Spoke with PI before applying

3 years academic post-bac research, 1 year undergrad research. 3 pubs, 1 first author. 2 big conferences + some smaller ones, presented posters at all. Undergrad GPA not great, but from strong school. LORs strong. Never heard back from program regarding any decisions, so presumably a rejection haha.

3 years post-bac, 1 year undergrad research experience. 3 papers, 1 first author. 2 well-known conferences + some smaller group conferences (5 posters). Received invitation to interview in mid-December. Had online interview in mid-January, with multiple dates to chose from which is nice because most schools don't give you a say in that. After online interview, had an in-person interview day at the end of February. There were only a couple program slots due to American govt funding problems so most people (including myself) were waitlisted.

Received an email late January/early February to invite for in-person interview a couple weeks later. Interviewed on a Friday, received an email from dept head that Monday or Tuesday offering admission. DBS is direct entry so they gave me a couple of labs to chose from.

Applied in early April. M.S. CogNeuro. Sent email to check online portal.

Cold email to PI and research alignment made a great impact on my application.

Accepted from waitlist. Date is accurate, it was super late dont give up hope.

No funding

Email from PIs. Official letter from website on March 6th.