BabyScientist

From my understanding it's realllly small. They accept like 1-3 students a year.

I know people who attended a tiny PhD program at a hospital in LA and got great post docs. Small programs can still have great faculty. What matters is how productive you are and how much you accomplish, not where you want. Congrats on getting in!

Oh whoops, misread the post

Don't bother with courses - a relevant degree is all you need. As far as boosting your profile, the only obvious thing would be to work as an RA/tech/postbacc full time after you graduate. Your profile could be fine as is depending on what mediumtwotopping mentioned.

I don't think anyone's going to consider anything a red flag in this crazy time. If anything, you might just have to explain it if they ask.

I'd put it on there. Definitely won't hurt. Like dippedincoffee said, some people won't care, but some might like it. People have can have very different paths that lead them to a PhD, yours just included medically-relevant volunteer work. If you can tie those experiences in to why you want a PhD, even better. If not, no harm. We're allowed to explore careers before choosing one.

Starting with anecdotes: A friend who was an undergrad at UW told me everyone she knew in their neurobiology PhD program was unhappy. I know people in the Hopkins program who say it's very old fashioned in its structure and intense, feels like they're weeding people out, but they're not necessarily unhappy. Probably dependent on personality type. When it comes down to it, join a program with at least a couple people you're very excited about working with. The lab you join matters so much more than almost anything else. Make sure those faculty are actually taking students, and maybe even contact them/their students to discuss the decision.

Unless you want to apply to any schools that require the GRE, don't bother. Your application is fine without it

Your GPA is fine coupled with more experience. I'd advise taking a year or 2 for a lab tech/RA/research postbacc position - you make money and don't have to pay for a masters. You could give it a shot now if you want - your GPA isnt that bad. Do you have any publications? Awards? Presentations? These things help too

I'd prioritize faculty. If you liked all the schools and can't decide, prioritize faculty interests, narrowing it down to the 3: NYU, Mt Sinai, UVA. Then consider the faculty. Are there specific ones you're excited about? Have you met/spoken to them? Do you know for sure they're open to taking students next year? Do their trainees have good relationships with them? Reach out to them to ask these questions. Doing that helped me decide between the 2 schools I was torn between.

The trick is to have an appropriate range of schools. I applied to 10 and it ended up being too many. Unless you have the money to spend, don't bother. Just make sure every school you apply to has at least 3 faculty you'd be excited to work with.

I'm still waiting for Harvard to reject me. I'm a second year PhD student.

Brown

There's still a chance, but now is the time to consider backup plans. Take a look at your application and decide what needs improvement. A masters isn't necessarily the next step. Assuming you're applying from undergrad, maybe what you need is a full time lab position

Those numbers are used for screening before offering interviews, not after.

You're over thinking it. You don't have to ask questions about their research. If questions didn't just come to me, I tried to relate their work to mine, or to things I'd heard of. If pipe in with like "oh I read something about that technique" or "oh my lab was exploring that". More important than asking questions about their research is asking questions about the program and the logistics of their lab. If you actually want to work with them, absolutely ask if they're taking students. Other good questions to ask: How big is your lab? Where is your funding from? Do you think the coursework in this program is valuable. Do students in your lab go to conferences? What do your students go on to do after graduating?

Depends on the school. Some schools call it interviews, some call it recruitment, some call it open house. Realistically, once they've chosen to give you an interview, they're just making sure you're not crazy/are actually passionate about grad school and trying to convince you to come. It's really more about trying to convince you to come for a lot of schools, so why call it interviews?

You want an interview before your interview? Put them on your list of people you want to interview with - better to meet them in person. When I was interviewing the only people I put on the top of my list that I didn't get to meet with were people who were out of town. If that happens, you contact them to chat over Skype or the phone AFTER the interview weekend. Contacting them in advance won't necessarily make them like you more or help your admission chances.

There isn't really any point. Request them for interviews when they're making your schedule, and you'll be able to talk to them in person. The interview is more of a meeting than an interview. It's a chance for you to get to know them and ask all your questions as much as it's a chance for them to see your personality.

A small notebook might be a good idea. I found it helpful to jot down a few notes with my thoughts after each interview so that by the time April rolled around and I had to decide on a program, I could refresh my memory on what I thought of interviews in January.

You can get interviews at both

The 2 most common tracks are industry or academia. Industry being pharmaceutical and biotech companies. In those you could do well with just a bachelors, but a masters and a PhD would increase pay, and a PhD would increase autonomy (depending on the position/company). Depending on the field and what you want, academia could mean professor/principal investigator, or research scientist. Other than those there are "non traditional" options like science writing, science policy, consulting, etc. If you're in undergrad currently, I recommend looking for internships that would give you a taste for science application so you can decide what you want. If you want to do something that requires more specialized knowledge that your bio degree didn't get you, consider a masters. If you love research and see yourself doing it fora long time, consider a PhD.

Most interviews go like this: They ask you about your research experience. You start telling them about it, they occasionally stop you to ask questions. They tell you about their research (this is why reading papers in advance is unnecessary). Ideally, you try to ask questions or relate their work to yours or things you've heard of. They ask you if you have any questions about the program. You ask questions about how their lab works (how big it is, if they send people to conferences, if they have space for you, where their funding comes from, what their students go on to do, etc). This shows them you know what goes into a PhD. You shouldn't be focused on one particular line of research. You should be open to studying many things within the general field. If that's the only professor studying it at that school but he isn't taking students, they won't accept you. Or if multiple do but aren't taking students, same thing. You should show that you're excited to talk about your own work, you are able to think about other people's work (by asking questions about their research), you know what goes into a PhD, and you know why you want a PhD. If you're not sure about the why, they'll likely be able to tell, and they won't want to accept anyone who might end up quitting their PhD.

Unhelpful to ask for an informal chat before interviews. I found it completely unnecessary to read papers for my interviews in advance. I started off doing them, but the papers never came up. You should have an idea of what they do, but focus on knowing how to talk about your own research. Also know why you want a PhD and why that program is a good fit for you. They are unlikely to test your knowledge of their science, and more likely to test your knowledge of your own science. You also won't be expected to come in ready to do their research. You're expected to show interest and intellectual ability, they'd teach you whatever technical skills necessary to perform research in their lab. It's school, after all. I don't think any of my interviewers asked me about my strengths and weaknesses... Your goal in the interview is to show them you're passionate and dedicated and KNOW you want to be there.

Didn't happen to me in all 7 of my interviews. Never heard of an interviewer trying to discourage anyone... They are trying to attract you as much as you're trying to attract them.