rockyMicrobe

Just got a call from a professor at UCSF that I got into Tetrad  

Most programs offer medical insurance. However, the amount of coverage and the cost of coverage varies a lot from school to school. There are some programs, for example, that do not have any prescription coverage in their school-offered program. Other schools will only pay for your insurance premiums in the semesters you work as a TA. And when schools pay for your insurance premiums, the amount of benefits ranges a lot (some only pay 50%, some pay the whole thing, others pay like 80%). Finally, even with coverage, there are still lots of out of pocket expenses for serious conditions. I know several people that need to pay several thousand dollars per year to manage their health, even with insurance. The stories in the linked website highlight the fact that many PhD stipends barely cover basic expenses so many students who have additional costs might go into debt.
If you are on a fellowship, you don't get a W-2 for that income. You get a letter every year from HR saying that this isn't earned compensation, ie. it says "you are awarded this money but you provided no services" or something like that. 
For Americans at my school, they get a 1099-MISC instead and there is no withholding.  But this doesn't mean that they don't pay taxes. Instead, now they must file quarterly taxes or potentially pay the penalty at the end of the year.
For international students, we get a 1042-S instead of a W-2 if we are paid on fellowship funds. There is withholding though. Mine is withheld at 14%. 
Finally, to clarify, sometimes you are told that your money is coming from a "fellowship" even though behind the scenes it is not. This might be true for internal fellowships. So in those cases you still get a W-2. So while most things called fellowships are considered fellowships for tax purposes, note that sometimes there is a difference in how things are treated in the tax code and the name of the money source.

Typically yes, but it may vary from 9 month to 12 months depending on the program. I would recommend looking at the graduate program handbook (they are usually on the specific department website) or contacting the graduate coordinator at these programs. If you cannot get insurance you may qualify for medicaid or low-cost insurance. 

Cancelling an interview after a program has bought a plane ticket is considered really bad form and reflects very poorly on you. If you're feeling this way now, you should not have accepted so many interviews in the first place. Even if you're no longer interested in a program, most administrators would rather you come and fake it than force them to eat that sunk cost of a plane ticket. If you really feel that it's absolutely necessary for you to cancel this interview, you should explain the circumstances, apologize, and offer to pay the program back for the plane ticket.
Having said all that, if a program has bought your plane ticket for you, there's really no way for them to make you pay for it, though some programs may ask (demand) you to do so. If you've bought the plane ticket yourself and the program was going to reimburse you after the fact, you definitely shouldn't expect to get that reimbursement.

So I'm sure this would be more appropriate in a thread dedicated to interview prep, but because there has been a lot of very useful advice here on the subject (I myself being on the receiving end) I thought I would share something I just discovered. I searched for my interviewers on YouTube to see if they had any publicly available seminars, and turns out most of them do! I watched the most recent for each faculty and I found it extremely helpful for the ones I'm really interested in working with. I also feel like I almost know them a little better and don't feel as nervous about talking to them in person??? I guess I'll know for sure whether it helped tomorrow after my first interview takes place, but just thought I would share in case anyone is feeling a little stressed about reading and not processing very well!

I'll second everything @CalicoCat said.  I'll add that I found asking PIs what direction they are planning to take their research really helpful, because a lot of answers I got were rather different from the recently published papers and website - also not a bad way to kill time in an interview, because every PI loves to talk about their research.

Unless you were given specific instructions to NOT email the professors, it should not hurt for you to email them. The worst that could happen is that they ignore your email (and don't feel bad if this happens since many profs won't write back if the only thing the email would say is "cool, see you soon!").
I would just write something like, "Dear Prof X, I will be visiting Awesome University during the Feb 16-17 interview weekend. I'm very interested in your work on XYZ and I have let [person**] know that I would love a meeting with you during my visit. I hope to see you next month!"
(** the name of the person that emailed you to ask for the list of names!)
Some notes:
- Specify the specific dates, as some programs have more than one meeting date
- Specify that you already let [person] know that you want to meet, so that it's clear that you aren't asking to schedule a special meeting with them
- Don't ask for anything specific! They will be very busy and usually these visits are all scheduled by the same person (or a small group of people) and not the faculty themselves, so coordinating anything outside of official channels can lead to confusion
Why I think it's good to do this:
- It shows enthusiasm and interest (and of course, only do this if you are genuinely interested, don't just do this for every single person). I would only send an email like this to one or two professors at each school that you are really really interested in meeting
- If the prof will be away that week, they will probably let you know. This will also help you because you don't need to feel like they were not interested in you if you don't end up getting a meeting with them. If they say they are away, maybe they will offer to call you or Skype you.
- Sometimes profs have more requests than they have time slots for. In this case, the meeting coordinator may ask the prof to choose who to meet with. Establishing this contact with the profs you're really interested in might make them choose you. (Corollary: This is why I don't recommend emailing 5 or 6 profs like this, since it won't help prioritize your meetings).

Now, I don't know your institution, but I would go to the CS department chair or Academic Dean and be like "Man, you guys are supposed to be giving me a future, not screwing it up". Maybe in slightly better terms than that, but yeah.

I'm still going through the the app process now, so I guess take this with a grain of salt, but that is MUCH more specific than what I wrote.  My statements were much more along the lines of "I'm interested in the work of Dr. X and Dr. Y, particularly their projects related to innate immunity." 

Ok thanks! I'll do it now haha.

Umm it was a little more than 75% last year (my cycle), and we're planning on the same this year. My PI is actually on the ad-com this year, and she said literally all they look for if you've been called up for the interview is a) you are the same science-passionate student you seem on paper, and b) you aren't an arrogant douchebag.
All the best

Applied to the PULSE program
Haha. I doubt fewer people apply to these programs because the ivy leagues can only accommodate so many people. More likely there are fewer people like me on the website who didn't apply to top ranked places. The rest of us mortals have to go somewhere too

I'm sure that many of us are interested in the post interview acceptance rates of programs we have applied to. If you've asked a program coordinator or otherwise found out the post interview acceptance rate, feel free to post it below.
I'm particularly curious about the UCSF BMS program this year. I looked through the forum and found different posts stating it has been 75% and ~33% at different time.

Rejection is tough. Remember that this is a somewhat random process. Perhaps they have bad metrics. Perhaps other people have personal relationships that help them get in. Perhaps they are looking for people in a different subfield than you are in. You got into some great programs. Try to be happy with that. I missed one of my top choices but just got invites at 2 super programs so I am happy. But it takes some time. You have the right to grieve as well. Sorry.

I'm sure that many of us are interested in the post interview acceptance rates of programs we have applied to. If you've asked a program coordinator or otherwise found out the post interview acceptance rate, feel free to post it below.
I'm particularly curious about the UCSF BMS program this year. I looked through the forum and found different posts stating it has been 75% and ~33% at different time.

Part of the appeal of not being a business, med, or law student is that your physical appearance/ fashion choices normatively shouldn't (and hopefully don't) affect your interview game. On a daily basis, grad students and post docs show up to lab in t-shirts, hoodies, and jeans. Of course, interviews are "exceptional" in some respects, but a large part of the reason why interviewees dress up is because they don't want to be the under-dressed odd one out -- it's more game theory than it is rational. No matter what you look like, at the end of the day, you should feel comfortable with however you chose to dress and however you choose to do your hair/ make-up (especially women), simply because the onus is on other people to judge you for who you are and not how you look.
Re: @kokobanana 's advice on wearing "non-sexy" make-up: I don't think this is entirely fair -- wear however much or however little make-up you feel is appropriate, whether or not people think you look sexy. (chances are you're all an incredibly sexy bunch regardless, and your make-up choices won't change that). I am a bit tired of women being told to dress attractively but not enticingly -- you shouldn't be made to feel you were unprofessionally dressed just because someone thought you looked hot. 
Also re: advice that "sneakers look out of place" -- this is, in my experience, untrue. Sneakers are great for traversing campus and probably look totally fine with whatever you're wearing. 
The dress-up game is one more way in which international minorities, women, and less privileged students are made to feel inadequate for reasons which have absolutely nothing to do with genuine merit -- so dress however you want to, and own it. No serious scientist is going to look at you funny 'cause you wore nikes instead of dress shoes. Be understanding and sensitive to your peers, regardless of how they look, and don't make people feel out of place come interview weekend just because they didn't choose to perpetuate the power and class stereotypes which make prestigious academic institutions so homogenous in the first place. 
 

This was precisely what I settled on when interviewing last year.  If my wearing a colorful dress, bright nail polish, a cardigan instead of a blazer, darker tights instead of sheer pantyhose, etc was going to lead the program to decide I wasn't professional then I didn't want to be there.  All of those things were uniquely me and yet my hemline was still a respectable length, my cleavage was covered, nothing was wrinkled/stained/torn, and my behavior was professional.  

I think you're overthinking. The amount of people you'll interview with depends on the program but they'll tell you to choose way more, however the range is from 3/5, typically. Michigan told me to choose 12 to interview with 5. You might get someone you whose research doesn't interest you, or someone you were expecting, just listen to their research and try to ask questions based on that. Grad school interviews are NOT job interviews, so don't use the same approach to prep nor the same questions. It is VERY unlikely you'll be asked what your biggest flaw is, for example. Key questions are: Why a PhD? Why your field? Why this school? Why this program? ( The last two can be combined). IT IS CRUCIAL YOU KNOW YOUR RESEARCH! They most likely WILL ask you to tell them what you've done in the past; however, try to not be TOO specific or take too long since you're wasting time for other questions. Don't bring a notepad or anything, it'll make it seem scripted. Interviews tend to be SUPER casual unless you make them not thay way, which might make you look boring. There's more to just knowing your stuff during interviews, you want to seem like you have a personality. You might interview with an adcom and not be aware that they're on the adcom. 
I suggest you dont overprepare and read papers, it's really not constructive, in my opinion. Most faculty went out of their way to talk about their research and most of the important details are in their web/labpage. I'd suggest just reading those so you have a good idea of what they do and can ask questions. Reading papers is more suitable for a journal club kind of scenario, which this is not lol
Of course, different strokes for different folks but the person that read up on the faculty the same day of the interview and was able to have an insightful and fun conversation (me) ended up in the same place as the person that read the most recent papers to prep. 

Wow. Thanks for the info. I never knew!! Nor did I set down this path with any better info than an internet forum poster could give me.
I did not solicit advice.

Hi! If you still need a feedback on your personal statement this [[link removed]] really helpful! Best of luck!