gliaful

Right now, my days consist of: -checking craigslist, Trulia, and Zillow for somewhere to live, even though I probably won't move until June or July. -thoughtlessly getting on gradcafe because I'm so used to checking up on it all the time... -working fulltime in the lab, but I'm writing right now, so many of those hours are spent on the couch with a gazillion tabs open and my handwritten notes everywhere -throwing said papers on the ground and going for runs with the kind encouragement of the beautiful sunshine we've been getting -occasionally freaking out about the logistics of moving -actually opening this cookbook I have and trying to make new things -consuming the new House of Cards at a "reasonable" pace -reading non-academic things for fun -spending time with my friends and family before I can't anymore

Yeah you can send the scores anywhere, even to schools you don't end up applying to. If/when you do apply, the scores get matched up with your application.

Thanks hippocamper I asked about the tax info because a lot of my options (yours too) are in big, expensive cities, and I wanted to know what my "net" stipend would actually be when thinking about cost of living. I asked about other things that I wanted out of the experience, so this is really up to you. I asked stuff like: -are the people I want to work with actually available? ---if so, I then emailed students in these labs and asked about the mentoring/environment/emphasis on getting pubs out/graduating in a timely manner -ask a 5th or 6th year what they are planning to do next/ if their committee members tried to connect them with possible postdoc opportunities at other universities. Get a feel for who knows who. -ask students if they feel like the program changes (hopefully improves) in response to student concerns or ideas. I didn't want a program that had a "we've been doing it this way for 20 years!" mentality. Structure is great and important but it shouldn't be timeless. -do the faculty believe academia is the only way to go with a PhD? 2/5 schools I interviewed with rejected this outdated sentiment, while 3/5 didn't mention preparing students for jobs outside of academia. I asked those 3/5 about opportunities. -how close-knit is the student body? do you guys do anything together besides the annual recruitment? -how much does the structure of the campus impact collaborations? In spread out campuses, do you only collaborate with your neighbors? -is there a mentor/oversight of some sort during the first year? -coursework (in case it wasn't addressed during the interview!): is most of this finished after the first year? Are the courses lumped into a portion of the day (eg, all in the morning or afternoon) or do students basically run back and forth between classes and their rotation lab throughout the day? -teaching/TAships: if you want to teach, can you? If you want to teach and a TAship is required for some amount of time, how much teaching do you actually get to do during that TAship? -if I don't finish after my 5th year, will my tuiition waiver/funding still be guaranteed (until then it's paid by your lab but only by program mandate) for a 6th year? (I got some NO's in response to this question so DO ASK. Some places said I'd have to teach my 6th year to get a tuition waiver!) -also financial: ask about fees. Some programs only partially cover them and the amount you have to pay is kinda steep for fees (see UW's neuro handbook for an example of high quarterly fees; it's on their webpage). -Actually, it's worth it to look at all of the program handbooks - request them if they aren't posted online - and those might lend themselves to some good questions. Sorry, the above questions got kind of sloppy. I hope they make sense.

I did email a few PIs to verify whether they anticipate taking new students. More so, though, I emailed a bunch of students (some didn't respond) and asked about things I forgot to ask during the interviews. I also became concerned about how stipends are taxed in various states -- like if they count as taxable income, and if so, what is the income tax rate in those states -- and I couldn't figure it out online so I just asked students directly if they faced any unpleasant tax surprises. I didn't like that it came down to cost of living, but it does matter... The students were really forthcoming, though, so you might get more honest responses out of them. I ended up accepting at the place that I liked the most going in to this process -- you know where that is. I'm nervous about posting it online. Congrats on your offers!

Thank you! It did end up being a hard choice. Sussing out how much I enjoyed interview weekends versus what programs can actually offer -- without disregarding my gut emotions entirely -- became pretty challenging.

Are you sure those other schools don't have funding, or was that information just not posted on their websites? I don't know if epidemiology programs are typically fully funded, but I would hope so. I wouldn't look at the courses as much as I'd look at the structure of the program and the projects/interests of the faculty. There is coursework in grad school but it isn't usually the focus in the sciences. I would say a biology minor, paired with either dietetics or chemistry, would be a sufficient background. I'm not in epidemiology and I've never taken a course in epidemiology, but at my undergrad institution it was listed as a health sciences course. I would think that taking health sciences courses might support your application.

It's certainly been a long 7 months, but now I'm done with interviewing and I have accepted an offer The post-application phase is weird. Life is "back to normal" for now, but knowing that it's only temporary is exciting and scary and a whole lot of other things.

I don't know what you mean by "theoretical autism papers". That aside, I'm switching research areas and I have no background in my new field (other than a class I took and personal time spent reading). My background is in general biology and I'm going into neuroscience. It sounds like you have a background in psych and neuro, which seems perfect if you're looking to do cognitive research -- so I feel like I'm missing something. You don't need to have an extensive working knowledge of ASD to do research concerning ASD, if that's what you're asking.

Have you looked into Nutritional Epidemiology PhD programs? For what you want to do, I would think that your primary focus would be in epidemiology. Some epidemiology programs may be especially strong in the subfield of nutritional epidemiology, but I think nutrition programs tend to be tailored toward working as an RD. While you may do research while in a nutrition program, fewer graduates go into research.

It might be more feasible to set up Skype interviews with more people at both of the schools. You could even just email and call them. Figure out what's important to you -- things that might not have been mentioned during the interview -- and dig for the answers to those questions. Maybe like: availability of travel grants/support? for students who have left the program before graduating (voluntarily or involuntarily), why did this happen and what are they doing now? ask students what they think about the health insurance. (I got some important information out of this one.) you may have considered cost of living and if the stipend will adequately cover it, but have you thought about how taxes may affect your "net" stipend? I found out at one program that students owe ~$400/month in taxes on their stipend. It varies from place to place. "Every program has its problems. What is this program actively trying to improve right now?" I could think of more, but I suggest you ask the hard questions that you may have been hesitant to ask in the interview setting.

After my most recent interview/acceptance, I'm getting emails (and texts?!) from faculty and students that I met with during the weekend, congratulating me and telling me to come study with them. The warm welcome definitely makes me feel like the program cares about its grad students and its research community. On the other hand, I know better (...or I'm trying to know better) than to allow this recent flaring of my inboxes to cloud what I know about the program. It's such a hard game! I do value closer-knit programs, as I think they can offer a lot of the stuff that isn't explicitly written on paper -- the personal development that comes with feeling like you really belong to something, the connections that come with knowing the people around you really well, etc. But I think what username1824 said isn't to be discounted either. I haven't experienced being in a lab with 30 postdocs, but it might be just as supportive.

Just have fun at this final interview, if you truly feel like you've informally made your decision. I learned so much at my interviews! You really get a good sampling of how a variety of people in your field are approaching the same (or a family of closely related) questions. If you plan on doing a postdoc and going into academia, you can also use the experience to assess whether you might like to return to the university in the future.

It's definitely better to wait to formally accept because, as username 1824 said, you might be blown away. However, if both schools are part of the CGS agreement, then you are technically free to accept an offer and then retract your acceptance in order to accept a different offer (all before April 15th, of course). However, I am not sure how one could ever write a retraction email -- that sounds like the worst experience ever.

My airport pick-up just emailed me to tell me about the companion goldfish, too! Hilarious introduction to Portland. See you soon!

Most responsive: University of Iowa/CU Denver Worst: University of Washington Here are some better explanations: Iowa- this was the first school that contacted me for an interview. They do rolling admissions, with a preferred deadline of Dec 5 and an actual deadline of Jan 1. I heard back on Dec 9 at ~7pm Iowa-time. I accepted the offer the next day and was replied to in less than 20 minutes. The coordinator is one of the friendliest program coordinators I've spoken to. She's very accommodating and understanding, and she always responded to my emails within a couple hours. CU Denver- their application is a little different than most, so I had a few questions along the way. Also a very responsive, friendly, accommodating coordinator -- response times within an hour. Interview invite and acceptance were both via phone with follow-up email. I think of the phone calls as counting toward "responsiveness" because they feel more personal, like I haven't been reduced to a set of stats. University of Washington- Responsive? I guess, sorta. Actually read my emails? Dubious. When I was invited to interview (via email), two dates were offered: Feb 2-5 or Feb 3-6 (yeah, talk about "alternate" dates). I emailed back to explain that I had committed to an interview and had a Feb 5 conflict, and I asked if there were any other dates available to interview. The response I got back was "Great! You'll be in the Feb 2-5 group" (that was the ENTIRE email response). So I wrote back and restated that I had a Feb 5 conflict. This time, I was told that I could leave the morning of the 4th. I thought I was in the clear. A few days passed, and I was given instructions (mass email) to find a flight time and book it. I found a flight that left the morning of the 4th and sent an email to the coordinator, reminding her that I was leaving the morning of the 4th. She responded with, "You can't leave on the 4th, you'll miss half of the interview." At that point, I formally emailed her to decline the interview.

You might find this site helpful: http://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/city/oregon/corvallis I grew up in Corvallis, but I've never been to New Jersey so I can't directly compare those. Corvallis is a college town and the population was ~60,000 when I lived there (until 2001). It's about 1.5 hours from Portland and some people do live in Corvallis and commute. Salem is about 45 minutes away, and the coast (Newport) is about an hour away. Newport has the Oregon Coast Aquarium where Keiko (of Free Willy fame) once lived (was there when I lived there). Blackberries grow everywhere and with great abundance, so you'll never starve. Downtown is relatively small. The town is on a cool grid, with numbered streets running one direction and president-named streets (in chronological order) running perpendicular. I can't comment on safety, but the link above has crime statistics relative to the national average. EDIT: This link is even better: http://www.bestplaces.net/compare-cities/mahwah_township_nj/corvallis_or/costofliving Same site, direct comparison of Mahwah, NJ and Corvallis, OR. Click around the different categories (link sends you to cost of living) to learn about the area.

OHSU this weekend, anyone? I'm excited! Although two days of interviews is different...

I've heard that doing a postdoc at an Ivy will help your future more than doing your graduate studies at an Ivy. So I wouldn't stress about it too much -- WashU is a great school, and I'm sure when it comes time to look for a postdoc, your professors at WashU will likely have connections to faculty at Ivy League schools. It sounds like you think you'd be happier in St. Louis, so I would tend towards WashU.

It seems like the rejection notifications that are going out are for those who weren't invited to interview. Acceptances follow interviews -- in my experience, I've been notified of acceptance anywhere from 1 day - 2 weeks post-trip. However, no news really is good news, as emmadreher said, because being on a waitlist is better than being rejected.

When I was in high school (in the US), I took microeconomics after taking precalculus. I had no background in elementary set theory then, but I do now. This http://courses.umass.edu/phil595s-gmh/pdf/set%20theory/Set-Theory-Chap0.pdf OR http://www.mathsisfun.com/sets/set-builder-notation.html might be helpful if it's the notation that is confusing to you, but I don't remember encountering set-builder notation in microeconomics.

When I interviewed at CU Denver (Anschutz), one of the interviews was with a grad student. They had 4 students (all 3rd-5th years) serving on the admissions committee. I know that interview counted, but I'm not sure if my interactions with the other grad students during non-interview times counted.

What really matters is what you're interested in studying, and if your interests are represented well at these schools. If you're looking for objective rankings of these schools, see here: http://chronicle.com/article/NRC-Rankings-Overview-/124743/ It looks like Duke is stronger in the areas this survey looked at, but the survey is also nearing 5 years old. Additionally, consider the locations of these schools. I assume both programs have offered you funding -- have you looked at the cost of living in Boulder and Durham? Boulder is beautiful and is great if you're outdoorsy. I have never been to North Carolina.

Pitt has a great program that's extremely well-funded -- they're the 5th biggest recipient of NIH funding -- and the city of Pittsburgh is beautiful. The joint program with Carnegie Mellon adds to the research diversity, although much of that is behavioral (CNBC). All of my student escorts were friendly and spoke positively about the program.

You say the faculty don't align perfectly with your interests, but do they align at all? It's always possible that during rotations you'll find yourself captivated by something you hadn't considered before. However, I disagree with the "better school" approach. I was invited to interview at UW, but their interviews overlapped with those of "lower-ranked" schools with research that was more appealing to me -- and I ultimately declined UW for that reason. "Better school" doesn't mean you'll be a "better researcher" when you graduate. Also, the most recent NRC rankings are 5 years old and the US News & World Report rankings are derived from faculty surveys. A final thing to consider is whether the stipend will go far enough in Seattle. Seattle's recently approved a $15 minimum wage and their already-high prices are likely to inflate in response to that.

I sent mine the Sunday I got home, after I unpacked, did laundry, and spent an hour staring at the wall. For a typical Thursday-Saturday/Sunday interview weekend, I think I'd feel comfortable sending thank-yous through the following Tuesday. I like immediacy, so I try to afford others the same. Also, if you're writing thank-yous because you're hoping for your interviewers to advocate for you in the admissions committee meeting, your email needs to make it to them before that meeting happens. In one of my thank-yous I did mention how helpful their student was (5th year student of POI was my student host for the whole day), but only very briefly.