Janiejoneswoah

Their initial email says that they will be sending out invitations the week of January 9th... and even though I received an unofficial email from a POI on Sunday, I am actually still waiting on the official acceptance email. So I think there could still be a good few yet to come.

I am sold. Thanks very much for making that decision easier!

Wow, thank you -- this is exactly the kind of response I was hoping for. It is difficult to make a decision without visiting either school, so I appreciate your help a lot. One of my major concerns is the expense of living in Palo Alto as a graduate student - do you know if they mostly manage on their stipends, or do they have to take out loans or find other sources of income as well?

Hopkins and Stanford neuro have their interviews at the same time... Does anybody have any thoughts on the pros/cons of interviewing at each program?

Hopkins and Stanford neuro have their interviews at the same time... Does anybody have any thoughts on the pros/cons of interviewing at each program?

Just got a phone call (which i missed ) and then an email from a POI at Stanford neuro! I'm still waiting on a formal invitation, but am super excited anyway.

Thanks for the feedback! I was genuinely unsure whether this would be acceptable but the response here has clarified. Much appreciated.

UCSF says they will reimburse you for airfare up to $500 -- I could get a return economy plus ticket for that much! The question is, should I get an economy plus ticket just because it fits in their limit? I don't want to be seen as taking advantage of them and I'm not sure about the etiquette here.

That makes me feel better, even with the salt. Thanks!

I'm slightly confused by MIT as well -- the initial email said that interviews wouldn't be announced until January! Hopefully there are more still to come, MIT was very high (if not top) of my list.

I got an invite for UCSD neuro last night at about midnight -- I'm not trolling either! I agree with the previous poster, it is not hugely nice to send invites on Christmas... Perhaps they will send more today and tomorrow.

That's not true across the board, some schools have post-interview acceptance rates around 33%...

I'm sure they'll be trickling out until the end of the day, if not longer.

It was just a form letter from an administrator, but i'm fine with that...

Just got invited to interview at UCLA and Johns Hopkins neuroscience in emails that arrived within 2 minutes of each other!!! UCLA neuro interviews 02/25 - 02/27 and Johns Hopkins 02/28-03/3

Just got invited to interview at UCLA and Johns Hopkins neuroscience in emails that arrived within 2 minutes of each other!!!

January 19th-22nd!

Just got invited to interview with BCM neuroscience from Feb 8-11th!

Me as well.

When discussing research interests/professors that you'd like to work with, do you think it's better to stick to roughly one specialization (eg addiction, brain injury) and talk about ~3 professors in that area, or to talk about a variety of interests mentioning professors in different fields? I'm torn - on the one hand, I actually DO have broad interests, but on the other, staying specific to one topic allows you to more credibly cater an SOP to a school (i.e. a school with a ton of addiction research gets a paragraph talking about why addiction research is fun). Thoughts?

I included a little background on the award if there is anything interesting to say about it, but for most of them it's not really relevant. For scholarships, should I list the amount of cash awarded? There are separate sections for date awarded, awarding organization etc. What other information are people including in these boxes?

Hey Jayden, I'm sorry to say I'm not at all familiar with the type of program you have listed, but since nobody else has responded to this question I want to give it a shot. From what I have learned about other programs, GPA is far from the most important factor considered. GRE, experience, and a good SOP, can certainly help make it up - especially experience and the SOP. If the communication from the admissions committee did not indicate that your GPA would be too low to even be considered, I believe that there's a good chance that your other merits could make up for your GPA. Another thing to consider - does your GPA show an upward trend? Often if you did significantly better your last year or two, committees will take that into account and weight your earlier performance less significantly.

Thank you for your kind words and advice!

Hey guys! I Would really appreciate tips on where to apply or even just how to figure out where to apply. I have some vague interests in a couple of schools but I'm not really sure how to move forward at this juncture. I am interested in Neuroscience programs - my current lab focuses on learning and adaptation in the cerebellum following brain injury, however I am interested in a wide variety of topics - recovery of motor function following injury like my current research, addiction (particularly alcohol addiction!), and emerging applications of CRISPR/Cas9 (my thesis topic!) to name a few. Undergrad Institution: top 100 US public research university Major(s): Biology (Neurobiology specialty) and Liberal Arts Honors Minor(s): N/A GPA in Major: 3.9+ Overall GPA: 3.9+ Position in Class: Top 4% Type of Student: Domestic male GRE Scores (revised): Q: 170 V: 170 W: 5.0 B: Not yet taken Research Experience: 2 years in current lab, publication (2nd author) upcoming 3 additional summers researching in a handful of different labs at BCM and MD Anderson, one additional publication possibly upcoming (contributing author) Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Various college scholarships, college research fellowship, Deans lists, Phi Beta Kappa (as a junior) Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Research peer leader (like a faculty-directed independent study group) Undergraduate journal clubs, interest groups and stuff like that Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Editor of school paper Special Bonus Points: I do terrible stand up Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: A couple of presentations I gave at the end of my summers, but just to the center and not at a conference - unsure whether to include those or not. A poster at an undergraduate research forum. Applying to Where: Baylor college of medicine (BCM) UCSD UCSF Columbia Stanford Those are the reach schools which are obviously easier to come up with. I'd love some tips for more realistic schools that might have programs that would be good for my interests specifically. Thank you for the help!