Any places opening up this year?
Wondering with all the travel bans and people leaving cities if previously filled places might become available this year in the US? Obviously universities are in disarray so don't want to bother them at this time....Just wondering if there's any scope to start this year as now I have no work. Any ideas if this is feasible?


It sounds very unlikely. It is possible previous filled positions will not get filled -- that part is true (though I'm not sure I expect a very large effect here, as many will just join a program of their choice anyway despite not being able to visit). But they would not give the slot to some new person who did not apply earlier on the normal timeline.

Actually, PhD slots are always under or over filled from one year to the next -- it's expected. For example, a program might admit 100 students, but anywhere from 25 to 50 might actually join, which is a big difference. The way they compensate for this is by simply admitting a smaller or larger number of students the next year -- not by trying to fill the slots in the same year.