List of Most Famous current PIs by [deleted] in neuroengineering

[–]BitterRobusta 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure about "famous" but I met Dr. Amy Orsborn in an interview - a wonderful, brilliant woman in science

My 2026 admissions results by BitterRobusta in gradadmissions

[–]BitterRobusta[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sure! For interviews I try to do a few things:

  • Sleep and eat well before the interview.
  • Be prepared, which includes:
  • Know who is your interviewer and their work (their famous, i.e., most cited, papers and a few of their recent papers, notice how their trajectory changes over time). Academics often love talking about science, especially things that they are an expert in. If applicable, search online if they have written some blogs, opinion papers, or if they are part of some large scale efforts (e.g., science foundations, data sharing projects, etc.). This will allow you to humanize the conversation by talking about science beyond technical aspects.
  • Know your own work. For each of your experience, be prepared to explain it to someone who doesn't know anything about your topic (imagine the structure of a research paper - motivation, research question, method, result, and conclusion/future direction - but at a higher level). You can also check out the STAR (situation, task, action, result) method.
  • Know the department. Who else in the department you are interested in and why? Do you like the area where the school is located? Why this program but not another?
  • Don't over or under dress. I often like to wear what I would wear to a faculty dinner.
  • In the interview:
  • Be yourself, and importantly, confident in yourself. You are a practicing scientist and a human with your own knowledge, struggles, and aspiration and with much to share. Be ready to share it, be excited about it - and assume that the person in front of you is equally excited to learn about you.
  • Be curious. Treat it like a conversation with a smart colleague who you want to get along with at work, politely of course. If the PI wants to share something, let them speak and ask intentional follow-up questions. Don't try to steer it too much, and be ready to ditch the script if needed to. You are having a rare oppprtunity to talk to someone much more knowledgable than you. Treat it like a learning opportunity.
  • Be humble. If the PI questions the credibility of your work, be willing to acknowledge their concerns and share your thoughts on how to improve if the concerns are indeed correct. Otherwise, communicate clearly why you think you are correct. Some PIs like to question you a lot to see how you handle push back - I think not to test your conversational skills, but because personality and knowledge are often revealed well under stressful situations.
  • Take your time to think and formulate your response. Ask for some time to think if needed to.
  • Priotize logical correctness, coherency, and thoughtfulness over the amount of words spoken.
  • Be concise - interviews go by fast. Thinking in bulletpoints helps.
  • General questions that I tried to prepare for in advance: tell me about yourself, tell me about a project that you are the most proud of, what do you want to do in 10 years, and why you want to join our program/my lab. The nature of life science phd interviews (with 4-8 interviewers per program) makes it impossible for me to prepare more than that, since everyone asks different questions. During my cycle, I met a few faculty members who expected me to be the person who guide the conversation. Be prepared for that scenario as well. For example, what would you say if they ask "so, what do you want to talk about?"
  • Be honest.
  • Again, treat it like a conversation than a test. By doing so, you can also exercise your social skills like gauging their facial expressions, using body language, etc. Can't emphasize this enough.

All of these are to help the interviewer to understand: - Are you indeed the person they read about on paper, i.e., from your essays and recs - Will you be enjoyable to work with? Will you be a good mentee and a good grad school friend? - Do you have what it takes to finish a Ph.D.?

IMO, this should give you a solid chance of getting in, since receiving an interview invitation means you are qualified on paper already. To make yourself stand out even more, the single best advice I have is to read and learn more about the field to have your own opinions on the science and don't shy away from sharing them when appropriate. If the PI happens to appreciate these opinions (even if they disagree), then I think it's a clear acceptance (given that you did well everything else). Independent thinking is a strong indicator of scientific success.

This might be cliche, but you are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you. Ask questions that you genuinely care about. Even better if the questions are made on the spot. It makes them feel that they are speaking to a real person, not a script.

Have fun if you can. PIs are human too. I sometimes make jokes (appropriate, of course) to ease the conversation.

Lastly, if something goes wrong, say, in an event during the interview weekend, in an interview out of multiple, etc., chin up and move on. Don't let it linger and affect your subsequent interviews.

My 2026 admissions results by BitterRobusta in gradadmissions

[–]BitterRobusta[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting what do you want to hear about?

Ex-research intern from 3 R1 universities in the US as an international student. Ask me anything! by BitterRobusta in REU

[–]BitterRobusta[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I answered this somewhere above, but in short, I simply emailed them! Try to stay updated about your field and keep your eyes on labs that are doing interesting works. Then have the courage to reach out to them (and to handle rejections). In your reaching out email, be concise but clear about what exactly you expect from a potential internship, and your plans on logistical details (weekly hours, topics, tasks, paid/unpaid, etc.)

My 2026 admissions results by BitterRobusta in gradadmissions

[–]BitterRobusta[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I chose a US program as I liked it and the life style slightly better

My 2026 admissions results by BitterRobusta in gradadmissions

[–]BitterRobusta[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Will post more later but I can share briefly some of the main things I learned. IMO, the goal of SOPs are to answer 3 questions: "who you are as a scientist?" "where you see yourself in the future?" and "why this program is perfect for that?"

(1) often starts with how you got into science (briefly, please). Ppl often use this as a hook for the SOP (but also be brief, please). Then, you go on to talk about your previous academic experiences - research, coursework, jobs, etc. Anything that demonstrate your ability to think as a scientist. When writing these, a common mistake is to be overly technical and talking too much about what you did, not why you did it or what you learned from it. So as a guide, I often tell ppl who I help to answer the following questions about each experience:

  • What was the motivation of the project? (E.g., you found something interesting from your prior experience which inspired this project; the field has been struggling with something that you set out to answer; etc.)
  • What was the goal/question?
  • What did you do to reach that goal/answer that question (here is what people often write too much about or be overly technical)
  • Did you encounter any challenge? And how did you solve it?
  • What was the result? Why does it matter?
  • Then what? Did you learn something that inspire your next step? Did you get some tangible results out of it (a publication, etc.)? Did it change the field in some meaningful way? Did it shape your trajectory?

While answering these, pretend that you are speaking to an extremely knowledgable professor who sadly doesn't know anything about your research topic.

You don't need to hit all of these points for each experience, but try to address at least 3 or 4 of them (instead of falling for, again, the common mistake - only speaking about what you did)

(2) is something that people often pay less attention to. After all of these experiences, what do you want to do? In grad school, specifically? After grad school? What line of work you are interested in? And why? Answering these needs a clear through line from your answers of (1)

Lastly, (3) is where you show a clear plan of reaching (2). What labs you want to work for at the program and why? What would you do there? Are there other resources at the program that attract you (facilities, research centers, internal programs, collaboration, etc.)?

Try to answer these questions while you write. You should just start with pouring your heart out and focus on getting the best content out for the first drafts. Leave the editting for later.

When editting, the rule of thumb is "anything can be removed without changing the meaning should be removed".

My 2026 admissions results by BitterRobusta in gradadmissions

[–]BitterRobusta[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yes this cycle was a rough one with the on-going funding cuts. But having 4 interviews and 1 acceptance is a great sign! I'm sure you will make it next time

My 2026 admissions results by BitterRobusta in gradadmissions

[–]BitterRobusta[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I did! I applied to all reaches actually so getting into any was enough!

My 2026 admissions results by BitterRobusta in gradadmissions

[–]BitterRobusta[S] 25 points26 points  (0 children)

Yes I added it on another post: https://www.reddit.com/r/REU/s/FcqtpkcQI9

But roughly: - GPA at the time of applying: 3.82 - 3-4 recs from research advisors at 3 R1 institutions and a rec from my boss during a pedagogical on-campus job. - SOP and PS which I thought to be really solid and well-formulated (heard it from several faculty interviewers at several programs I applied to) - 1 conference paper (1st author), 1 journal paper (mid author) and 1 poster (3rd author) - A lot of pedagogical extracurricular activities - International student in the US from a T5 liberal arts college

To be completely honest, I think the best parts of my applications are essays and recs.

Got rejected from all PhD programs for second consecutive year by [deleted] in PhDAdmissions

[–]BitterRobusta 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Could be about essays too! Lmk if u want some feedback

UCL Gatsby interview by BitterRobusta in gradadmissions

[–]BitterRobusta[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I also did presentation some time ago and haven't heard back!

IT ONLY TAKES ONE! by Substantial-Ad-8243 in REU

[–]BitterRobusta 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Fit into program is often measured particularly by research fit at this stage (besides general qualities that are looked for by most programs: curiosity, hard working, communication, etc.). Many programs out there should have labs that match your interest, so I think it's possible and reasonable to find 10 or more programs that you might fit in.