kiakian

About UW-
I actually inquired about their program this time last year. They told me they get about 900 applications every year, and they are lucky if they can even get through half of them. They were pretty curt with me, telling me they know of students who have published in Neuron and been rejected from their program. The additional response I got was "Seattle is a desirable place to live, attracting many people form all over the world, therefore we have to be incredibly selective and can't possibly get through all the applications".
 
My Spouse and I considered moving there for postdoctoral opportunities and the students I met hated the program and were very unhappy with their projects/mentorship. They LOVED the area but hated going to work. We knew faculty members who had gone there for postdoctoral opportunities and felt the same.
 
BTW- not sure if you know this but University of Wisconsin poached a lot of UW's faculty, 4 of them have moved there in the past 4 years and they just keep poaching. So you can always apply to UW. 
 
PM me about your Utah interviews, I was there for 5 -6years and my spouse graduated from that program.
Good luck!

I remember seeing this while applying and being very worried about my own UW application. Just wrapped up an interview here and I wanted to reassure future applicants. I'm not sure where the 900 number came from. The neuroscience program received over 300 applications (can't remember the exact number but I heard this from a professor on the committee). 
Also didn't talk to a single professor who didn't love going to work.

Thanks and congrats!

Thanks for the advice everyone!
I took the gre awhile back but just remembered to update this in case anyone with the same question stumbles across this. I used my extra time to focus on writing things down during the math section. I wrote down every step while solving the problems and that actually helped a lot. I ended up with a 169V 166Q which was better than my practice tests. I would totally recommend using the scratch paper as much as possible if you're having trouble with careless errors.

I think the UW emails might be somewhat rolling. I saw people posting about UW before my interview invite email came through. Good luck and congrats!

Just heard from Northwestern as well. Congrats everyone!