Reading tea leaves of presentations at lab meeting
Long story short, due to a lack of research experience in undergrad, I took a gap year after graduating with a Molecular Biology degree in 2024 to gain experience as a volunteer at a cancer research lab. Then, I applied to a research-stream MSc at a Canadian university in a medical sciences field, and I got in. However, I was unable to find a PI and deferred my admission to this year. Currently, I’m working as an RA in a different lab. If I fail to find a supervisor this year, I will need to reapply.
Recently, I was invited after a couple rounds of email questioning to a lab meeting at one of the PIs I’m interested in, and the other candidate was told to “volunteer to increase their chances”, followed by their offer of their summer being flatly denied. I was told to “stay in communication” since a grant had just been awarded, they’re waiting on more decisions, and the PI is travelling for 2 weeks. They also asked for a reference from the cancer PI who they met the other day. When I provided this information, they said they will return next week and would need “discussions before moving forward, thank you and see you soon”. I assume this is a good sign, but I would like some second opinions.
Before anyone asks, I have interviewed with 4 other labs at this dept., one of which turned out to be a rejection. They are currently in the process of interviewing other candidates so therefore it is quite opaque. What are your opinions on my odds?
Edit: The lab that rejected was concerned about my cGPA and computational experience and asked for references anyway, while two of the three remaining labs asked for references as well.