newmemberintel

Schools that I know are international friendly (in non-COVID times): UTSW, Sloan Kettering, Weill Cornell. Potentially also: WashU (Washington University in St. Louis) and UChicago. Harvard probably but I'm not sure about all bio programs.
UCs are notorious for being low on international admits. The year I applied UC Berkeley's website had a bolded line stating there are *very few* spots for international students. My undergrad PI spent 6 years as a post doc at Stanford and said he never saw a single international Immunology student - I have not fact-checked that myself.
Most school websites show international student %s somewhere. Below is the list I compiled for myself when I applied. Most numbers were for the specific program I applied to and not their entire biosciences. "OK" means >30% I think.
Stanford low
Harvard 34%
MIT OK
Yale 30%
WUSTL 30%
UCLA 20%
Columbia OK
UT SW OK
Baylor College of Medicine 33%
Sloan Kettering OK
Weill Cornell 46%
Einstein College of Medicine 30%
NYU OK

I have a strong feeling this will be me. Haha! Anyway I plan on getting research assistant positions for two years. I'm in no rush and I want to really, really be sure first in my own capabilities. Like this cycle, I know I want to get a PhD but I'm not too confident of my skills and fit and all that jazz. Learn a lot from this experience though. 
The only thing is that I'm way past the OPT application (graduated 2020) so I might need to apply for H1-B which I doubt will get much support ($$$) or look for RA positions in the UK, Canada, etc. My country has no opportunity for biomedical research in the topic of my interest so I don't think I'll be able to move forward if I were to stay here any longer.

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.

That happened to me last year. I took a year of OPT and worked as a research assistant to gain more experience. You could also do a Masters or Post-Bacc program. You can reach out to some of the places you applied to for RA positions, I believe they have a higher likelihood of accepting you in the future if you already work there. 
How long depends on when you feel ready and have a strong application. Talking to your professors or employers would give you an idea. For me, a year was enough but some people might prefer to work longer for a variety of reasons. 

I have been teching for 2 years on OPT. Its actually a great option. Or you try out a master program 

ahhh this is so much pain, applied to 16 programs (international w/o US degree) and so far heard back from no one. How should I survive this holiday (what's worse I'm stuck in the US away from my family and friends :() 

Hi everyone, I'm an international student too. I applied to 10 programs (mostly cell and molec). I have not heard from any programs for an interview, but all of them have already begin sending invitations. I received my first rejection yesterday. I honestly start losing hope on this cycle. My stats are very good, BS w/ honors from a top west coast school, RA in an ivy league, and I have 3.5 yrs of research, so I applied to top programs. I did not anticipate this happening. If anyone have some plan B ideas that they could share. I'm already on a gap year so another gap year is not an option for me. Good luck for everyone!