CLS Interview for SFSU

Hi everyone,

I've found these forums to be of immense help during my prep for applying to CLS programs in California and after 1.5 years of taking pre-req classes my efforts are finally going somewhere. I've been invited to a faculty interview for SFSU CLS program for Fall 2013 and was just wondering if anyone out there knows what kind of questions they will be asking, the format of the interview, what to expect, and anything that would be useful to know.

If it helps, I have my degree from a UC in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and currently working as a research assistant at UCSF in Microbiology. I was able to bump my GPA up from a 3.32 to a 3.6 from taking the pre-requisite classes. Is there anything in my background that I should put emphasis on?

Thanks a bunch!

U will get in

CLSApplicant in San Francisco, California said: Hi everyone,

I've found these forums to be of immense help during my prep for applying to CLS programs in California and after 1.5 years of taking pre-req classes my efforts are finally going somewhere. I've been invited to a faculty interview for SFSU CLS program for Fall 2013 and was just wondering if anyone out there knows what kind of questions they will be asking, the format of the interview, what to expect, and anything that would be useful to know.

If it helps, I have my degree from a UC in Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology and currently working as a research assistant at UCSF in Microbiology. I was able to bump my GPA up from a 3.32 to a 3.6 from taking the pre-requisite classes. Is there anything in my background that I should put emphasis on?

Thanks a bunch!

I'm curious to know what kind of questions will be asked as well. I was invited to an interview as well. (And good luck ^^!) My GPA isn't as strong, so I'm looking to do well on the interview. :)

CLS Hopeful in Napa, California said: I'm curious to know what kind of questions will be asked as well. I was invited to an interview as well. (And good luck ^^!) My GPA isn't as strong, so I'm looking to do well on the interview. :)

Good luck to you too CLS Hopeful!! We might see each other then, I'm in the Thursday session. On a side note, I was just in Napa this weekend for the Napa Valley Wine Train, I wish I had the pleasure to be so close to breath-taking vineyards and delicious wines!

CLS Hopeful in Napa, California said: I'm curious to know what kind of questions will be asked as well. I was invited to an interview as well. (And good luck ^^!) My GPA isn't as strong, so I'm looking to do well on the interview. :)

Thank you for your reassuring thoughts :), I appreciate it. I hope it will be true too.

Have you heard anything back yet from SFSU? I was in the Wednesday session and there were about 15 - 20 people there. How was Thursday?

I haven't heard anything back yet, although I was told that they would be making decisions this week. It was the same numbers for Thursday so perhaps we will all get in!

I wanna apply here for the next year :) Can you guys give advice on the app process or interviewing? Do you know what kind of GPA they look for or if they want lab experience? I'm volunteering in a research lab for a professor but don't have professional work experience.

thebigbang0011 in Burbank, California said: I wanna apply here for the next year :) Can you guys give advice on the app process or interviewing? Do you know what kind of GPA they look for or if they want lab experience? I'm volunteering in a research lab for a professor but don't have professional work experience.

Just make sure you have a really strong GPA for your last 60 units, 3.3-3.8 will definitely ensure that you get invited to the faculty interview and good grades in the pre-req classes. From what I've heard they look very favorably upon previous lab experience related to the clinical lab; streaking bacteria, PCR, immunoassays, etc. so you are on the right track with volunteering at a research lab. Also, if you are interested in working at a particular hospital, it never hurts to try to get in touch with the CLS Director to see if you can tour their facilities. This will give you a chance to see CLS's in action and for the director to get to know you when it comes time for picking someone to train.

Good luck!

Yay! Thank you for the help :) I wish I could tour a lab - I'm actually from SoCal and CLS programs are lacking down here. We have Dominguez Hills but that's impossible to get into if you already have a Bachelor's (because they combine the 1 yr internship with their Bachelor's in Clinical Laboratory Science so you are essentially competing against their own students - fat chance) and Loma Linda but that's expensive (60K). I think UCI and UCSD have programs but they take like 2-3 students LOL.

Norcal has SFSU and SJSU though and they both seem like solid programs that take a fair amount of students. I also would love to live in SF for a year :) Did you apply to any other programs?

For this cycle, I only applied to SFSU but if I don't happen to get in then I will try for SJSU and UC Davis. I believe the SJSU program have similar requirements to SFSU but UC Davis accepts their applications earlier and they take 5-10 people per cycle.