trollsloot

Awarded VG/G VG/VG E/E. Super detailed comments, although some of the comments were directly copied from my statement haha.

Email at 11:22 PM EST from the "'division director" on March 30, 2020.

Does this work if you didn't apply to the school? I got discouraged by my program and advisers to not apply to schools...like Stanford and MIT. I can't believe I won the NSF, this year was really discouraging... Thanks, who would you suggest emailing? Program director? Yeah, I definitely need to take advantage of it. Finding it hard to believe I won after all the crap I went through this year...and getting constant rejections from schools.

I got the fellowship but was REJECTED from every school I applied to except one. Any advice on what to do?

This is a very important point for PREP. Unless you have a really cool PI, they will not be able to write a strong letter of recommendation. This is one of the biggest limitations of PREP imo. 3 months to impress a PI. Try to pick a good mentor (there are a lot of indicators) and get started in a lab asap. But don't rush, really make sure you pick a PI that's a good fit...

Current PREP student, not going to disclose the university I'm at. I ended up having a really bad experience and actually had less interviews than before particapting in PREP. Yep. You can message me if you'd like to know more. I'm sure other PREPs don't have this problem. Lots of PREP students here end up staying at this institution probably because they couldn't get into other places...

Sorry, but if you didn't get an interview invitation you're probably going to get rejected. Interviews are next week at NU. (Insider information from a friend who participates in the recruitment events).

From asking graduate students my own experience (been looking and asking), not easy at all especially in Ann Arbor. You'll have to pretty much have to keep checking for openings and 99% of decent places have near 100% occupancy. There have been quite a few openings in Ypsilanti though.

USC has graduate housing, look into that. As for decent areas around USC look at Echo Park, West Adams, Silverlake, maybe Koreatown and Culver City. It also really depends on how much you can afford to pay a month/how long of a commute you can handle.

One main factor to consider: will you have a car? LA is massive, are you looking at places near USC? If you live in say Venice, it will be a pretty long commute to USC, no matter what form of transportation you use. Where do you need to be close to?

They've already interviewed their candidates last week and are planning to send offers soon. UCSC is still in the review process. Hope this helps.

Does anyone have any tips for interviews? Should I review what I put in the essays or is it more expanding on it? What are they looking for when they ask the question "Is there anything you'd like the admissions committee to know?"

Yes. I had the opportunity to ask how offers are sent out with the chair and admissions coordinator of a department at school known to be slow on decisions. As I've been told, the April 15th deadline is only for their strongest applicants. They implied that there is a filter in place because they reviewed 2500+ applications in a month and sent out initial waves already. Everyone else is on some waitlist. There are two waitlists, one for the department and faculty. The chair told me that a faculty member might have 2 spots open but 10 students they're interested in. Since students decline offers they start going down that list in order (usually after the deadline). As a result, applicants could receive offers by the end of May or even June.

OP is bitter and downvoted all my posts. The fact that you took the time out to do that reflects on your own character. Congratulations, enjoying the reprisal? Let me quote things that reek of entitlement: Yeah sure, is that why you went and downvoted all my posts? Graduate school and beyond is not without failures. It's best to not think too much about the feedback/decision you received and work towards improving yourself (application) for next time. Your bitterness won't help you.

Don't stay in Los Angeles if you can (since you're just visiting Irvine). The traffic on the highway is insane. It'll take 1.5 hours to get to Irvine if you fly into LAX driving on the 405. Fly into John Wayne Airport (SNA) which is pretty much next to UCI. If you really want to stay in between. try Long Beach. Shouldn't UCI find accommodations for you? If not, find an AirBnb (hotels in California are expensive).