queerorpheus

I ended up applying to everywhere I had initially planned: Two programs at JHU, Pitt, Ohio State, UMD, and Penn State. I know that at least Pitt will send out interview notices shortly after Christmas, so it's nice to have some kind of timeline. I'm hoping for the best but expecting the worst. 

To be completely honest, it will definitely be harder to get a full picture and feel for a school over zoom interviews. That being said, the students and faculty putting together the virtual recruitment events are going to be putting a lot of time and effort into trying to make it the best experience possible, and including lots of more low-key non-interview-based events, while balancing zoom fatigue. When it comes to getting a good picture of what doing you PhD at a particular institution is actually like, current students are still going to be your best resource - and the vast majority will be happy to go out of your way to help you make an informed decision.
I'm more than happy to give any and all perspective if anyone wants. I've been at Stanford Biosciences for a year and a half so I have both pre- and during- COVID perspectives on the program and community. I also interviewed at 8 places when I applied, so I have lots of interview perspective I can give on other schools as well. Just shoot me a DM. 

I am starting this thread to start the discussion of interviews in a Covid world. I have personally scoured the internet and numerous other forums looking for advice and what schools are saying in regards to their interview plans and this is what I have found so far. 
I received this notice from Stanford's Bioscience admissions when I submitted my application "During the week of January 11, 2021, the committees will start to contact applicants who have been selected for an interview.  The selected applicants will be invited to interview via Zoom and participate in programming with faculty and current students. Our interview dates are currently set for Wednesday, March 3 through Saturday, March 6, 2021, but may shift. This is our only interview session. All applicants will be notified of the decision on their application by the end of January."  
I have not seen any of my other programs change their websites yet to reflect how they will be conducting interviews but I assume many will follow suit. 
 
For resources I recommend listening to a Podcast I listen to for many of my Grad school related questions, its called "Hello PhD" their most recent episode 146: Ace your virtual Graduate school interview with Dr. Beth Bowman. This episodes they have a discussion with Dr. Beth Bowman, she is the assistant director of graduate programs at Vanderbilt University. They do go into how time zones would work and how to prepare. Their previous episodes do go into general interview prep as well as a vast amount of other topics. 
As much as I want to be able to meet the professors personally I am glad that schools are thinking about peoples safety. My only thing I do worry about is what it will be like trying to choose a school that maybe we never got to visit and how we can choose where we will be living and working for the next several years. 

I've seen a lot of things online that now is a good time to start reaching out to PIs but I really have no idea where to start with that. I have a list of schools I want to apply to and PIs at each that I'd be interested in in working with. Is it typical to reach out to several PIs for each program or just one? I have a general idea that I should introduce myself as an applicant that would be interested in working in their lab, but how much should I talk about myself/research vs. just an introductory email? I don't have a lot of guidance on this so anything helps. Thanks y'all!