<p>I know this has been asked plenty before but any opinions on nice jeans for a casual to business casual interview? I wanted to wear a blazer but it looks too dressed up with dress pants, like a suit. So I thought dressing them down with jeans would balance it out. Or would the jeans just scream unprofessional regardless of what’s on top? I asked my PI and he said something along the lines of science people don’t care what you wear, dressing up seems pretentious in his opinion. But he also seems to think I’m in unless I get drunk and barf all over the dept. head’s shoes. I’m less confident obviously.</p>
<p>to everyone who is coming out east for interviews, enjoy the weather!</p>
<p>@Antass
Congratulations on you fellowship and admission!
Do you know if BU is done notifying all the accepted candidates? I believe their Open House weekend is mid-Feb so I am guessing they are done. I think Harvard Biostatistics is out also since I haven’t received an interview invite from them.</p>
<p>@jeanx11 - I don’t know if the professors will care, but you will definitely be out of place in either jeans or a blazer. Non-jean pants or a skirt + a shirt or sweater is what 90% of the interviewees will be wearing.</p>
<p>Anyone going to Hopkins this weekend for BCMB interviews?</p>
<p>@Antass</p>
<p>I’m glad other people are concerned about BC Biology. I haven’t heard from them either and I was starting to get anxious.</p>
<p>Just found out (by stumbling upon it, not from an actual email or letter) that I’ve been accepted to IUPUI!</p>
<p>This may be overkill, but I just went to my first interview and thought I’d just give some basic advice/encouragement about it.</p>
<p>The interviews are not as bad as you think! Most of the people I interviewed with really wanted to tell me about their research and when they asked questions about mine, I got the feeling that it was because they genuinely wanted to know. You don’t get a lot of probing/quiz type questions. I heard of one girl getting a few quiz-type questions, but only because she was doing something similar to the PI that she was interviewing with, and I think he just wanted her opinion on his research…</p>
<p>Also, I don’t think you can ever underestimate being nice and excited. I was kind of surprised by how many applicants I saw looking kind of bored when they were with a faculty. I think the faculty are partially just looking for if you’re the type of person that they’d like to work with in their lab, so if you’re upbeat and pleasant, that’s always a good thing. I wasn’t asking any particularly deep or intriguing questions, but really just felt and acted like I was having a conversation with someone, so I’d ask a question if I was confused or just wanted to know. I ended up getting an e-mail from one of my interviewers saying that he was very impressed and hoped that I would decide to go to the school, so being engaged is good!</p>
<p>Also, to be honest, I didn’t read any papers by the faculty I interviewed with. I looked over the basic blurbs about their research, but they kind of tell you about it anyway during the interview, so instead I focused on being engaged in the conversation and asking about their lab/student-mentor dynamics as well as their research.</p>
<p>Okay, that’s all I’ve got…and that was kind of long. I think I’m just still excited about the weekend and wanted to share! Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>underestimate…overestimate…not sure if I used the right word but anyway…</p>
<p>@ender776
Which Penn Program are you interviewing for?
I thought Penn CAMB had only the 3-5, but they offered me the 24-26 as well. Also, I know two current grad students at Penn (computational) that did not do the formal recruitment weekend but obviously attend the school.</p>
<p>@Jeanx11
no on the jeans. wear khakis at least, or casual slacks, or cords. they might not care what you wear as much as a medical school interview, but jeans are definitely not business casual for an interview. you can slide by with jeans for business casual at a workplace, but not an interview. I think jeans are fine for the more informal portions of the weekend. some people do care and i think its better to error on the side of caution. :)</p>
<p>@Johndg2
your stats don’t seem bad at all. i’d still hold out. i heard from BU School of Med cell bio. Only 1 interview date, 2/14. check gradcafe for the rest. i am also not against calling the program, but only sometimes do you get a real answer. </p>
<p>@sconecakes
thanks for the reassurance!</p>
<p>Business casual does generally mean no jeans. JHU said to wear whatever I want to my interview this week, so I’m wearing jeans, but nice new ones, and only because they said wear anything! For business casual, I wear slacks or a nice skirt, nice shoes, and a flattering top. Business professional, I wear my suit and pumps. And a pearl necklace sometimes! Effective.</p>
<p>FYI: Anyone looking at Berkeley’s Infectious Disease program, interview invitations will supposedly be sent out at the very end of January, beginning of Feb. Interview weekend dates are set for Feb 22nd & 23rd.</p>
<p>@ sconecakes, do you mind telling me which school you interviewed at?</p>
<p>@johndg2: I got an interview from Indiana Bloomington for MCD in the department of biology last week.</p>
<p>@mendel: I’ll be at the JHU BCMB interview weekend. I’m driving down from Philly on Thursday.</p>
<p>rejected from NIH-Oxford-Cambridge</p>
<p>I’m coming from Philly also</p>
<p>Have you found out who you will be interviewing with?</p>
<p>so do people generally write thank you notes? I’m assuming yes, but wanted to check thanks!</p>
<p>@Flutopian: Are you talking about the Infectious Disease and Vaccinology program through SPH, or another program? </p>
<p>Also, has anyone heard from Harvard SPH Biological Sciences in Public Health yet? In November, a member of the adcom told me interviews were in January but I haven’t heard of a single invitation here or on gradcafe…</p>
<p>@microcycle</p>
<p>I applied to Harvard’s BPH program, too. I never heard about when the interviews would be, but I haven’t heard a single thing. No interview, no rejection, no nothin’. Still waiting.</p>
<p>Should we just assume that if we haven’t heard from Stanford now that we are not going to be invited? Has anyone called recently and found out if they are done sending Biosciences interview invites? FYI, I applied to Developmental and Cancer Biology. Any information or reassurance is appreciated, thanks guys/gals! :-)</p>