<p>Can those of you who have done interviews share your experiences? Specifically, what kinds of questions do they ask you, and what kind of stuff do you need to know for interviews?</p>
<p>Thanks roxannecellbio. I signed up and it worked! I searched for myself and got an email saying someone found your Academia.edu page. So it’ll be interesting to see what keywords people use when they search for me! What are the most interesting ones you have seen? I assume most people would just search your name, but maybe they would add another search field.</p>
<p>btw, STILL waiting on Weill Cornell, WUSTL-DBBS, Princeton, Rockefeller, and Rutgers. I hope some notification comes soon! I’m starting to get worried on WUSTL and Rockefeller, but especially WUSTL. I’ve had my stuff in their since Dec. 15th and STILL nothing from them, and they have sent out a bunch of notices, as seen here and thegradcafe.com</p>
<p>However, I did apply to Weill Cornell’s BCMB Allied program, which combines biochemistry, cell biology, and molecular biology as a triple joint application process, so I assume it takes longer. Still anxious, though!</p>
<p>Just talked to Stanford Biosciences. The person gave me a vague answer, saying that they are not done but that it depends on departments (13 of them in Biosciences).
She also told me that mid-February is the “deadline” for notifications.</p>
<p>According to the neuro program administrator, whom I talked to one-two weeks ago (I forget), they were likely to be done last Friday though.</p>
<p>I do not know why Stanford takes so much longer than other schools, especially considering Harvard notified me about the interview a week after I submitted my application.</p>
<p>Kind of Urgent question here…</p>
<p>I have applied to several genetics PhD programs, including UMD - Baltimore and Penn State. Of the programs I have gotten interviews at, Penn State is #2 on my list of favorites, UMD is #3 or 4. I <em>really</em> love Penn State. </p>
<p>A couple of weeks ago I got an interview invite at UMD for Feb 13th (This is their only interview date). Because Penn has interview weekends around Feb 13th and March 20th, and I wanted the earlier date, I emailed Penn to check the status of my application. </p>
<p>They told me I was invited for an interview at both the Hershey and College Park campuses, but didn’t give me a date. Because the weekend of Feb 13th was quickly approaching, I figured I wouldn’t be invited to the first interview weekend at Penn, and decided to go ahead and accept UMD’s invite. UMD has asked me what airport I want to fly out of, but hasn’t send me any further info, so I don’t know if they have booked airfare or not. </p>
<p>About two weeks later, I received an invite from Penn State, for the Feb 13th interview weekend. I asked them if I needed to reschedule to the later interview date, I could. That would mean interviewing in late March. I am worried about how this could effect my chances of acceptance. </p>
<p>I <em>really</em> want to accept the Feb 13th interview weekend for Penn State. They are just narrowly out of my #1 top pick of schools to attend. I love their program, campus, and they have a center dedicated to exactly what I want to work on. Does anyone have an input or suggestions on if I should turn down or reschedule UMD to interview at Penn, or should I just interview in March. </p>
<p>Anyone have any input on the quality of Penn State vs UMD - Baltimore?</p>
<p>Now that most of the interview requests are in, I suppose what’s left is a string of formal rejection letters (if they ever send them)…</p>
<p>This is pretty funny though 
[The</a> Ultimate Rejection Letter](<a href=“The Ultimate Rejection Letter | PDF”>The Ultimate Rejection Letter | PDF)</p>
<p>@PatchesNBrownie: I would like to visit, but their secondary weekend is another date that I can’t attend either. I ended up emailing the coordinator to see whether I could reschedule and I would pay for whatever fee the airline required to switch flights. We’ll see what response I get.</p>
<p>@roxanne: The interview experience really does depend on the person with whom you are interviewing. Of the interviews I have had so far, I’ve encountered the whole gamut from interviews where:
-the whole validity of my research was questioned, or
-questions quizzing me on biological concepts and theory unrelated to my own research topic were asked (IE. a question about linkage mapping even though my research is molecular mechanisms of cancer), or
-the interviewer spent the whole time talking about their own research, or
-the interviewer gave a lot of advice about how to choose a program and life advice in general…
Point is that each interviewer’s style is rather different.
However, I guess to be more helpful, most interviewers did ask questions about my research and why I was interested in the particular program. The best advice is to be well-informed regarding your own research, to be attentive and ask informed questions, and to be confident.</p>
<p>First rejection- Yale BBS by email today.</p>
<p>First acceptance- Vanderbilt IGP. Yay! I really really liked it and I was prepared to hate it.</p>
<p>got interviews today from princeton mol bio, nyu biology, and an acceptance letter from columbia integrated program</p>
<p>Got an interview from UNC today. I was a bit surprised at how late it came.</p>
<p>“-the whole validity of my research was questioned” - lol xiv21</p>
<p>manofscience, when is the princeton mol bio interview weekend? I applied as well but haven’t heard back from them. It took a while for one of my letters and GRE scores to get in, but everything is in according to my status page.</p>
<p>
Yup, you can just politely decline. If the program is buying tickets, they are likely to be buying refundable tickets for just this contingency.</p>
<p>MCTitans,</p>
<p>The interview weekends are the 20th and 27th of feb. i was first called by someone on the committee announcing their decision and then i was emailed with my interview date (feb 20th). see you wednesday</p>
<p>are rockefeller and MIT done sending out acceptances? i emailed the admissions people and i never received a reply.</p>
<p>does anyone know how badly you have to screw up an interview to get rejected
ive interviews at uchicago biophysical sciences, scripps and weill cornell so far
if grad school doesn’t pan out i haven’t really prepared for anything else next year so i would ultimately be homeless.</p>
<p>from the interview i went on at columbia they said that all interviews are 50/50 meaning that half of the people give or take get acceptance letters. i was also told from the people that i interviewed with that the most important part of the interview process is the feedback that the interviewers give to the admissions committee. i have heard stories from reliable sources about people getting drunk and vomiting on a grad student at the grad student/prospective student outing and that caused them to be rejected by the program. the key to interview weekends is to not make a drunken fool of oneself. hope this helps bubbloy_two.</p>
<p>hah, that will be easy enough
i wonder if not drinking will be violently rejected by scientific types and get me kicked out of their good graces when i turn down a good merlot at the parties. so these interviews are like a “lets make sure this kid won’t rape/kill/get creepy on anyone and can have a lucid conversation” rather than more intense evaluation?</p>
<p>Yeah, don’t drink unless you have high tolerance.</p>
<p>Have any internationals heard back from Caltech biology? I am applying for the emphasis on biochemistry and molecular biophysics, but not sure about the evaluation process for applicants with different emphases. I found several (US citizens I guess) on this thread received their invitation to the interview. Rumor says Caltech biology won’t send out rejections even if they don’t want you… Maybe I should give up on that one…so sad…</p>