2023 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admissions Results

[aspiringphd01]

10 hours ago, neurogradapp said:

Does anyone know if UW sends out secondary invites ever? I have heard nothing of rejection, but did not get the email last week either. Anyone hear from Duke Neurobiology or NIH GPP @ Brown yet?

I was invited to interview for both the UW Neuroscience and Duke Neurobiology programs. I'm not sure if they are done sending invites, but the UW interview is on Feb 14-16 and Duke is on Feb 2 or Feb 3 (they haven't decided which one yet).

[aspiringphd01]

15 minutes ago, Neurosa said:

Does anyone else still waiting to hear back from UCSD? I still haven’t received a rejection nor an interview invite but the spreadsheet says the department has finished notifying all applicants? 

I wouldn't trust the spreadsheet (anyone can update it and it seems wrong sometimes), but I did receive an invite to UCSD on a mass email. I have no clue if they are done with invites and just haven't finished rejecting people or if they are going to do another round of invites. Good luck!

Edited December 23, 2022 by aspiringphd01
grammar

[anxiousgradapp]

34 minutes ago, aspiringphd01 said:

I was invited to interview for both the UW Neuroscience and Duke Neurobiology programs. I'm not sure if they are done sending invites, but the UW interview is on Feb 14-16 and Duke is on Feb 2 or Feb 3 (they haven't decided which one yet).

Thanks for the info! Sounds like I'm lucky I got any interviews at all, it's been a very competitive round!

[neurophdhopeful]

Hey all! Does anyone know if Princeton or UCLA send out multiple rounds of invites for their Neuro PhD programs? Or has anyone heard from Hopkins Neuro? Thanks!

Edited December 23, 2022 by neurophdhopeful

[aspiringphd01]

8 minutes ago, neurogradapp said:

Thanks for the info! Sounds like I'm lucky I got any interviews at all, it's been a very competitive round!

For real! Pretty much every invitation email has said that they received a record number of applicants. I consider myself very lucky to have more than 1 interview!

[anxiousgradapp]

2 minutes ago, aspiringphd01 said:

For real! Pretty much every invitation email has said that they received a record number of applicants. I consider myself very lucky to have more than 1 interview!

Ditto! You sound like you got some great interviews  Good luck on them!!

[neurophdwannabe]

17 hours ago, neurosciencePhD said:

Anyone hear back from Tufts Neuroscience?

I got an email for an interview invite on Monday the 19th! 

[neurobrainiac]

1 hour ago, Neurosa said:

Does anyone else still waiting to hear back from UCSD? I still haven’t received a rejection nor an interview invite but the spreadsheet says the department has finished notifying all applicants? 

I didnt apply, but I have seen a lot of applicants having to check their UCSD portal.

[Neurosa]

5 minutes ago, neurobrainiac said:

I didnt apply, but I have seen a lot of applicants having to check their UCSD portal.

I have checked my portal several times with no update… 

[neurobrainiac]

11 hours ago, neurogradapp said:

I received an invite from Vanderbilt on Tuesday, not sure if they're going to send out more or not?

Was it for Neuro? They said something about preliminarys before interviews. I am curious as to how that looks.

[anxiousgradapp]

1 minute ago, neurobrainiac said:

Was it for Neuro? They said something about preliminarys before interviews. I am curious as to how that looks.

yes, neuro. virtual interview in January, if you get past that round you go in person (most likely) in February. they said they had a huge number of exceptionally strong applicants, this post-covid thing has grad school *extra* competitive with all the people who waited out covid to apply!

Edited December 23, 2022 by neurogradapp
extra clarification

[funk_engine]

Minnesota's interview weekend conflicts with both Pitt and UChicago. Anyone else having the same problem? The person who sent the email for UMN hasn't gotten back to me about it yet.

[Neurolucida]

1 hour ago, neurophdhopeful said:

Hey all! Does anyone know if Princeton or UCLA send out multiple rounds of invites for their Neuro PhD programs? Or has anyone heard from Hopkins Neuro? Thanks!

Im fairly sure Princeton PNI is done sending invites. Very small program (5-6 spots) with 500+ applications and a very high matriculation rate, so they send very few interview invites

[etienne47]

Has anyone heard from U of Oregon, UC Irvine, Davis, or Santa Barbara? (Neuroscience)

[riverofthemind]

quick question, as a newbie: how significant is it to get an interview? hypothetically if you get an interview from WashU or MIT, what are your chances of getting in and what percentage of applicants get invited from these two schools?

[NeuroscienceTheoretically]

3 hours ago, riverofthemind said:

quick question, as a newbie: how significant is it to get an interview? hypothetically if you get an interview from WashU or MIT, what are your chances of getting in and what percentage of applicants get invited from these two schools?

It is extremely significant to get an interview; you can't get in without one! However, many schools are changing the way they interview so no one quite knows how to assess it. Traditionally, an interview was only in-person and they would have offers dependent on yield rate. If the school had low yield, they might offer everyone they interview; if they were high yield, they might have offers for only half or less. Post-pandemic, schools have realized that students are willing to do virtual interviews so some are now exclusively virtual which allows for many more invites than applicants. Other schools (like MIT this year) are doing two rounds: virtual first round and an in-person second round.  A place like MIT (or other comparably tiered school) is high-yield so you will probably have about as many offers as there are in the incoming class size which is similar year-to-year.

Admits this year have been extraordinarily competitive so top schools are seeing sub-5% admissions rates

Edited December 24, 2022 by NeuroscienceTheoretically

[lowestprime]

6 hours ago, riverofthemind said:

quick question, as a newbie: how significant is it to get an interview? hypothetically if you get an interview from WashU or MIT, what are your chances of getting in and what percentage of applicants get invited from these two schools?

Less than it used to. In 2021, UCSF admitted under half of the people they interviewed.

Edited December 24, 2022 by lowestprime

[aspiringphd01]

2 hours ago, NeuroscienceTheoretically said:

It is extremely significant to get an interview; you can't get in without one! However, many schools are changing the way they interview so no one quite knows how to assess it. Traditionally, an interview was only in-person and they would have offers dependent on yield rate. If the school had low yield, they might offer everyone they interview; if they were high yield, they might have offers for only half or less. Post-pandemic, schools have realized that students are willing to do virtual interviews so some are now exclusively virtual which allows for many more invites than applicants. Other schools (like MIT this year) are doing two rounds: virtual first round and an in-person second round.  A place like MIT (or other comparably tiered school) is high-yield so you will probably have about as many offers as there are in the incoming class size which is similar year-to-year.

Admits this year have been extraordinarily competitive so top schools are seeing sub-5% admissions rates

I was invited to interview for MIT BCS, and they are only doing one round of interviews (virtually) in March. If you're admitted, you are invited to go visit in-person "at a time that's convenient to you with costs covered by the department."

I agree that at a lot of top programs, you should not count on getting accepted if you are offered an interview. A friend of mine a few years back was interviewed at several top schools and was rejected from all of them. I plan on practicing quite a bit for my interviews because I don't want to have regrets!

[NeuroscienceTheoretically]

18 minutes ago, aspiringphd01 said:

I was invited to interview for MIT BCS, and they are only doing one round of interviews (virtually) in March. If you're admitted, you are invited to go visit in-person "at a time that's convenient to you with costs covered by the department."

I agree that at a lot of top programs, you should not count on getting accepted if you are offered an interview. A friend of mine a few years back was interviewed at several top schools and was rejected from all of them. I plan on practicing quite a bit for my interviews because I don't want to have regrets!

Ah this is right my bad I misinterpreted what I was told by a friend on BCS recruitment. I was just told there would be two events (the first virtual and second in-person) but I clarified that only the first is an interview. As a little tip for a reward, I've been told that BCS strongly prefers those that make MIT known as their top choice. Makes sense given that lots of their applicants have good options especially with a peer institution (Harvard PiN) nearby.

In the year that I interviewed, all my schools had an offer rate of about half or less. Granted, they offered those who were top of the interviewees with the highest levels of interest (i.e. no offers to those with "better offers" and only those below that that indicated the interviewing school as their "top choice"). Lots of jockeying for good students and yield protection for those considered "out of reach".

Edited December 24, 2022 by NeuroscienceTheoretically

[aspiringphd01]

29 minutes ago, NeuroscienceTheoretically said:

Ah this is right my bad I misinterpreted what I was told by a friend on BCS recruitment. I was just told there would be two events (the first virtual and second in-person) but I clarified that only the first is an interview. As a little tip for a reward, I've been told that BCS strongly prefers those that make MIT known as their top choice. Makes sense given that lots of their applicants have good options especially with a peer institution (Harvard PiN) nearby.

In the year that I interviewed, all my schools had an offer rate of about half or less. Granted, they offered those who were top of the interviewees with the highest levels of interest (i.e. no offers to those with "better offers" and only those below that that indicated the interviewing school as their "top choice"). Lots of jockeying for good students and yield protection for those considered "out of reach".

Thanks for this! I have gotten a wide variety of advice. Some people have even mentioned it's good to be "non-committal" to have a better chance of getting departmental fellowship offers. But I think they said that because I have a tendency of acting way too interested in everything lol. Someone else told me that if I'm asked where else I applied or where else I'm interviewing, I should be vague.

I plan to err on the side of being too interested though.

[NeuroscienceTheoretically]

1 hour ago, aspiringphd01 said:

Thanks for this! I have gotten a wide variety of advice. Some people have even mentioned it's good to be "non-committal" to have a better chance of getting departmental fellowship offers. But I think they said that because I have a tendency of acting way too interested in everything lol. Someone else told me that if I'm asked where else I applied or where else I'm interviewing, I should be vague.

I plan to err on the side of being too interested though.

I think that's terrible advice honestly. Non-committal or vague sounds like you're hiding that you don't really want to go there and are just interviewing for fun/practice (in previous years, students would do it for the food and flight). I received two fellowships attached to two of my offers because I acted very interested (which I was) and never intimated that I was non-committal. I got those fellowships (they had one or two to give out each year) because I was on the high-end of their typical interviewees but also was interested enough they knew I wasn't a lost cause. Programs WANT students who are interested! Acting like you're too good for MIT isn't really a winning strategy. There's always a bigger fish when you're at the top. Every year there's some absolutely bonkers students that have crazy shit like a Nature/Science/Cell first author. Besides, which will they have an easier time rejecting, the student who is ambivalent about their program or the student whose dream it's been to go to MIT? If you don't believe me, then take it from my friend on BCS recruitment this year: "we like people who really want to come here". It might be MIT but remember that they're still competing against Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, etc so they're still concerned about getting you to accept as well. I'm at a highly-coveted (but not as high as those) school and our top criterion during interviews is "what's their level of interest?". Acting too good for the other party doesn't work in dating and it doesn't work in grad admissions either.

Edited December 24, 2022 by NeuroscienceTheoretically

[aspiringphd01]

1 hour ago, NeuroscienceTheoretically said:

I think that's terrible advice honestly. Non-committal or vague sounds like you're hiding that you don't really want to go there and are just interviewing for fun/practice (in previous years, students would do it for the food and flight). I received two fellowships attached to two of my offers because I acted very interested (which I was) and never intimated that I was non-committal. I got those fellowships (they had one or two to give out each year) because I was on the high-end of their typical interviewees but also was interested enough they knew I wasn't a lost cause. Programs WANT students who are interested! Acting like you're too good for MIT isn't really a winning strategy. There's always a bigger fish when you're at the top. Every year there's some absolutely bonkers students that have crazy shit like a Nature/Science/Cell first author. Besides, which will they have an easier time rejecting, the student who is ambivalent about their program or the student whose dream it's been to go to MIT? If you don't believe me, then take it from my friend on BCS recruitment this year: "we like people who really want to come here". It might be MIT but remember that they're still competing against Stanford, Harvard, Princeton, etc so they're still concerned about getting you to accept as well. I'm at a highly-coveted (but not as high as those) school and our top criterion during interviews is "what's their level of interest?". Acting too good for the other party doesn't work in dating and it doesn't work in grad admissions either.

I completely agree with you. I didn't realize that being vague about where I'm interviewing would show disinterest in the program... I thought it would show that I just want to focus on THEIR program while I'm interviewing there, so that's good to know it can come off like I'm hiding something! Honestly, I just feel fortunate to have interviews at top schools because I don't think I'm a "stand out" applicant by any means.

[meonha158]

Does anyone know whether UCLA, UCB and Upenn have done sending out invitations?

[Neurolucida]

Just realized I got Johns Hopkins neuro interview last night!

[Diderot]

Question: do y'all select the full 7 profs for interview day or just the 2 or 3 profs you said you would like to work with in your application? I'm struggling to decide. Thanks!