blinchik

*terseness. But so-called professional career counselors aren't dependable, in my experience and in my friends' experiences. I would suggest expanding your network and I second the notion of reaching out in April or May after the cycle is over and finding out what went wrong and how to fix it. Be aware that some programs may not have a rationale on file and do not keep a written record of comments regarding your application.

Regardless of how helpful we have been, we are taking time to try and offer our advice, and I think people are more inclined to help when the person responds neutrally, if not positively - I don't think that trying to excuse the tenseness of your responses by stating that you have a stubborn personality is contributing positively to this discussion and encouraging people to respond.

But yes, I don't know what your mentors told you, but a uGPA that low can easily keep an app from even being looked at, especially at competitive programs.

I couldn't see your signature because I am writing from a cell phone.

I'm going to chime in here and say that if you can raise your uGPA significantly or do a master's program and do extremely well, I think you could have a much better shot - I've talked to and heard of people with 2.9s or 2.8s (uGPA) getting in after having gotten a 3.7+ GPA in a master's program, so I really think that is the Achilles heel. If possible, I think it would not be a bad idea to talk to some sort of academic advisor/career counselor who understands graduate admissions, and gives you advice on how to best address it. It's just the luck of the draw that neuroscience is (for whatever reason) even worse/more competitive than regular graduate admissions!

I don't see why that would be held against you - it's not as if Brazil is the only country in which stuff like that happens, and regardless, while it is pretty depressing, it just makes your pursuit of intellectual freedom in an academic setting even more relevant.

@chibimolinero, I would still read their papers and try to understand their research as well as prepare for posing relevant/intelligent questions and connecting their research to your interests/experiences if possible. If you are asked about your research interests, then by all means articulate them, but I would not advise doing anything that makes you seem uninterested when they are taking time out of their day to meet with you. I listened to many lectures this past interview weekend that were completely outside of my areas of interest, but you should still make an effort to ask questions and seem like you are fascinated - who knows, maybe you'll find their research to be compelling after all!

@Ted Binsky, I sincerely hope that calling random other people who have done nothing to offend you "dense" and a multitude of other words is not a quality you will take with you to your interviews - I just came back from an interview weekend and people (PIs, admissions committee members) were certainly commenting about off-putting personalities being a KOD.

I'm not sure why there's an emphasis placed on "mostly Ivy League places," as fit matters more than general prestige, but competitive programs will usually expect at minimum one full year of research, if not more - I don't think 5 months is adequate at all. That being said, I would strongly recommend getting in contact with someone who can better evaluate your application as an international applicant - since you're going to be a research trainee, hopefully someone at the lab you'll be working at will be better equipped to answer your questions than the members of this forum.

@jezzie05, thanks for the update! I've been calling and emailing, but to no avail.

I have no indicator that my app is under program review - I just checked and noticed that the file was officially marked as "complete" on a certain date. I did receive an interview invitation way back in December, so I think your best bet is to call/email the admissions office - the staff are very good about responding promptly to your inquiries, from my experience.

I would say that you find this program to be a great research fit, and you would be very happy to matriculate at the program if you are accepted - that way, you're not explicitly ranking them, but maintaining your interest in the program. If asked explicitly about rank, I would say that the program is one of your top choices (if this is true!)

I hand-wrote lengthy thank you cards and gave one LOR writer two novels I thought she'd love (and she did, it seems) and another some tongue-in-cheek microbiology-oriented stuff (a coffee mug and a magnet) - they have both been mentoring me, so I wanted to make the gifts special. I think anything is appreciated, but echoing what others have said, at the very minimum, I think professors would love to be updated on where you are going and receive a thank you card.

I'm glad to see that we were right in assuming you'd be a very competitive applicant! Best of luck during this interview season

Thank you for taking the time to update us!

As someone who just completed the Organic Chemistry sequence and had a rough time at the beginning, I cannot even begin to stress how important it is to master the material in Orgo I and retake it before proceeding to Orgo II - while I got the same grade in both courses, Orgo II was far more difficult and would have been impossible to pass had I not established a proper foundation the previous semester. I understand that you say that you have knowledge of the material, but if I were an adcom member, I would want to see proof of that via the retaking of the class. It can also only boost your GPA if you pass this time around!

@pasteltomato, when I say flat boots, I mean calf-high suede boots that are very nice and fairly pricey - I can inbox you a picture when I get home if you are interested.

@glowgene, could you elaborate on issues with dresses for interviews? I had an outfit involving a very conservative grey dress with a black blazer, opaque tights, and flat boots approved by my mentor as an interview outfit, so I'm wondering if there's something I'm not aware of.

For the record, this application season is going surprisingly well for me, and clearly going incredibly well for some other people on here, but admissions is and has always been, to some extent, a crapshoot, and I'm still not sure precisely how admissions committees rank students. The Emory program I am applying to, for instance, is interviewing 10 people and accepting maybe 5, for a total acceptance rate of 5%, so even though I have an interview lined up, I'm still very much freaking out - who says that I'll get that acceptance in the first place and be one of the lucky 5%? Personally, until I'm holding an actual acceptance letter in my hand, the jury is still out. Of course I feel incredibly lucky that I have gotten to that stage, and feel a lot of empathy for the other no doubt qualified people who were cut for whatever reason - I'm just commenting in the mindset of a person who has gotten past one hurdle but is still hyperaware of the other one I have to jump before I reach my end goal.

@pasteltomato, I fly at least 6 times a year and have never put stick deodorant/Chapstick/lipstick in the clear quart bag for liquids before, and have never had an issue. I usually put more liquid things like lip gloss or mascara in the bag for liquids, but sometimes I forget and never have had an issue. The only issues I have ever encountered was when I forgot that I had a bottle of water and a can of yogurt in my bag, and they made me throw it out.

@Ted Binsky, I do not disagree with any of your points and am certainly becoming aware of the complexity of graduate school admissions (though it is worth noting that it is, of course, the program's decision to fly everyone out, pay for expenses, host students for a weekend, etc). I simply wonder why competitive programs, presumably with adequate funding, cannot offer alternate weekends, as many less competitive programs do. I also commented on how not offering an alternate interview date in fact can hurt the program, as in my case and in many other applicants' cases, the decision to accept an interview offer was made before even knowing about an alternate offer, since dates are often not publicized enough in advance. If you read my previous comment, you'll find that I have never indicated that I am ungrateful about having multiple interview offers lined up - as I mentioned before, it's simply difficult to make these decisions with no guarantee that you'll be accepted into any program.

I understand that there are only a certain number of weekends that are available - one would just hope that a very competitive, top program that is strong in one area would be aware of when their competitors' weekends would be. I have spoken with admissions committee members/directors of admissions at multiple programs due to multiple interview scheduling conflicts, and I was told that they actually are aware of when other competitors have their weekends as well (some of the time, not all of the time and I'm obviously not speaking for all programs). I would hope that they would coordinate with one another out of empathy for the student - at this stage, no one is holding a single acceptance, and declining interviews means fewer possible acceptances. Also, it is logical for them to coordinate so that, for instance, a student isn't missing UW Seattle's interview because WashU decided to schedule their interview for the same weekend, and notified the applicant several days prior, with the applicant accepting before they were aware of the conflict, since interview dates are not always published in time. When that happens, the program potentially loses out on an applicant they were (presumably) very interested in.

3 highly competitive programs have offered me the same weekend… I never thought that I would be in a position where I would have to decline interviews! It's such a pain that so many (competitive, especially!) programs do not have alternate weekends. I wish there could be some coordination between them, as if someone is invited to interview at one competitive program, it is not unlikely that another competitive program with the same weekend would take an interest in them as well.

@peachypie, thank you for all of your help on this site! A lot of your advice is applicable to me, so I really appreciate you taking the time to give us your advice.

Absolutely - but I spent more time on the applications for programs that have a very low acceptance rate/are very competitive, but that's unfortunately pretty much all of mine!