foreverontheQ

I’ll echo others and say the same. If you have a US degree then you can do OPT. I tried applying in 2017, but realized that I need a break from school. I’ve been working in a lab for two years now. I was able to get a publication from it, and I got interested in something totally different from what I thought I wanted to do. It also exposed me to a lot of other career options beyond academia  , and gave me a realistic view of what to expect in the next few years. I would highly recommend! Plus it’s good to save some money in this time. 

I did not get in any program in 2019 cycle (I was in a master's program at that time) so I worked as a RA for almost two years. It do help me to get better letters and more experiences to build up my CV. More important, working as a RA helped me to figure out if I really want to do PhD and what I really want to do for next steps of my life.

So weird. Why don't these schools send out rejections to international students like us as they used to do in early Jan before? We have to keep telling ourselves "no news means good news," though we totally understand that there are high chances of getting rejections. That is such a torture. 
 

I agree with this. At no point besides the CV would anything not related to science (extracurriculars, non science jobs, volunteering) come up. About 90% of your application and basically 100% of your interview will be specifically talking about performing research. 

I’m not so sure about this. I was under the impression that most admissions committees (for PhD at least, med school is a completely different story) really only care about research experiences and academics. Science outreach/teaching always is a bonus but not necessary, and I dont think much weight is placed on participating in unrelated extracurriculars themselves. Maybe they could help illustrate how you might work as a scientist, (eg athlete-> hardworking) but I don’t think they are necessary for admissions into a top program. Just my (possibly incorrect) take ?

I dont know how much of the thread or other threads you have read, but graduate admissions are not as easy as hndergraduate predictions. Their have been people with 2.93’s getting interviews at Harvard over a 4.0 applicant. Looking at your overview, I only have one piece of advice, and dont take it in a bad way, but you are too academically-oriented (unless you left information out). Although getting into graduate school is all about how well you have performed in many sectors (Research, Classes, etc.), you also need to be well-rounded. This means taking part in clubs and activities outside of your comfort zone. While you wont be writing a paper on it to the committee, its still important! 
 

To just hop on the UNC Train, I think UNC is a good school with a large number of PIs and a variety of tracks. It wasn't on my initial list but my current PI highly recommended it and was very enthusiastic about Chapel Hill as a location. Upon further research, I found a good number of PIs doing work that aligned with my research interests so it seemed like a good place to apply for a combination of factors (PIs, reputation, location, cost of living etc.). I think its a good median between a reach school and a safety school.
Yes, there are other schools that fall in the same category but what people look in Universities differ. For example, Mayo Clinic or UMinnesota are great but I would never apply there because I know I cant live in Minnesota winter for 5-6 years?‍♀️

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 just received an interview invitation from Stanford M&I earlier today! The wait is exhausting, indeed :x

Yes most Biomedical PhD Programs are fully funded and usually include tuition, a stipend and occasionally other benefits like health insurance or relocation funds. The amount depends on the Institution. There are also other funding you can apply for like Grants or Fellowships. 
Some places might not fund International students so I would check but the financial information is usually located on the websites.

I'm in no way trying to take the joy of online shopping away from you, but just dropping in to say that when I did interviews (in person) I didn't wear any "business casual", and still to this day do not own a blazer lol. My go-to was knitted/sweater dresses in muted colors. I interviewed with 4 schools and was probably among the least dressed up for all of them. Ended up with offers from all 4 ?‍♀️

Just received an interview invitation from Stanford Immunology. Super EXCITED!!!

I need to stop looking on this thread and Reddit ?

I had written about this previously... back in 2014 I believe.  I was waitlisted to one program, then ultimately denied.  I reached out and was told that my GPA was a little low but I had solid experiences (research, field work, volunteer work...) and a few skills they liked (like small boat handling).  I was told it was between me and another applicant and the other applicant got the admit for having slightly higher GRE scores.   Another program told me it was not completely clear in my SOP why I wanted grad school and they were also baffled that I did not mention a low grade (a C-) in my SOP, either.  
For the program I was waitlisted to I called the advisor I was in contact with and for the other program I had called the program director.  

I would also recommend a research assistant position! It functions as full-time employment so you will get paid. Depending on the institution, certain benefits might also be included. 
This is my second cycle and Im currently working as a RA. Honestly, its been a great experience and basically mimics a graduate experience. Depending on your work, there's also good opportunities for presentations and publications. And since its full time research experience, it does add a lot to your CV as well as produce a good letter of recommendation. Let me know if you have any questions!

?❤️ Does anyone want me to start a Discord for interview prep?

I GOT A SINAI INTERVIEW!

I LOVE THIS POST LOL!!! I hope its satire taking a jab at the annoying af people on here ??? bc if so its a masterpiece. Yall are toxic. Like if youve heard back from multiple schools inviting you for interviews and still “fReAKiNg oUt” please stfu. 

I heard back from Utah Mol Bio in December for an interview, it’s in late Feb. Congrats on the interview at Maryland!

Nice! Mine is on Feb 26th! I think they’re different tracks that’s probs why interview dates are also different.