Apparently the year before I applied, the ENTIRE Stanford Biology department received over 400 applicants for six grad student slots.
Seems like it would be kind of lonely to be a plant person there. I’m glad I’m at Berkeley. There were eight grad students admitted in the plant program alone, and between PMB (Plant and Microbial Biology), MCB (Molecular and Cellular Biology), ESPM (Enviromental Science, Policy, and Management), IB (Integrated Biology), BioEngineering and any other departments I’ve forgotten there must be over two hundred new bio grad students this year.