gliaful

I read somewhere (not on gradcafe) that only about 10% of prospective students send a thank-you of any kind following an interview, so I think either way is fine. I've interviewed at 3 places and I only sent thank you emails following one of those interviews.

I'm not sure if your mixer is like the first-night events that I've been to, but I'll try to describe what mine were like to give you an idea of what to expect. Provided that everyone will be flying in from different places across the country and some recruits have been in the air for upwards of 5 hours, the first night is usually very casual. People will be tired and the night will probably end between 8-10pm. I've been to 3 interviews so far, and at each of those we had a dinner the first night (although no faculty at any of mine). I just sat somewhere and got in on conversations that were already happening -- so you'll get the feel for level of casual conversation based on what you're hearing. Basically we just talked about where we were coming from, how we learned about the school/area, a little bit of work stuff (not as much as you might anticipate). There was a lot of talk about the next day's interviews -- you can ask grad students what the interviews are like or about the people you're meeting. What I noticed in all of my interviews was that not much was expected of me in terms of knowing about the people/program/etc. The "overview" info given the morning of interviews was always stuff I had already read on the website, and people never stopped asking if I had questions. So I highly doubt you'll be expected to recognize profs (some have 20-year outdated website photos anyway). "Hi, I'm (yourname)" should get you by for introductions -- and you'll quickly know if you're talking to a prof. If you feel awkward, there's no harm in staying kind of quiet that first night and claiming exhaustion from your flight. However, I'd suggest talking with the other recruits -- they're just as unsure as you, and although I'm normally pretty quiet, I really enjoyed socializing with the other recruits.

I get what you're saying. When I first started on gradcafe, I was feeling that I would have a really hard time with the admissions process because of what I saw in everyone else on here. Ultimately, though, you don't know anyone's full story. You don't know what they said in their SOP (or how they said it -- both arrogance and excessively passive writing are sinkers), you don't know what their letter writers wrote about them (even though people love to say they have "3 great LORs"), you don't know if their interactions with POIs/ program coordinators were thoughtful and mature. Even the more concrete, accessible information (stats) that people provide aren't as well-defined as they might seem. When someone says they have "4 years of research experience", you don't know if they were generally working 10 hours/week or 40. You don't know if they were working with a postdoc (or another student) or if they had their own project. If they had their own project, did they have any say in designing it? With publications, it's even more ambiguous. I overheard another recruit at one of my interviews say that her PI was writing a paper but that she was going to be first-author, even though she was only formatting the references. In my lab, first-author means that the first-author wrote nearly the entire paper and it was edited and revised by the PI. GPA varies by institution -- more than anyone ever cares to say -- and it's truly awful that some talented individuals aren't considered because an honorable 3.1 doesn't stand tall in a forest of inflated 3.9's. GRE scores may be a more uniform measure, as everyone faces the same test, but institutions willingly admit that the GRE doesn't predict success in grad school. Hence, interviews serve a useful role in determining whether applicants are ready to be autonomous researchers. Don't get stuck in the comparison game. I know it's rough -- you'll see those boards where everyone lists their stats and pertinent information -- but try to remember that a whole applicant can't be captured in an online forum reply box.

YEAH But did you decide Northwestern or UChicago was your "one"?

I did it at one school I interviewed at, for only a couple of my interviewers + the program coordinator. I did go in to this process thinking I'd be doing it every time, but I didn't stick to it.

Our topic got pushed to the second page Anyway, I had a question about something that I recently noticed at my 3rd interview -- maybe you've noticed it as well? We talk about "fit" a lot on gradcafe, and I mostly understood it to mean how well an applicant's research interests fit with those represented by the faculty within a program. At my interview this past weekend, although my research interests matched the strengths of the program and the faculty were easy to talk to, I felt that I did not fit in with the other interviewees personality-wise. I know that getting along with the current grad students is important, but I did not consider the possibility or importance of not getting along as well with the other prospective members of the entering class. At my first two interviews, I really enjoyed everyone's company (the other interviewees, the grad students, the faculty, everyone). At this one, though, I began to wonder if different schools appeal to different personalities to a noticeable degree. Has anyone else noticed this?

Hey peachypie, I get what you're saying about interview weekends being a cool opportunity to talk about science. I guess I should have mentioned that my first 4 interviews are at places I am considering very seriously, while my last 2 interviews are at places that contacted me early in the waiting game -- and while I'm interested in those programs as well, now that I have a couple admits, my desire to take time away from my life and lab has diminished. I'm trying to finish my current project or at least get to a decent stopping point before I depart, and being away 4/7 days of the week, for 6 consecutive weeks, is making that difficult. I will still attend all of my interviews, but it's tiresome. I acknowledge that there isn't a real solution to this. I would like to ask about moving, though. Does anyone have any opinions of when the best time to move is? I think it's probably easier to find an apartment in May than in June or July, but that also means living for a couple months without pay prior to starting school. When should I start looking on craigslist/trulia/zillow if I wanted to move in May/June? Any other moving tips you might have?

Yeah, plane tickets have already been bought, so I suppose I'm going to all of them. I know that canceling at this stage of the game is frowned upon, but I feel slimy pretending to be available. I had no idea my season was going to be like this. If I had to do it all over again, I'm not sure if I would do it differently. It's just that I had one school that I was most interested in, followed by a bunch of schools that were tied for second place. I had to accept those invites because of the possibility of getting rejected from my top choice -- but that didn't happen, and for as much as I did to secure my options for the unfavorable outcome, I didn't spend any time thinking about what I would do if things actually went my way. Did you accept the offer from UW Madison or are you holding off until you're done interviewing?

Some questions for the seasoned interviewees who accepted an offer and are now enrolled in a program: -At any point, will I need to complete a FAFSA for funding purposes? I feel like I've heard of this before and I just want some clarification. -How does one maintain energy and enthusiasm for interviews? I really only want to go to one more of these, but I'm actually going to four. Like MAN I just want a Friday morning that doesn't involve getting on a shuttle at 8 am. -If I arrive in my new city/town of residence a month before the first term begins, would you think that it would likely be acceptable for me to begin my first rotation early (I don't need early pay, just something to do)? -Is the first rotation really the hardest (because of the adjustment, etc)? Should I save the rotations I'm most interested in for later in the first year?

It is my understanding that a strong applicant, whose research interests reasonably match those of the program, will get admitted -- even to those "lowly-ranked" schools where they are unlikely to attend. From the point of view of a "lowly-ranked school", the only way to get outstanding students is to offer them admittance. They might not all bite, but 1/10 is certainly more than you'd get if you didn't offer admittance to any of them. I thought "likelihood of attendance" was used to determine the total number of offers made. For instance, if you have 30 interviewees, each applying to 5 other schools (6 total) of relatively equal standing, and you want a class of 4 students, you would offer to 24 of your 30 interviewees (assuming equal probability of each student attending each school, 1/6). Of course, this is an overly simplified example, and in the real world this is significantly more difficult to quantify.

Are rotations required at NU? It definitely sounds too good to be true (in a good way), but I'm still concerned about the lack of alternative PIs at NU. Does she have any collaborators at NU?

AHHHH CONGRATS yolk!! Do you still have interviews to go to? I'm in the same boat, but I have four more interviews to endure and I'm not sure what to do about that.

Dear X, Thank you for your letter of February 3, 2015. After careful consideration, I regret to inform you that I am unable to accept your refusal to offer me admission to your program. This year I have been particularly fortunate in receiving an unusually large number of rejection letters. With such a varied and promising field of candidates it is impossible for me to accept all refusals. Despite [school]'s outstanding qualifications and previous experience in rejecting applicants, I find that your rejection does not meet my needs at this time. Therefore I will initiate matriculation into your program immediately following graduation. I look forward to seeing you then. Sincerely, Y

First acceptance! AHHHH THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/karen-zgoda/graduate-student-barbie_b_4184482.html

They're busy people -- I didn't get responses from everyone I emailed. A short reply sounds like they want you to know that they did read your email.

Not a question, but something that I just discovered that may be of use in interviews: If you have a student host, get to know this person. These people volunteer to be hosts, they know a lot about the pros and cons of the program, and the hosts I've had have been really cool. It's a perk if they are part of/will be meeting with the admissions committee. You never know what kind of surprises this person might drop in your inbox before anything official rolls out

Well, only you are able to know how you handle fatigue, but I think the 5.5 hour trip to school A (following your interview at B ) would be long enough for you to briefly prepare and maybe take a nap. Plus, it seems like the Thursday night of any interview weekend is very casual and you'd probably be able to get some good rest and preparation prior to Friday interviews. At both of the interview weekends I've been to so far, on Thursday night a number of the cross-country interviewees have gone to bed at 8 pm. I think you could reasonably attend all three interviews and be rested enough to perform well.

I don't know about BPSD, but I know international UW neuro applicants need a faculty sponsor. Do you have one of these?

I'll see you there -- I fly in at 4pm. I'm so excited!

I had my first interview this past weekend as well! I just refresh these forums listlessly and get ridiculously anxious when I see my email tab change from "Inbox" to "Inbox (1)". But, no news yet... I'm preparing for my next interview (I leave tomorrow), so that's keeping me distracted today.

I haven't been to the interview yet -- but I met someone at a different interview, who did her undergrad at Pitt, and she really likes the campus and program. That's all I know, though. I'm excited to visit and I can let you know how it is when I do go, if you'd like. Hopefully you'll hear back soon!

Do international applicants have Skype interviews, or do you have a faculty sponsoring your travel to campus? I know the in-person interview weekends are Jan 29-31, Feb 5-7, and Feb 12-14, but I suppose that isn't helpful if your interviews are over Skype/phone.

Do agree to it! Some schools will let you switch programs (with program approval) after you're in the program. You do have to appeal to both programs, but if they are similar in content it's probably doable. I somewhat experienced this: I declined an interview, and then 3 weeks later I received an invitation to interview at a similar program (Pharmacology) at the same university. In my case, the original program's application asked for permission to share my application with related departments. I wasn't as interested in the school, so I declined that one too, but I think it's a great idea.

This was not my experience, so I'll share what my interviews were like (at the one interview weekend I've been to so far). All of my interviews started with some sort of "Where are you from?" or "Tell me about yourself". I used this to talk about how I just graduated and am continuing to work in the lab at my university. Then I'd get asked (you can bank on this) about what kind of research I was involved in. (Spend however long giving an overview of my research) Then, depending on who you're talking to, this is the part where you'll get genuine questions (prof is trying to clarify something) or you'll get grilled (prof is familiar with your subject area and is able to pull this off). When things got quiet, I would ask them about their research (you can do this straight up, eg "What do you research?" if you feel comfortable, OR you can ask something in the form of "I understand you study X, could you tell me more about that?" to show that you know something about them). Then they will talk and show you cool data and basically the most interesting things that have arisen and the questions that stem from those things. I spent a lot of time asking questions about their research, but you could also ask about their perceptions of the graduate program/where their past students have gone on to/if they would be available for a rotation/etc.

It's not universal, but it does happen. To circumvent this, I dropped my last name on facebook and used my middle name instead. I made all of my posts accessible to friends only. They also look at your linkedin, if you have one of those. But on linkedin you can check to see who has looked at your profile so you'll know.