GSBS Admissions Event: Application Walk-Through

Hello everyone.

My name is Laura ***** and I'm the director of graduate admissions at Tufts University's Graduate School Biomedical Sciences.

Today's session, which I'm so glad all of you have joined us for, is a walkthrough of our application.

So in a in a moment I'll turn off my video and I'll just, you know, be sharing the screen and walk through basically each page of our online application.

If at any point you have questions, just throw them into the chat and let's get started.

Alright, so here on your screen you should see our main page.

For kind of starting the the entire application process.

This I'll send, I'll put in the chat the link to it.

So you can Scroll down here and you'll see.

All of the programs through which this application to which you can apply to through this application. So if you don't see the program here that's listed. This is probably not done in the application portal for it, so let me know. You can just send me an e-mail and put in the chat. If you're wondering about like, well, I don't see. For instance, some people also are considering if they're looking at the basic science PhD programs, maybe they're also considering the biology PhD at Tufts and that's.

The different schools, The Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

In any case, so here are all the programs, right? So if you scroll through all of this, here is where you log in. If you don't have already an application starter, you have to create an account.

If not, um.

You will just go in and log in, so I've got.

My account that I will log in.

Alright, and so here's the welcome page.

So here is because you know, I've started lots of pretend applications under my account, but I'm going to kind of start everyone from the beginning. I'm going to start new application.

And so then here is where you'll select the year and obviously it's going to be this 2024.

And.

Then you'll select the school.

And then you'll hit Create Application.

Alright.

This first page is pretty explanatory. It's just instructions. Um.

Again, it's it's kind of another place to just double check that everyone who's here is applying through the right portal. As I mentioned, there are you know, a number of other programs that kind of intersect.

A lot of other STEM programs at Tufts that intersect the programs that we have here, but they're different. And so this is just kind of another step to make sure you're not, if you're looking at one of these other programs, this isn't the place to go. Any place we move forward, we go to continue.

So here this is probably one of the most important pages.

Because this program and plan selection page is.

Is built logic such that whatever you select for your degree and then program will then auto populate the information you need for all the other pages.

So let me let's do an example. So the probably a lot of you are here because you're thinking about applying for the basic science division PhD programs and so you would hit PhD for the degree and then the program you would choose this one, Which one? Let's say you were doing immunology.

Right. See how this auto populates all this information.

Um, it's. And it's not just on this page. So if you look here on the side, you'll see, for instance, just.

You look quickly, you'll kind of get an idea of how many pages there are, but when you click continue, actually this page is not gonna let me.

Might not let me go forward. Yep, you'll see now that there's an Academic History section and a Faculty of Interest and Digital Materials some some pages that didn't exist before because the system didn't know yet which degree and program you wanted to do. So if you're ever on the application and you're wondering, like, why can't I find X page, I know that this is a part of the application, one of the requirements.

Go back to this page to the degree program and make sure that these two sections have been saved.

Um, because it's just sometimes the system is um. If you don't hit the continue button at the bottom, it doesn't save it.

So.

And here I've got that kind of mentioned there, but since you're you know I have you all on this on this session, I wanted to.

Be a little bit more expressive of what that meant.

So with each of the programs, a table will show up with application deadline and program start dates. Then if there's any additional information with questions specific to that PhD program, and then it'll tell you what you know. A reminder of what are all the required application documents. So this is just a helpful kind of starting page.

And so let's do a different program. Let's say you were doing the pharmacology drug development seat, it's a different.

Different content.

You know tables, different acquired obligation documents, you know.

A lot of similarities, but I'm saying there's no additional information section, so you just gotta be extra, extra sure which you know which program you're applying to and to make sure that it's you selected the right one.

Now, one thing I didn't mention before, I don't if anyone noticed this. We have two with a couple of nondegree options, but two of them in particular are undergraduate research program and our prep program there. That application isn't open yet. It's opening in November. So for instance, when you go here to non degree, you'll see that that option doesn't show up and that's just because it's not open yet.

Have it listed on the main page where you first log in, but it's easy to kind of miss that.

Alright, so let's.

Let's go with immunology.

Right.

So there's this question here about.

We're launching a new.

I see here OK Divine, can you not see the screen screen? Is anyone else not seeing the screen that I'm on?

OK.

So divine, maybe it's maybe you just need to like, reload the page.

All right. So continuing on.

They should information. So here's a question that's asked of all the anyone applying for the basic science PhD programs. They're potentially launching a new masters degree, and it's just if you'd be interested in being considered for that. Should you not continue in the PhD program should not be invited for interview. So you answer whatever you want. This is not going to affect your.

Admission to the program whatsoever.

And then?

A reminder of the requirements and then we continue.

And so this first section is again pretty explanatory. Personal data, your name, your mailing address, a little bit of biographical information.

If you're a military veteran, some of these will also based on what you choose will have.

Uh, you know auto populations, right? So if your primary citizenship is United States, it's not gonna ask if you're a US permanent resident.

So just be really, um, you know, just go step by step and not go too quickly, because you might if you.

Miss answering a question with the information that you should be providing it could. The logic won't show for the other for the other questions that might apply to you.

All right.

Now and now we have the demographics page.

And this is only for our U.S. citizens and permanent residents to answer our international applicants. Applicants don't need to answer this. I mean, no one needs to answer. This is all just optional and we use this for research and reporting. None of this comes into play at any point in your in the application process. This page of information is hidden from anyone that is part of the application process, so you know once you hit submit.

This this whole page is saved in the system but hidden from anyone of the admissions process until the application cycles over and then we can.

Needing to do like some federal reporting and we need to submit this information to them. We can pull that, but this is all hidden from the admissions process.

All right. Question here. Yeah, that's right. International students are not required to fill this out because, well, one, a lot of this really is about like for instance, the socioeconomic disadvantage. You can kind of tell there that these are all criteria based on the US The race and ethnicity is also kind of US.

Base definitions and disability has to do the American Disabilities Act. So this is just something that the US federal government asks of us to ask of all of our U.S. citizens and permanent resident applicants. And again.

This page is not necessary for the for the international applicants. I'm just going to scroll up to see if I've missed any other questions. I keep kind of going back and forth, but I might be missing them because also the closed captioning is on. I see a question about the GRE. OK, so the GRE for our PhD programs is entirely optional. Immunology actually is 1 program that won't even look at them even if you submit them.

So if you if you submit them, they'll look at them the other every program but immunology if you don't it doesn't, it doesn't negatively affect your application. So it's entirely up to you whether you feel that GRE scores are going to strengthen your profile.

Move up a little bit more.

Alright, if I if I skip, if I missed your question at all, just throw it again in the chat.

Yes, there's an application fee for all applicants. However, since all of you have come to this session, you're all going to get a an e-mail after this with information about how you can get the application waiver application fee waiver for attending this session.

OK, continuing on.

Yes, the waiver. This waiver is for anyone who has attended A GSS admissions event.

It is not necessary for anyone to contact faculty prior to applying. It's you are not. You don't need to know who you'd like to work with.

Before you apply.

So that's that's not necessary. If you'd like to just talk to them about their research and interests and kind of get an idea, better sense of the GSPS community and whatnot, feel free to they're they're all, all the faculty are.

Available for you. All of their e-mail addresses are on our website, so you can reach out to any of them, but.

In terms of the application process, it is not required for you to reach out to any faculty prior to applying.

This next section is Application data.

So um.

Again, just all um.

Depending on it. Again, here's a perfect example. Depending on what you answer here right, it'll have a a drop down. If you had said no, there's no drop down.

Um.

You know, just complete these.

Et cetera. Just a little bit about your interest conduct. One question that we removed in the application this year was a question that we had about if an applicant has been convicted of a felony. That was something that after many conversations with the with the university for a lot of the schools that was really.

You know that never came into play with reviewing the application of a candidate. There are some professional schools like medicine right? Where that is an important piece to know before licensing. But for GSS it was just not a.

Not something that we needed to information that we needed to know to.

Be able to make a better assessment of the candidates ability to be successful.

All right, let's see.

Um, OK. Question. Is it possible that if we are applying to immunology program along with it we're having interest in other field of research also. So during lab rotation are we allowed to rotate in labs of other programs as well? So when it comes to the rotations?

In the first in your first year, you do 3 rotations. That's. That's across the board for all of the basic science PhD programs and.

It'll be based on faculty availability, spot availability in labs, and then you know you'll submit your, like, top labs that you'd like to.

To do your rotation in and for each of those three different rotations.

And for the most part, you'll definitely want to.

They're gonna, they're gonna expect you to be picking labs that are with faculty members associated with the the program that you're in, right? So faculty members that are within the Department of Immunology.

If for some reason or you know something happens where you really you've really connected in a lab with a faculty member that isn't within the Department of Immunology, they can.

Apply kind of us on the probably the best word, but basically add-on. They can become a member, a faculty member of that department, so that then the student in that program.

Would be able to.

Be in that lab and still within the program. So yes you can. It's just a little bit more effort. So you really want to be mindful of which program you're applying to so that.

You know, if you're in between two programs, it will be really helpful for you to kind of just do some more research online. We're also going to have an open house specific to the basic science PhD programs next week. And then in a couple of weeks we will also have a student panel of current students in the basic science division. So those will be two other opportunities to really get a a feel for what each program is about and to be able to make the best decision for what.

Career path you want to take.

Alright, another couple of questions came in. Um.

So with the Tulsa Medical Center, UM.

Not usually. Well, it I guess it depends on depends on the faculty member if some of them also have a.

You know a role within Tufts Medical Center then yes, but those are usually a little bit more like you know our programs and CTS and the clinical and translational science, they have a lot more of a connection with the Medical Center because it's kind of the intersection of clinical and research.

So it's.

It's potential. I would recommend going on to the faculty page on our website, which let me just actually pull that up right now.

And you can search here by you know who has active research.

Let me add this.

To here.

When you go to that page it will you know you can search by research, teaching status.

And there you can kind of get an idea of.

Who are some faculty that you could be working with in the labs?

All right. Let's see what other question that I miss.

Yes, everyone who's attended this session will receive an e-mail after the sessions complete with information about how you can, when you're applying, what you need to do on the actually work here on the Affiliations and Waivers page. Let me just walk you through it, so here is.

This is to get a better understanding of what, if any, applicants have kind of been connected to GSS by one of our partner.

Like partnerships, it's just helpful information to kind of see that and then when you Scroll down to the bottom there is this, you know, event participation and you'll upload basically the e-mail that you'll have received after this session is complete and then you'll get the application fee waiver.

So if you want to see the, yeah, let's see if I can share this tab now there we go. So this is the page, I'll go back. If you're on our main page, you got a faculty and then here you do active research.

And then hit Alley.

And there you can Scroll down and see who currently has an active lab.

Yeah, You're welcome.

Alright, going back to here.

Alright, so let's continue.

English proficiency. So every applicant for whom English is not their native language has to demonstrate English proficiency. There are no waivers for this.

So here you'll see all of the different ways that you can meet this proficiency requirement. There's four different kind of exams you know you haven't received a degree from.

A US college or university or from one of these other territories. Then you'll need to take one of the exams.

Um, but yeah, this is this is a requirement for anyone who's native language is not English.

All right, continuing on. So if you, you know, if you whatever you end up selecting right, it will give you more information about what to do. So if you're going to do TOEFL, any of the scores have to be sent directly from the testing agency. So even if you upload your test scores, you're not going to your application won't be complete until we receive the official test scores from.

You know, whichever agency you're.

You're going through.

Right.

Right, so if you if you look up here.

Um, I will have received a two or four year degree before my program start date. So then in your case buns Reuben you would not need to. You would just click this right and in the academic history section which is the next section you would upload a copy of your transcript.

So continuing.

So academic history for those who haven't applied to Graduate School in the US before.

Please read through this carefully. It really explains what it is that we're looking for, what is, what we mean by transcript. It's basically like 3 parts to it, right? One is we need to see what your grade report, what courses you took in, the grades that you got into it, right? The second piece to it is we need to understand what the grades mean. So we need like a a transcript key from your institution where they explain how the grading process works there. And then the third piece is to see your.

Uh, degree conferral.

Um, this could be the diploma, something. A lot of transcripts now will say you know what degree you received and on what date. So those are the three pieces that we need. And for some in the US that can all be in one document and for.

Are foreign nationals that are applying. Oftentimes you need to submit a couple different documents that will cover all of those three pieces.

And if the transcripts aren't in English, you still need to submit them, but then also upload a translated copy.

And here it's again. Just go through and make sure to complete everything. All of the the entire system is like I said, logic based if you if you miss something here.

This is actually will auto populate which is really nice right? Like that and so then you put in let's say.

January 2017.

To.

May 2023.

And this is, let's say, graduate degree.

Right. And you need to make sure you pick the degree that it is.

Um.

Graduation day or expected graduation day. Like I said, everything is logic based, so if you if you fail to fill out one section, you could be missing sections that really are important for your application to have that information.

And then you upload the transcript here.

I know there was a couple questions. Let me scroll up. Let's see. Can I also include my ongoing degree in which I also have an interim transcript? Definitely 100%. You can submit everything here.

Any, any, any, and every college or university that you've attended since high school, regardless of whether you actually earned the degree.

Uh, yet. Or at all? Let's see.

Um.

So you're currently in a if you're.

Right. So if you're gonna be currently enrolled in another program, you wouldn't be?

You can't be enrolled in both programs. If you were thinking about like fit not leaving that university to then come to GSBS, then it would make sense to apply. If not, just wait until you've completed that in I guess two years from now, right Fall 2025, and then apply that fall for a fall.

2026 start.

Um, let's see.

MD Cater are you asking?

About the yield scores.

I just need. I'm just slightly confused. I want to make sure I'm answering your question correctly.

Or are you asking like about?

Integrating like your research into the application, just retype. If you don't mind, just retype it again. So I just make sure that I am getting exactly what you're asking.

Um.

Let's see what?

If again, it's if you're not, if you're not going to be currently enrolled in another school, then yes, you could start then. But if you're still enrolled.

Then you wouldn't be able to um.

You wouldn't be able to also apply to be here.

I hope that that.

That made it clear. So basically, if you're already enrolled in another school, you can't also be enrolled here at GBS.

Alright, so.

Um.

Right. So um, let's see.

Let me double check with the OMD cater. It depends on which program you're applying to as to the scoring.

So here, so for the pH, the basic science PhD, we require at least a 7.0 or higher. I believe the masters in pharmacology is a different scoring.

Uh, let's see.

Yeah, the the Ms. and pharmacology and drug development requires a minimum of 6.5.

As does the CTS certificate.

But the CTS, PhD, Ms. and OK, so the.

I'm going to put this link in here because it has a table.

If you select the section called English Language Proficiency, it's a drop down.

You'll see a table that's really helpful where you can see based on the program what are the score requirements.

All right.

I'm gonna keep going again, just pop any questions you have into the chat.

Uh, yes, they should show up here international.

Institutions So.

O here.

You can see that there's a mixture of international and domestic ones.

Yeah, the system is really the system that we use a lot, a lot of schools.

Use as well and so they have quite a database of.

You know she saved information about school so that it can be easy drop downs.

So if your school isn't listed there, that would be very surprising.

Alright, so we did English proficiency. We're academic history. Here is a research activity.

And you just add in and Justice fill out all of these different boxes with the information.

Um.

Yep.

Here there's just a note that.

You know this is just like a brief overview, right? You you can go into much more details in your academic statement of purpose.

OK, so your.

You want to apply. OK, so if you want to start your PhD in the fall of 2025, then you would be applying next fall of 2024. So everyone who's applying right now for the December 1st deadline for the basic science PhDs are applying to start either in summer or fall of 2024.

Because some of the PhD programs starting the summer which is immunology and then the micro merge track and then the rest of them start on September 1st.

Uh, there is no? No, I don't think so. There's any minimum, Maximum of words, No.

Now we just kind of put an open space. If you feel like the space isn't enough, there's always a additional material section where you can add whatever you felt like didn't fit into any of the other sections.

All right, so you put in your research activity.

And then it's employment.

Again pretty self-explanatory. This one I do not believe has the drop down now Organization name doesn't so.

Um.

It's just know that.

All right.

Save that and we continue.

And then your resume or CV. So here it's just.

Just make sure that it includes all of these pieces, because you know, depending on where you are and where you're from, right, you're.

Countries or kind of regions idea of a resume or CV might be different and so we just want to be clear about what we want to make sure that these pieces at least have to be on there. If you want to include other things, that sounds great, but just make sure that you have all of these pieces there.

All right.

Yep, You're welcome everyone. Let's see, we have to approach the professors at Tufts if you're asking about.

Uh, needing to speak with faculty before applying to the the basic science PhD? No, the answer is no, you don't need to. You're welcome to if you'd like to speak to them, but it is not a requirement to apply to already have spoken to a faculty member.

Um.

For the research piece, I would put it under the research section.

Alright, continuing on faculty of interest.

Um, so this is, again, that you're not being held to this by any means. It just gives them an idea of what you're interested in, if they can. You know, if you are invited to interview, sometimes they will. Some of the programs will try to match you with your, you know, your faculty interview with who you list here. Again, that's not always the case, but sometimes they'll they'll try to do that.

So here you'll see you know one is at least required, we recommend at least two, and then there's a third is optional.

Alright, and then we have the personal statements.

We really were thoughtful in what we wrote here to try to provide you with as much kind of guidance as we could and helping you curate the, you know, the right statements for, you know, the academic one and the personal one to really showcase who you are and what you'd like to do, why you're a good fit for the school, what your interests are, so.

Just take the time to read this this both sections um.

And you know, you'll this should be more than enough guidance to kind of get you started. And so this one has a 750 word maximum. Both of them have that. And then there's also a if you want to. This is just optional.

Kind of section to answer this piece.

And you upload them right here.

Here is where you can let us know of what tests that you've taken and self-reports.

Which is very very helpful. Again, the your application won't be. I mean with the GRE it it doesn't.

Either way doesn't really matter because it's not a requirement, it's optional. So if you want them to be considered, you would need to have the testing agency send them directly. But for those who need to meet the English language proficiency requirement, it's helpful to see which test you took so that we can also be on the lookout. The way it works with the English language test scores, so if you go that route to meet that requirement is the test score.

Send the reports, your report, your grade reports through our system and then it's just connected by your name.

And so they it will auto populate on your online application when it's been received on our end. So the one thing I've noticed that really has been.

Kind of a hiccup for a lot of our non-native English speakers is getting those test scores in.

By the deadline.

So whenever you have those complete, put in the request immediately because each agency.

Takes different amounts of time we have here on the GPS on the university side, we have no control over when they send us the report to the grades and it goes right through our system.

Um.

So if within like a week or two you don't see your grades or you don't see your excuse me scores showing up on your online application, I would check back with the testing agency to kind of figure out when they sent it and then let us know as well.

That you submitted them and you're not seeing them. It's been 2 weeks.

Like you're you know you're reaching out to the testing agency because if we know also that you're.

You know, trying to get the test scores and you're getting close to the deadline and you haven't gotten them yet, then we can kind of mark that and let the committees know that you know you're working on it and hopefully within like the first week they'll come in.

All right. Look, I miss any questions. Great. So let's continue on.

Recommendations. So here you'll.

It shows you how many letters you need to get per program, right? So since we're doing this, since I'm doing a pretend immunology PhD one, I will need to get 3 letters. And So what happens is when you add a recommender here and you put all the information either e-mail and then you send a little message, right?

Fill all of this out the your recommender gets this e-mail that says you know hi this is tough GBS.

You know Laura ***** has would like to.

Apply to, or is applying to a program at our school. You know, please complete a letter and this form on, you know, on behalf of their candidacy. And in that e-mail, there's also like instructions on what we look for for in a letter.

Um, so they get that if for any reason you mess up the e-mail address the recommender never like.

Writes the letter and you need 3 and you need to add. You can always add a fourth.

So you could just keep adding. What we can't do is remove.

So if a recommender tells you ohh, I changed my e-mail address, you're like ohh but I already put this one in here. Don't worry about it. Just add them again with the other e-mail address. If you know that third recommender is you're not sure they're gonna come through and you want to get a fourth in just just to be safe.

Then you can do that.

Alright, there was a couple of questions that came in. Um.

So yes, Hannah, you can send in a fourth now if you um.

If you end up with four letters, the committee might, you know, only choose to read the first three that come in, right. But I do see sometimes if like the example I was giving where you know, recommenders like sometimes things come up and they don't get, they don't get to it and.

And so, if you're unsure if a recommender is going to get it in time for the deadline, I'd recommend getting a fourth, just so that you know for certain you'll have 3.

Alright, let's see.

In terms of the economic transcript and grades from a non-us are different in terms of the grading scale. Do you have to include what the grades would be in terms of yes, even if it's a US academic transcript? Because each school in the US does the credit system slightly different. Some even have grading scales or slightly different based on if it's semester or quarter system. So everyone is required to submit a transcript key.

That explains.

How the grading is done and the credit system is done, um, at that university.

Are there answers to who? For example, some constant professor? No, there are no.

Requirements as to who you should ask.

This is, you know, this is up to you.

So you can ask, I mean I think here is a really good.

Phrasing to focus on the individuals who know you best as a scientist.

So that can be academics. That could be professors, right? That could also be.

You know Piis that you worked with or other employers, so that's.

It also depends, like, how long has it been since you've been out of undergrad? You know? Would they be able to still write you a strong letter if it's been like five years, You know, will they remember all of the work that you've done? It's entirely kind of case by case, which is why we don't put a specific requirement. We really want applicants to choose who they feel will add.

You know, add a really helpful and strong piece to their application, giving like another another glimpse into who they are and who.

Who they will, who you'll become as a, you know, as you continue your trajectory into becoming a scientist or being a scientist and building on that.

Do we have to go through interview process for the admission? Yes. All of the programs have some type of interview process. The basic science PhD is like any of the other similar.

Start programs at our peer schools where you're invited to interview.

And it's a it's a whole like day event with interviews with faculty and you meet students and you hear about the program some more and then some of the other programs like the PDF doesn't much more informal interview just to get to know you and kind of see if you're a good fit for the program. They're much shorter and they're done over zoom.

I think the same is done with CTS as well.

Is somebody the more information it's that is again.

I think you were talking about with the personal statements, right?

That there is no.

Like.

Advantage or disadvantage? This is just another space for if you felt that there was something about.

You know who you are, that you felt like you didn't get to reflect elsewhere, that it didn't fit in the personal statement or it didn't fit in the academic statement or in your resume or your employment history. You just feel like there's this piece that man, I just, I want to make sure that this is this comes through because I feel like I didn't get to properly expound about it in another section. Go for it. But it's not. This is, this is optional. And when we mean optional, we really mean optional. It does not hurt you if you if you don't.

You know, fill this out.

Don't just come, you know, fill out the OR complete these optional things because you, like, feel you need to. You don't need to add fluff to it, right?

So we just we have that there and then also if maybe you have something else you want to share, but it doesn't even fit into this question that's why we also have.

This additional material section. So when you, you know you after you've added all your recommenders. If there's something else right that you want to add, you can add this here and after you've submitted your application, this section will still appear on your.

Your page where it says that you submit your application, there's going to be still a section where you can upload things. So let's say you've submitted it and then you receive an award or one of your papers got published. Something that you wanna you wanna add to your application before the deadline.

You'll still have that option to that option to do that after you submitted the application.

Uh, let's see. Do you recommend reaching out to faculty members if they have funding to support graduate students?

Yeah, I think that's a great question, Lena.

I would, if you look at that faculty page I sent earlier, and you, you know, scroll through the active research and faculty members with active research and, well, one. If you don't see a member whose faculty member is not listed there, they most likely don't have an active lab and they won't probably don't have the funding.

If there's a faculty member that you really like, this is the one that you want to work with. Yes or yes. This is the, you know, this is the lab. If you could choose to do it right now. Yeah, 100% ask them. The thing is, things change, right, every year and throughout the year. So they might not be able to tell you right now. They might be able to or they might not be able to tell you, you know, a year or a year and a half or even 2 years from now. I may or may not be able to have like one spot or two spots. It's it's not just funding. It's like.

Also, are there other students in the lab that are going to be, you know, finishing up soon? Would that also add another spot?

So it's.

If that's the only faculty member you want to work with, then.

You can ask them, but they might not know the answer.

Or they might just not know the answer right now.

It is not mandatory to have any research paper or published paper.

Scrolling down, scrolling down, OK, I think I got all of the questions that had come in.

Um, if I missed you, I'm really, I'm really sorry. Just pop it back in again. I'm not purposefully skipping anyone. It's just the closed captioning.

Kind of covers the questions for me.

So the additional material section and then um.

Continue.

You put in your signature, you certifying that everything that you have submitted here is truthful.

And hit confirm. And then what's nice is that the system will tell you all the areas where you're missing pieces, right?

And that these errors need to be corrected before you can actually do, before you can submit them and there's some other kind of like potential errors.

And then once you've done all of that, you hit submit application or you save for later. If you're not ready to finish it right now, you need to gather some more materials.

You know, still waiting for recommenders. Etcetera, etcetera.

I hope this was helpful, kind of walking through.

If you know if I did the immunology PhD, so this is going to be very.

This gives anyone who's applying for the basic science PhD. This is basically what it looks like. But if you're applying to any of our other programs, PDF or you decide you want to play a Rep or PBS and which will open in November and you're going through and you're confused about what a page means or what a question means or what's going on, just feel free to e-mail us.

At any point Um.

And we'll be happy to walk you through it. The application is not meant to confuse anyone. There's no, this isn't like this isn't a GRE test, right? Where we're trying to see if you can figure out the methodology of how we do our applications. Not at all. We, you know, if there's something that's confusing, please let us know, because we'll want to clear that up and make sure that other applicants aren't confused as well.

Umm.

Yeah, you're welcome. I'm I'm really glad that this session was helpful for you. Let's see, can we submit it before? Yes, you can submit. I and I recommend you submit before the recommendation letters are submitted. You not need to wait until your recommender send in their letters. You can submit.

Beforehand.

Yeah, you're all welcome again. Any questions, you can always always reach out. I believe I recorded this session, so I will send it out.

Um, and yeah, that's what I'm here for.

Is willing missions would be benefit to submit earlier? Which program are you talking about Anna?

Yep, you're welcome everyone. And. And do you know which program you're thinking about applying to?

Uh, no. So the the OK, the basic science PhDs aren't rolling admissions, so you want to get in by December 1st.

Some committees might look in an application after December 1st, but it's not a guarantee.

Because basically you submit and December 1st and the majority of interviews, invitations for interviews will go out in December.

They spend every week leading up to the UH like.

Christmas, Winter, New Year's holidays. Reviewing all the applications, so you want to make that December 1st deadline. There are individuals who do get invitations in January because sometimes it's just too many applications to go through before the holidays, but the majority receive their invite in December.

Yeah, so the programs haven't decided yet. The.

Format in which they're going to do the interview and program as a days, so this past year.

Some programs did everything virtual, some did a hybrid, and some did everything in person.

So there's, you know, there's an option for any of those if a if a program is inviting you to come to the interview and they want you to be in person, they're going to be covering the travel and accommodations.

Um, if like the date doesn't work for you, right to becoming the traveling there, they might be able to kind of arrange for you and you know, for you to be able to do yours virtually.

But each program kind of decides what they're going to do.

What format they're going to do. Most of them will decide by like November and then in December when.

Applicants who you know get an invite.

To interview. In that e-mail, there's information about the format in which the interviews will be held.

But they've been.

The programs are understanding right like this is there's a lot more flexibility now. We don't need to be in person for everything. We can do a lot of things virtually. So they have definitely worked with candidates one-on-one. When their circumstances are such that they just can't come to the in person one or even the virtual days that they put together, sometimes it's that date doesn't work.

Um.

So they've been able to work one-on-one with candidates.

Yep, You're welcome.

Oh, that's a great question. Um.

So uh, let's see.

Of the so the there's usually about 25 total incoming students for the basic Science HD, and it's kind of divided between the different four different programs and probably.

Over 100 are invite or more than 100 are invited to interview.

I would say.

And that's.

I guess it's based off of the percentage of. That's a tough one.

So I don't know if that at least those numbers there, if that helps you, Cameron.

Yeah so the when you get an e-mail after this is complete it should have the recording for the session there. Either way I'm going to send it in a follow up e-mail.

Uh, next week when I also talk about the. Actually, I'm gonna add that in here so you can all sign up for that as well. There's the event next.

I think it's next Friday. I think I did them all on Fridays.

To learn to hear from the program directors about.

About the basic science PhD programs. So it's like a virtual open house. I recommend anyone who's applying to a basic science PhD program here at GSB to attend this. It'll be very, very helpful.

Let's see what's that question, um?

Yeah, Madeline, you have to.

You have to choose beforehand, but you can apply to both. So you could apply to the neuro Boston track and jax track.

Yeah, so you could submit two applications in the same cycle.

And kind of if you're you know, you know you want to do neuro, you're like I want to do a tough, but I'm kind of open to doing it either on the Boston campus or the main campus.

You can submit both and then kind of see how the application process goes right? And see which program invites you to an interview and if you can, invite it to both.

Assessing there when you're learning more about the program and kind of the the community there, because mine is very different, very different community from.

Um, the Boston campus.

Apologies. For some reason I seem to have lost like lost Internet for a second and they kicked me out. Can everyone hear me again?

It also looks like I have two Loras here, so just ignore the other one.

Um, all right.

Back to the questions, um.

You do 2 separate applications and what's nice is that you let me go back to this.

Uh, let's see. OK, save for later, right?

You can. You can just you'll start a new application.

To do the other to do the second one and you can pull.

Information that you've already submitted in the other one. So it's not like you have to re upload. You can say like oh I'm going to use these same letters, I'm going to use these same statements. A lot of the things will. I don't know if you noticed, but when I walked through this a lot of information was already auto populated and that was because I had.

Made these previous um.

Made these previous.

Sorry, everything just there we go.

Applications.

I hope that that was clear. I realized I kind of paused several times in that because I was figuring out why the tech wasn't working right. Is neuroscience under basic science or separate? It's under the basic sciences. So I'll go back to this one that I had started today.

Program and plan, right? Doctor, Doctor, Philosophy and then all of them are here.

So you just pick which one.

You want to apply for.

Yes, next Friday is the only open house. Again I'll I'll record that session, so that will also kind of live on our website. The other events that I would recommend you come to if you can't make that one or even an addition to if you can make that one is the student panel because there you can hear from current students in these programs about their experience, what the, what the research is that they're doing.

So that's just another opportunity there to get to get a better sense of GBS.

All right. Any other any other last questions? If I apply last year two, should we create? I'll just use the same. I would use the same login info so that then all the information will be auto populated like your name, your contact name, your contact information, your name, your address.

I mean it doesn't take much time to fill that out, but it is time and this way it's, you know, you have all of that already out of populated.

Yeah, You're welcome.

So I hope to see some of you maybe next Friday or at the student panel in a couple of weeks on a Wednesday, the 11th of October. And if you can't make either of those, that's fine. I'll put the sessions, the recorded sessions on on our website, they'll be under the same.

Under the Admissions Events page, um.

Here I'll put that also in the in the chat.

They'll like list the event and then it'll show you ohh you know, if it's past it's past then it'll show the recording.

And yeah, and with that, again, reach out if you have any ever have any questions and I hope you all applied to GSS.

All right. I hope everyone also has a great rest of your Friday and weekend and.

Yeah. Thanks for being here today.

Bye everyone.