rawry0 Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 I applied to about 10 schools and havent heard ANYTHING. I spend my nights freaking out and my days refreashing my email.. Is it normal not to get interview invites at this point? I am too far to travel and so there would be no point? Anyone on this miserable boat with me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeruK Posted December 29, 2014 Share Posted December 29, 2014 If you have not already done so, you might want to check the "Results Search" part of GradCafe! You can find a link to it on the GradCafe home page, or using the Navigation Bar links under the GradCafe logo in the forums. I would recommend you do a search like "Yale Neuroscience" (without quotes) in order to see when other students reported finding out about interviews/acceptances/rejections in past years (or if anyone has already heard anything for this year). Of course, replace "Yale" with the schools you are actually applying to (just made up an example school). Pay special attention to the "St" column too, which indicates whether the applicant is American, International, or "U" for international student with a US degree. This can help you determine whether or not the school notifies International students separately from American students (or if they only skype-interview or phone-interview far away students). And when you find out your own info, please add it to the Results Search too! You might be able to help out another stressed out student! If you already know about this feature of the GradCafe, then sorry for subjecting you to this post! Just want to advertise this resource since the more people know about it, the more useful it becomes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawry0 Posted December 30, 2014 Author Share Posted December 30, 2014 I will check it out, thanks so much for your help, you're very awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Utopus Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I am new at this site too and I didn't know about the "Results Search" section, thanks for pointing that out. Now, I am checking all of last year's results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoMex Posted January 9, 2015 Share Posted January 9, 2015 Is it common for international students to not get an interview, even by phone or mail? if you do get one, is it after the deadlines or any time? I'm worrying that since I've not anything about interviews it's a bad sign, although I think just one of the Universities I applied to has passed the deadline. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeruK Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 Usually if they interview students, they will still interview international students via phone or Skype. It does not make much sense for someone to specifically not get any interview at all because they are international. That is, there may be many reasons they might not interview you (e.g. you didn't make it on the first round of interviews) but it's probably not solely because you are international. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawry0 Posted January 13, 2015 Author Share Posted January 13, 2015 Yeah, I understand. I figured they'd get to the skype interviewees later on though, since they dont have to book them for the in-person interview on set dates... make sense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeruK Posted January 13, 2015 Share Posted January 13, 2015 Yeah, I understand. I figured they'd get to the skype interviewees later on though, since they dont have to book them for the in-person interview on set dates... make sense? Yeah, that does make sense. But we never know for sure! I think January is probably the worst month in terms of grad school applications; stay positive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawry0 Posted January 14, 2015 Author Share Posted January 14, 2015 Yeah, that does make sense. But we never know for sure! I think January is probably the worst month in terms of grad school applications; stay positive! Thanks! Trying not to freak out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeoMex Posted January 14, 2015 Share Posted January 14, 2015 If they don't sent interview request does it mean you didn't make it? or does it depent on each school? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rawry0 Posted January 16, 2015 Author Share Posted January 16, 2015 It depends if the school/program requires invites, someone posted saying they got acceptances without interview. In general though, no interview usually means no admission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chubberubber Posted January 17, 2015 Share Posted January 17, 2015 First- are you sure your programs actually do interviews? Seems like not all programs do... Second- one thing we must understand is that for most American universities, it costs much much more to admit international students than U.S ones. Institutions get federal funds for American students, but not for international ones. That means they have to come up with more money out of their own budget to be able to admit internationals. It's possib;e that it takes them longer to invite international students to interviews becuase they want to see if they have funding for them, and if so how many can they afford to admit. Hope you'll get some good news soon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thindust Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 First- are you sure your programs actually do interviews? Seems like not all programs do... Second- one thing we must understand is that for most American universities, it costs much much more to admit international students than U.S ones. Institutions get federal funds for American students, but not for international ones. That means they have to come up with more money out of their own budget to be able to admit internationals. It's possib;e that it takes them longer to invite international students to interviews becuase they want to see if they have funding for them, and if so how many can they afford to admit. I have a question out of curiosity: What happens with international students who already have external funding for PhDs? Is there a quota to the enrollment of international students beyond fiscal considerations? That is, assuming the universities can afford to take these international students or that these international students already have external funding, are still universities "taxed" (I don't know what's the right term for this) for admitting too many international students - Is there a state/federal-level quota enforced? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chubberubber Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Good question. I don't know, but I would assume not, especially not for the private universities (Harvard, Yale, Stanford, WUSTL...). But, I'd imagine that departments have a certain quota of PhD students they can admit per year in general. Maybe there are reasons other than money? In any case, having external funding for PhD is GREAT!!! If you have it- awesome! If you can get it- do whatever you can to get it. I read somewhere that external funding for international students almost "levels the playing field" completely! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeruK Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 I have a question out of curiosity: What happens with international students who already have external funding for PhDs? Is there a quota to the enrollment of international students beyond fiscal considerations? That is, assuming the universities can afford to take these international students or that these international students already have external funding, are still universities "taxed" (I don't know what's the right term for this) for admitting too many international students - Is there a state/federal-level quota enforced? A small number of schools do have quotas enforced by law or other policy, but most quotas are just limited by money. But you have to make sure your external funding covers everything, including university overhead for it to actually make a difference. For example, in my program, one would need a fellowship that covers something like $75,000 per year in order for you to actually be "free" to the university. I have a 3-year external fellowship from Canada for about $20,000/year, which is nice but does not even offset the cost of a single year here. And schools can't just take students based on external money because you will still take up a spot in class, take up a desk in an office, take up hours of professors' time. I don't think a school is going to take an international student with external funding that is not already on par with the other international students they are already accepting and paying for. That is, I think having external funding will help if, 1) it's enough to cover almost all your costs and 2) you would have been really close to being accepted anyways. Chubberubber 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chubberubber Posted January 18, 2015 Share Posted January 18, 2015 Thanks! That clarifies a lot of things that were a bit unclear to me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thindust Posted January 19, 2015 Share Posted January 19, 2015 Thanks guys that's helpful to know! I totally understand the point about international applicants with stats being close to being accepted anyway - funding really just levels the playing field by removing some of the financial strain. I was curious because I know of internationals with full funding covered for the whole of their PhDs (the cost of coverage flexible depending on grad school of choice) and decent stats who still struggle to get interviews at both public and private grad schools. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexneuro Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Just for other internationals who are freaking out. I've asked many programs and they tend to look at all the international applications together. This can either happen early on or can happen after they have sent out interview requests for nationals. For neuroscience, for example, USC reviewed the applications this week and sent out e-mails for Skype interviews today. University of Pittsburgh is only going to tackle them next week. So don't despair if you have not gotten an interview yet. Many programs haven't even looked at your application. Good luck! thindust and Asimio 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asianengineer Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 Is it common for Master's students to recieve interviews, or actually anything at all, at this point in the cycle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexneuro Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 I don't think it hurts you at all to ask the admissions committee if you should be expecting interview information. Some master programs don't conduct interviews. In general, international students seem to be fearful of asking the committee questions, afraid that it will somehow "annoy" them into rejecting you. That's simply not the case. It just shows them you are very interested in the program's decision. Just don't send emails every couple of days. Chubberubber 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chubberubber Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 I don't think it hurts you at all to ask the admissions committee if you should be expecting interview information. Some master programs don't conduct interviews. In general, international students seem to be fearful of asking the committee questions, afraid that it will somehow "annoy" them into rejecting you. That's simply not the case. It just shows them you are very interested in the program's decision. Just don't send emails every couple of days. Thanks alexneuro! I was thinking exactly what you said internationals think... Now I feel a lot more comfortable about asking questions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexneuro Posted January 25, 2015 Share Posted January 25, 2015 (edited) Thanks alexneuro! I was thinking exactly what you said internationals think... Now I feel a lot more comfortable about asking questions! I know. Depending on where you are from, it is very rude to request information from officials. When I was doing undergrad, I was afraid of going to office hours because I thought it would send the professor the impression that he had done a subpar job in teaching or that I wasn't willing to put in the time to study and learn it myself. Edited January 25, 2015 by alexneuro Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chubberubber Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 (edited) Yeah, I never realized how much of a difference culture makes. I am just so worried about coming across as rude or bothering that I would often assume what the answer for a question might be rather than just asking it... I didn't go to office hours because I didn't want to bother busy professors... Edited January 26, 2015 by Chubberubber Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluejay123 Posted January 28, 2015 Share Posted January 28, 2015 Some programmes are really nice and respond to emails immediately but for others, well...the wait continues... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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