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bearsalot_

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    Brandeis University, Neuroscience PhD

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  1. Who told you that discussing achievements you earned through your work is arrogant? Psssh. Publications, fellowships, recognitions.. all of those things are relevant and reflect on how good of a candidate you are. Especially things like publications, reseach awards, presentation awards--you are being recognized for your skill at the sort of work that is the bread and butter of grad school! It'd be foolish not to mention these things--they are way more relevant than making up some silly story about your childhood or even dreaming up some pie in the sky 5-year dissertation plan for them to laugh at. I highly doubt that was any sort of kiss of death for you.
  2. I can't disagree more with this professor's opinion of students who continue with their interview schedules even though they're intending on accepting another offer. After all of the work and fees and sweat an applicant has put forth during this process, they ought to get as good of a feel for every school that offers and take every opportunity they'd like. Minds can change, can't they? Competitive students will have choices, and it seems unprofessional for a school or a faculty member to voice being upset by a student exercising those choices. Also, I don't feel too guilty about waiting until the last minute to respond to an offer if I'm still waiting on offers from my top choice schools. It isn't my business or my concern who is on what waitlist--those matters can be sorted out between the school and the applicant, and I don't feel obligated to put myself in a risky position just to open up a spot for someone else. Maybe that is harsh and a tad selfish, but its a competitive process and I intend to make the best of my opportunities.
  3. Weird. I had a similarly odd instance--I was invited for an interview with about two weeks notice for a recruitment weekend, but it overlapped with one I had scheduled a earlier at another school. I tried to schedule for another date, but the "recruitment team" folks I was corresponding with couldn't figure out who would be in charge of setting up alternative appointments. They had me email several other people myself, who also didn't know who to talk to, but said that they would try. I never heard back. I'd say, if a school can't or won't make it easy for you to interview with them, it isn't a good sign. They either aren't sufficiently interested in you as an applicant, or they aren't organized enough as a department. Either way, that probably isn't a good fit for you.
  4. Mine was very dry--just describing past experiences that demonstrate my competence for graduate level work (research, employment, grant awards, publications, academics) and why I was applyig to that particular program, citing some mutual research interests I had with faculty. I didn't include any personal life fluff at all, nor described some road to Damascus event that lead to my interest in the field. I didn't present an idea for a dissertation topic or what I wanted to study in much particular detail--my fear is that would have been too narrow in scope, as it may only be relevant to a small number of PIs at any given institution. In short, I described why they should want me and what credientials I had to prove it, and why I wanted them--no fluff. It was about one single-spaced page in length. That's it, and it seemed to work for me.
  5. I'll be entering as a PhD student in the fall for Neuroscience! What about you?
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