Edotdl

Your intro is cliche and too general. I've also been warned against leading with quotes... Also your second paragraph is unnecessary - these should be on your transcript/CV. Also, I'd check your grammar in your final draft.

In my experience, people won't even know your exact age and will usually just assume you're the same or about the same age as them/the other students.

I didn't say that it was impossible for professors to help you out during the admissions process; however, I think that big professors are already extra busy and probably won't go out of their way to contact people in the adcom or vouche for someone they only know via email. 
Again, I'm not saying that the applicant should not email profs, I just believe it'll be more informative rather than advantageous in terms of admission. 

For Princeton EE PhD, I was contacted for interviews 1/19 last year. I believe they interview all candidates they intend to accept. Here is a quote from their email:
"Before making final admission decisions, our department makes skype/phone calls to all short listed applicants. These calls give us a chance to confirm our impressions and provide you an opportunity to ask questions about our program."
I never heard back after my interview...
Combined with EE/CS people being less social in general.

Are you asking what you should say in an email to a professor, for the purpose of being able to "drop" his/her name in your application? You should probably only email professors if you have actual questions or something worthwhile to say. Superficial interactions are unlikely to benefit your application.

While I don't think you're *expected* to, it's not that uncommon either. I actually gave one of my recommenders a gift during the interview at his school, since I would most likely not see him again anytime soon depending on my school choice. FWIW, I got him some nice tea, since he doesn't drink coffee.

I kept mine fairly brief, something along the lines of "I would be delighted to visit XXX". Don't overthink it, there's no need to stress. Just be polite and let them know you're excited to visit.

They sent the same email last year, but invites started coming out late Dec (12/27 I believe). This probably doesn't help reduce the stress, but hopefully some of you will find the info useful.

I've heard of some profs that will not look at your application unless you've mentioned them in your SOP. Adding a few "customized" sentences is the approach I took and it seemed to work out okay. It should be clear from the rest of your SOP why you want to work with these profs and how their interests relate to yours. Therefore, a few sentences to mention specific names should suffice.

Looks ok, GRE shouldn't matter too much.

Yeah programming experience is useful in general, so you should definitely get some experience. However, unless your lab is very computation heavy, it's unlikely you'll be at the level of a software/machine learning engineer. 
In general, I find the two areas in industry where a neuro PhD could be applied is AI and pharma/biotech. The former would be suited for computational labs and the latter for more experimental wet lab. 
I'm not the familiar with the specific skills needed for the second option but I'd assume it would be along the lines of specific techniques (eg. Crispr as mentioned above.) 
 

I'd just email her telling her that you took her class a couple years ago and let her know what you've done since then (how your interests developed, etc.). If possible maybe try to tie in how taking her class affected your decision. Then let her know you're planning on applying to PhD programs and you'd like to talk to her about her research or whatever else you want. These types of situations probably aren't that uncommon.

I'd pretty much agree with what Bioenchilada said.
Personally I feel like those GRE scores will hold you back, especially coming from a less well known school. One of the purposes of standardized tests is to act as a benchmark for comparing GPAs from different universities. While getting perfect GRE scores aren't necessary, I feel like you should at least try to get 160+, with 155 being the minimum. It might be a bit late to prepare/retake the GRE at this point though...
IMO, having 3 letters from PIs that can attest to your abilities in lab is stronger than 3 professors who offer these "different perspectives". However, it seems like these are your strongest letters, so the point is moot.
 

From my (limited) experience, much of your graduate experience will be shaped by your peers. I believe there is a benefit to having a sizeable number of other students doing research in the same general area so you can share ideas and talk with. It might also be better to look at the size of the program relative to the number of faculty too. I personally do not really prefer small programs.

In general AWA is the least important when applying to quantitative fields. Whether or not it's worth it to retake depends on many factors, such as which programs you are applying to and your other stats. Unless you need your GRE to make up for other aspects of your application, I think your current scores are not a make or break thing - ie if the rest of your application is strong, you probably don't need to worry.

@myhairtiebroke You mentioned that you also reached out to some professors. How did that go? If they seem to be interested, they might be able to provide some insight on why you were rejected previously and may be able to help with your application. 

I'd second bioenchilada's suggestion. My first suspect was the SOP too. Assuming your LORs and SOP were good, I'm surprised you were rejected from every program two years in a row.

To answer your question, generally when people say you shouldn't go to engineering grad school if you aren't funded, it is directed towards PhD. There are very few engineering masters programs that are funded. Generally people will pay for their masters. since the increase in salary with a MS usually offsets the cost of the MS. Usually the funded MS programs will be just as competitive as PhD. It is not unheard of though to have masters students TA classes, but the probability of this happening depends on the program and priority is usually given to PhD students. The way I'd interpret the professors' suggestion is that you should use the MS as a stepping stone to overcome your GPA - with the understanding that you will likely be paying for this opportunity.

I don't have personal experience with MS admissions, but I think you should have a reasonable chance for a MS at the schools you listed. A PhD might be harder since your research experience is probably around average and your GPA/GRE is on the lower end. Although ideally you'd want a 165+ Q as an engineer and to offset the GPA, I'm not sure how much of a difference it will make in the end. You might be better off focusing on writing the best SOP you can and/or reaching out to professors that might be able to support your application. Good luck.

Hello everyone! Noticed this thread has been pretty vacant for a while but I'll be starting in Cancer Bio this fall

I'm taking 3 classes but 1 is 'independent study' (essentially just research), so 2 real classes. Program requires 15 courses, but we're on a quarter system.

I don't think a 4.0 in writing is a make/break type thing - many professors will likely not care. I got a 4.5 for what it's worth.

Official acceptance to JHU BME, for those that interviewed.

If your letter didn't explicitly state that you were admitted, that means the admission decision will be made after you visit the campus. Therefore, it's extra important that you visit and make a good impression on the professors with whom you have an interview. 

Pretty much my reaction. I guess still a bit salty though...but of course much less.