ndd23123

Nope. I know someone who accepted the offer immediately when they got the call from the program director.

It's very rare. Sometimes if you're early in your career (year 1 or 2) and your PI moves then you can transfer to the new institution. If you're later in your grad school years then you move to the new institution but remain enrolled at your old one.

Nothing significant. Mostly it's the chair or other members of the admission committee calling. They probably just divided the work.

The PIBS stats seem right though. The ones for individual departments are a bit off if you assume that they only include PhD programs.

Some of those acceptances within a department are for their MS program.

Apparently I can't do math. I believe approximately half of those received an offer. They usually make ~150-170 offers for a class of 80-90. They will probably tell you these things at the interview.

Last year UMich received a little over 1300 applications and made 440 interview offers. This is on their website. I'd be very surprised if they're cutting the number of interviews by more 75% this year, especially when they don't have to fly people into Ann Arbor anymore.

Vanderbilt used to have a separate interview date for international applicants so you should confirm if they are done inviting people for this track. They interviewed all international applicants on the same date while domestic applicants had more options.

I would say no more than 2-3 minute summary. Then you can discuss it further with the interviewer. It's supposed to be a conversation, not a presentation.

Congrats.

Depends on the school. Some interview international students separately so your application is reviewed in the same pool with other international applicants and the the entire process is mostly separated from domestic admission. Some don't care at all and treat all applicants the same way. In these cases you'll probably hear back from them at the same time as domestic applicants. However, if you're not physically in the US then they may need to make special arrangements to accommodate time zone differences and that might take time. Some has rolling admission and interview applicants in waves. Some only have one or two interview dates so everyone is notified at once regarding interview invitations and admission decision. Some has several interview dates for domestic applicants but one interview date for all international applicants. It's impossible to read into these things and make generalized prediction.

Most applicants aren't even aware of this website. I certainly wasn't when I applied (and I'm glad that I wasn't). What you're seeing is a very small sample of the population.

Not sure if this widely applicable for biomedical sciences programs, especially umbrella programs. Sure, compatibility is a factor, but it's more about compatible with the whole program/department rather than individual PI. While admission to a specific lab does happen, most students are admitted to a program/department. They typically rotate through labs and don't pick an advisor until the end of their first year. So it's hard to imagine that an outstanding applicant would get rejected just because a professor can't take students, unless they somehow make an impression that they're only interested in this program because of this one single faculty.

If you're already in the US with an F-1 status then you don't have to leave (even if you're doing OPT). Just transfer your SEVIS to the new school, get a new I-20 from them and you're good to go. However, do note that transfering your SEVIS would end your OPT authorization, even if your EAD expiration date is still in the future.

You might be right. However, if I were a visa officer, I would heavily question why you have been out of the US for so long and why you need to come back now given that you have been able to perform you volunteering duties outside of the US in the past 8 months. I would prepare a convincing answer for that. You should probably have a letter for from your advisor stating that you are authorized to leave the US for the period mentioned above and that you will have a job (even volunteer) to return you. When I renewed my F-1 visa while on OPT, I sent in my I-20, a copy of my EAD card, a letter from my employer, and the last 3 paystubs. I was able to renew without having to come in for an interview. Also, I would check with your school international student service regarding your status on SEVIS. At the end of the day, it is what on SEVIS that matters, not what on papers. Additionally, I would also make sure that your travel signature is less than 6 months old. "* Regulations state that during post-completion OPT, the travel signature should be no older than six months. The International Center recommends while on post-completion OPT that you get a valid travel signature every six months. Source: 8CFR214.2(f)(13)(ii)"

I don't think you can renew your F-1 visa with this OPT because: 1. You're only allowed a maximum of 90 days of unemployment, after that your OPT authorization ends. Given that you have been out of the US for 7-8 months, I think your OPT is no longer valid (source: https://internationalcenter.umich.edu/students/f1-students/on-opt, "OPT Employment Requirements and Reporting" section). 2. If you leave the US while you are on OPT and do not have a job offer to return to, your OPT also ends (source: https://internationalcenter.umich.edu/students/f1-students/travel-post-opt, last paragraph on the page). Also, if your degree has been conferred, you can't say you have to come back and finish your research.

Good luck! I would stay. Most school also have social activities during the interview weekend so you can get to know them, the faculty and current students, and the city/town where the school is in. The interview is for you to find out if this specific school is a good fit as well.

So you're applying as a direct admit to MCDB? That committee might operate on a totally completely timeline. PIBS does accept international applications but certain programs don't. As long as you select one of the programs that do then you can still submit your application through PIBS. It's a little confusing, but every student has to select two programs of their top choice when they submit your application to PIBS. PIBS then forward applications to individual programs, who review them and make decisions. Then PIBS coordinates the interview and admission process. Some programs have their own application process in parallel to PIBS though so their timeline might be different. I wouldn't lose hope on Vanderbilt though.

If an interviewer is mean, unprofessional, or demeaning, you can report them to the director of the program you're interviewing for. Most programs have mechanisms to remedy these situations.

I'm an international students and applied 4 years ago. I got an interview at both UMich and Vanderbilt. For PIBS at UMich, there are only 2 interview weekends in the end of January, all applicants come in on one of the two weekends. I believe international applicants are treated the same way as domestic ones. If it is possible for you to visit, i.e. you are currently in the US, and the admission committee decide to offer you an interview then you should have heard back already. Most programs do offer online interview if you're not in the US but I'm not sure when you would hear back regarding this. However, I believe all admission committees have met before the holidays so a decision should have already been made. For Vanderbilt, there is an international scholar program that interviews all international applicants on one weekend (it was in mid February for me). Back then, the application deadline was Jan 15 so I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard back from them yet. Things could have changed since though.