AnonNeuroGrad

Not sure but I got a phone call to interview from a PI and an acceptance from around the 17th of Jan. I might be an early admit because of some scholarship I was internally nominated for. It's a small program so I have no idea if a wider-email will go out. Interview is March 1st (one day only)

I just got an interview for Boston boiiisssss!! Interview weekend February the 25th to the 26th with an arrival on the 24th. This better not be a fuck-up like last year goddamn

I'd recommend knowing what you know and what you don't know; know well anything you've referenced on a CV or SoP because this is what the PIs will possibly grill you on. I think have thought a lot about why a PhD and why that particular institution. Also, why you are switching fields. If the school wasn't your top choice or you haven't done your homework on them, they'll be able to tell --- some will be nice about it but I have heard some be put-off by it. One girl I know was at Utah interviewing and didn't really know a ton about the program so one PI (who shall be unnamed) found out she was also interviewing at MIT and grilled the fuck out of her in public and said, "well if you think you're so good that you can go to MIT, then why are you even here wasting our time??" Unprofessional to say the least. I have a strong background in math as well (undergrad B.S. and M.S. in applied math) so I can help prep you on computational neuroscience if you want especially if you tell me what types of research you are interested in. Especially if you can tell me what institution and PIs you are interviewing with.

It was for CMU Biological Sciences and I also requested to do 2-3 more on the side so typically one wouldn't interview this many. Carnegie Mellon also allows one to interview and rotate under Pitt professors is why I added more.

You'll do great You seem like a person who is well-prepared and you're interviewing at some good schools --- you're there for a reason!

Thanks you too! Try to rehearse what your spiel is with a mentor or trusted friend. It can be super stressful to be in a room with faculty and I won't lie and say it's easy: some faculty are assholes and, if they smell unsureness/weakness, they go for the throat. One of my friends said that a person in her program made 4/8 of the people they interviewed cry but that's probably an extreme case and a sign you want to stay far away from the prof/program. There's always sometimes sadistic toxic old-school professors who want to try to treat the interview like the oral examination for quals and want to test you under extreme duress

I just got back from my interviews at Carnegie Mellon and I interviewed with 10 faculty for 30 minutes each. IMO it really depends on the faculty member as to how intense or chill the interview will be. I also think that they are less trying to assess your ability (although I had one friend asked to solve some differential equations on the board) than to assess that fit and your level of scientific maturity. They all asked me to explain my research and long-term goals and would probe me deeper about them until they were satisfied. I will warn that if you at all say something about a subfield that they understand well, I had several professors attempt to drag me into deep water but I have 7 years of experience in neuroscience so I was able to keep up. If you say something incorrect, some professors will try to corner you with the phrase "define what you mean by that" so be very careful with what you say. Several other interviewees were pretty shook by a few interviews they had because they're not used to the types of professors that will put it to you straight. There was also a professor here that hates hates brown-nosers and would tear apart anyone who he suspected of trying to do that. Try to talk to the grad students ahead of time to figure out which are the tough professors but I think that made it even more difficult because it makes you more anxious/on edge. A lot didn't care that my research interests were entirely different from their's at all and also I think appreciated that I didn't pretend to be interested in their work when I was not. I think professors are great at sensing if you're not being forthright or are being hand-wavy. They also didn't expect that I be familiar with their work although I've heard some professors will be offended if you hadn't read some of their best work (say their nature or nature neuro paper). One professor asked each why they did/didn't list him as their first choice for interview and I think that made them squirm.

I’d fly out but be as open as possible to all these other options. Think of them as networking opportunities since these may be your future colleagues for the rest of your life; no one will bear ill-will towards you if they feel you were earnestly trying to consider them even if you turn them down. If you don’t visit at all, they’ll remember that and professors can be incredibly petty; maybe they’re the ones reviewing your next manuscript. I have pretty much an acceptance from my top choice and two more interviews from my bottom choices (out of 13) but I’m still attending both of them and going to hear them out

I know people that are in Harvard’s PiN and, fairly assuredly, they send out invitations all on one day and their incoming cohort is a subset of those individuals. When they say you’re still under review, I think that’s just them being polite. A lot of programs don’t send out rejections until acceptances are mailed out.

Haven’t seen anything from UCLA. Don’t know about UTSW or Drexel. Harvard was done mid-December. Boston should be emailing interviews next week (someone internal told me)

Welcome to the club bud. How are you counting those pubs? Are they actually accepted into international peer-reviewed journals? Are they research and not reviews? I've got 5 publications, 4 years full-time exp. 3 years of undergrad exp., 3.7 in my MS, 3.1 undergrad, strong letters, GRE V/Q/W at 98%/83%/99%, and I'm currently batting 3 for 11 (pending 2 apps still in review). I only got asked to interview for schools not in the top 100 . One of them is actually my top choice though it's just in a different department although you won't find it in the top-20 because it has a weird inter-institutional structure. If I don't end up getting in/liking the schools, I'm taking two years off to work with a big-name and birthing these two first-author projects I'm on. Those two things are the only things that can save you/I. It's a fairly unfair notion (given I was working a job to pay off loans) but I've been told that, having taken time off, I should have maintained or exceeded the same upward trajectory as if I had been admitted to a top school which means high-authored pubs, posters at conferences like COSYNE, etc. Pretty sure it's the undergrad GPA which is a shame. I had/have a medical condition that didn't get addressed until later after which my grades jumped to straight-A's.

A friend of mine in the program said the admissions director is still sending out emails. I am not very optimistic tbh but at least wait till the end of the day EST. Let's pray for each other

I think most of mines said "submitted". I don't think "in review" signals anything though.

Sorry to hear that read my most recent comment about me getting rejected from UW which I hope will cheer you up. I had two friends who was rejected from UW despite being pretty big in the department; one ended up at Oxford and the other is at MIT. UW seems to pay close attention to fit more than most (because they’re one of the most popular and well-funded programs) so it probably wasn’t anything personal. I was big on dimensionality reduction using high-throughout imaging modalities which made me a match for only the Allen Institute and one PI who’s pretty much an Allen’s institute employee (and one other faculty but he’s not there yet).

I told myself I wouldn’t return here until after this week was over but not knowing if I was rejected was worse than getting rejected ... anyways, sorry guys I’m the awful person that started the rumor that Harvard would send results today but thanks to the other person who clearest things up (apparently it’s tomorrow). I also chatted with a few friends who previously were at UW neuro and served on admissions committees and they both said that UW sends all their interviews all at once (and it looks like it was this past weekend). If it makes anyone feel better, I got rejected and am a current graduate student there (MS in Applied Math), spoke to three faculty including one who would “put in a good word for me”, and have two of my letter writers as faculty there. Congrats to everyone that got an interview! If this is you, I’ve got some good info about their program! All positive things of course (it was one of my top choices after all).

Lol god damnit I saw either you or someone else post they got an interview from BU and I thought it meant Boston University so I was freaking out for the past hour. This is what I deserve for returning to this god-forsaken place on the weekend

You shouldn’t be discouraged if you haven’t heard from your home institution: a ton of my friends got denied admission where they were working because they wanted their students to explore the field but it’s nothing personal! They want their students to not fall back into just being a research tech

Sorry I possibly spoke too soon! They sent out at least one round which you already know.

Hey just messaged you some info on the UW program! Anyone else seeing this can PM me for info too

Possibly. I'm not super disappointed because they do a lot more behavioral in ephys/macaque and I do systems in optical/mouse but I have a good friend in a lab there so I'll try to ply him for more information

Someone on the results page said they got an interview (Search for "Brain")

Oops sorry everyone. I don't know for sure that they are done sending out interview requests but I just moved them because I know they sent out interviews (at least the first/second rounds). They are crossed off in my mind

Got an interview request from UO Biology (Neuroscience) about 30 min ago! They said their interviews are Feb. 21st to 22nd!

My friend in the department said March 7 to 9

No sorry that’s not at all what I meant. What I meant was that their interview visit days coincided last year so my friend, who was asked to interview for both, had to turn down CMUs interview.