admission? Of course, this varies by school and program, but I would even love to see some numbers for specific programs as an example.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard of some faculty members “testing” students with questions or actual problems. Is this a common occurrence? I even just heard from my friend that some faculty members are “recruiters,” whereas others are “interviewers,” but you can’t really tell who is who.</p>
<p>@ender776 I think most of schools will admit >95% of the ppl that they interview. They are spending an average of $500-600 per interview so it is not cheap for them to just fly people in for no apparent reason. my research mentor told me that when she was in the interview committee as a grad student they were looking for very obvious red flags (she said “you can be a genius, but if you are an ******* you will create drama in the program”).</p>
<p>with that being said i do know ppl that have interviewed in 5 programs and have not got in in any of them… but they are also horrible with ppl skils so as long as you can smile, make jokes and have ppl like u then i dont see a reason to be concerned…</p>
<p>my research mentor said that she was horrible in interviews and got in in 50% of the schools that interviewed her… she got her phd from uchicago so it ended up being ok</p>
<p>Hello all! I haven’t posted on this yet, but I have been a silent observer for a while. I decided to post now because I am totally with you all going crazy over here, the waiting game is killing me! Every day that goes by that I don’t hear something makes me start to lose hope, haha. I have my first interview next week (PhD in Molecular and Biochemical Nutrition at Berkeley… which is my first choice) and I have a couple other interviews, but there are still so many schools that I have yet to hear from, but I can’t quite get a good hold about whether or not those schools are done sending out interview invites, so I can’t tell if I should hold on to hope or give up. The other thing is I still haven’t heard from any of my safety schools, but I have heard from some of the higher ranked schools… so it is so confusing! I think the people I work with are about ready to kill me, since this is about all I talk about haha. But it is really nice to see that other people are in the same boat and i’m not just crazy! Also if a school is going to reject me, just reject me already… the waiting game is the worst!! Harvard, for example, was also a top choice of mine (and I was told by multiple Harvard Professors that I know/work with that I am a very competitive candidate and there is no reason I shouldn’t get in) and I haven’t heard from them… so I am going to assume I didn’t get in (unless someone on here wants to give me some hope??), but I would like to hear one way or another.</p>
<p>OK, end rant. Haha.</p>
<p>anyone have some tips on politely declining interview offers? thanks!</p>
<p>At this point, I’ve decided to give up hope because it was driving me crazy. I couldn’t fall asleep. I would just refresh my email every 5 minutes. I was really stressed out so I convinced myself that I got rejected from all the schools I didn’t hear from. If I do get an invitation, then it will be a pleasant surprise. After coming to terms with this, and prioritizing my list from the schools I got an interview from, I am actually feeling a lot better. I’m no longer anxious and stressed out. This technique seems to be working for me.</p>
<p>i agree with the strategy…i think anyone who’s ever posted anything on a forum like this is or has been freaking out too (and I got some comfort in knowing that). like cellculture said, look at your list of schools and you will, more often than not, realize you have done well.</p>
<p>I understand you, digioral… I am in a similar situation: cannot stop talking and thinking about applications, which is not a positive thing for my dissertation right now because I cannot concentrate on my work (which is theoretical and requires full attention). </p>
<p>I only applied to MIT and another non-US top university, so there is no back-up choice in my situation. The funny thing is the longer I wait, the more dramatic my thoughts become (such as "MIT probably won’t even bother to send me an e-mail saying “ew!”)</p>
<p>I can only wish everybody good luck! we must be brave and patient. Our nerves must be made of steel to survive…</p>
<p>Ah also, as a sidenote: if you install Thunderbird and link all your email accounts to it, you can make it notify you every minute (sound and visual notification)… This is how I deal with this type of compulsive behaviour…</p>
<p>I have a Droid, and it has a notification ringtone if I get a text or an email. So I’ll be sitting at work and I’ll hear my phone and go, “OMG AN EMAIL! I hope it’s from Harvard!” but it’ll be from my mom or something.</p>
<p>What an unbelievable day…</p>
<p>List is up to:</p>
<p>Penn Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Princeton Molecular Biology
Caltech Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
Scripps Biophysics
Stanford Biophysics
UCSF TETRAD
Berkeley Biophysics
Duke Medical Physics</p>
<p>Just waiting on Harvard Biophysics and MIT Physics…</p>
<p>Got a call that I was unrejected from UCSF today. I saw the 415 area code, and somehow I just knew…My status has changed from Denied back to Under Review lol.</p>
<p>phirah: ha! yes, isn’t it interesting how when you are waiting for something, it never comes, but as soon as you leave the room for a second you get an email and run back to check what it is and find something like “we have a great offer for you. yours, Amazon.com”.</p>
<p>I should think of a mathematical law for this phenomenon…</p>
<p>i feel so close to you guys now that i know everyone is the same level of mental as I am. is it bad that i want to check the mailboxes of everyone else in my apt building JUST TO MAKE SURE NO ONE ELSE HAS MY MAIL?</p>
<p>bashibazouk its more than normal… maybe you should write “INSERT HARVARD INVITATIONS HERE”(BIG envelopes preferred) on your postbox?</p>
<p>Yeah, quite often, if there appears to be no mail, I’ll panic and ask my roommates if they’ve gotten the mail yet and was there anything for me. Not that I’ve gotten any mail for any of my invites, so I don’t know why I think I’m going to get snail mail right now.</p>
<p>@phirah
I started laughing when I saw you mention your DROID. I have one too with email alerts, but I have a silent alert. I find myself cumpulsively checking for that blinking green light, haha.</p>
<p>
An interview is a great thing, and means the school considers you a competitive candidate, but is certainly no guarantee of admission. You certainly don’t need to be the next Nobel winner from your subfield to be admitted after an interview, but you should approach them seriously and not assume that you’re in unless you screw up.</p>
<p>Usually in an interview situation, you will talk with the PI about your research, and he/she will talk about his/her research. You want to ask interesting questions and to be able to intelligently discuss your previous work. Most PIs are not looking to trap or quiz you in an interview situation, just looking to have a stimulating conversation about science.</p>
<p>
Definitely not. It certainly varies by program, but most top programs admit about 60-70% of those they interview.</p>
<p>That was very informative molliebatmit. Thanks! So what’s the Boston/Cambridge area like? I was accepted to Harvard BBS, and I’ll be visiting Feb 24th.</p>