sippinmytea

I got off the waitlist of Weill Cornell yesterday. My tip for anyone on waitlists and future applicants, based on my experience - emailing program coordinators/directors asking about the waitlist may not be especially informative; more often than not, there's a non-disclosure policy. Email students you met with during the interviews. Ask if they know anyone who had gotten off the waitlist before, if they did anything special. If the school is your first choice, be upfront about it and let them know, it can only help!

Thank you! I'll be in the BCMB program. I'm sorry to hear that you haven't heard anything back, but it looks like you've been accepted at some really nice programs! After 3 months of interviews, I haven't been convinced that the admissions process is neither subjective nor random. But, the fact that we got selected for an interview means a ton. Best of luck in your PhD journey~

I got off the waitlist of Weill Cornell yesterday. My tip for anyone on waitlists and future applicants, based on my experience - emailing program coordinators/directors asking about the waitlist may not be especially informative; more often than not, there's a non-disclosure policy. Email students you met with during the interviews. Ask if they know anyone who had gotten off the waitlist before, if they did anything special. If the school is your first choice, be upfront about it and let them know, it can only help!

I don't see there's as many waitlist posts on gradcafe for the past couple years so maybe this year is a bit different? Anyway can only wish for the best. Good luck to both of us! 

I am also waiting for them...I emailed them and they can only say “as soon as possible” which I take as later March or early April. 

IKR! I'm trying not to read too much into one of the PI's I met with having said 'I hope to see you at BU!' in his reply to an interview followup/thank you email I sent. I don't want to get my hopes up but I'm cautiously optimistic!

Totally hear ya buddy... The large-scale deferment is such an annoyance. Moreover, due to all interviews being virtual, it is logistically and financially easier for schools to invite more candidates than necessary to interview. One of the programs I applied to selected 20+ candidates to interview with the intention of sending out only 6 offers, which is understandable since most candidates applied to more programs than usual this year, but still nonetheless induces more stress. Not to mention Zoom fatigue detracting from the interview experience on both ends. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to interview with such unique programs, but under normal circumstances, it would have been much less exhausting. (Apologies for the rant) My best wishes to all! 1 more month! 

Totally hear ya buddy... The large-scale deferment is such an annoyance. Moreover, due to all interviews being virtual, it is logistically and financially easier for schools to invite more candidates than necessary to interview. One of the programs I applied to selected 20+ candidates to interview with the intention of sending out only 6 offers, which is understandable since most candidates applied to more programs than usual this year, but still nonetheless induces more stress. Not to mention Zoom fatigue detracting from the interview experience on both ends. I'm so grateful for the opportunity to interview with such unique programs, but under normal circumstances, it would have been much less exhausting. (Apologies for the rant) My best wishes to all! 1 more month! 

Just got the rejection from Columbia NBB. The only consolation is that the coordinator said they had to take a much smaller cohort this cycle because they had so many people from last year defer to this year. It just sucks because I have been doing everything right throughout undergrad preparing to be a competitive applicant for grad school and bc of COVID most schools are only taking a fraction of the normal amount of students this cycle bc of all the deferrals from last year
Here's to hoping there's positive news from BU later this week!
 

Thank you both for your answers! Congratulations btw ? meanwhile fingers crossed for myself haha

I got accepted to NYU Vilcek!!!! It was the only school that gave me an interview and literally all other schools rejected me but I don't care anymore because I am getting my PhD!!!!

Not sure if this is consolation but you had a solid shot and got an interview at a top program as an international student in the toughest application cycle since the Great Recession. I've seen that UCSD in particular (because they are a state school) will only take 0-2 international students per cohort. You're probably one of less than 1% of international students that were taken to interview! Every candidate is great so I don't think these professors were lying to you but maybe you weren't as good a fit as another student and that's fine; it's not a referendum on your abilities. Take this as an opportunity to learn to work through a rejection because neuroscience is all about rejections whether that's getting into grad school, getting a paper accepted, getting the NRSA, getting a postdoc, getting a K99/R00, getting a faculty position, getting a foundation grant, getting an R01, getting tenure etc etc. 
I've helped some of my international friends and they have to be twice as good as U.S. citizens and that's not fair to them; I wish it were different (I am a U.S. citizen). However, I will say that by having to work twice as hard, international students end up being twice as good. They end up being the stars of their cohort and star neuroscientists generally speaking. Why do you think international students are only around 10% of PhD students in neuro but end up being maybe 20% of faculty? You might fret not being at a place like UCSD but it's not the school that matters, it's how productive you are and the quality of your research. No matter where you land, if you do good work, you'll be able to postdoc in whatever big name lab you want. At that stage, the advantages of being international vs. citizen disappear because funding opportunities at that level are open to all. The F99/R00 and R01 only require a visa! You'll be that much better at that stage than American citizens because you've had to learn how to work harder and face tough rejections. 

WC people— if you haven't heard back, you've been waitlisted! According to program coordinator

Hi guys, I hope you don't mind if I rant a bit. I guess this entire cycle has just been really hard. I received my waitlist from BU (where I currently work, got my undergrad and masters degree from AND all of my recommendations were from faculty in the program...), and I'm just... sad I guess. Pretty much rejected from every other program (I am very fortunate to have one interview though). Like it just doesn't seem to make sense to work this hard (already for the institution I work for) and now I'm just sitting at my work desk like K, thanks. 
Sorry to take over and rant, but I just want to say if you're feeling down today I feel you and I know we will make it through but its okay to be a little sad. Virtual hugs all around! ❤️ 

Well, It is always better to be well prepared. Have some questions ready beforehand or also you can be engaged in a discussion about any of their current projects and its future aspects. But, if it is in virtual tour, the allotted time (~30min) is not sufficient, most of that would pass by telling them about you and your research.

Thanks for sharing, this is a helpful perspective! 

Hello! First time posting so sorry if the format is off lol. For interviews with faculty of interest, I've been reading some of their most recent publications and trying to get a better picture of their methods and future research directions. I think preparing a couple of potential research questions based on their pubs would be helpful. However, I think it depends on how long your interview with the faculty of interest will be. If the interview is a bit lengthier, I would prepare more questions or think of potential follow-up experiments or anything else that shows that you are familiar with their literature and are able to discuss their project with them. Hope this helps!

Hey all, hope everyone's interviews have been going as smooth as possible! In terms of being prepared for interviews, (besides knowing your own research in detail) how helpful is it to know 1-2 of the PI's papers in detail? Has anyone been reading papers and thinking of follow-up experiments/questions to ask? Or am I overthinking this.. ?

Hi - I've been on two so far. Around 60% of the time, the school will be trying to recruit you by showing presentations about the school, giving faculty talks, hosting socials and conversations with current graduate students.
You'll like have 5ish actual interviews which are 30-45 minutes long. Honestly, they can really range in format. Some faculty will ask for a 3-5 minute recap of your research, some will ask you to describe one of your projects in depth (usually of your choosing). Sometimes, professors will ask tons of questions, not necessarily as a "gotcha," but mostly just to see how you're thinking about your research. Then your interviewer will likely talk about their research (which they love to do, so show enthusiasm!) and offer to answer any questions you have about the program or anything.
Mine have really ranged; I've talked for 20 minutes straight at some and at others we only talked about why we love to do research and what I hope to do in grad school. So, be prepared to talk about your research, but don't be surprised if you don't at all! Hopefully, your faculty are very friendly and interviews will feel like a fun conversation about science.
To be honest, it's kind of difficult to feel out the vibe of the school virtually so I'm really paying attention to subtleties in how the current students talk about their experiences. Hopefully, you're meeting with faculty who have labs you'd be interested in joining, because this is a great time to feel out if you would enjoy their lab. You should choose a grad school that has options for you, so if you find out you're not really vibin with some faculty that were once interested in, take note. 
Finally, if there's anyone you didn't get to talk to during the actual interview dates, the program will absolutely coordinate a meeting for you. 
Feel free to reach out to me if you wanna talk about anything more specific, I'm happy to do so.

It is the platform that they are using for social events, since they can't be held in person. A few people had issues with it. 

Hi, sorry, what do you mean by "Wonder"?

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 ?

Thanks! Congrats to you too! And yeah, it was QUITE long compared to other places, but I did feel like the longer first day helped me get a LOT more info on the program that you can't get from just reading the website, so now I'm worried about future interviews and whether I'll get as good of a sense of the program and life at those universities LOL. Can't win I guess.
My biggest piece of advice is getting a GOOD night's rest before each day and after, and getting a back rest for your chair. I used a hot water bottle as a make-shift one. The first day was a lot, but I did get a bit more information about the program so it easier to stay attentive. The second day was definitely rougher.
The interviews themselves were quite straightforward (explain x project you did or explain a project you did that you were most excited about, do you have any questions for me), so I wouldn't sweat that too much. But after 5 of them and then extra activities, it was quite tiring. Definitely use your whole breaks to step away from your computer and stretch, eat during the lunch time they give you, with snacks towards the end. I also stayed off of screens during my breaks to give my eyes a rest.
Can't really think of anything to avoid saying, but keep your camera on during the sessions even if you are tired. It's really easy to notice who has theirs off. Take advantage of the current-student break out groups to ask ANYTHING you have questions about, because the students are quite candid. Also, if there are PI's your interested in that you weren't given an interview with that show up during the poster sessions and break-out groups, take the opportunity to talk to them. It'll really help you get a better sense of the program, what they are like "in-person", and how well you can picture yourself at UTSW.