gremot

thanks Neuro!! I feel my anxiety levels drop slowly... PIBS seems a great program too have you by any chance heard how many out of the interviewed are in the end accepted? I so know the feeling! I hope you'll also hear from somewhere soon - it will help to wait for others

So I finally got my first interview invitation! To U of Michigan PIBS. I know everyone else heard from them ages ago but i'm international and the wait has been horribly long. As I'm in europe, it's gonna be a phone interview though... but I'm still happy happy! I was already loosing all hope...

gradcafe is turning into a boiling pot or so it seems. more and more entries are filled with envy, maliciousness or are just mean.. i wonder if it happens every year during this time.. I guess stress is building up, competition is hard and everyone needs a place to vent it all out but does it have to be against the other applicants - all who try to make this forum work for mutual benefit.. it might be just me, but I'm really not enjoying it.

I guess the cultural background is really different in US from where I'm from. Not only did all my professors email me their LOR's (to see if I was happy with them, if I wanted sth to be added etc) but for the ones to be mailed, (didn't have any this time, but have had previously) I had to put them into envelopes myself, seal them and send them off. That's just how things are done here - noone will bother themselves with such petty things. I have previously even mailed my transcripts and other school documentation myself, because the department wouldn't do it. They handed me them on paper and said to deal with this on my own... First time I paniced - how can I just mail stuff myself, but now I've gotten used to it...

still nothing, huh? it's like a living nightmare already - I feel so sorry for you!

I keep getting this one as well - I think 3 times already Must be a harvard thing...

we all have our fears But I guess as we cannot change anything anymore, let's just keep our fingers crossed and hope we get in somewhere I see you went to yale - how did you like it there? and great results on GRE Biology btw!

relax! I'm international applicant and haven't received any interview invitations yet.. but I'm not worried - at least so far. I think they look international applications separately and a lot of schools haven't even started with it. You're stats are great, just have patience

medical genetics - translational research you can hardly imagine how many cool and important things have been discovered in genetics over past 30 years.... and it irritates me to see that nothing major has happened in the medical system - the knowledge is just not passed on nor put into practical use because... It's time to actually start helping people, seriously

That's what I'm hoping! At least according to the "results search" it seems that the only people who have been contacted so far are americans - not only in Michigan but other schools as well... Then again it just might be a coincidence... (still hoping it's not )

this is cool!

My fulbright advisor told me that all schools will accept late subject test scores (GRE Biology for me) when the scores are optional for the program and so I should wait out my scores and then decide if they're good enough to be send or not... So now I got my scores but don't know if my score/procentile(86%) will help my case or not?! I guess the score is not bad but it's not awesome either... what are your thoughts?!

congrats and good luck! I'm also applying for PIBS but haven't heard from them so far- but I suspect international students might be considered later--- I'm definitely not going to panic

For me the xmas parties have begun

Thanks! 700 sounds like a lot Sure, I don't think it's the most important part as well, but the question always is, am I above the cut-off And I think it's really hard for them to measure the research experience... I really wouldn't want to be one of those commitee members... Yup, I am free of the funding worries - but fulbright has it's bad sides as well - I have not been allowed to contact any staff... this might seriously hurt my "fit" but I guess I have to hope for the best.

I wouldn't enlist it either - I've been in a number of acknowledgments for proofreading the manuscript or some little things here and there but never thought about mentioning them. They would still pop up when you google the person But I do think it's a good idea to talk about what you did for the professor as an experience...

why don't you consider retaking TOEFL? with your high verbal score on GRE, I think it highly possible for you to get higher scores on TOEFL as well...

i always thought that grades, GRE and other numerical parts of the application are things that don't matter too much when they're above the OK line, but start to ruin things when they're bad. then again, what do I know... But for sure, they're great because it actually gives you a reason to whine about sth while waiting for the results and obviously a great excuse if you don't get accepted... I think my numbers are good enough, so I'm a lot more anxious -- I should be worried about sth, right, but what???

I'm in the 26 club

That's really great! I'm happy for you But you'll probably know better how great OSU is after visiting UMass Wish I had the money to fly to US and visit schools like this...

I have to write my master thesis before february, so that kindof keeps me occupied - but still I find myself lurking around here must be stress...

how did it go??

So I've been thinking to ask other forum members how are international students rated during application processes... Do we have some advantages/disadvantages compared to US students? Some days it feels that my strongest argument for getting into one of the tops is the fact that I'm a female student from eastern europe :D might sound crazy but ?!? Advantages: (I could think of two) cultural enrichment - some schools I guess try to maintain a very international campus research experience - most internationals tend to have a masters degree with years of experience Disadvatages: Not understandable GPA score (a lot of different grading systems) undergrad studies from a university noone will know about (might effect the value of GPA) GRE results - nonnative speaker with a verbal score of 800 would be rare, not to mention the lack of information, preparation materials and even test times and places (GRE subject once a year in november - so my scores are late for ALL programs), had to leave the country to take the general GRE LOR-s - professors might not know exactly what american programs expect and how to write it