sirtuingirl

I think there are several on gradcafe who applied to NYU Neuroscience but haven't heard anything. NYU Neuro did send interview invites around Christmas but they are in a dogfight with Columbia, Sinai, UConn, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, UPenn etc. for students and I think they are holding back sending out rejections this year until they are at least past interviews so that they can gauge how many acceptances they will get. Think about it, what do they get by sending out rejections now versus in March? Some universities send out rejections in Dec and early Jan so that the rejected students can apply to other programs that have later deadlines (Jan 15, Feb 1 etc.) but there is no benefit for them other than getting applicant goodwill. 

Dont know if it is Sinai for sure. These 4 criteria are only for screening. You probably got rejected by the Adcom in the next step of reviewing fit (SOP, CV and LORs). Maybe none of the faculty you matched with are taking students this cycle.

Is this possibly the Sinai process?

I think the sender of this email is insinuating that there is a wait list. 

I think the sender of this email is insinuating that there is a wait list. 

I got an interview invite this afternoon

I will also chime in to say that it’s better to be over prepared than underprepared! I had a couple interviewers ask me about my strengths and weaknesses and one who asked me if when I first started in research there was anything about lab/research that surprised me. so I would definitely recommend thinking about the common “behavioral” type interview questions and potential answers. Not all interviewers will ask these but it’s definitely a possibility (and like I said better to be over prepared!)
 
additionally, 30 mins might sound like a long time but actually it goes by very quickly! Especially if you ask the faculty about their research, because they love to talk about their science ?

The interviews themselves were much less stressful than I anticipated. I really only got two questions every time: 1) Describe the research project you’re working on right now and 2) What are your career goals/why a PhD? (Several also asked which other schools I was interviewing at, and I decided honesty was the best policy and didn’t dwell on it.) Then they often shared their group’s research with me, and a few even had slides to show (think of good probing questions to ask while they summarize it).
Be prepared to explain your project without the jargon (likely your interviewer is close to but not *in* your exact niche, you know?). I found it helpful to practice a ~1 minute elevator pitch about my work to my roommate, who is also into molecular biology but on the plant side (not microbes like mine is). And you should have a good idea of your career goals by now, so you’ll only need to explain that in a sentence or two if they ask.
I wouldn’t be too stressed about them, but it is definitely fatiguing—it’s hard to be “on” for several 30+ minute interviews versus a normal Zoom class where you’re more passively paying attention. But these are really just conversations with scientists that are genuinely curious about the science you’re interested in!
Hope this was helpful!!

Agreed, and try to stay away from screens (like your phone or tv) during those breaks/downtime!

I feel you. I definitely tried to take breaks and walk around when possible. Like during student/interviewee only time, I would politely excuse myself for a stretch or bathroom break

I think so. Jan 14/15 interviews are among the earliest across programs. Jan28/29 are more “average” in terms of timeframe. Therefore, programs that have 2 interview dates in January can afford to look at applicants of both groups before they extend any offers. Not sure programs that have their first interview on Jan 28/29 or in Feb will wait to complete multiple rounds of interviews before extending any offers. Unless you are an extremely highly regarded program or very small (~ 10 slots), you cannot gain mindshare amongst the top candidates unless you make offers to them by 1st week in Feb.

Yes but many of them that interviewed may have accepted other offers.

It depends on who you are talking to. You will most likely be interviewed by faculty who are conducting research  in your area of interest as well as faculty whose research is in a completely different area. Both will want to know a bit about your research but usually the latter won’t spend much time talking about their research. They will mostly tell you things about the town (public transportation, bike friendliness, restaurants, festivals etc) or ask you some of the standard questions like why PhD, why that program/school, what is your career goal etc. You will also get to talk individually with a grad student which again won’t be much about science.
I think majority of the students will answer questions like why PhD well and they probably have heard the same thing again and again, just in different words. But they still ask you these questions because they want to see at least a basic level of preparedness on your part, which is somewhat indicative of your success in a graduate program.
 

I think there are several on gradcafe who applied to NYU Neuroscience but haven't heard anything. NYU Neuro did send interview invites around Christmas but they are in a dogfight with Columbia, Sinai, UConn, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, UPenn etc. for students and I think they are holding back sending out rejections this year until they are at least past interviews so that they can gauge how many acceptances they will get. Think about it, what do they get by sending out rejections now versus in March? Some universities send out rejections in Dec and early Jan so that the rejected students can apply to other programs that have later deadlines (Jan 15, Feb 1 etc.) but there is no benefit for them other than getting applicant goodwill. 

There are 2 kinds/rounds of wait lists. One is when people reject interviews because they have received too many and some off the wait list will be invited. I don't know how many this year belonged to this kind. The next round where there is movement off the wait lists is when admission offers are declined and those programs cannot fill their slots. Most programs will assume that a certain % of offers will get declined based on past cycles but there is a good chance that those assumptions will prove to be inaccurate due to the unique nature of this cycle. In that case, they might interview and make offers even in March. 

There are 2 kinds/rounds of wait lists. One is when people reject interviews because they have received too many and some off the wait list will be invited. I don't know how many this year belonged to this kind. The next round where there is movement off the wait lists is when admission offers are declined and those programs cannot fill their slots. Most programs will assume that a certain % of offers will get declined based on past cycles but there is a good chance that those assumptions will prove to be inaccurate due to the unique nature of this cycle. In that case, they might interview and make offers even in March. 

There is hope because most programs have gotten a lot more applicants than last year and hence review of applications in some places is taking longer. Also, people this year have applied to more programs than prior years because they kept hearing that this cycle is more competitive. Hence, more admission offers will be declined and more people will get in off the wait list.
Which programs/universities did you apply to? Are you an American student, International Student studying at a US university or International student studying at international university?

There is hope because most programs have gotten a lot more applicants than last year and hence review of applications in some places is taking longer. Also, people this year have applied to more programs than prior years because they kept hearing that this cycle is more competitive. Hence, more admission offers will be declined and more people will get in off the wait list.
Which programs/universities did you apply to? Are you an American student, International Student studying at a US university or International student studying at international university?

No I am from the US. I remember reading on their website that very few International applicants are invited for interviews. However it seems like their admissions is very nice and willing to help when emailed, maybe you can reach out to them about their timeline. Good Luck!! 

same with me; many started by them saying "tell me about yourself". I was told that the best way to answer this question is to prepare a 2 min elevator pitch: start out with an introduction (my name is... the degree i have is... from...) then talk about your research experiences sequentially and briefly (like 2 sentences each), give a sentence about how these experiences led you to ur main interest topic (i said "the skills I learned from both of my experiences contributed to my interest in molecular bio. and more specifically cell signaling and metabolism), close off with a sentence or two about why this program would help you to pursue that interest (like; you like how program is interdisciplinary, the program is known for your interest, the program has professors who specialize in your interest...). 
otherwise prepare a long long list of questions for the PI about the program and about their lab that way if the convo goes stale you still seem interested in their lab and the program. (some questions that interviewers responded positively for me was; "what type of mentor are you hands on or hands off" "during rotations in your lab do you pair them with current grad student or post doc or are given independent project" "do your lab members socialize outside the lab and do they get along with each other on more then a professional level" 
Good Luck! 

Prepare for those classic questions - why do you want a PhD/what are your career goals, why are you interested in this program, and what research questions are you most interested in exploring. Also know your own research experience front and back, know the “why” of it and prepare to be asked questions about it.
The actual interviews will definitely vary in style/structure.. for instance, I’ve had a faculty member ask me very specific questions about a particular technology I’ve used in lab. On the other hand, I had one interviewer start out the interview with essentially telling me that I’ll likely be offered admission unless I just don’t want to talk to him, and then we proceeded (after I gave my quick spiel about my own research/goals/interests) to just talk about the city the school is in for the entire interview.

No! This is just a place to discuss interview prep if you'd like. It's for applicants, made by an applicant (me).

I don’t have data about UCs but I read that someone who got rejected by UMich PIBS in the last week of December asked for feedback and got a response that giving specific feedback is not possible because the program received over 1300 applicants for the Fall 2021 cycle and has invited approximately 100 to the interviews. 
I also read that UNC received over 2700 applications this year (versus 1900 last year) and have invited 310-320 to the interviews. They expect 85-95 to matriculate, a bit smaller cohort size than last year. I don’t know how many offers they plan to give out. Whether the slightly smaller cohort size estimate is based on a smaller number of offers to begin with or expectations for a higher percentage of students to reject the offer, I have no idea. I hope it’s not the former.
It seems to me that this year, PhD aspirants in biomedical sciences (including neuroscience) have applied to many more universities on average than last year. I think it’s because everyone kept hearing this year that there is a big increase in number of applicants and there are less slots in most programs. Even if the total number of slots is slightly reduced, the increase in number of applications outpaces that by a large margin on a percentage basis, based on my guesstimate. 
If a program typically gets 200 applications, it’s not too difficult to see an increase to 300 or even 400 this year. However, it is a major feat to increase an already large size of applications of 1900 to 2700. I attribute that mostly to excellent marketing and outreach and I saw that first hand.
Moral of the story.....if you receive interviews this year, you should feel damn good. If you haven’t heard back, you should not lose hope because programs have so many more applications to review. Also, I think this year many programs will get their acceptance percentage assumptions wrong and some will get less acceptances than they estimated. Hence, if you got rejected from one of your top choices, it wouldn’t hurt to contact the program in March and let them know that you are still very interested. 
 
 

I don’t have data about UCs but I read that someone who got rejected by UMich PIBS in the last week of December asked for feedback and got a response that giving specific feedback is not possible because the program received over 1300 applicants for the Fall 2021 cycle and has invited approximately 100 to the interviews. 
I also read that UNC received over 2700 applications this year (versus 1900 last year) and have invited 310-320 to the interviews. They expect 85-95 to matriculate, a bit smaller cohort size than last year. I don’t know how many offers they plan to give out. Whether the slightly smaller cohort size estimate is based on a smaller number of offers to begin with or expectations for a higher percentage of students to reject the offer, I have no idea. I hope it’s not the former.
It seems to me that this year, PhD aspirants in biomedical sciences (including neuroscience) have applied to many more universities on average than last year. I think it’s because everyone kept hearing this year that there is a big increase in number of applicants and there are less slots in most programs. Even if the total number of slots is slightly reduced, the increase in number of applications outpaces that by a large margin on a percentage basis, based on my guesstimate. 
If a program typically gets 200 applications, it’s not too difficult to see an increase to 300 or even 400 this year. However, it is a major feat to increase an already large size of applications of 1900 to 2700. I attribute that mostly to excellent marketing and outreach and I saw that first hand.
Moral of the story.....if you receive interviews this year, you should feel damn good. If you haven’t heard back, you should not lose hope because programs have so many more applications to review. Also, I think this year many programs will get their acceptance percentage assumptions wrong and some will get less acceptances than they estimated. Hence, if you got rejected from one of your top choices, it wouldn’t hurt to contact the program in March and let them know that you are still very interested. 
 
 

My rationale for applying to UNC was exactly what you said....considered it a safety net. I wrote to a PI, he was enthusiastic about my application but when I followed up with him before Christmas asking when I might hear back, he replied that he has no idea because he is not part of the admissions committee. In the same email, he said that he is looking forward to interviewing me. Go figure.....