tito balisimo

I had a similar experience. I too had an interview that I felt didn't go really well, and she assured me I could email her for advice and whatnot, and she never responded. I didn't get an acceptance (or rejection) yet. I think that they say that type of thing to everyone. I wouldn't hold any grain of salt to what most interviewers say because even if you think it went bad you may still get an admit or rejection. In reality there is nothing else you could do about it.

I am thrilled right now! My first California invite! UC Riverside Neuroscience invite!!!! Made my month.

I don't think they "halted" my application. It is just taking a while, just happens that they take way longer than all the rest of the schools for whathever reason. But, it is possible schools will deny or put holds on application's due to funding. Some schools offer people positions with no funding. Either way, I am thinking this may pose a problem if I am offered admissions before I even interview at my school of interest.

While GRE scores are certainly important, so is your research experience. If your GPA is above a 3.0 and your GRE scores meet the minimum requirements, your app will be looked at. What it really comes down to is your research experience and how competitive your scores and gpa is. Personally, my GRE scores sucked, but schools are still giving me a shot because I have a publication and 2 years of research. My grades were pretty good too, which certainly helps. As for a Masters or not, I would think about this. What do you really want to do with your life? Do you want to teach, work for a pharmaceutical company, or be a professional researcher? People that hold a MS in the biological sciences don't need a PhD to work for a company, and it can save you time. You could also teach in a high school or community college with a masters degree. However, master's programs aren't really funded well and can leave you in debt. A PhD is more versatile but takes longer to achieve. With a PhD you could: teach, work for a compnay, or become a full tenured professor, or do research. I feel that many people don't ask themselves these questions, but you should.

My ego feels much better. Just got an invite from Medical University of South Carolina! After seeing all the California schools send out there invites, I was feeling really down about my future. Sigh of relief.

Could be that the people you're interviewing with have way too many people for one day, and they want to spread it out better by having you come early.

^ this

Just like we are "fishing" for the best opportunities, and trying to get multiple invites, the schools are employing the same strategies to get the best and most applicants. They know that some people they invite have no real intention of accepting admissions if the student gets multiple admissions offers. They are trying to coordinate probably at least 40 people to interview with many faculty at different times. Think about how complex it is if they invite 20-40 people and they have to set time schedules for different faculty based on the applicants, who may not even accept an admissions offer after all the resources were allocated to the BEST students. Not only that, but you want them to coordinate these times with OTHER schools. I don't think that is really fair on their behalf, even though it is affecting me currently. This is a game of cat and mouse, and its not so easy to have separate days for different applicants because they have to get those 5 or so professors who you wish to interview with. Think about this, each faculty member that you wish to interview with needs to get paid, you get a hotel and food, and possibly a plane ride over, and its 2-3 days long. Its extremely expensive and time consuming to make accommodations for one applicant because each applicant is so different and each faculty they will interview with must take time out of their day to interview you, and you may not even want to end up going there because you have 7 or 8 other schools you want to interview with. Now imagine doing this for each student that wants to change the schedule... It is unfortunate we can't attend each single invitation, but this in my opinion is first world problems. We are really fortunate we have interviews to begin with and if you have options to the best schools you should feel blessed!

Thank you for this insight, I am a lifelong worrywart. If I didn't have 7 shifts in the next 6 days at work I'd be lurking these forums all day and be telling myself things that I should probably do if grad school doesn't work out.

I had a Skype interview with University of Arizona neuro adm committee earlier this month. The told me I'd here from them sometime after Christmas. Did all of their invites go out already? I felt my interview went really well, but who knows? Thanks.

Thank you, I hope you get your UC invites asap!

Thank you MSBS!

Well, after getting my first rejection the other day by OHSU, I felt pretty glum with the reality of things. Then I got home today from work and I got an interview from Indiana School of Medicine IBMG program! It is the weekend before my Purdue interview. I never thought I'd be spending two consecutive weekends in Indiana! Wish some of the California schools send me an invite before I accept anymore ><