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I don't know about Boston but I'm pretty sure that Pitt accepts international students. And I know Carnegie Mellon (CMU's neighbor) does as well. I got a call from Northwestern on Friday, but I haven't heard anything from anyone else, and none of my friends who have applied to PhD programs have heard anything as well.

16 schools is a LOT of schools. Why don't you narrow it down to just neuro or just BME or just bio design? Also, you could move some of your BME schools to be "safety" for neuro; for instance, UPitt and BostonU could be neuro safeties (I use the term safeties loosely). But you really should cut some schools.

Yes, it was due Dec. 1 and I submitted Nov 30th, and my last rec went in Dec 1st. In the call they said they did an initial passthrough of the applicants and my "application stood out." So I'm guessing they just looked at top GPA/GREs and have only evaluated them so far

Got a call from northwestern neuro!!! They invited me to their first round of interviews in January!!! So excited!!

Can't help it if the CNS is the most interesting system I thought about applying to straight bio, but in some cases (can't remember which specifically), you don't have access to all the neuro people from the bio program

I read yesterday that Upenn neuro only admitted 16/250 people last year. wondering if I'll get in anywhere...

Anyone hear anything yet? Last year the first people heard on the 8th (from UCSD I think?)

mine just says: Thank you for completing the online portion of your application to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at the Coumbia University Medical Center for Fall 2012. We hope our new online system has made the application process a smooth one and we look forward to receiving the rest of the materials to complete your application.

Nevermind again, spoke to soon. The website says "You can check the status of your application and supporting documents, including letters of evaluation, by going to the section titled "Downloadable Forms" and clicking on "Application Status" in the ApplyYourself online application." But I don't have a link that says application status

Nevermind, found it

Stupid question-- where can I check? When I log into the application it just says it's been submitted. Do I need to go to a different page?

I just asked because I'd qualify if it was for gay students, but not if it was for gay related work Always looking for Fulbright backups

I'm assuming the GLBT scholarship is for GLBT related work, not just to GLBT students, right?

Are you applying through the med school for Penn also? I am, and there are three separate essays. One asks for you to describe all the techniques you used. Why??? Haha, I actually hardly had to do any manipulating to get 750 on the page. Times New Roman, 11.5. Made sure all of my paragraphs didn't have just one or two words on the last line, etc. Little things like that.

PhD programs also.... and I'll hear from them before the Fulbright, which is insane

Do we learn exactly on January 30th? I hate this wait.

Yes, I am just giving general information. I personally think the Penn statement(s) are pretty dumb. They are looking for grad students but the questions are like if they are trying to find a lab tech. I'm just going to add a little extra information from my standard essay. Listing techniques seems extraneous and boring to me; plus they can see than on my CV. For columbia, I decided to cut it to one page and leave it at that, even though it's longer than 500 words (it's about 750). Cutting it any more would leave out too much information. I figure one page is a good guideline

Arg, don't know what to do. I really can't see cutting my statement beyond 1000 words. Getting it to that length was hard enough. I emailed one woman who is the coordinator for my specific program (neuro) and she said keep it around 500 words. But then I emailed the general program and the assistant dean wrote back that any length was fine. Does anyone know who actually reads the application?

Undergrad Institution: top technical university in the US Major(s): biology Minor(s): biomedical engineering GPA in Major: 3.85 Overall GPA: 3.78 Position in Class: we don't get class rank but I'm guessing near the top Type of Student: female GRE Scores (revised): Q: 168/96% V: 163/93% W: 6/99% B: Research Experience: 3 years of research at my university + 3 summers of research including 2 REU programs. one small publication on a paper with many authors Awards/Honors/Recognitions: I'm on a half tuition merit scholarship at undergrad Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: studied abroad for a semester? don't know if that helps Special Bonus Points: some grad classes this year, but those won't show up on my transcripts. Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Applying to Where: Neuroscience at Columbia, Rockefeller, Harvard, MIT, UPenn, UChicago, Northwestern, WashU, NIH

She just said keep it to 500 words, a little over won't hurt but try to keep it around that length

Heard back, 500 words it is. Darn! Cutting down can be harder than just writing...

Great! Let us know what s/he says!

Thanks... I've scoured all around and haven't found another essay... Also still waiting for an email response but haven't heard anything. What field of biology are you looking at?

My verbal was also below the estimated. Estimated was 97-99%, and I got 93%

yeah, to clarify, I am doing a bio PhD (not MD), but biomed sciences are through the med school