BabyScientist

A pre-med post-bacc program probably.

This is what I was getting at. Try contacting faculty with interests that align with yours. Tell them you were admitted and are very excited by their work in particular and explain how your experience would contribute to their work.

Are you supposed to reach out to faculty?

I'm going abroad for 2 months. Gotta live life while I can!

What was the offer conditional on? Often a conditional offer is just because you're still in school and they want to see that your grades don't drop suddenly, or it's conditional on funding/faculty support. The offer is conditional until these needs are met.

Thank you for the response! I guess I'm mostly just afraid that there will innately be competition (I'm not a competitive person, and get anxious in those types of situations) or that the PI will choose the other student over me (I know I would take it personally). But I guess there's not much I can do but work hard and be friendly.

I have been told in the past that your GRE score won't improve much unless you do something drastically different in your studying. If you didn't study very much the first time, and this time you commit to studying hard, then you might improve. But otherwise it is unlikely to make much difference. That being said, my GRE scores were 162 Verbal, 159 Quant, 4.5 AW with an undergraduate GPA of 3.4, and I was admitted to some schools on that level. Programs don't rely heavily on GRE scores to make decisions. If your undergrad GPA was lower, then a high GRE would help. Your GPA is pretty high, and your GRE scores are well above average. I don't imagine you have anything to worry about. As far as strengthening your application, I think your numbers look good, and now you should focus on things like publications, presentations, conferences, etc. You didn't mention anything about those, so you may already have all that, but I'd advise putting your effort in there. And make sure you get really strong LORs.

Totally possible that they would never respond. Some schools never send out official rejections to the people they didn't interview. If you want to have all the answers, it wouldn't hurt to call, especially considering it's a few days to the 15th. They might tell you there's still hope, or they might tell you it's unlikely. Either way, it'll make it easier to make your choice.

It's not super common, but I've heard of this happening. I'd say it's pretty unlikely you'd get in at this point though considering we're 5 days from April 15th. Good luck!

I'm set to rotate with someone this summer who I really like (research and personality), but apparently 2 of us will be rotating at the same time with only one open spot in the lab. Anyone have any experience with this or advice?

Won't be too bad if you live close enough to campus. There's a lot in that area as far as stores you may need weekly, so uber a few times a month is probably what you're looking at.

I think the only reasons to enroll in courses would be if you didn't do very well in undergrad, or if you've been out of school for a while and need to prove you can still do academics. Not sure how to having completed prereqs comes into play, but research experience is absolutely more valuable.

If UCLA was your best fit, go there. As someone who's been living in LA for almost 2 years on a PhD-comparable salary, it's doable (roommates, cooking at home, etc), and still possible to have a life and do fun stuff.

Getting into graduate school isn't all about GPA. I'd say that a GPA of 3.5+ would be enough for those schools, but what matters more is research experience, publications, presentations, etc. MIT will offer you great opportunities to research - the lesser known school might too, though (can't say without knowing which one).

My major was almost entirely pre-med, and I never wanted to go to med school. No grad program will penalize a good applicant for what their science major was, whether or not they intended to go to med school. I did have a few interviewers ask me if I was ever pre-med, but it didn't matter.

As a Californian, before applying to grad school, I wouldn't have known UNC was even remotely a notable school, but I've always known Brown.

I just barely decided a few days ago. Got into way more great schools than I anticipated. Some of them were really a disappointment during the interviews, though, so they were easier to decline. Thankfully (?) I have a significant other moving with me whose job is kind of geographically limited so I had to decline some others because of it. Came down to 2 of my 3 post-interview favorites and had a horrible internal back and forth. After communicating with some faculty members again at each, and talking to everyone at my current institution (from lab techs to the director of my department), I made a decision.

Have you reached out since to the PIs you clicked with? Are they both well established, or newer faculty? Would one have more power/resources/connections that could help you get a job later? Have you spoken with current students extensively? Considered how much you liked the current students and the people in your interview class (aka your future classmates)? Are there any professional development opportunities one school offers that the other doesn't (workshops, conferences, etc)? When it comes down to it, you can't go wrong either way.

Would you rather be in LA or Seattle? I don't know about Seattle, but housing is super expensive in LA.

Taking some time to work in your field of interest is ALWAYS a good idea. Programs will be much more impressed with someone who has proven that they know what full time work in a lab for an extended period of time is like. Not too long, of course, but I was a lab tech for a year after graduating before I applied to grad school (meaning it'll have been almost 2 years by the time I'm in grad school), and my most significant scientific experiences have been during that time. Undergrad research experience is experience, of course, but it isn't very representative of full time lab life. My past year and a half or so has been completely different from the part time experience I had in undergrad, and even the full time summer work I did. I recommend being a lab tech for at least a full year, so you have something to show for it, or maybe considering a post-bacc program, such as the IRTA at the NIH (I don't think one is necessarily much more beneficial than the other). And, wherever you go, emphasize to your PI from the start that you are interested in pursuing a PhD and are serious about completing your own projects, getting on publications, and presenting at conferences. Those are the things that will prove to graduate programs that you're ready to take on 5+ years of research. Good luck!

Bottom line for any grad program anywhere, go to the one that is the best fit for you.

Whether or not it's a new program, Brown likely has strong faculty, which comes with the Ivy League brand. If you feel that Brown is a better fit for you than UNC, then go to Brown.

When does Tufts make decisions?

I think you're overthinking it. They've accepted you, they won't be upset by how you address your response. I would either just avoid the problem and plainly say "Hello," or just put in the name of the person who sent you the email directly.

Personally, it wasn't things I asked or did, it was how I felt or things I observed. At one, the current students spent the first night dinner complaining about the commute, the free shuttle, the crowded gym, etc. Didn't get happy vibes from them. At another, I just felt like the current students weren't really my crowd, neither were the people in the recruitment class. I didn't feel like I would fit in. Only question I asked at one place that turned me off was whether or not they had outreach programs. The director of the program literally asked why I cared.....