peachypie

I'd agree with some of what you are saying but a poorer GPA needs to be supplemented with a stronger GPA. You should aim to be above average significantly on your GRE if you want to discount the GPA a bit more. Your gpa is low, but not so low that your GPA should bring you down. I would agree for neuro programs you are going to want to have a good backing of biological science and less psych...not sure what your grades or how extensive that was for you.

I think personalizing it helps a lot in these cases, do the legwork early in the application process to show you are serious, committed and the right candidate. There is obviously still time for you so don't give up hope, but if you do pursue a masters I would recommend an MS rather than an MA for your situation. I also would strongly suggest you consider how much you want to put monetarily wise in an effort to do this. I don't know where Plan B gets information but I wouldn't consider it a "you have to settle for a low tier program".

I'd recommend instead of applying to masters programs to work to get better GRE scores and if necessary enroll in some post bac classes to show you are able to perform well. If you are located near a major university taking upper level or if possible grad level courses in your field would be best. If you hadn't during this application season I would also recommend critiquing your SOP and if possible having someone in the field read it and give you feedback. You'd be surprised what a really good SOP can do for you.

I haven't ever done a skype interview so it would be dependent on how the school sets it up. Typical one on one faculty interviews are 30-45 minutes long and you have about 5 or 6 of those throughout the day. Obviously you aren't going to hit that as a skype interviewer. My guess is you may have a panel of faculty or people on adcomm there and they may all jointly talk to you. I'd guess 45-60 minutes maybe?

In all of my applications I selected about 3 PIs of interest to me and a brief explanation of why or what intrigued me about their work. Definitely doesn't hurt to add in names but it is good to have more than one since it is never a good idea to apply to a school where you have interest in working with one PI only.

I mean I always stated where else I was interviewing. You'll get it from faculty and from grad students, it is more out of curiosity from a grad students prospective. Many faculty use it as a way to see who they have to compete with as a program and if there is a shining star in there then they'll know you may be harder to "win over". But be honest. No one didn't say where else they were or had interviewed at, it is not as loaded of a question as people make it out to be.

You can believe what you like. I do know that some schools will not extend invites or acceptances to people that are strong candidates to go to a top tier school (i.e. Harvard level). They do pay attention to who is flying in and who is local or nearby for budget reasons. Most applications ask you where else you are applying, this is done to get an idea of the type of student you are and your interests and also to understand their competition. They know who they are working against or where their school may rank for you. When you go on interviews you'll get asked that question a lot because it says a lot about you. If you are someone who listed 7 west coast schools and harvard the gut reaction is you'd want to be on the west coast but you also would go for a reach/dream at harvard. Trust me the schools you applied to and are interviewing at tell you a lot about a candidate. take it as you will, but when cuts need to be made why extend an offer to someone you aren't sure is that likely to take it when you only have so many spots.

Depends on the school. All of the schools I interviewed at that had multiple weekends sent out acceptances between interview weekends. In those cases it is obviously better to be in the earlier weekends. If you can make it that is great, but if you have a conflict but can make the second one, I don't think it is going to drastically change your situation. If you were a strong candidate going in, you'll be a strong candidate going to the second weekend too.

The impact it would have would depend on the school but there is no information that is worth contacting the school about. If you got rejected because of that what good is it to know that is why? The LOR could have just as much pertinence as you being on the west coast. Presumably since all your interviews are on the west coast that is where you reside. It is expensive to fly people out from california to boston. Also they may have seen your other school lists and though, well this person doesn't really want to leave the west coast so is it worth using a spot to bring them in when all the other schools they are interested in are on the other side of the country. Whatever it is, let it go and relax. You have 4 interviews to worry about that aren't Harvard.

Some schools do rolling admissions and some review after the deadline. All depends on the school but they usually note that they are rolling or not.

I would not email them, just wait for them to get back to you. decisions can occur anytime from right after application deadline all the way up into april.

Which programs/tracks at those schools?

@rising_star really covered all the points. There is no standardized way to determine an applicant's ability for a PhD program. You may be very skilled in the classroom or on the gre but you may not fit the school very well. This is why it is pointless to try to determine a safety school or a reach school. Saying "i could be happy doing work at any molecular bio" program is a bad sign. It means you have not figured out what it is that even interests you. You should have one or two schools that really speak to your realm of research and the long term goals they are trying to accomplish there. Take some time really reading about what general things draw you in. What big questions do you hope to answer and hopefully will a school have people trying to do the same. Getting a PhD should not be the next logical step in schooling, it really needs to be something about interest to you and gives you drive. This is a different world than UG and masters and it isn't about completing coursework and picking the "best" university with highest prestige to go. You have so far some great grades and experience and I think you could be successful going forward at many schools such as the competitive ones but I would say your weakest point is your lack of direction and I would guess your SOP is going to be weaker than most if you can't explain why you want to do what you are hoping to do. Work on those aspects and you should be in much better shape and just delete the idea of a safety school out of your head now.

You know it better than I do! I was going off of last year's schedule. Sorry for any confusion and thanks @allthebaconandeggs for clearing it up!

Emory IMP should be Jan 28-30 (don't quote me on it)

very sorry to hear this earl. maybe this isn't the best school for you? I feel like a school that unable to work with a student is going to have a similar patterns in the future regarding their students. I also hate to say this but what if they were this inflexible and then you cancelled your other program interview to accommodate them and then didn't even get in to this school? there are no guarantees in this process and it would also suck if you bent over backwards for them and got burned in the process. How much are you willing to risk/put on the line for this school?

That will entirely depend on the school and the schedule of events they have put together. It is obviously best to not miss any part of it but sometimes we had some people that missed the first evening due to a travel issue (which obviously can't be planned for) as for planning to leave early I don't know. I'd pick the one you are most interested in and select that one for the full interview time. If neither school is willing to do an alternate date that is really tough. Go with your gut?

See if you can do an alternate for one (whichever is slightly lower on your list or whoever got to you second), or if possible I'd bet the actual days of interview would be the 21st for Cornell and 22nd for Penn. If nothing can be changed you can try leaving Cornell on the 21st evening to arrive on the 22nd for Penn's. Usually the first day is not critical or last day really since they often need to make sure a travel issue doesn't screw things up too much.

Just use the link, save the thank you and response emails for after interview or after talking to an admin/coordinator.

If this is all it takes to defeat you to this point then grad school is going to wreck you. You need to learn resilience. I would have hoped that the schools you applied to are ones that you are happy to go to so, even if U of Chicago is your only interview and acceptance I would assume that you would be pleased to go there. Just prepare as best as you can for the one you know you have, that is all you can control at this point. The rest will fall into place. The worst that happens is you have to re-apply next year. the best is you will be attending U of Chicago in the fall.

First off there really is no such thing as a "safety school" in graduate school. I have no idea of your background or why you think UM is a safety school. If you went to Michigan that may be why you got rejected, since schools like to diversify a bit. I would recommend you focus on your one interview than starting to care about rejections. All you need is one interview, one school, you can't go to them all.

It shouldn't put you at a disadvantage. Try to see if they can do an alternate before going to school A and saying "sorry....a better offer came up!". Generally you will want to take another interview weekend or if there is only one you want to be as close to the real interview weekend....a few days before the actual is best.

Could be really busy? I am confused...is this a POI at a school you applied to? What kind of questions did you ask?

ask school B for alternate. Unfortunately after you accept one invite you should stick with it, you already gave them your word. Your interest in schools may change after an interview. I had to schedule an alternate for my #1 school, worked out fine, got in any way .

No.