UnmotivatedNeuroApplicant

ps. That's why I'm 90% sure that the Stanford psychology admit posted on the result page is fake

I think he's under affective sciences

Hey guys, I just had an informal zoom interview with a Stanford psychology faculty (not in the social area) and he said the decisions are expected to be made in the next 2-3 weeks

Sorry I was mistaken. He was rejected from PIBS

For psych, Yale, Pitts, Harvard, Columbia, Duke, Minnesota, Stanford, UCLA For neuro, UPenn only I haven't had a single interview invitation/rejection from any of these schools

I'm feeling kinda numb by this stage since I haven't received ANYTHING from any program I applied to ? I feel that neuroscience programs make earlier decisions than psychology programs which is what I'm primarily applying to

My boyfriend applied to Dartmouth PBS and his POI said (last week) that he would recommend my boyfriend to the admission committee, and the recruitment weekend is at the end of Jan. That means they haven't sent out the interview invitations.

NGG replied to me yesterday that they are still reviewing applications and hope to send out all invites by mid-Jan

I just sent an email to a graduate program coordinator this morning and have not received a reply yet, so not sure if I did it properly (but I imagine them being esp busy at this time of the year). What I did is just 1) address the person properly; 2) briefly introduce yourself (I included my application ID); 3) ask the questions (I guess not too many sentences. Mine had 2); 4) acknowledge that you know they are very busy right now so really appreciate them taking time to read your email; 5) wish the person an early merry Xmas It's tough, I know. I guess just using a tone similar to what you wrote for an inquiry email to the professor of interest should work

Thanks very, very much. I can finally get a good sleep

Yeah I'm also thinking about contacting the coordinator, but maybe later? Like around Christmas? Although this anxiety is killing me lol

I revisited the applicants & admission outcome post for previous years. Someone in one of the posts stated that he/she contacted the coordinator and the coordinator said that international applicants will be reviewed later. I also know somebody who's not applying to NGG but another PhD program under UPenn med this year. His POI also told him that international applications will be reviewed later for that particular program. Just not sure if this is also true for NGG. But scanning through the results page for UPenn NGG for previous years there were barely any international applicants being admitted (granted, only a subset of all applicants would post on this forum). There were two international applicants being offered interview like 6-7 years ago, and the dates of their interview invitations were late into January as well. This is just me trying to analyze some patterns over previous data on gradcafe and it's a very small sample size.. so take this observation with a grain of salt. At least it may be a bit comforting.

I'm also wondering, and not sure if they tend to review international applications later. Just spent some sleepless nights over anxiety for Penn NGG..

Similar situation here. My PI has never replied to a single email ever since he agreed to write a recommendation letter for me. I don't even know if he receives the school ddls & upload links I sent him. And I receive lab emails from him every day. ? I honestly don't know what to do. Maybe the only comforting thing I know is that most of the time he is not accessible thru email, and he just likes to do things at last minute..

I was saying that the "This is the only program I'm apply to" argument may work for professors who are both hungry for new grad students and interested in you as a potential PhD student. This is because professors who are less able to retain potential grad students they like wanna ensure that if they give you an offer, you are more likely to accept the offer, so that they can secure a new grad student for their labs. Therefore, they are more likely to admit students who show genuine, intense interest in their labs. However, instead of telling them that "this is the only program I'm applying to", there might be other better ways of expressing your interest in the program, e.g. by sending inquiry emails before submitting your application, sending another email after you have just submitted your application, and showing enthusiasm during interviews! There might be repercussions associated with "This is the only program I'm apply to" argument, like others have pointed out.

As someone who has a similar situation, I can completely understand where you are coming from. But I'm applying to only one neuroscience PhD program, but not only one PhD program. According to what I heard from a professor from my school, some professors are less able to take in students they like than other professors (since a department can only take in a fixed number of students every year, so some professors may have to compromise). So my guess is that, this "only program I'm applying to" may matter when 1) the POI really likes you; AND 2) the POI is short on graduate student in his/her lab, and has less say on whether he/she can take in the students he/she likes.

Thanks BabyScientist!

Hello there! As my ID implies, I'm a highly unmotivated, hopeless neuroscience PhD applicant for this cycle. Hope that I can get some feedback to my question, and wish everyone good luck Undergrad: Double major in cog neuro + stats, minor in CS at a top20 non-Ivy uni GPA: 3.95 (honestly I don't think this matters) GRE: V162/Q168/W5.0 (again I don't think this matters) Research Experience: Clinical neuroscience lab 1 since freshman year Clinical neuroscience lab 2 (PI is very famous) since junior year, and now doing honors thesis Posters: one at undergrad symposium, the other at a famous national convention which was unfortunately suspended due to COVID-19 Publications: Co-authored on a publication at a prestigious journal (IF ~ 18) First-authored manuscript submitted for review First-authored manuscript in prep LORs: two PIs from the two clinical neuroscience labs, and the other one from a course instructor who doesn't know me well (I have no choice..). But I'm sure that the first two ones will be strong. Applying to: UPenn neuroscience My biggest weaknesses: 1) I don't have a third strong LOR; 2) I'm an international student; 3) I don't have enough publications. Some beacon of hope: I'm specifically applying to UPenn because some NGG professors fit my interests so well. I've sent inquiry emails to these NGG professors, and their replies are like, "I'll write to the director of admissions and tell him that I support your application" (he did), "You are an excellent fit to what we're doing, and an extremely strong candidate. I have no doubt that you will have your choice of which program to join" (I honestly don't think so), "I'll flag your application to my friends in the admission committee" (hope he'll remember), "I'll welcome you to my lab if you do end up at Penn". My question to you: I'm not asking for chances, since I know it's not going to be high. I'm hoping someone could tell me what I can do to maximize my chances of getting in after submitting my applications, given that these profs already show some interest in me as a potential PhD student. Thanks very much for reading through my post. I appreciate any feedback you have for me