compbio-wal

No, the difference between full prof/associate is just years of being tenured, does not reflect the overall field reputation too much. There is not much difference there, but strong letters from tenure-tracked faculty members is probably needed.

Based on what I know, the international students who got admitted from those top programs mostly had very strong backgrounds such as top journal (PNAS, GR or NC...or even higher...) first author publications, Phi Beta Kappa in ivy leagues, very strong recommendations from big names or someone with strong connections...but in fact quit many of them still could not land on those top programs eventually... when you are applying for those programs, you will face direct competition with them, but deep learning project, graduate intern or near-perfect GPA for master program in my personal view are far not stella enough when compared them. the harder way is to stay few more years trying to become one of them and wishing your first author project would be published on top journals, and off course, the easier way is to avoid directly competing with them...