Mayo Graduate School 2011 Interview Weekends

*clap *clap *clap *clap

Hi everyone!

Having just now caught my breath from chasing down interviewees, push pins, poster boards, and tour schedules, a few statements about this year’s interview weekends are in order.

Over two weeks, Mayo Graduate School hosted nearly a hundred aspiring students vying for the 35 or so openings that will be the 2011 matriculating class. While this year’s weekends were an unmitigated success, this comes with its own set of issues. How does one tell a Floridian unused to the difference between 20° and -20° that they arrived during the warmest weekend this winter? What happens when student participation in the poster session is so great that General Services runs out of poster boards? When Rochester puts on SocialICE on the same weekend, how do we make the city not look stir-crazy from months of winter? These were problems, to be sure, but problems I was ultimately glad to have.

To those who came to consider MGS, it was a blast meeting all of you, and we hope to see you again! Whether as fellow students, or as future colleagues in the conferences and post-docs to come, best of luck!

To the students who assisted the interviews, thanks so much. Whether you were a member of the GSA organizing shuttle runs and interview chaperones, or talked shop for a few minutes with an applicant at the poster session, it is your continued help that puts students at our rightful place as the focal point of MGS.

~written by Michael Oneal, President of MGS Graduate Student Association

[slideshow id=1]

I agree with our fearless GSA leader, who did a wonderful job with tremendous efforts, that the interview weekends were a great success! With interviewing students coming in from near and far, Rochester’s own as well as those spanning from California to New York and Canada to Puerto Rico, we were able to show them all what Mayo and Minnesota is all about: great research and Ice Bars, of course.

Graduate student participation was great as per usual in the social scene - with great presence at the Saturday activities and reception, and arm wrestling tournaments to determine who will attend the illustrious Foundation House dinner. But equally impressive was the turnout of students at the poster session at the (not so ripe) time of 8:45am – a feat that is not normally possible for most graduate students, but alas when provided with nourishment and caffeine anything is possible.

Also, a huge thanks to the Deans, Rose Marie, and all the administrative assistants who made the whole operation run smoothly with the perfect amount of grandeur.

~written by Mallory Turner, Virology and Gene Therapy GSA Representative