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Somehow I suspect you probably had a 3.8+ GPA and top GREs.

What were your stats?

1) Bring up that Q score. Your research experience is STELLAR, but GRE is often used as an initial weedout. 2) I'd be cautious of UCLA for 2 reasons: see above, and eating ramen for dinner every night of the week. At least, that's what I have heard from nearly everybody I've talked to who's gone there.

Ouch. I may apply to another department there.

It would probably have helped if I didn't spend half of the Baylor interview violently sick to my stomach due to the utter delight that is having IBS that manifests primarily in high-stress situations. Part of their interview is taking students to the Rush Record Neuroscience Forum they hold every year, and I spent almost the entire first day running in and out of the bathroom, which might have been interpreted as inadequate enthusiasm. I really have no idea what adcoms think when interviewees get sick, and I think it's a worthwhile thing to consider at least somewhere in the big Grad School Applicant Discussion because it definitely happens, and it can happen when you don't even expect it. Maybe you don't have a chronic condition like I do, but what if you get some kind of bug or the food doesn't agree with you...

Their neuroscience PhD program. I MIGHT consider reapplying, but actual faculty members told me one reason why I probably didn't get in was money (they said they were actually pretty shocked I wasn't accepted), and I was told after all the admissions were handed out that they only admitted half the people they did the year before. Pity, because I had a damn good time there.

Yes, but what were their other stats? Also of note may be the fact that I spent my first two years at a community college, which something tells me Yalevard Institute of Stanfordogy doesn't like even if you have competitive stats.

A good rule of thumb is that the top 10 programs in every discipline are a crapshoot for every applicant

I'm about 99.999999999999999999999999% positive I'll get in this year. If not, there is something wronger than wrong with me. This is round 2 for me. Undergrad Institution: State school. Not a Uni of State. I'm not convinced this isn't a factor, second time around. I've already graduated, too. Major(s): Biology GPA in Major: I can never get a definite answer on how this is actually calculated. My GPA in all of my science courses is 3.71. Overall GPA: 3.69 Position in Class: Top 15% Type of Student: Female, citizen GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 163 V: 167 W: 4.0 B: Should I take this? Research Experience: 2 summers at Big Shot Research Institutions, 1 semester at my undergrad institution, a second-author publication which got covered several times in household name popular media outlets because it was pretty important Awards/Honors/Recognitions: I graduated with honors in the major and joined Golden Key. Phi Beta Kappa was elusive, alas. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: I tutor some while I try to find a job to occupy me between undergrad and grad school. Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: I am 26. There is a class that shows up on my transcript from my first stab at college when I was 17 and young and had some hard stuff to deal with. I have explained this away as 'I was young and had some stuff to deal with back then BUT LOOK HOW GOOD I AM NOW'. Applying to Where: The list as of right now is pretty long and I need to hack it in half. Bolded programs are being applied to. UVA Neuro Stanford Bio (ordinarily would not apply but I have an in there) UC Davis Neuro Carnegie Mellon Bio Pittsburgh Neuro Florida IBP (Neuro) Emory Neuro UC Irvine Neuro UNC Chapel Hill Neuro Duke Neuro UT Houston Genes/Devo (I also have an in here) Michigan Neuro Michigan PIBS UT Southwestern Neuro NIH/JHU (long shot but eh maybe) University of Washington Neuro USC Neuro Case Western Neuro King's College London Neuro Cambridge Phys/Dev/Neuro King's College London Institute of Psychiatry Neuro Oxford Neuro NIH OxCam (long shot but I'll allow it) Things I learned last year: Don't apply to top 10 programs unless your GPA is 3.8+ or 3.6+ from the Ivies, you have several first-author pubs, and you've cured cancer, and APPLY TO AS MANY PROGRAMS AS YOU CAN AFFORD. I applied to Harvard BBS, Columbia, UCSD, Arizona, and Baylor College of Medicine Neuro, and Vanderbilt Bio, got interviews at the latter three, and got admitted to none. Arizona has a habit of admitting mostly Arizona grads, Baylor is having a shit time with regards to money and apparently I would have gotten in if they hadn't admitted half the students they usually do, and Vanderbilt was my Everybody Gets Rejected From At Least One Program program.

Vanderbilt Biological Sciences, February 6-8!

UCSD neuroscience interviews are out. Hopefully there's multiple waves.

It was a reply to an email.

I got me a grade-A rejection email from Harvard BBS. Only five schools to worry about now.

tuba250, to be honest the problem with international applicants is eligibility for funding. There are a lot of funding opportunities open to American graduate students that simply aren't to international ones. Also, to be honest, it makes sense that an American program is going to prioritize American students from a financial, legal, and ethical standpoint.

I find it's a major crapshoot when you get to the highest levels. People with worse credentials than me got interviews at Harvard. I didn't. I'm not going to fuss.

1.) I am interested primarily in developmental neuroscience within an evolutionary and comparative context, particularly using invertebrates for comparison. 2.) Money. 3.) Cephalopods. They're part of why I got into what I want to do; google 'octopus brain' and you'll know why. I intend to use them as model organisms when I embark on my post-PhD/postdoc career. 4.) Favorite: Confocal microscopy. Hardest to master: Either video behavioral analysis or immunohistochemistry. 5.) Proudest: Finishing my first project. Biggest screw-up: I haven't had any particularly big screw-ups.

I'm applying to neuro programs, but I'm in devo neuro.

Vanderbilt IGP is meeting again on the 6th.

And 'high GPA/GRE and research experience' differs from school to school. I have all of these things, but am getting interviews rapidly from some places and not so from others.

Columbia is sending out interview applications. Hope my mentor's connection there works. If not, guess that's two probable programs I'm not going to.

I'm not completely sure of the dress code at graduate school interviews in the biological sciences. I bought a suit yesterday, but I've been hearing that not only is this sometimes not appropriate for some schools, but that also multiple outfits are required for more informal meetings. Can someone give a reasonably detailed explanation of what is appropriate for different kinds of meetings during interview weekends ?

I was under the impression they were sending ALL their interview invitations today, as in not sending any after today.

At what point can we assume we're not going to Harvard BBS if we applied for it?

Harvard BBS is sending them out in waves, right? Right?

For the love of tiny little cuttlefish, everybody: please post your scores when you post your admissions decisions on the survey. It helps people.