Wash U MSTP -- Hints and Impressions wanted

[GregiG]

Hi,

I'd wanna know who in SDN is going to interview at Wash U MSTP on Jan. 3-5th? Also, of all of you who have been there already and maybe been accepted (Baylor, Original???), can you offer any advice about that big, bad pannel interview (how different is it from the one at NUMS?) and impressions you've had from this school? thanks for the info.

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[Original]

Hey GregiG do you go to UChicago? and did you interview at Duke? my gall bladder-feeling tells me I might know you .

WashU is great. Just go there and chill-out. Don't even sweat it. The panel interview is very short. It only lasts for 20 min; which can be a good or bad thing. They tell you not to prepare a speech or presentation. However, if you've been involved in more than one research project which are all listed in your essays, there's nothing wrong with telling them your preference straight-up. You might like a particular project cause it's the most recent, or cause you just find it more interesting. Tell them this from the very beginning of your short 20 min. Don't let them spend 19 min questioning you on that project that you don't know much about, only to spend the just last 1 min on the project you've mastered.

The other interviews are not as important. The wrap-up interview however, is almost as important as the committee interview. Tell your wrap-up anything you wish you had gotten a chance to talk about to the panel. Correct any herrendous BS you might have thrown at the committee. My wrap-up was quite unconventional. My interviewer just sat there and watched me talk with his 8th year MSTP student; he next showed me around his lab; then asked me whether I had any questions for him; and lastly, he asked me to consider WashU and come back for 2nd look weekend. I was stunned