Walfred

Do not give any hope, it is rejection....

There is definitely a possibility and potential to make one. However, why would pharmaceutical companies spend billions on something without no apparently return profit.

I think maybe you should not post here though...here is for biological science...

It would be way more better...they generally only accept domestic students because of NIH funding.... I heard domestic is more than 70% post-interview acceptance. So, yes, you are still likely to be rejected after interview...although not very high...

If you are international...you need to be serious with it...they at most accept one international or not at all (most of time none) . I did not get their BMI interview, but two of my friends (both internationals too) got it last year and last last year. Both post-interview rejections though....

For emory and Upenn, although I am applying for comp biol, I think they have already interviewed most bio programs. Hope they'll have make-up interviews, but very very unlikely...good luck for your UChicago and Scripps though.... Also, they are all very competitive programs...although I believe you are definitely competitive too and at least have some self-confidence....it is highly not recommended for internationals just applying for those very competitive programs because each of them only accepts very few internationals (mostly 1-2)....you probably need some safe schools like CU Denver, UCSC, UThealth-MDAnderson those very good but less well-known programs. Emory might be a good safe if you are good enough, but one safe will not actually make you really safe since you never know where those top internationals are applying for and if programs already have applicants with strong connections they have to say yes.

it is that top programs at a top university may have more resources and funding. There are more opportunities available after you get PhD degree from a top university.

I feel like internationals should not expect any school is guaranteed or safe if you do not have a strong connection. Most programs probably pick only 1-2 internationals to give offers, which are very likely their own students, so couple applicants who are extremely competitive or have connections will screw you out.

It is very hard for international applicants to be accepted by top rank institutions in Biomedical fields without publication or exceptional shining recommendation. Stanford bioscience receives around 1000 international applicants all programs add up each year, about 10% has decent grades, recommendations, and publications vs Less than 10 will be granted an offer.

Normal interviews are before Mid-Jan. But if they have make-up interview or later section, you can still get after that. But yes, most of them should come before feb because programs try to give you one month to prepare for and try to give results out before March.

Maybe you should take more classes and show your improvement. I do not understand, why you are able to publish so many journals but cannot even handle the easiest and most basic thing in school. Just have last two year’s grades > 85, then you will be fine. Also, I feel like compared with having four publications on Scientific Report, even one publication on median journal like Nature communication as a top author would be more useful. Some people especially some scholars with good reputation might think this is not a good sign. About 1/3 of my projects were not published to make sure they would not deprave my publication list (or my PIs...), but if you just want to go to any graduate school, I feel it is fine just make sure they are decent.

Although in different fields might be slightly different, but based on what I heard, Scientific Report is generally not considered as one of the top journals or even a prestigious one. However, I believe having four publications in any decent journal is indubitable excellent. Maybe you should start to contact your POI to see if they have any interest in you, and I believe many of them might do.

I just got an interview invitation from Emory...but it's not normal one, but a zoom interview for only 15 min.... Is this a good sign or a bad sign ? is this the final interview or a pre-check interview ??

I think you should put off picking school at this moment and first seriously think about how to get a PhD program first. Let me guess you are international and from a non-English speaking country? (more than half of schools on accept several international students per year, the competition is very brutal because there might be thousands of international applicants and likely more than half of them are not worse than you, and be honest, even on domestic loose standard, you are not very competitive) TOEFL speaking score is very important especially for those low rank schools because they need you do TA more than RA, so you might be screen off in the first round. GRE and GPA are fine, but still not very competitive, can not be a reason to accept you when there are tons of cheaper domestic students and international with higher GPA, GRE and schools. You should definitely do a master first, and even though you need to low down your expectation quit a lot to make sure be accepted. Apply rank ~100 master program and some backups.

international bioinformatics student here, but I am applying phd if you have 3.5-3.6 from top universities, should be fine. And you need a computational background for bioinfor. Maybe get a full score for you gre quant ? Otherwise recommend apply wet lab.