The University of Delaware is trying a new approach to recruitment this year where each student was paired with a faculty member for a virtual interview to get to know the applicant better and answer any questions they might have.

No GRE, one pub (second author) in prep. GPA updated to 3.79 after fall '21. Zoom interview invite with faculty, dates TBD. Undergrad (also current highest degree) from US institution.

Unofficial invite from POIs and official invitation on same day

No GRE. Unofficial invite from PI (LJ) and formal invitate from director (JPL). I had strong LOR's, 3+ years research and teaching experience and a clinical internship.

No GRE

Unofficial invite from PI, said formal invitations will go out soon

For my application I had three strong letters of recommendation, a summer internship in industry during undergrad, departmental undergrad research, and was halfway through a gap year at an academic institution at the time of application. I didn't need to submit GRE scores.

Already accepted another offer from way better school.

FINALLY accepted off the waitlist!! So excited! I had lost all hope after the deadline but here I am! :)

I submitted my application on 16 Jan, and got interviewed on 1 Feb and a week later by 2 interviewers separately. I majored in Biotechnology as a undergraduate student and in Microbiology as a Master student both in China and I had 3 years of working experience as a researcher in a bio-reagent company. I wanted to apply to the biochemistry concentration but unfortunately the first interviewer was not satisfied with my synthesizing ability( I majored in biology as undergraduate and MS student). So I think this is why I got rejected on 20 April(today). And for other applicants, if you do the math(I mean use the data on this web in a statistic way), you will find that for each year, the time when the faculty informed the students who were rejected or accepted themselves(by phone or by email) are randomly distributed across a long period (from Nov. to April) , which means the two interviewers for each applicant (like my case) have very strong rights and don't have to negotiate with other faculty, and the admission committee is pro forma. So, we can get an assumption(based on the data on this web, many applicants got acceptance letter immediately after the interview or several days after the interview), that is: if you don't hear any thing from the facutly after the interview for more than 2 weeks, you get very very little chance to be admitted by this PhD program. Because the 2 interviewers for each applicant have very strong power for making a decision,if they like you, they will admit you immediately, and if they do not like you, they will let you go(LOL) and allow you to enter another PhD program at other universities, which means you are not qualified and they afford to lose you. In conclusion, I am willing to share my application experience and I wish you all the best.

I'm the same one who got a phone call from a professor -- just back with a funding update. They offered me full funding, a $20k stipend, and a spot in the Hagley Program (which I didn't originally apply to)! Congrats to everyone who got in!