<p>Just completed my interviews at Berkeley. I agree with pharmnerd that it is a lot like speed dating. I met with six professors for a half hour each. Five of them were on my list and one was on the interview committee. Three of them were shared with another applicant, which I actually enjoyed because it took some pressure off. It was surprisingly casual. As others have said, mostly just an exchange of research. I wasn’t grilled by any of them, but I was asked a specific question I didn’t know (and nothing about my background indicated that I should have, but he admitted he didn’t read my CV, etc.). I would say know specifically why you want to attend that school/department, have at least two questions to ask, and be as engaging as possible. I read a short description of research and interests from the department website about each professor in preparation, and that was enough. Also, I would practice explaining your research, because that is the one thing you’ll have to do at every interview.</p>
<p>The social events have all been great. The current grad students tried to put us at ease the night before the interviews by taking us to a local pizza joint. Keep in mind that some of them may be on the final decision committee.</p>
<p>There is a Feb 1st deadline (i.e. Monday) for candidates to submit the list of professors they want to interview with and to book their travel plans. </p>
<p>I feel like there is a > 95% chance that if you have not heard from Stanford, you will not be receiving an interview. Sorry.</p>
<p>I’ve been sending thank you e-mails rather than cards. I think it works out nicely because then they get them immediately rather than several days to a week later, and then they can also respond if they want to. I got some nice responses when I sent an e-mail, so I think it’s just the right amount of “thank you”. Also, I didn’t e-mail any of the people that I met with in other sessions, even if I talked to them for awhile. I just thought that might be weird…</p>
<p>@sirtuin and other people asking about the interviews
I’ve been to two interview weekends and I think that the interviewers who grill you are kind of a rarity, as it seems like most people will get either one stickler or none. I only prepared for my interviews by reading their little research abstracts, and I don’t think any of the people that I’ve interviewed with have expected me to know anything about their research. I had a guy who asked me questions about what kind of methods he should use, but it wasn’t something that I would have picked up by reading a bunch of his papers or anything.</p>
<p>And like Microkel said, the other events vary but are all awesome! You usually get a lot of good food and you get to hang out with the current grad students.</p>
<p>Rejected from University of California Berkeley.
Stats: International student with 3.46 GPA, last 2 yrs 3.87 GPA
GRE: V:720;Q:800;AW:4.0. TOEFL: 113; GRE Subject Biochem: 660 (91 Percentile)
Two years TA
Somebody please suggest me a safety college for Biochem or Mol Bio. I have got rejections for the last 2 years.</p>
<p>@esotericboy: This is insane! Sorry to hear that, but safety schools are necessary for international applicants. Have you considered Wisconsin Madison? It’s an amazing place for biochem and not that difficult to get in (as least compared to Berkeley). I also suggest asking the schools about their funding before you apply. I speculate that Berkeley biochem must have some trouble funding foreign students, since some of my (very qualified) international friends also got rejected.</p>
<p>I agree that the interview weekends are mostly informal. I’ve been on two so far, and they both were fine. They ARE exhausting, so be prepared for that. Also, on my first weekend, I hadn’t brought any food with me to the hotel and since I wasn’t eating a lot during the day (too nervous!) I was starving by the end of the night in a city I didn’t know well enough to find something on my own- so bring a snack or something! It sounds dumb, but it was really annoying. </p>
<p>Out of the interviews I have had, only one of them (my first!) was somewhat tough- I was grilled a little, but not too bad (and it was really only because the PI had a lot of experience with what I was studying). Most of the time everyone was very nice, helpful, and really willing to tell you anything. One of my interviewers was so excited to share his research with me (it resembled mine, somewhat) that we only very briefly talked about me. Basically, it varies, but don’t stress out about it. You meet a lot of interesting people, and it’s fun meeting other applicants- I know most of my friends aren’t in science and don’t get this whole process, and it’s nice to be able to talk about it with others. </p>
<p>I had a similar experience this week! I didn’t think to bring any food, and so a bag of chips on my flight and the warm cookie from Doubletree were the only things I ate before dinner that night. Next time, I’m bringing granola bars or something.</p>
<p>Hi there, I asked this question in another thread, but wanted to ask it here. The first school my son interviewed for in the biosciences field, called and offered him the opportunity to go there 2 days after his interview. He had an interview last weekend and is really interested in them but has not heard back from them. Is that a bad sign? How long do most of the schools take to respond? Thanks.</p>
<p>@ bbqltw:Thanks
I am really worried this time. I did not apply to the Wisconsin Madison. If I knew it before I might have. Now I am trying to apply to mid tier to low tier ones. Can you suggest some where more international students are accepted?</p>
<p>@proudmother2011 it depends in the school… i know that the school i interviewed with last weekend will take about 2 weeks, as the committee has to meet and then the decisions needs to be passed to the graduate studies dean… however, i had informal emails with the faculty and they have been hinting the outcome</p>
<p>@trisprefect
GSK is almost certainly done. They’ve already sent out rejections and acceptances, however, so if your bf didn’t receive either it’s possible he’ll get a last minute invite. I have no idea how it works. </p>
<p>@proudmother2011
I would expect small schools to take less time generally speaking. I heard back from my first school in less than a week, but I expect my second school to take much longer as it’s a much larger program. I would also expect schools with multiple interview weekends to take more time than those with only one, but I could be wrong.</p>
<p>@esotericboy: I think Princeton MolBio and Duke CMB are pretty international friendly; Yale BBS takes very few foreign students, so beware if you are interested in applying.</p>
<p>Thanks to you all for your responses. That is very helpful and makes me feel that he is still in the game with the college he interviewed with last weekend. I wish all of you much success with this process.</p>
<p>@Proudmother: rejections and acceptances for interviewed students are generally sent around the same time, so the delay means nothing. The rejections that take the longest are for those who were not invited for an interview, although many universities are getting better about this. </p>
<p>Some programs accept students in batches, within 10 days of their interview dates, and others wait until all applicants have been interviewed before meeting and deciding.</p>
<p>Momwaitingfornew. Thanks again for the response. I think I get more nervous than my kids about all of this. However, at this point, he has been accepted to two schools and I am very happy about that. So, if he does get rejections, I know he has the others to fall back on.</p>
<p>@esotericboy i would suggest you apply to private universities. some public schools (UC schools especially) have lots of restrictions for international students. I was in one of the superstars labs of a UC school and was denied an admission to their Ph.D. program, not because I wasnt qualified (as suggested by being invited to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Duke, Brown, Dartmouth, Columbia, Vanderbilt and Rochester), but because I was international</p>
<p>be engaging or bubbly if that’s you (i.e. don’t sit there quietly, talk a lot and be prepared to talk a lot)</p>
<p>have an arsenal of over the counter medications: dramamine, pepto, tylenol. my head hurt from nodding and the flying/moving everywhere. >_<;;</p>
<p>have a lot of questions prepared. i know the “probing question” is hard to come up with, but just questions about the school, the program, how quals are conducted, the advantages of the program, disadvantages, etc. have an arsenal of general questions for the awkward silences. i realize this is probably a funny tip, but when i’ve recruited for other purposes, they said if you run out of things to say (which isn’t the case in most of these interviews, but during dinner or if you do), pick a general question for each color. if they’re wearing GGGreen, as about the GGGraduation rate.</p>