Superres

Honestly, if I were you, I would take the NSF. You deserve it! I would go against your department's recommendation. I am an incoming graduate student and when talking to one of the directors of the program I will be entering in the fall, she told me that the graduate school would encourage me to accept the fellowship award right away. However, the graduate school covers my first two years anyway (not the PI). She basically told me not to listen to the graduate school's recommendation and wait two years. However, I also see @Eigen 's point. It's better to be over-funded than to run out of money in case it takes you a little longer to graduate. But the extra $4,500 /yr would also be really nice!

Thank you so much! I honestly do feel very fortunate. I just gotta commit to somewhere.

I'm sorry about the fact that you have to reevaluate your options. That can't be easy at all. I'm struggling to decide if I should stay at my undergraduate institution (mostly because although I don't really have anything specific tying me down here, I really like the location), a more prestigious school with a ho-hum location, and a school where I really felt like I fit in and has several researchers whose research that I'm interested in, but doenst have some of the research techniques that I was really hoping to learn. All of the schools have several labs that I'm interstated in and seem to have really great training. If it makes it easier, I was planning on being vague, but I suppose it doesn't really matter at this point Im trying to decide between Emory, Hopkins, and Duke (same order as described above)

Anyone else STILL struggling to make a decision???

Hey! Not sure if you've made a decision yet. I too am struggling with whether or not I should stay at my current academic institution because I really like the city itself or whether I should venture off for a change. I'm originally from Cambridge so I can speak a bit about living there. I think that there are many pros and cons. The public transpiration (the T) is really great and Boston is one of the few places that I think you can actually survive without a car. I can't speak for Stanford's campus, but what I do know about Harvard is that the labs can be really spread out. Some in Boston, some in Cambridge, and some even in Belmont, which may make the first couple of years a little difficult while taking classes. Also, if you're not a huge fan of the snow, you may want to consider staying in Cali. The winters can be pretty brutal. But then again that's only 3-5 months of the year....spending on how bad the winter is. I personally loved growing up in Cambridge though. It's a very diverse place and you can find a little bit of everything there. I feel like you definitely can't go wrong with either places. But if you do want to experience living on the east coast, grad school may be a good time to do it, since you're only committed to 5-6 ish years.

Okay, in all fairness, I didn't say NOT to do it. I just don't think that it's the MOST important thing, especially if you're applying to many schools. I also sent very detailed and succinct emails, referenced my interests/background and how they aligned with the POI's own research, etc. I also received a reply from all of them saying that they were looking froward to meeting me and to request to interview with them if I am invited to interview. So it may depend on whether the POIs you email are actually on the admissions committee. I I personally think that LORs, research experience, SOP, and whether your research interests align with the goals of the prgram are the most important parts of the application, with coursework/grades and GRE scores being second.

Go to the school where you can see yourself thriving for 5-6 years. Harvard has an amazing reputation, but so does UCSD. People have told me to make a list and rank the schools based on certain qualities that you think are important. If you tally up the numbers and are disappointed with the outcome, then you have your answer.

I heard back a couple of days ago and got the official email this morning. Hopefully, you'll hear back soon!

I couldn't agree more! For grad school, I feel like the "name" of the school is definitely not as important as the "fit". I'm primarily looking for programs where I can get great training! Not just learning cool techniques (though there is something to be said about using sexy new techniques), but learning how to think and troubleshoot like a scientist. At least, that's my plan. I'm definitely also considering location and cost of living! 5-7 years is a good portion of my life and I want to enjoy it as much as possible.

Congrats! I'm with you and would totally take that as a sign to accept the offer from Vandy!

I very much agree with a lot of this!! I had about 11 schools that I wanted to apply to on my list, but during the application process, I narrowed it down to 9 because when it came to the SOP I couldn't really think of a reason why I wanted to attend 3 of the schools (other than prestige--which alone is NOT a good reason). I got interview invitations from 7 out of the 9 and declined one of them because I was invited to a program that I didn't apply for. Essentially, i applied directly to the neuroscience program, but they thought I would be a better fit for the interdisciplinary graduate program, which I would be a part of for one year and then enter my program of choice (which would have been neuroscience...so u just a thought that it felt somewhat like I would be set back). I also probably would have at least interviewed if I didn't already have 6 other invitations. Anyway, I suggest that you don't apply to any school that you wouldn't want to interview at. I highly recommend giving every program a chance because I have been very pleasantly surprised at some of my interviews...and now I'm more confused than ever....but in some regard, this is a good problem to have. Long story short, yes, interviews are exhausting, but they are also an amazing opportunity to meet people in your field and hear about some really cool research! Networking is so important in science! the one thing I don't agree with is that I don't think you necessarily need to contact faculty in order to get an interview invitation. I could be wrong, but I didn't contact anyone at 3 of the schools for which I received an interview invitation, but I did contact POIs at the two schools that rejected me....just saying.

Yes, they were super accommodating and are letting me come in a couple of weeks. It's an umbrella program, so they will be having interviews, but may not have many other recruits with my interests. They did say that they would still try to put together a list of faculty with my interests though. I am very grateful!

They didn't offer one, but I'm going to call and see if there is an alternative. It really sucks, but I can't even fathom getting on a plane right now.

Has anyone gone on an interview when they were sick? My flight leaves this evening, but I woke up feeling horrible. It may just be a bad head cold, but my sinuses are throbbing, nose running, etc. Im not sure if I should just take some cold medicine, hope it helps, and suck it up. Problem is that interviews have been exhausting when I haven't been sick and I have 5 more to go on after this one, so I really don't want to get worse.... I don't know what to do.

Thank you both for the advice! I completely agree that this is a great opportunity to meet with people. I've talked to some graduate students that I know and they told me that the program they ended up at wasn't their top choice until they visited. As for the back to back interviews in one week, the second interview is at my home institution, which I bet will be a lot easier than if I had to travel to two different places and then fly home.