Psygeek

PM would do

feel free to send it through PM

send it by PM

Not every cohort has these social vibes. I have some awesome RAs that I have coffee/lunch with, some people in different years, including post docs, in other labs (not in my cohort). I don't think you have to limit yourself to your cohort - or even your department for that matter.

You may want to bring this up to somebody else (either confidentially, such as an ombudsperson; or someone like the dean of grad students, your own advisor, etc.) - not necessarily his advisor. Nobody has the right to yell and intimidate you like that, regardless of the situation.

I don't think Ivy's really have that different standards from other R1 universities tbh. In general you want to have a minimum score of 310 to be considered; ideally with both scores at least above the 80th percentile. However, I got into an R1 with a 88th and 72nd percentile score for V & Q respectively. I think your AW wouldn't be the problem much. It really depends on the rest of your qualifications though. You're above 310 (usually the lower bound is 300 though, but above 310 is better), so in general you should make the first cut. Keep in mind that most admission committees no longer rely on GRE scores as any reasonable indicator of potential (research experience is way more important), but it's often used by the school itself as a cutoff score for funding (that's what I've heard from a couple of institutes now). If your profile is strong otherwise you probably don't have to worry.

quite many in europe

be careful about following other students advice - they're not always right.

Contact your international office. Some embassies have emergency appointments - contact your embassy for the specific rules and requirements to be able to make such an appointment. You are allowed to apply in a third country if you can prove strong ties to that country (e.g., your spouse is from there + you have things like a bank account, phonenr, etc. there - always worked for me (note, I also lived in that third country prior to the US)) or you have some other reason why you are there (e.g., studying, working, some other reason other than convenience/travel). You are generally not allowed to apply at another embassy for the sake of convenience.

I think this can also be pretty field specific. There are for example quite some well-known physics schools in Europe; and some of the programs you mentioned are not well-known in all fields (or are necessary famous even within their respective countries; Tilburg would be considered far less prestigious than University of Amsterdam or Leiden respectively). I do notice that my American degree (I'm from Europe) allows me to develop certain (valuable) skills that are less of an emphasis in a European PhD. I also have access to certain resources that I would not have to the same extent in Europe (RA's; $$). This may also be field specific. So you do see that there are quite some Europeans who tend to get a European degree and then go back home, which certainly does not harm job opportunities for them (or in Europe in general, with regard to work permits and the like).

My experience with social psych is that they do not necessarily care the most about GPA/GRE (GRE is usually be above the cutoff), bu rather about research experience. It really depends on the school (and the size of their applicant pool) and individual PIs the extent to which they value GPA. This really varies tbh.

take your year off as long as it s relevant. It may help your chances too. PhD is a long ride, so you want to end up somewhere that you really like.

Being an RA is quite broad and RA duties vary. You want to think of RA experience as relevant experience in some sort of training. Not all RA experiences are equal; simple coding vs. being highly involved in a study are very different experiences. In a similar vein, what counts as 'relevant' experience also varies. Obviously the closer the topic is to what you'd like to pursue, the more things you learn that are potentially relevant for your PhD career.

I had people in my cohort who came straight out of undergrad (I was at an R1), but I do not know that much about their backgrouds

Ah yeah, having a Master's helps. You'd be surprised how many people from the US without a Master's apply each time to my university back in Europe. Not a chance. I guess you could just apply then and motivate based on point 2 & 3 + your interest in the project fields (note however that a lot of people from my social psych cohort ended up in different departments though, so I don't know if that's really 'enough' reason, since it's pretty common) Do note that often US PhDs are regarded as better/prefered over European PhDs.