rbroni88

Wegmans and Family Dollar. Furniture is expensive here so a lot of people drive to Ikea in Canada

Hi there, PhD student in Biomedical sciences here--I live in Amherst which is basically where North Campus is and south campus is just south. Live in this town, Elmwood/Allentown are a clusterf*** in winter time. Amherst they actually clear the roads and fill potholes. Also a lot of the good bars are in Amherst if you want a quality drink. More happening places are in Elmwood but I would not want to live in the area, it is a mess.

There are a lot of neuro programs that are part of psychology departments. They are often under the name of Behavioral Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Experimental Psychology, Neuroethology, etc... that being said they are rather tough to get into. I am currently in a neuro lab and I did not have very much research experience in molecular biology and neurochemistry during my undergrad or masters but I will say that it may be beneficial to take some of these classes prior to applying to these types of programs. You will make yourself look better and you will not have to research how that technique works as much. Neuroscience is very interdisciplinary--right now I am in an addiction lab and am learning to synthesize genes. One year ago I did not even have the slightest clue how to do this.

I do like the program and teaching myself but some things are just a little harder than others. It is kind of like trying to play intense classical piano without knowing any of the notes but I am trying Question for you more seasoned folk--If I do rather bad in a class are they going to make me retake it? Or are they going to put me on academic probation and/or give me the boot? My ideal solution is to audit an undergraduate level class in the spring, bring myself up to speed and retake the class next fall.

Did I know this was going on--sort of. I assumed that these classes would be divided throughout the year a little better. The real issue is that we started right in the middle of the text book (for all classes actually) and there was no introductory material (I know it's grad school but when half of your class have MAs in biochemistry and the other half have no experience--try and at least make sure everyone is starting out on a similar page). I found myself using youtube lecture to teach myself the basics and then ended up losing a lot of time that could have gone towards the new material... I do agree but I have received the lowest scores on two exams so far this semester. I have seriously never had any issues with classes in the past (not even ochem or molecular neuro). The PI at the moment is great and she teaches me everything I need to know (biochemistry specific to our needs) and it flows. It is the 30-40 hours in the lab followed by trying to study for these classes which makes me lose sleep and then turn into a zombie the next morning that really makes me doubt my sanity.

I do not have a permanent advisor yet--It's complicated. You select your official advisor at the end of the program but I do have a solid idea who it will be if I continue. She has of course been slammed lately and pretty much al the PIs have been stressed the past couple weeks because everyone has to submit their NIH grants by tomorrow. I am sure it gets better because everyone in their second, third, fourth....years seems less stressed but this is just miserable. For each class we have exams every two weeks and I am impressed with myself for being able to regurgitate 50-70% of the material without having any background in the subjects but to me this is embarrassing. The only class I have ever come close to doing so bad in was general chemistry I. I do not find time management to be an issue, granted I feel like I need an extra four hours a day to look up all the words I do not know. Right now I find myself just apathetic but hey at least I understand the biochemistry of why I am so energy deprived.

I am strongly considering leaving my PhD program in the biomedical sciences. I have become very frustrated that my program dictates what courses I have to take in my first year as they are more or less all the courses I have a very minimal background in. I do enjoy the classes but my grades are not quite up to what they should be considering there was no opportunity for me to take a less intense course (for example I am currently in a very advanced biochemistry class without any formal background). My background is primarily neuropsychology and and very little emphasis was placed on the molecular aspects of things. I am not sure if the program is worth all of the stress at this point because I can barely balance my lab work with my classes anymore. Anyone else in a similar boat? I am seriously considering taking next semester off and finding a new program to apply to next fall. The only issue is my funding is great and I really enjoy my lab but I cannot handle the excessive course load considering myself and a lot of others just do not have the background in these subjects.

Anyone else going to SUNY-Buffalo's PPBS recruitment weekend next Sunday? Also does anyone have anything positive/negative to say about it? Also, does anyone know if their stipend is for a TA or RA?

If you and you're wife were accepted to the same school it is a no brainer, go there. As my advisor always says, it does not matter so much where you go for your phd but where you go for your post doc. Him and his wife both went to the same school for their PhDs and Harvard for post docs. As others have said, San Francisco is beautiful but way too expensive for a family on a grad student stipend. Ann Arbor is also incredibly expensive and but a fun town.

Here is a question that I have been wondering about. Does it really matter what department you get a PhD in neuroscience from? I have applied to several schools, some of which that have neuroscience departments and others where it is through the psychology/biology/biomedical departments. The part that really confuses me is when schools have both a neuroscience and a behavioral neuroscience focus where nearly all the professors are the same. I discussed this with a potential POI and all he said was that at his university if you go through the psychology department you get some better funding opportunities. At the end of it all will, will it matter which department I went through?

Illinois neuroscience program just sent out apology letters for the first email so that was nice...however I received someone else's rejection letter as well. I am actually rather glad to not be part of a program like this simply based on impressions.

I made a huge booboo on one of my first applications--I accidentally wrote that I was born in 1998...I was too embarrassed to even let them know.

There was no subject and this is not even edited. The ... is how it came and to preface I am a male (I did not accidentally mark female in my app either, I checked) Dear Ms. ... , I am writing to let you know that we are unable to invite you to interview with us, and that most likely your application will be denied. Each year we receive high quality applications from many more students than we can admit, or even interview, and we must make difficult decisions about whom to interview. Thus, our decision does not mean that you are not fully qualified for graduate study, only that we have identified applicants who appear to be better qualified or more likely to fit in well with our program. I am sorry to give you this news, but I wish you success in finding the right graduate program and career path for you. Yours sincerely, Samuel N. Beshers, Ph.D. Neuroscience Program Coordinator University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Did anyone get accepted/interview invites to University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign's Neuroscience program? If so I am just curious what an acceptance letter reads like because their rejection letter was border-line offensive.

All situations are circumstantial but let me describe my experience working with a brand new professor: During my senior year of undergrad, we received a fantastic professor (research wise--it was amazing is all I can say, phenomenal neurobiologist) and I became his first student researcher. I worked with him for two semesters until I realized that he was very aggressive and could not take criticism very well at all. I had already committed to continue at the school for my MSc but I switched advisors and did not have much communication with this new professor for quite some time. Fast forward a year later--new professor quits halfway through the semester and abandons his grad students more or less. I have no idea what happened to the classes he was teaching but I am glad that I used my best judgement and worked with a different advisor. tl;dr new professor quit school after 4 1/2 semesters and left grad students to find a new mentor