International students PhD admissions

[M246]

Is it wise to email PhD Programs to inquire if they are done sending out invites? More specifically for biomedical sciences PhD programs. I am an international student and have only heard back from one of the 11 programs i have applied to. ?

[anxiousinternational]

2/14 here ?

[flippase]

1/6 ...

Does this happen every application cycle or is this year out of the norm? 

[Genom3]

To chime in on the sorrow, interview invite for only 1 program out of 9 (US ones). Most likely I'm rejected from 2, no clue about the rest 6. Please let us know if you end up mailing any programs. I guess its has become more competitive overall this year while the funding situation remains the same. 

Edited December 26, 2019 by Genom3

[flippase]

6 minutes ago, Genom3 said:

To chime in on the sorrow, interview invite for only 1 program out of 9 (US ones). Most likely I'm rejected from 2, no clue about the rest 6. Please let us know if you end up mailing any programs. I guess its has become more competitive overall this year while the funding situation remains the same. 

I was looking at your list of schools below and I also applied to UPenn BGS and USC...

Hope we hear something in January! 

[M246]

Ugh!! I will wait until after Jan 15th and then start emailing. Hopefully we hear something by then..  

[tbk86]

Same thing here waiting for BBS/Biomedical Sciences and Neuroscience programs at Brown,NYU,Penn State and Yale

[largeTantigen]

I would email if you do not hear back two weeks before the first interview date. Also check the acceptances database here on GradCafe, of course. 

[appcs2020]

International applicant here too, have only heard back from one program...fingers crossed that they only sent out domestic interviews first. Does any one know when Americans go back to work from their christmas break?

[M246]

In response to when Americans start working again, normal work hours resume on the 26th. However, people do tend to take more days off and that maybe why admission processing gets delayed.

[DRMF]

15 hours ago, appwccs said:

International applicant here too, have only heard back from one program...fingers crossed that they only sent out domestic interviews first. Does any one know when Americans go back to work from their christmas break?

Various offices at Harvard (including my program's admin office) have sent emails saying they're closed from Dec 23/24 - Jan 02. Some offices are closed till Jan 06. Staff may occasionally check emails and reply to truly urgent ones, but I wouldn't expect any news until at least Jan 02 or 03.

[neurolog]

applied to 8, rejected by all

[verdandi]

I don't know if allowing myself to have hope since I haven't heard from any of the programs is just fooling myself and I was actually rejected by all.  

UNC - BBSP (which I know has already sent a bunch of interviews emails, so I have accepted I probably didn't get in),
University of Virginia - BIMS,
University of Illinois - MCB,
Vanderbilt University - Biological Sciences,  
Case Western Reserve University - BSTP,
MIT - Biology (because I thought "why not?" haha)

I am BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science with +7 years of research experience, teaching assistant for +2 years, Master's GPA 4.0, presented my research work in 2 international congresses and many Brazilian ones, strong LORs, 3 different fellowships and studied for one year in Ireland. I really hope they are sending domestic emails first, because I haven't seen internationals getting emails except UNC. 

Edited December 31, 2019 by verdandi

[flippase]

22 hours ago, neurolog said:

applied to 8, rejected by all

I am so sorry to hear that... Please don't let that shake your confidence in your abilities, skills, and reasons for applying. Keep your head up and acknowledge that you gave it your all and more importantly had the courage to try. 

P.S. Where are you from? Neurolog is a word from my language so I was just wondering  

[pipettingerror]

@verdandi, I am also waiting on Vanderbilt from your list, along with every other place I applied to. I've emailed Vanderbilt regarding this, and if they respond I'll pass it on to you!  Getting quite jittery, but here is to hoping no news is good news for all of us! 

In case its of any help, a poster on a different forum mentioned they got in touch with Penn State, and the reply more or less confirmed that they review intl applicants later on in mid Jan. Perhaps this is true for other programs as well. You can see the post here- 

 

Edited December 31, 2019 by pipettingerror

[verdandi]

3 minutes ago, pipettingerror said:

I am also waiting on Vanderbilt from your list, along with every other place I applied to. I've emailed Vanderbilt regarding this, and if they respond I'll pass it on to you!  Getting quite jittery, but here is to hoping no news is good news for all of us! 

In case its of any help, a poster on a different forum mentioned they got in touch with Penn State, and the reply more or less confirmed that they review intl applicants later on in mid Jan. Perhaps this is true for other programs as well. You can see the post here- 

 

thank you so much! even though I am constantly trying to search "international" or related keywords here, I probably missed that post. let's hope it's like that for the other universities too! and if you hear about Vanderbilt, please share with us! 

[OncologyResearch]

Hey all!

International applicant here that also hasn't heard back from anywhere.

I've applied to NYU Sackler Biomedical Sciences, Johns Hopkins CMM, Penn State Biomedical Sciences, and Roswell Park Cancer Sciences.

Hopefully we find out more by the end of this week! I'll let you all know any news I hear. Hopefully no news is good news indeed!

 

[pipettingerror]

I have too much time on my hands so I did a sweep of the results page from this year's applications for Vanderbilt and UMich (because I applied here, and these two were the only two programs with enough posters for something resembling a data set) and no international student has reported any updates. I know international applicants are few in number and most probably don't access this website, but I am taking that to mean they haven't gotten to us yet ✌️

[verdandi]

4 minutes ago, pipettingerror said:

I have too much time on my hands so I did a sweep of the results page from this year's applications for Vanderbilt and UMich (because I applied here, and these two were the only two programs with enough posters for something resembling a data set) and no international student has reported any updates. I know international applicants are few in number and most probably don't access this website, but I am taking that to mean they haven't gotten to us yet ✌️

Oh, same situation here. It's summer break in Brazil so I have a lot of time to not only spend looking at those things but also to be anxious and not being able to stop thinking about these applications hahaha I mentioned  in my first comment that the only program that I applied which has sent interview invites to internationals is the UNC BBSP (and it is not even the specific area I applied for), so I imagine there's a pattern there. I wish there was a way to only see the international applicants updates. But let's hope all the universities are reviewing our applications in January! ?

[ndd23123]

4 hours ago, pipettingerror said:

I have too much time on my hands so I did a sweep of the results page from this year's applications for Vanderbilt and UMich (because I applied here, and these two were the only two programs with enough posters for something resembling a data set) and no international student has reported any updates. I know international applicants are few in number and most probably don't access this website, but I am taking that to mean they haven't gotten to us yet ✌️

I'm an international students and applied 4 years ago. I got an interview at both UMich and Vanderbilt. For PIBS at UMich, there are only 2 interview weekends in the end of January, all applicants come in on one of the two weekends. I believe international applicants are treated the same way as domestic ones. If it is possible for you to visit, i.e. you are currently in the US, and the admission committee decide to offer you an interview then you should have heard back already. Most programs do offer online interview if you're not in the US but I'm not sure when you would hear back regarding this. However, I believe all admission committees have met before the holidays so a decision should have already been made.

For Vanderbilt, there is an international scholar program that interviews all international applicants on one weekend (it was in mid February for me). Back then, the application deadline was Jan 15 so I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard back from them yet. Things could have changed since though.

[pipettingerror]

10 hours ago, ndd23123 said:

I'm an international students and applied 4 years ago. I got an interview at both UMich and Vanderbilt. For PIBS at UMich, there are only 2 interview weekends in the end of January, all applicants come in on one of the two weekends. I believe international applicants are treated the same way as domestic ones. If it is possible for you to visit, i.e. you are currently in the US, and the admission committee decide to offer you an interview then you should have heard back already. Most programs do offer online interview if you're not in the US but I'm not sure when you would hear back regarding this. However, I believe all admission committees have met before the holidays so a decision should have already been made.

For Vanderbilt, there is an international scholar program that interviews all international applicants on one weekend (it was in mid February for me). Back then, the application deadline was Jan 15 so I wouldn't be surprised if you haven't heard back from them yet. Things could have changed since though.

Hey, thanks for the info! On UMich's website it mentioned that the PIBS program is exclusively for US residents if I'm not wrong. International students have to pick a particular program, so I picked MCDB. That said, I'm guessing the AdCom is similar for both since MCDB is a subset, so maybe I have't heard back because I didn't make the cut. Let's see how it goes. 

The Vanderbilt program I applied to had a Dec 1 deadline, so maybe that looks bleak as well. 

[bht]

Hi everyone,

Are you planing to go on campus interviews or are you going to set a meeting over Skype? 

I got an on campus interview on Feb 5- Feb7. I will be actually in US until Feb 3. Do you think should I reschedule my flight and attend the interview?

Cheers

[ndd23123]

6 hours ago, pipettingerror said:

Hey, thanks for the info! On UMich's website it mentioned that the PIBS program is exclusively for US residents if I'm not wrong. International students have to pick a particular program, so I picked MCDB. That said, I'm guessing the AdCom is similar for both since MCDB is a subset, so maybe I have't heard back because I didn't make the cut. Let's see how it goes. 

The Vanderbilt program I applied to had a Dec 1 deadline, so maybe that looks bleak as well. 

So you're applying as a direct admit to MCDB? That committee might operate on a totally completely timeline. PIBS does accept international applications but certain programs don't. As long as you select one of the programs that do then you can still submit your application through PIBS. It's a little confusing, but every student has to select two programs of their top choice when they submit your application to PIBS. PIBS then forward applications to individual programs, who review them and make decisions. Then PIBS coordinates the interview and admission process. Some programs have their own application process in parallel to PIBS though so their timeline might be different.

I wouldn't lose hope on Vanderbilt though.

[pipettingerror]

14 hours ago, ndd23123 said:

So you're applying as a direct admit to MCDB? That committee might operate on a totally completely timeline. PIBS does accept international applications but certain programs don't. As long as you select one of the programs that do then you can still submit your application through PIBS. It's a little confusing, but every student has to select two programs of their top choice when they submit your application to PIBS. PIBS then forward applications to individual programs, who review them and make decisions. Then PIBS coordinates the interview and admission process. Some programs have their own application process in parallel to PIBS though so their timeline might be different.

I wouldn't lose hope on Vanderbilt though.

Yes I applied directly to MCDB. I tried to open an application for PIBS but on the first page itself it made it clear that it was for US citizens only. I didn't dig too deep either since I was interested in MCDB anyway and the PI I reached out to also said to apply to that program. Let's see, if I don't hear from them for another two weeks that will pretty much confirm it. But fingers crossed for both! Quite keen on both these programs. 

[pipettingerror]

In case anyone is waiting on Rutgers Biochem, I heard the committee will sit for review on 9th Jan. ?