<p>Your question is one that I’ve often wondered about myself. I also am a subscriber to US News & World Report. Also, I’m applying to programs in immunology (or umbrella programs where immuno is not available)</p>
<p>From the rankings you gave for your schools (great schools btw!), I think you’re looking at the general ranking for “Biological Sciences.” I’ve been looking at that one as well because it has more than 10 schools on the list - but I’ve ran the list by my PI and a good number of postdocs and graduate students, and they told me that the short 10-school ranking for Immunology was more accurate, although not everyone felt that it was perfect. Makes sense, everyone tells you to look at the department and not the school “brand name.” What programs are you applying to and is that list very different from the general list?</p>
<p>US News & World Report is helpful I think but for graduate programs that are NOT law or medicine, it’s really not all that comprehensive. Have you skimmed through the law school section?? Only if SOMEONE would compile something remotely like that for PhD programs! :(</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply! I have applied to lots of umbrella programs but my interests are in cell biology or genetics (although I have been doing my research in systems biology, double degree in Microbiology & Biochemistry, so my interests are very broad). I got an interview at UCSF Tetrad which is listed as #8 on the general list but runs about #3 or 4 for the sub categories which makes it even more amazing that I got an interview. And of course since these categories are only 10 long, who knows where Northwestern iBiS or Weill Cornell BCMB programs are on the list. </p>
<p>I don’t know whether to call the schools to ask about the status (may be too early to start annoying them?) but I am also perfectly happy with the 2 schools that I received interviews. It would just be nice to have more options!</p>
<p>I think the US News ranking is too general. You must look at the faculty and their publications. My school-selecting criteria is: at least 5 labs with interesting topics(dev bio/stem cells) and good publications(N/S/C/Dev cell/G&D…etc)</p>
<p>a lot of it can be dependent on the number of people that the individual program interviews and the final size of the interview class, as well as the types of applications that the schools get. I know that tetrad tends to interview a ton of people, and the program is relatively large as well, meaning that it may be “easier” to get an interview at tetrad than at a smaller, but lower ranked program. Also most of the umbrella programs try to keep their classes pretty diverse so that there are students for a wide variety of labs, thus depending on the mix of applicants one school could want someone who was very interested in genetics or biochem, while another could have a ton of applicants with similar research interests to you.</p>
<p>I have heard that when we go to the interview, we will usually be asked what “our research interests” are. Since I am a pure chemistry major with my only biomedical experience stemming from 3 isolated research projects, I understand very little of the rest of the biomedical field. </p>
<p>I realize that biological science or related majors would talk about current research and developments, just as my chemistry courses teach from literature that correspond to current advancements in organic synthesis, etc. I am very excited about several labs in schools where I am interviewing (again, only based on limited biology knowledge), but I don’t have my own set of independent research interests, per se. Does anyone have any suggestions?</p>
<p>I think it’s expected more that you have a general idea of what you’re interested in researching in graduate school, but nothing super specific or detailed. From what I’ve heard a lot of students change their research focus stemming from experiences they have during lab rotations once they’re a grad student. As long as you can talk intelligently about why you’re interested in a field, however broad, you’ll be fine.</p>
<p>Do people think it’s a good idea to contact faculty (via email) after interviews thanking them for taking the time to talk to us, how interesting their research is, etc., or is that totally sucking up and lame?</p>
<p>Have anyone heard from the Duke Molecular Cancer Biology program?
Besides, I also like to know if anyone receive further information from Sloan-Kettering.
(They tole me that they still review applicants’ data last week.)</p>
<p>People will generally only ask you your research interest in the very broadest sense. What they will expect you to talk about in great detail is one or two projects that you have worked on. </p>
<p>In terms of contacting profs- it can be the nice thing to do. I sent emails to many of the people that I met with (but not all).</p>
<p>WaYaDuDK- I received interview invitation for Duke Molecular Cancer Biology program by email on January 9. Interview weekends are Feb 5-7 or Feb 19-21. I chose Feb 19-21. Good luck.</p>
<p>phanta: For what it’s worth, I was in a similar situation last year. I had interviews from all the schools I applied except for my “safety”. Later that week I finally heard from my safety and they were offering me an acceptance without an interview…so I guess it turned out like I thought it was going to after all…just took longer than I had expected. :)</p>
<p>To all the neuro people waiting to hear from UPenn, fret not. I just got an e-mail for an interview a few hours ago, and at this stage in the game I figured that boat had already sailed… So just because you haven’t heard anything yet, don’t go crazy. As with everyone, now waiting on Rockefeller (and Scripps, has anyone heard anything from them?)</p>
<p>Hi DrugsRFun!
I also applied to both Rockefeller and Scripps. I’m applying to immunology programs, and judging from your sn I don’t think you’re in immuno but… </p>
<p>I did hear from Scripps on January 7th by e-mail, but it may be different for different “tracks” that they have. </p>
<p>I just asked on this thread whether anyone’s heard from Rockefeller, and the 2 people who have been invited got regular mails from them back on January 6th… so I’m not so hopeful on Rockefeller anymore. But I still canNOT stop checking my mailbox for it…</p>
But I still canNOT stop checking my mailbox for it…</p>