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Best of luck @wootar & @WillComeTrue! I've been a long-time lurker of this thread and have been routing for you! Fingers crossed!

Me too. I asked for Kimbark Ave since it's looked the least shabby, lol.

^^ Ditto. Did you request to live in any specific buildings @Aequorea & @Mingda?

Officially accepted at UChicago! I might be living with a friend but otherwise will do the grad housing route.

Same boat. I've decided to hold out til April 13/14 and then taking the offer I have if I haven't heard back. Doesn't seem like there are many options beyond asking for an extension at the accepted school, which I'm not going to do.

Well, if you're thinking PhD most reputable programs in the U.S. will offer you funding which includes tuition remission and a livable stipend. There is a lot of info on this board about different funding packages and situations, and some people do choose to attend a school even if they're not offered funding, but most people would suggest against this option for many reasons. In the end, it depends on the person!

Hi all, I'm late to the waitlist party but I am currently waitlisted at one of my top choices and accepted to the other. Why not accept my offer? Long story short, the school I'm waitlisted at is considerably better for my S/O, and as a result I am holding out to see if a spot opens up before accepting the offer I do have. Today, my POI at my accepted school "checked in" with a "heyyyyy....are you gonna accept?" email, which was followed by ANOTHER email by the department chair a few hours later, saying she was excited about my app, asking if I had additional questions, etc etc. So now I feel so ugh and kind of guilty. I also don't want to start off on the wrong foot if I end up starting at this school. Can anyone else relate?! I will note that my accepted school does not have a waitlist so at least I can rest assured I'm not holding anyone up... But still. This is so frustrating.

@Aequorea, when do you plan on applying for housing? I haven't officially accepted yet, but figure will probably apply for housing as soon as I do so (i.e. latest April 15).

Hi all! I will also most likely be joining UChicago this fall! I heard graduate housing is really good (at least compared to every other school I've experienced), and am thinking of going that route for my first year as I'll be moving from the East Coast. Everyone says the grad housing is well maintained/regulated and has comparable prices to the rest of the market. Every grad student I've talked to seems to have lived in Hyde Park (i.e. UChicago campus area) for their first year at least until they got to know the city.

Unless it's changed, it'll be an email directing you to the website.

Sounds good! You'll have to keep us posted, but bear in mind that if there are 7 slots, they are likely to admit anywhere from 12-16 people, since they anticipate many people not accepting the offer. So the odds are actually much better, around 50%! (As far as I understand, this tends to be a common figure..) Thanks! I'll def keep you all posted after the interview. Likewise, best of luck to your SO this weekend too!

Hey @aradhna -- that is hard to say for sure. I doubt they would reject you solely based on the fact that your finaid fell through last year, but it is possible you won't get in for other reasons (e.g. super strong applicant pool this year, etc). I think the best you can do is just hope for the best! Decisions usually come out the first week of March.

Hope everyone is getting along fine My first interview is coming up this weekend and I'm starting to feel the nerves! What did it go for your SO at Northeastern, @FeelTheBern?

You should visit if you can. This is your future! If your employer is supportive I'm sure s/he will understand if you explain it them like that.

Nice! You might have, but wasn't sure. That's awesome I'm only interviewing at one non-rotation program (i.e. applying to specific POI) and on the phone he said "I hope we can convince you to come here", but that's not quite the same, haha.

Out of curiosity, how do you know you're his only interviewee? Did he just tell you straight up?

I think it does depend quite widely on the school and PI. When I applied to a PI last year, there were only a couple of us applying to the same lab -- but I've heard this can vary from only 1 person to as many as 7 (!). So I don't think you'e going to know for sure unless you ask directly or figure it out when you visit! :/

Congrats on UCLA!

I think many people are either prepping for interviews or on interviews! I have to say, waiting for my interview weekends is making me increasingly anxious. I just want to know already...

@transfatfree For what it's worth, the two POIs I was speaking about were from public schools not mentioned in my signature (I am only acknowledging official rejections in my signature), due to the funding issues as you mentioned. However I have also heard anecdotally that even programs in private institutions may give international applicants a harder time because they are not eligible to apply for a slew of federally-based grants as graduate students (e.g. NSF) meaning we would need to be supported either from our own country, or (more feasibly) the department or PI's grant for the entire duration of their PhD. Undoubtedly this depends on the funding mechanisms of that school, but I could understand why a PI would see us less favorably. It just sucks

My schools have also yet to extend offers, but I applied to 8 programs and got 2 interviews applying to cognitive programs with emphasis on computation and neuroimaging. However I will note the caveat that POIs from 2 other schools noted my strong candidacy but weren't permitted to interview me due to limited funding for international students :/ Overall I've got the impression that international applicants have a harder time. But I also agree with others that it definitely depends on i) the program ii) the field's emphasis. On a secondary note, I received an interview last year to an Ivy with a 48th percentile Q score. Anec-data for this cycle as follows; Quant: 78th Verbal: 85th AW: 80th

It seems to me that rotation programs (which are more common in neuroscience-based programs) are less likely to ask you to delineate a specific project, since you don't even know what lab you will be joining if you get accepted! However, I think if you are applying to a lab, it wouldn't be out of the question to expect some ideas; now, this doesn't mean you have to come in with a grant proposal but I think talking about, say, future directions of where the research in the lab could go is a safe bet..

This is something I've struggled with as well! So far I only had a brief phone conversation with a POI, but was very aware of the increasing number of times I used "awesome" to respond to something he said. I was trying really hard to come up with words I wouldn't have also used in 1997 describe a Blink 182 album. Maybe "fantastic", "great" is better. OR better yet, don't use anything like that and instead dive straight into another (well tied-in) point?! P.S I will note that during the call I was reassured when the PI I spoke to used the word "stoked" to describe his findings...

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