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Guys I'm a finalist for the Knight-Hennessey Fellowship at Stanford and I'm literally crying right now lol
Any other neuro folks on the list?? It's for all disciplines so curious if anyone else is in this field!

I think it may have been me who said 25-27, I just had it written down wrong on my calendar! It is 24-26 like the website says.

I think they send out invites towards the end of January and I heard through this forum that the dates for interview are Feb 25-27

It’s definitely not entirely true  my gpa is equally low and I also got interviews from several of the top places.
however, I also know for a fact that there were gpa cutoffs at certain programs this year. If you didn’t make that mark then your application wasn’t sent forward for review. 
I only say this for future reference for people because I wish I had focused more on my gpa myself.
there’s definitely still hope for everyone though!

Just got invited to Stanford! It was a phone call so keep your phone nearby if you’re waiting

Not yet. Last year they were sent on a Thursday so maybe tomorrow? Fingers crossed...

As someone who got a job in a lab instead of a post-bac program, I feel like the experience (and how it translates/looks on apps) highly depends on the lab. In my lab, we don't have any grad students and its pretty much just me, the PI, and another investigator whos on our grant; so I pretty much do everything a grad student would do, plus some lab managery/lab tech stuff. I have my own projects that I've presented at conferences. I even get classes at harvard extension school (harvard classes but at night and basically anyone can take them) free or extremely discounted, much like in a post-bac program. My PI knows I'm applying to grad school and makes sure to tell me about talks and events that I should go to. I'm writing 2 publications right now. I have other friends who are employees in labs as well who have been incredibly involved in projects at the same level as me, and others that are truly more of an assistant. The main tiny qualm I have sometimes is that because my PI is technically my boss, you have to consider that they have final say on anything. I had a problem with the paradigm we were using once and when I expressed that, he listened and in the end decided to go with what he preferred despite concerns I expressed, and I had to execute that. Not a super common occurrence, but there is that sense of being an employee sometimes that I don't love. But then again, I have the advantage of saying "I can't stay late tonight" when I want to (with exceptions of course).   
Obviously, doing a program like PREP or NIH post-bac looks really good because you have to be admitted and PIs have a clear idea of how involved you were rather than having to be told by you. Definitely worth applying to. But also look at jobs. They usually pay better, and in the right lab, you can get basically the same experience; and as long as you can explain that to PIs and have things like LORs and poster presentations to back up, its basically as impressive as doing a program. But finding that kind of lab might be a little harder than just applying to a program, so you really need to try both.
And if it counts for anything, most PIs have referred to being an RA/tech/coordinator for a couple years between as post-bac research. Thats what I've been told to call what I'm doing by people in my field. Obviously not the same as a program, but I think that speaks to how similarly regarded they are by professors. 

I don’t have much experience to answer your second question but it’s common to send thank you emails following interviews and not weird! I think they would appreciate it and would leave a good impression. Hope the interview went welll!

Between the neuroscience labs I've worked in, I only know one graduate student who went to grad school directly from undergrad and he's in his 6th year now so that was a very long time ago... from my understanding it's actually recommended to take one or two years in between to get experience and really grow as a scientist. I only took one gap year but that's because I went to a school that offered 6 month full-time internships alternating with class semesters. Even with this experience, I was still encouraged to take two gap years (I didn't listen) but honestly it probably would still have put me in a better position. So I think there is no shame in taking gap years, as long as you're working to strengthen your application and figuring out if it's something you actually want to commit the next 5-6 years of your life to. From what I've heard, schools are looking for students who are pretty much already functioning at the level of graduate students and that have the potential to jump right in to the science.  From personal experience, after my experiences in undergrad I thought I wanted to study solely cell & molecular biology but now I work in a systems neuro lab and my interests have completely shifted. Overall, don't lose hope and don't be discouraged if you need to take a gap year- if that ends up being the case you will be happy you did and you may have better insight into what you actually want to do... Im not trying to preach but just some perspective   Hope thats helpful! 

My mentors have been wonderful to me and I'm sure your would be too. After going through a rough patch after not getting any interviews last round, one mentor contacted the admissions office on my behalf and gave me some really important notes and tips for this round. My current PI gave me a hug and reminded me that she had worked as a seamstress for ten years between her master's degree and PhD. An undergrad mentor told me that she also took three rounds to get into a PhD program (she's currently TT-faculty) and that she knew I was a good scientist and would make it there. 
Your mentors are your mentors because they believe in you, and they know that people who go straight from one place to another, no bends in the road, are extremely rare. Don't call it a hump or a setback--it's just part of your research career narrative and after retelling it a few times it will make sense.

Between the neuroscience labs I've worked in, I only know one graduate student who went to grad school directly from undergrad and he's in his 6th year now so that was a very long time ago... from my understanding it's actually recommended to take one or two years in between to get experience and really grow as a scientist. I only took one gap year but that's because I went to a school that offered 6 month full-time internships alternating with class semesters. Even with this experience, I was still encouraged to take two gap years (I didn't listen) but honestly it probably would still have put me in a better position. So I think there is no shame in taking gap years, as long as you're working to strengthen your application and figuring out if it's something you actually want to commit the next 5-6 years of your life to. From what I've heard, schools are looking for students who are pretty much already functioning at the level of graduate students and that have the potential to jump right in to the science.  From personal experience, after my experiences in undergrad I thought I wanted to study solely cell & molecular biology but now I work in a systems neuro lab and my interests have completely shifted. Overall, don't lose hope and don't be discouraged if you need to take a gap year- if that ends up being the case you will be happy you did and you may have better insight into what you actually want to do... Im not trying to preach but just some perspective   Hope thats helpful! 

Between the neuroscience labs I've worked in, I only know one graduate student who went to grad school directly from undergrad and he's in his 6th year now so that was a very long time ago... from my understanding it's actually recommended to take one or two years in between to get experience and really grow as a scientist. I only took one gap year but that's because I went to a school that offered 6 month full-time internships alternating with class semesters. Even with this experience, I was still encouraged to take two gap years (I didn't listen) but honestly it probably would still have put me in a better position. So I think there is no shame in taking gap years, as long as you're working to strengthen your application and figuring out if it's something you actually want to commit the next 5-6 years of your life to. From what I've heard, schools are looking for students who are pretty much already functioning at the level of graduate students and that have the potential to jump right in to the science.  From personal experience, after my experiences in undergrad I thought I wanted to study solely cell & molecular biology but now I work in a systems neuro lab and my interests have completely shifted. Overall, don't lose hope and don't be discouraged if you need to take a gap year- if that ends up being the case you will be happy you did and you may have better insight into what you actually want to do... Im not trying to preach but just some perspective   Hope thats helpful! 

Getting a really high GRE will automatically pull up your grades, I wish I had spent more time on that now

They will likely already have your CV in front of them. I printed out a bunch and over 7 schools and who knows how many interviews never had to pull one out.
As far as previous research: if there's something about your research that's really not easy to talk about without visuals, feel free to bring a visual aid, but it really isn't otherwise necessary. You're having a conversation, not giving a presentation. If you can just discuss, that works.
You don't really have to have read about any of their work or have preset questions about their work. They'll tell you about it there and you can ask whatever you want to about it. If you happen to be super interested and just have a question that you didn't plan, great, ask it. It shouldn't seem inorganic. I read a ton of papers before my first recruitment weekend, couldn't keep em all straight in my head, and they never came up because they all just started telling me about their work without asking if I already knew about it. Didn't prep for the rest of the recruitment weekends.
I have to emphasize that it's supposed to be a conversation with someone who could one day be your mentor. They know you're academically qualified. They want to see your enthusiasm and personal skills. They want to get to know *you*, so be yourself.

Thanks for the help on the missed call everyone! They called back and indeed offered an interview.? high key shocked as I've never taken a formal neuro course and am still in undergrad, studying applied math (thesis work in comp neuro)

No problem! I heard from someone else on here that the dates are feb 25-27 

BU should be sending out in late Jan, I currently work here and heard through the grapevine 

BU should be sending out in late Jan, I currently work here and heard through the grapevine 

Just a heads up MIT started sending out their official invites! 

Just a heads up MIT started sending out their official invites! 

I wish all the programs would have let us know before the break so we could take our minds of it and enjoy the break. It’s crazy

Okay thanks everyone! Congrats on your interviews!
Ugh I cannot wait until this whole process is done
 

Thanks for the info!! My specific faculty of interest are pretty much all in BMS rather than bio, and their labs are mostly BMS students. Guess this varies a bit by subfield.
I'm also factoring in my goal of working in pharma, so BMS also fits better with that than neuro. But again, I'm still open to changing my mind. It may depend on whether I get any other interview offers before the RSVP deadline.

i hate that im about to entertain your trolling rn, but I'm out of reacts for today so i cant dislike your posts. I didn't apply to OHSU, but seriously for the sake of those who did stop being so annoying or fuck off. Theres DMs for a reason

I called UCLA today and they said that they are not done with sending invites for interviews and the admissions committee is still reviewing applications.
But UC Davis is done sending them