<p>Anyone expressed interest on those programs when applying to the grad schools?</p>
<p>janeeyre
Are you a domestic or internaiotnal applicant? Besides, I wonder when their interview weekends are. Thanks.</p>
<p>phanta, I just got a call tonight (at 6:45PM EST) from Northwestern iBiS. The guy told me they have two interview sessions (February 12-13 or March 12-13). But it seemed like he just started making invitation calls tonight, so there could be more to come.</p>
<p>Has anybody heard from Stanford Biophysics (part of Biosciences) or UC Berkeley Biophysics?</p>
<p>I applied to Berkeley biophysics and still haven’t heard anything yet. I’m also waiting to hear from Stanford structural biology, UCSF Tetrad, and MIT.</p>
<p>Thanks JonStewart. Maybe I’ll see you at interviews <em>fingers crossed</em>.</p>
<p>Got a Caltech Interview invite ~last week (bio phd program).</p>
<p>Thanks bionerd. I guess no Caltech for me, oh well.</p>
<p>I was wondering if anybody had any advice for interviews in terms of getting information about how happy students are, attrition rates, funding issues, etc… how do you ask these kinds of questions tactfully? I keep hearing that these are questions you need to ask at interviews, but I can imagine there are wrong ways to do this and you could really offend somebody or make a bad impression.</p>
<p>Rastatay, I received an interview from UNC BBSP in early december but I know that some people are still receiving invites. This is an exceptionally large program, so don’t despair. It also happens to be my favorite as well.</p>
<p>Lajkfdgi, funding can be found on CRISP (google it). You can see what public grants each lab has as well as institutional ones. It includes info about when they expire, what topics they cover, what the funds are intended for. As for finding out about attrition rates and quality of life issues, don’t be silly, these are questions you absolutely should ask. Something along the lines of (directed to a third year student or a fourth year) how many people in your cohort have left? Why did they leave?</p>
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<p>My favorite question to ask students at interviews was “Of all the places you applied, why did you choose ___<strong><em>." Most people are usually happy to talk about their experiences, and it is a rather innocent question that I found to be a good gauge of a lot of issues at the school, and how they feel about their choice a year or more later. For instance, if a student was unhappy with something at the school, they’d usually answer by saying "Well, I choose </em></strong> because of _<strong><em>, but what I didn’t know was _</em></strong>.” I think it also tells you a bit about the mentality of the students with whom you will be working. For example, one school to which I applied most students answered they choose it for a significant other, because they liked the outdoor activities available, etc. No one said they came because they were blown away by the science. Personally, I took this as a bad sign. </p>
<p>As for funding issues, I usually asked that right out, because that was pretty important to me, but I like to think I was pretty tactful about it. I usually just explained that I was coming from a lab where I spent a semester basically with nothing to do because we simply ran out of money. I would ask if they ever had an experiment they wanted to do but couldn’t due to lack of funds. If they answered that they needed to find a collaborator to do a large number of microarrays that was one thing…if they needed help to order primers then I’d stay away. ;)</p>
<p>Good luck, but honestly interviews are a lot of fun, so just relax, enjoy it and well, just don’t get arrested and you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>That’s a great question to ask New_User! Are there other additional good questions to ask people when you go to interview/visit?</p>
<p>“…I just got a call tonight (at 6:45PM EST) from Northwestern iBiS. The guy told me they have two interview sessions (February 12-13 or March 12-13). But it seemed like he just started making invitation calls tonight, so there could be more to come.”</p>
<p>If I get a call, I won’t be able to make it to either of those weekends!!! Does anyone know if Northwestern IBiS is flexible when it comes to scheduling a different time for an interview? I’d be coming all the way from the West Coast. </p>
<p>This is the first time I’m kinda hoping I <em>don’t</em> receive a call from a program, so I won’t be in that predicament!</p>
<p>does anyone know anything about Weill Cornell interview process?
do they fly everyone there/put them in a hotel?</p>
<p>also, if it’s of any help to someone, i got an invitation to this (Biophysics & Systems Biology) on January 12th.</p>
<p>Just received an email from Stanford Immunology.</p>
<p>Hm, anybody receive an email from Stanford BMI???</p>
<p>Xiaojiahuo: I saw that you have an interview at Columbia. When did you receive the invite and how early was your application in? Was that under the school of medicine (integrated program) or did you directly apply to the department?</p>
<p>Did anyone hear from UCSF Tetrad yet?</p>
<p>Has anyone else gotten into Harvard BBS after that initial alarming surge last week?</p>
<p>UC@Boulder invite to interview just came.</p>
<p>BTW. Should I go to these things with my shirt tucked in or not? My shirts look neat enough hanging out… I am already expecting to be the most under-dressed person at all of these interviews.</p>