ThisUserNameIsAlreadyTaken

Not sure if this is consolation but you had a solid shot and got an interview at a top program as an international student in the toughest application cycle since the Great Recession. I've seen that UCSD in particular (because they are a state school) will only take 0-2 international students per cohort. You're probably one of less than 1% of international students that were taken to interview! Every candidate is great so I don't think these professors were lying to you but maybe you weren't as good a fit as another student and that's fine; it's not a referendum on your abilities. Take this as an opportunity to learn to work through a rejection because neuroscience is all about rejections whether that's getting into grad school, getting a paper accepted, getting the NRSA, getting a postdoc, getting a K99/R00, getting a faculty position, getting a foundation grant, getting an R01, getting tenure etc etc. 
I've helped some of my international friends and they have to be twice as good as U.S. citizens and that's not fair to them; I wish it were different (I am a U.S. citizen). However, I will say that by having to work twice as hard, international students end up being twice as good. They end up being the stars of their cohort and star neuroscientists generally speaking. Why do you think international students are only around 10% of PhD students in neuro but end up being maybe 20% of faculty? You might fret not being at a place like UCSD but it's not the school that matters, it's how productive you are and the quality of your research. No matter where you land, if you do good work, you'll be able to postdoc in whatever big name lab you want. At that stage, the advantages of being international vs. citizen disappear because funding opportunities at that level are open to all. The F99/R00 and R01 only require a visa! You'll be that much better at that stage than American citizens because you've had to learn how to work harder and face tough rejections. 

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

got 5 rejections and finally an acceptance from VCUs biomedical science doctoral portal program in neuroscience! very excited 

Declined my offers and accepted my top school! Very excited, officially going to start my PhD journey this fall. Good luck to you all! Sending so many good vibes.

I know this feeling. I had one interview like that recently. I'm sorry, feels horrible, especially when you personally feel like it was such a great fit. Keep your head high and keep going!

I know this feeling. I had one interview like that recently. I'm sorry, feels horrible, especially when you personally feel like it was such a great fit. Keep your head high and keep going!

I know this feeling. I had one interview like that recently. I'm sorry, feels horrible, especially when you personally feel like it was such a great fit. Keep your head high and keep going!

Just contacted MIT BCS and they said if you haven't gotten an invite yet, you're rejected. They will send the official rejection letters in April though. 

does anyone know if MIT sends out invites over the course of a couple days or if it's generally all within the same few hours?

hearing rumors that MIT BCS faculty are meeting / met today to finalize interview invites... only rumors though, no other details regarding process or timeline. fingers crossed that these invites come out this week!

From NYU
"We have sent out interview invitations to our top candidates. We may send out additional interview offers at a later date but it is not guaranteed. Official decisions on all applications will be sent out later this spring."

Just got an email from UPenn NGG, they don't expect all invitations to interview to be sent out until mid-January. Take that as you will.

Hello all! I haven't seen a cog thread so thought I would just make one. I copied the template from last year's thread. Gook luck to us all!!
 
Here's a little template we can use:
School:
Type: PhD/MA/MS/etc
Date of invite:
Type of invite: Mass email, email from PI, phone call, etc.
Interview date(s):

I'm a current PhD student at an R1 and I'm just going to head this off before someone else does (it's going to come out very soon) but most programs this year are looking at huge increases in the number of applicants. I was in a friend's defense and the faculty at one Ivy were saying they saw double the number of applicants (possibly an exaggeration) as last year. You might hear this too. DO NOT PANIC. I have also chatted with professors in my department and schools saw this same thing happen in the cycle during the Great Recession and to paraphrase them, "the numbers went way up but the competitiveness stayed the same". In other words, a lot of people right now are applying on a whim in their senior years because the job market seems so bleak but this isn't necessarily more competition since most/all of you have been prepping to go to grad school for a few years already. Individuals who are deciding to apply now because of these circumstances can't make up for the years of research they haven't put in (and presumably you have).

Historically, at least for the UCs, I think interviews/first round rejections were announced Dec. 20th-31st. Then, interviews happened in February and within a few days, acceptances and second round rejections were announced.
https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=neuroscience+uc

Nothing new to report. My list was finalized a couple of weeks ago. Just wanted to remind you of how cool you all are for staying strong all the way through May. Aside from having a freaking pandemic out there, you are still getting interviews and holding it together. I will be sending some angry letters to the NIH grant people to demand schools to have the same due dates for their interview rounds. It's very unfair that we have been waiting since December (and even earlier) for programs that have summer start dates. Is it just me, or we all have a life to run and commitments to fulfill aside from waiting for an interview? 
Congrats if you have committed to a program. If you are still waiting, don't worry, at this rate they will be making offers through June ?

Rejected by Yale, but got selected for Yale Bouchet Graduate School Bootcamp 2020...... Comes with a fee waiver for the PhD 2021 application process so that's cool I guess....

Got an interview for Yale ESI Prep!

Thank you so much for doing this! I made an account just to comment here because I've been going crazy!
If they're doing final decisions this week, does that mean they're not doing an interview process? & has anyone heard back yet? I still haven't heard a peep and it's driving me crazy! With all the uncertainty going on right now this is one thing I wish I just had an answer about, either way haha

I just finished speaking with Dr. Streete, and he said he actually finished reading every application today. The top 20 students application will be sent to the professors of interest sometimes this weekend, and final decisions will be sent next week. I do not know how many students will be given an interview invitation, but this is what he told me. So, to those who applied to Yale-Prep, good luck and don't think there is something inherently wrong with your application, or that it wasn't looked at because it was. We just accept what is and what isn't. Once again, good luck. 

I will ask that. I also applied for ESI, so that will be a topic of discussion. 
 

Thank you for doing this. Do you mind asking if they've made decisions for both BBS PREP and ESI PREP? 

Some one I know that has done Yale Prep told me she didn't interview until like mid April. I guess let's just give it time, I'm waiting for them too. 

Thank you! Best of luck on your Mount Sinai interview! 

Yes, I got it
On a side note, one of the things I have not enjoyed about this process is TIMING! It should be more like the PhD process in which all the schools are timed similarly and they all give until April 15th to accept.