I applied through college or university. The process took 3 days. I interviewed at UC Riverside (Riverside, CA) in Feb 2013
Interview
There was multiple interviews with different professors of your preference, a "social dinner", and multiple talks with current graduate students. One of the interviews will as the "hard questions" and determine if you will be accepted into the program.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Why did you apply to the Neuroscience Graduate program?