NeuroNerd86

I can't say anything about Emory, so here are my 2 cents about things good and bad at UCLA: The good: -rankings and funding. UCLA is a very strong research school with many different PIs doing some great stuff. It is well funded by NIH and other sources, so you can't go wrong with that -weather - it is about 75F as we speak. With sun. -campus - it is lovely, and some (key word SOME) biomed research buildings are wonderful. -Westwood neighborhood is very safe - bad things happen once in a while, but in general it is one of the safest parts of the city Not so good: -cost of living - your stipend will make it VERY difficult to live close to campus, so you will have to commute. Traffic in LA is horrible and parking at UCLA is expensive as hell -some research buildings are far from being in a good state (such as the old hospital center, where many neurosci labs are located) -I don't think it is the most collaborative of the schools I hope it helps!

Congrats on such phenomenal acceptance success! I actually joined your school A and I am pretty happy with my decision but if I were accepted to your school B (I didn't even apply there!) as well it would have been quite a dilemma. It seems like you are more inclined towards school B, so you should probably go with that choice. Out of all "elite" schools I've heard the best things about it (as in, inflated ego issue is not that big of a deal and people are generally very nice). In any case, you will succeed in either.

I got a fellowship but not exactly a multi-year one. Mine is more like a chunk of funding that I can use towards traveling expenses for conferences. I suspect I didn't get a multi-year one due to my low-ish verbal. But I'm still happy!

dzk, you hit the nail right on its head:) bb9931 CONGRATS!!!

Since I am completely done with application process I figured I'd post my full list. My application is not perfect but I still got in, which makes me soo happy:D My stats: Permanent resident, non-native English speaker, neuroscience applicant GRE: V-560(77%), Q-760(85%), AW-41%::blegh:: GPA for 2 years at a university in my home country: 4.65/5 GPA at the American University (top public school), neuroscience major: 3.1 - I hit a rough patch during those two years which reflected in my grades. I dedicated a paragraph to it in my SOP Research experience: 1.5 years of undergrad research, 2+ years of full-time research tech job at the same lab Publications: 1 paper 2nd author in a decent journal, with journal cover; 2 abstracts (1 first author); 4 posters (2 first author, although one of them at an undergrad poster session, so that doesn't really count) Awards: top prize at an international conference for my abstract and poster Applied (all PhD programs) Rockefeller (as a proverbial "out of my league" school), UC Davis (neuroscience), U Michigan (PIBS), Virginia Commonwealth Univ (neuroscience), U Minnesota - Twin Cities (neuroscience), SUNY Stony Brook (neuroscience), U Pittsburgh (Neuroscience), Oregon Health and Science Univ (neuroscience), NIH GPP Ox/Cam (biomed sciences), NIMH GPP Univ College London (neuroscience) Rejected: UC Davis, U Pitt, OHSU, both NIH GPPs, Rockefeller (duh!). Interviewed and accepted: U Michigan (PIBS), SUNY Stony Brook, VCU, U Minnesota Good luck to everyone!

wow, that does seem like something outrageously illegal, unless they have consent of all those students which is HIGHLY unlikely

I was honest as well, because from what I could see, "where else are you interviewing" type of questions were driven by mere curiosity and not by any kind of "evil" intent.

You do raise a very good point regarding the job prospects, but I don't think it was the case with my friend. She did her homework on both schools, so I am sure her choice wasn't blinded by the money. But then again, this situation does not apply to the OP's case.

Money is a big issue in places where education is not free. For example, a friend of mine got into 2 law schools, both in top ten. One was her dream school, ranked #4 or #5 in the country, another one was slightly lower in rankings and was also her "dream school #2". However, the latter offered her a 1/4 tuition coverage, so she ended up going there. She really likes it, so it all worked out. In your case, however, I think that you should definitely go by fit and school prestige, and not by a university scholarship. Good luck!

depends on the program. Some PhD programs (at least in life sciences) specifically state that you can defer your admission

Actually, I never have any negative feelings towards people who get into places. I just feel sad it's not me:(

To the OP: it seems like you have a very good research experience which is valued very highly by biomedical sciences programs I don't know how your GPA translates into American system, but it seems to be strong. You GRE scores are a bit low, I don't know what the averages are for your schools of interest, but 700+ on quant is what usually expected from a life science applicant. However, if your GPA is strong in the eyes of American committees, then it should tide you over. The biggest problem that might occur with your application is lack of funding for international students. Supporting a graduate student is expensive for a laboratory budget, but supporting an international student is considerably more costly. Therefore, in these rather harsh financial times, that can become an issue (that's what happened to my friend the first time she applied - she was on a work visa at the time). Having your own funds such as some sort of fellowship might help a lot. Hope this helps!

I send a "thank you" email to every professor with whom I interviewed, as well as my host graduate student and a program coordinator. I got prompt and incredibly sweet responses from each and every one of them. It felt great

I definitely have some guilt trips about not applying to a couple of more high ranked programs that place a lot of emphasis on applicant's research work (such as Hopkins and UPenn). At least I would have known I tried. Oh well, can't turn back time.

UCs definitely, but I don't really know about others. Most schools are affected in one way or another, I would imagine.