<p>@NeuroIm4 </p>
<p>I’m in a similar situation. I spoke to some internationals who had applied last year, and they told me that I should’ve probably heard back from potential schools by now. </p>
<p>Fortunately, the person I heard back from is a PI who is very high on my list.</p>
<p>@droy4269 congrats on all of your interviews. This question goes to you and all other international applicants: Even though I was not prepared to submit my applications before the deadlines, I would like to ask if you submitted them well before or around the deadline, especially those of you who got positive results. I didn’t know that but realized by the immediate interview offers that most schools are probably doing rolling admissions even if they do not clearly mention it.</p>
<p>@greekbio in most universities that’s not how it works. Professors usually take the whole pile of apps with themselves during the break (or at least that’s how my pi does it). The committee then meets when they get back and make the decisions. As a side note, some professors do some reviews during the thanksgiving break so they dont have a big load for December but this is rare</p>
<p>thank you @pharmnerd 
That kind of takes the edge off a bit. I just really hope my official GRE subject test scores made it before winter break (around 23rd of Dec, right?), i did self report them around the 16th of Dec, once they were available. My worry is that since i’m international and in my country in general there is no such thing as the equivalent of a 4.00GPA, we strive for a 3.00, I was relying heavily on my subject GRE to prove somehow my competence in academics, so I hope it made the applications before they were taken for review… fingers crossed :-s</p>
<p>I am assuming you knew your scores and wrote them down during the application. Professors usually just see (and make their decisions) based on what YOU wrote down (that’s why you self report your scores). After the admission decision is made, the graduate school is the one that actually verifies that all the information that you put down is correct (so they will look your scores, transcripts etc and see that your numbers match your self report - if not the decision would be revoked). As for your gpa, you usually put the scale. Professors tends to be very familiar with many grading scales (specially from overly represented countries) so I wouldn’t worry too much. At this point they have all your information and there’s not much you can do but wait (I know it’s painful -being there and done that). Good luck!</p>
<p>something else… does anyone of you guys have an opinion on the University of Medicine and Dentistry New Jersey (Newark). I got invited for their Open House (means accepted already!?), but I wonder what your opinion is on them as a school… and what in comparison to getting a PhD in Europe (where I essentially already got accepted too).</p>
<p>thank you @pharmnerd. I didn’t write it down myself, the application had to be submitted before scores were available, so I emailed the departments once I had them (dec 16th) and they responded to me that it was added to my application. Whenever it was possible, I omitted my GPA so the graduate department could take care of that hairy mess, I don’t want to be considered to be misleading anybody, so they can just do it with their own scale for that matter. Was that bad on my part?</p>
<p>@NeuroIm4
I can comment on the PhD in Europe part. In Europe the general rule of PhDs is that you contact professors directly in order to get a PhD, so when you are in talks you know beforehand the scientific area you will be focusing on, and quite frequently, you know pretty much what your exact project would be. Also, no rotations, no courses, you cut to the chase. So a European PhD in a way is more guided that a US PhD were you pretty much investigate every step of the way, rotations, finding a mentor, doing preliminary research, doing a thesis proposal etc. In Europe, your professor is very close, keeping an eye on your work. It’s not easier per se, but the general consensus is that US= more autonomous, promotes independence Europe= very focused from day one, close guidance by professor. But that is always the generalized idea of how it works, doesn’t apply to every case.</p>
<p>@greekbio
Thanks for your info, but that’s something I know since I am from Europe. I was more wondering about how future employers look at someone having a PhD from UMDNJ versus any university in Europe… I essentially sort of got accepted in Europe and in the US… Still have interviews, for example at Columbia and A. Einstein. If I get accepted at Columbia, of course, I’ll go there. If not, should I choose for UMDNJ or Einstein (assuming that I’d be accepted), or for a PhD in Europe (a very nice project!)… What is the general opinion on getting a PhD at UMDNJ?</p>
<p>Intl who went to school in US</p>
<p>interview (all neuro except berkeley):
UCSF
Harvard
Columbia
Berkeley biophysics
Yale
Princeton
Rockefeller (accepted)
Northwestern</p>
<p>Waiting on:
Caltech neuro
Harvard biophysics</p>
<p>Given up on:
Stanford Neuro (will probably call them tmr)
UCSD (i called and they told me they put me on some kind of international waitlist. i get the sense that if international students do not have outside funding, ucsd neuro is a goner. i’d love for someone to prove me wrong though… that’d be very inspiring)</p>
<p>@BrainWindow</p>
<p>Could you post your stats and area? Thanks!</p>
<p>So far so bad. Rejected from MIT CSBi and Berkeley Biophysics.
Still no word from the rest.</p>
<p>Starting applications for the UK and Switzerland (maybe Germany, but I’m not sure I want 4 years of sausages). Applications process again, oh joy…</p>
<p>Fortunately, I have found the perfect musical accompaniment for gritted perseverance:
[Russian</a> Red Army Choir - Farewell of Slavianka. - YouTube](<a href=“Russian Red Army Choir - Farewell of Slavianka. - YouTube”>Russian Red Army Choir - Farewell of Slavianka. - YouTube)
[??? ??? ??? - YouTube](<a href=“Гимн защиты Отечества - YouTube”>Гимн защиты Отечества - YouTube)
[??? ???, ??? ???. (Belaia armiia, chiornyj baron) - YouTube](<a href=“- YouTube”>- YouTube)
The Red Army Choir. It wins wars :). Enjoy.</p>
<p>Mount Sinai interview invite. They let me choose between an in-person interview or a phone (skype) interview. So excited I couldn’t sleep yesterday.</p>
<p>Congrats Dengue2011, good news gives hope to the rest of us :-)</p>
<p>To those internationals who applied to Berkeley Biophysics, and got an interview, you must be pretty good. Apparently this year 40% of their applicants were international, and we were competing for “1-2 places”. Goddamn.</p>
<p>i think it really varies by place. most of the ivies are very friendly towards internationals due to good funding. rockefeller loves internationals because all their funding is private and they have a buttload of money. UCs on the contrary are hard to get into, being public and being ****ted on by the economy (with UCSF being the exception). i also heard stanford is really bad for intls.</p>
<p>in comparison to MD and MD/PhD cycles, i can tell you that the phd process for internationals is incredibly welcoming in comparison. not much to complain about.</p>
<p>@greekbio</p>
<p>Thanks!!!</p>
<p>Stanford Neuro - Interview via email on 1/19/2012
MIT BCS - Interview via email on 1/20/2012
Harvard Neuro - Acceptance via phone on 1/27/2012</p>
<p>Looks like people are hearing back from Jan interviews - Best of luck to all international students!</p>
<p>@droy</p>
<p>are you international? Do you mind posting stats and/or general area (experimental/computational)? Thanks!</p>
<p>@neurotheory</p>
<p>yes, international student in the US. area of interest/research is systems and behavioral neuroscience.</p>