brainsandeggs

Yay! The email I got said early february - so either that first or second weekend, most likely. I would definitely let them know you'll be around and might be able to make the official dates. He said the formal invite will come via email before Jan 10th, which is pretty late in the game so maybe try and do some hunting to find the right person to ask, probably wouldn't be your POI if I had to guess?

Ah thank you! Congrats on getting yours from Yale! Were you not Neuro then?

Has Yale BBS for Neuro gone out already? I know a bunch of people have gotten Yale BBS but I'm not sure if the neuro track does it separately...?

Nice one!! Congrats! Excellent! Congrats

Thank you !! It was from someone I mentioned in my app - I actually didn't contact anyone from any program except my current institutions I work at beforehand, which I was seriously regretting as I think most of the top top programs want to see that, but I didn't decide to apply to non-NYC schools until super late in the game.

To give you some hope, my undergraduate GPA was 2.46 from an ivy. So...yeah. Personal stuff on so on. I graduated about 5 years ago, and in that time i've been doing full time research, worked my way up to director of neurohist research at an ivy lab, writing grants etc. I also went to get a Master's and have a steady 4.0. You can see how my apps are going in my signature, but things are going really well - I think with your GPA and research experience you will be just fine at these schools, especially if you carefully wrote your SOP and got good letters. The most important thing to keep in mind is that you are applying for a job - bidding for a contract, and the critical things any employer needs to see in a candidate employee is experience. If you were looking to hire someone for a 5-year job contract, what would be the thing you would want to see the most in those people? Given that many Ph.Ds these days apply from undergrad, and may not have much experience doing the type of research you would need to execute at the graduate level, many programs must use stats as a predictor of their performance and potential success in graduate school - but if you can demonstrate solid experience and have strong corroboration in the form of LORs, publications etc., you will be O.K. Knowing that relevant job experience is the most important factor, the best thing YOU can do is make sure that you've done due diligence in finding programs with faculty that match up with your skills and experience PERFECTLY. One thing I did that helped alot I think was instead of looking at prospective POIs publications to help find good matches, I looked at their funding applications -- that is, I searched what they were trying to get money to study in the upcoming year, which is more reflective of their future interests. If you can find faculty that have grants in that will require your certain skills, then you are golden. Google them, find their ted talks, their pod cast interviews, see what THEY think is the most important aspect of their work and where its going in the future, and emphasize how good you are at THAT - how convenient for them, here you are on a silver platter! This is the most time consuming part of the application process, and cannot be understated. For myself, I really shot for the moon with my applications. I had the luxury of one safety school that I knew I could get into due to PI connections, and then was able to use the rest of my slots to aim pretty high. Your list of schools looks very smart and well put together, but you never know - throw in some of the big ones if you can. Good luck!

U Chicago Neurobio email this morning - it was from a POI but he said I was selected for an interview and to expect an email sometime in the next few weeks....So if you are waiting on them might be randomly timed!

Email from POI - he said I should expect an email no later than Jan 10th (which is pretty late...) but that I was selected for an interview! He said dates would be in early feb

Email from U Chicago Neurobiology faculty member today letting me know I got an interview! Huzzah!

Wise words -- I wish he had never mentioned it at all! Yes that is definitely true! I know many PIs who ask students to write their own letters! I'll be imbibing some wine and relaxing all over the place tonight haha! Today has been stressful I dunno about you guys. I'm not in virology but neurobio !

Right this is what I"m worried about - I worked really hard with him to make sure it wasn't in my voice, but its totally possible. Of course my PI 100% stands behind the letter (he read it before I submitted it) and said he would reiterate the same things and strongly recommend me but god only knows what he could say in his current state !! I'm hoping that even if that is a concern for them, at least they are showing some interest enough to check in with him

Hey thats awesome! I've never been to Providence before so I'm really looking forward to getting to know the program. In my SOP I found three faculty that I really was excited about : Julie Kauer, Kevin Bath, and John Marshall - but the director told me to look over the faculty again and let him know who I would want to meet with so I'm going to go over everything again with a fine- toothed comb. Any suggestions from your experience there?

Ah! I see you applied to both MIT Bio and BCS: so I guess BCS gets first dibs on people? Do you mind me asking if they called or emailed? I applied through the bio department, I'm dying over here!

OH SNAP! Congrats!!!

Too true! Stanford is one of those schools that you never expect to hear back from so what was before a "eh no one gets in to Stanford, why worry" is more of a "AHHH?!" My only concern is that my LOR "writer" actually did not write the letter - I wrote it and he read it over and approved it, though he gave me carte blanche to write whatever. I even had to submit it (he was undergoing some serious back surgery during application season and was high on meds for weeks and STILL is so couldn't do it). I am worried they will ask him something about the letter and he'll be like "what?" and things will take a turn for the tragic. I frantically updated him on everything that was in the letter just in case, but during a opiates-laced phone call who knows what could happen.

Ah interesting- it makes me feel better that other programs do follow ups this way. I hope thats what it is, and not something funky with his letter! Perhaps we will both hear good things from these inquisitive programs fingerz crossed...

One of my letter writers just emailed me saying Stanford called him asking for more information as one of my recommenders. But he said the PI was from a Stroke research group (not sure what thats about, unless someone that I mentioned in my SOP also does stuff in neurology in the medical school...? But I didn't think so). ANYWAY has anyone heard anything like this from their LOR writers? I am obviously very happy (!) that they are showing any interest whatsoever in me, but I'm wondering if it means they are shaky on his letter or something about me as an applicant. Is this common practice for programs to contact letter writers for more info or a more detailed recommendation?

Congrats!!!! The big kahuna!

LOL perfect gif usage

Thanks! I can't imagine there are many of the sorts of people who are declining interviews at Harvard!! But heres hoping there's another wave of invites

Congrats!!! Amazing!

Noooo so sad I got nothing from Harvard PiN but I just got one from Brown University neuro

Got one from Brown University Neuro - phone call from the director, but sadly no harvard PiN :(. SUPER PUMPED about Brown tho!!

Wow congrats!! Thats huge! Even though I said I hoped the person was a troll, what I really meant was "ahhhhh anxiety!" I guess I should have known MIT would do things differently after all...

Congrats!! Thats awesome!