Amirfa1

I applied for Ph.D. in neuroscience, and I have not heard back from the program for more than a month. I called them in mid-January to check on the status of my application, and they said I'm still under review. However, when I called yesterday, they said that a decision was made before Xmas and invitations were already sent for all international applicants before Xmas, even though, when I called them on December 14th, they said I could submit my application by January 1st. January 1st is their final deadline, but they encourage people to submit their applications on December 1st for an early review. After learning that I was not picked for my primary choice, I asked, what about the secondary choice? Did I also get rejected from that? They told me they did not transfer my application to the second choice and asked if I would like it to be transferred!!! Even though their website says, "If the first program you list is unable to accept your application, it will automatically be sent to the second for consideration." Is there hope the second choice will accept me? I feel they did not even check my application since she said all the applications for international students were reviewed and invited for interview before Christmas. I'm worried the same thing will happen to the secondary program since they did not transfer my application for more than a month until I called !!! Probably by now, they have filled all the spots in their program ... Does anyone have any advice on what I should do? Do you recommend I call the program director or something? The second choice is computational bioscience (which has research that intersects with my primary neuroscience choice) THANK YOU SO MUCH!!