[International students I need your help !]

Washington University in st. louis has a great plant bio program and they accepted international students this year.  Also the application is free

[Rescheduling interviews?]

I have the same problem but the school that I already committed to visiting is one of my lower choices and the one I just heard back from that overlaps is one of my top choices.  My flights are already booked for the first interview, but would it be okay to cancel or ask to reschedule?  Does anyone have advice on what to tell them?

[2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

How many interviews is a good number to go to?  I have 7 right now and I'm kinda expecting one more but I feel like that might be too many to attend.  None of them overlap, but my school is on a quarter system and quarters are only 10 weeks long so I would be missing a large amount of class.  Should I turn more down?  I don't have a strong ranking of the schools so its hard to pick one or two to not go to.

[2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

Is it bad to wait a few days to respond to an interview invite? UCSD has two weekends and I am not sure which I want to go to because it depends on another school that hasn't told me when their weekend is yet.

[Max Plank vs US PHD]

So I am a senior in a top university in the US and I'm applying to phd programs in plant biology this year.  Recently I was at a small plant biology conference and I met a pretty well-known professor from my school.  He later told me that if I was interested in doing my phd in germany he knew a plant bio professor there that he could connect me with and I could probably do my phd there.  This sounds like a really cool opportunity, but I have a few concerns.  Obviously max plank is a really good institution, but it seems to me like US profs look down on foreign phds a little.    On the other hand the phd would only take 3 years and it would be cool to live in another country. The german prof is really famous and does some pretty cool stuff, but I don't speak german and I don't have a masters. The professor that I talked to said that this would not be a problem, but I was wondering if anyone else had any thoughts on the pros and cons of getting a phd in another country?

[2015 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results]

yayy other plant bio people!

Undergrad Institution: top 3 research in the US 

Major(s): Biochemistry
Minor(s): Statistics
GPA in Major: 3.5 or 3.6 i think
Overall GPA: 3.5 (grades increased progressively since my freshman year)
Position in Class: don't know
Type of Student: female domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version): taking it next month but I scored around 80-85 percentile on a practice test.  I don't think I will take the subject test.
Q:
V:
W:
B:

Research Experience: 1 summer geology research at my university

2 quarters ecology research- worked on a grad student's thesis

1 year + 2 summers plant pathology research- working pretty independently on my own project +senior thesis

presented at a couple undergraduate poster symposiums.  no publications yet, but the work I'm doing now will hopefully become one...eventually. 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: I won two summer fellowships from my school if that counts? honorable mention from American society of plant biology.  Other than that I'll be graduating with honors.

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: tutor for two science programs for disadvantaged middle school students

Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:

Special Bonus Points: 1 recommender is very well known in plant biology, another is pretty famous in in bioinformatics, and my PI is wonderful and super helpful, she also has a lot of connections at most of the schools I'm applying to.

Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:

Applying to Where:

Stanford- Biology 
Cornell- Plant breeding and genetics 
Cal - Plant Bio

Yale-plant bio

UC Davis- plant Bio

Minnesota-plant bio

UCSF-Tetrad

MIT-Biochem

I should probably have some safety schools, but I'm still looking into that.  If anyone has any recommendations I would appreciate it!  I have no idea if I am at all competitive for these programs.