peachypie

That is weird. Follow up and make sure you are the person they intended to send it too. It could be as simple copy/paste error but you dont want to get something confused.

I'd let it go. You can't convince them by calling an admin and kind of saying you still want to go, well of course...you do.

Probably just an automated email.

my guess is you probably won't have more than this one.

I would assume a general interview where they tell you about the program/university and themselves a bit. Ask you a few questions. I would read up on publications maybe the most recent 2-3 at least abstracts to familiarize yourself with their work. It can't hurt if the research comes up and you can ask an insightful question. Just because they aren't someone on your SOP doesn't mean they aren't on the admissions committee. I don't know why you would think because you didn't note them that this is less formal.

I'd email with the person you were in contact with. I'd say something like, just wanted to make sure there was nothing more on my side necessary to be done for travel arrangements or something to that extent. They are really busy so they may have simply forgotten or thought they emailed you back. If you've been extended an interview I don't see harm in emailing about this because it is certainly important for you and them to make sure everything is set up in a timely manner.

It is really bad form to cancel interviews. Why would you accept if you have already the intent of not attending? This is a logistical nightmare for schools that arranged travel. It causes them to have wasted money on you for travel arrangements which they can't simply get more to invite another person. Also...why would you wait to hear from other schools and do so that late in the game? Does hearing from one school at the end of january mean that suddenly those 2-3 schools are irrelevant? You should feel guilty because if you weren't sure or had an idea that you would consider not attending an interview you should have told a school ahead of time and declined the offer.

So you booked your flights right? I'd book and forward them your travel times so they know. Or are you unsure of the dates you should travel?

I'd follow up with just a check in when to see about travel information. Whenever I got an invite even when it was super early like in December they always immediately scheduled my travel within a day or two. One place I needed to get reimbursed but they still wanted us to tell them our travel dates ahead of time so they could organize a pick-up and know what nights for a hotel etc. Usually it is handled at the time of accepting the interview and not too much later unless they said please let us know by XYZ and we'll schedule travel some time in January or something.

I'd say it may be better to just wait it out and operate under the assumption of a rejection. Admins are really busy during this time and contacting multiple times is unnecessary, you'll hear from them when they tell you. Nothing more than that.

This can be different for each school but you may not know until after how they do it. I went to 2 or 3 interviews where they had multiple interview dates. Each of these schools made offers after each interview weekend. It obviously doesn't mean that they all filled up as I know most of us when getting interviews waited to 1. complete interviews and 2. took some time before making a final decision. If that is the case it is obviously a bit better to go earlier since they will not be changing their offers to not exceed potential acceptances in previous weeks. if they wait until after all interviews to make a decision it will have no meaning. One of my interviews we were their first weekend applicants which a grad student said "you are the guys they want the most so I would guess everyone here gets an invite". Lo and behold two days later I was offered admission. this was in January and they had 2 more weekends that hadn't even occurred yet. If you can make the first weekend work, why not? If it is a scheduling conflict with another school then it is totally fine to take the next weekend but if nothing is stopping you I'd try to get into the first weekend since you don't know when they will start making decisions.

Submitting a long time before a deadline and submitting a day before the deadline should really be no different unless it has rolling admissions which all schools that do that are pretty clear about and typically those deadlines are much later and often still open at this point in time. I submitted anywhere from a few days to no more than like a week before a deadline and I got all but one invite for interview. I did not apply to any schools with rolling admissions.

So either Yale or MIT is saying nice jeans or khakis and a t-shirt???? Strange, but if that is what they say! By all means. I didn't see any jeans or t-shirts on interview days, but it is obviously a decision for you to make. People usually don't wear t-shirts in the northeast in winter, but maybe this place is well-heated. As I said before, applicants will typically be dressed nicer than the grad students and some PIs, that is to be expected. Some professors and charimen and admin will be dressier and at a minimum be wearing dress pants and a buttoned shirt etc. You'll always have a PI or two who is going to be in jeans and DGAF but that is what they get to do, they are already there. You aren't. You do whatever you want, I'm putting up information on my experience and what I have seen in subsequent interviews. If it were me I wouldn't show up wearing a t-shirt and jeans.

I'm honestly surprised they didn't offer you that. I know a few programs where people were local and they always offered a hotel. I don't think its out of the ordinary to ask if you are an hour's drive especially since interview weekends have activities that start early and end late (dinners/social outings etc). You can definitely say you are happy to drive but think a hotel is easier for the interview schedule.

You have no idea what you are missing out on!

You are starting to let the crazy person thoughts overwhelm you. Do the one way/option #1. No school is going to frown at you for not taking unnecessary flights. It also saves them money! They know you'll be interviewing elsewhere, if they don't already they'll ask you at interviews. They actually love to know their competition for students so even if you don't share during interviews you'll likely get a follow up survey after your decision is made asking where you ultimately decided to go if you did not choose their school. Be logical and try to stop thinking the schools are seriously watching your every movement.

Also a hat that covers your ears would not be a bad idea. definitely want a coat. Keep in mind for boots/shoes if you are interviewing at places like wisconsin there may be a lot of snow on the ground and if its fresh it may not be well cleared on sidewalks although from what I experienced, UW-Madison is reallllly good at cleaning up snow quickly but the areas off campus may be less so if it is a big/recent storm. So buy or wear something that has ok traction and you won't mind if snow gets on them.

Definitely. I am a woman and I wore pants for all of my interviews regardless of location. My suit was pants/blazer/blouse with heels. Then for non-interview days I wore a nice business pant (black or dark browns) and a nice sweater or a blouse and cardigan. Don't think I packed a skirt or dress ever. Best of luck.

In my experience, and also why i said "largely depends on the location and personality of the school", and from what I have heard, the more east coast the typically dressier interview expectations. I didn't interview at Berkley so I won't comment on that. One girl wore jeans at one of my interviews at a school in the midwest. That went overly poorly as the grad students taking people around noted it to themselves and their applicants and said "not a good idea". Take that as you will. Again...as I said before largely depends on the school. But the adage of you can never be over-dressed just under-dressed is also true. If in doubt you should probably err on the side of dressier than more casual. Would you agree?

Interviews can be business casual to business (suits are not unseen) that largely depends on the location and personality of the school. Social events/tours IMO are still business casual. Try to avoid jeans is what I think it comes down to. If it is just grad students I think you can get away with a nice pair of dark jeans but I never saw someone wearing jeans and tennis shoes ever. Remember you are trying to put your best foot forward, so although PIs and grad students will be much more casual, it doesn't mean you don't need to still try. Comfortable shoes for women depends on your level of comfort. I wore heels for all of my interviews. For snowy/cold locations you can get heels that are booties too. For the non-interview days (and that was my personal preference) just wear a nice shoe. Flats, boots, just not tennis shoes. I am comfortable walking in heels at long distances, if you are not I would not recommend wearing heels, I'm just stubborn but I also didn't have issues with heels and kept up just fine, no discomfort etc. If its colder I'd go nice pair of boots for women there should be plenty available.

It depends on the school but many times a graduate program is different than a department that a PI is under. A graduate program may have faculty from 3 or 4 different academic departments. typicallly rotations can be done with anyone accepting students in those programs and even so some faculty from outside the program in one of those departments or a related one can join a graduate program faculty.

As much as people like to say it is all about the school it is really important to like the area you are in and to feel happy there. Sometimes people like to have family not so far away that they can make it home for a weekend or easily for holidays. Time is always valuable in graduate school. Money also makes things prohibitive. Much easier to drive home or get a regional flight than to do cross country. Go with your gut, but you'll know.

This is the bio forums I think you may find a more appropriate forum for education elsewhere. Best of luck though.

Unless there is a conflict I would encourage you to go. Some schools can really surprise you when you visit and things can change during/at your interviews. If you initially had interest and have some interest at this time, I think you should go. If you are at the point where if offered admission you would decline already (which is hard for me to believe unless you were never that interested) then go ahead and decline your interview.

for your questions: 1. I'd try to be a bit higher personally. You don't want to be at average, you want to be over it. Try to at least hit 75 percentiles if you can. I would say those scores are a bit low for a competitive program. 2. probably a bit less? pretty hard to do poorly in a graduate class, they are graded differently than UG so like even if you aren't doing amazing you end up with a B. Getting an A and doing so while working shows you can do what PhDs can do would be best. Taking undergrad courses would be best if you have little to no background in a specific field or did poorly and want to build up foundations on it. Both while working though, because it demonstrates you can be successful and be in the lab at the same time (which is just a PhD program).