thenerdypengwin

Thanks for all of your help! @dendy, I'm a bit concerned that my audience will not be neuro, so that is why I'm trying to make it a bit more accessible to people who do not have that background. Do you think they'll still understand glia? @Quant_Liz_Lemon, I was thinking about that. Is it necessary to site a book? If they wanted to look it up, his name should suffice. I also supplement it on my CV with the title.

Deadline is today and I cant figure out what parts to cut from my SoP. I need it too be under 3000 characters. Mine is over 6100 with spaces. Help!!! My laboratory involvement has had a profound impact on my interests as an aspiring researcher. I was introduced to my first lab after I participated in a study involving speech alignment. I drew a connection to a recent article about mirror neurons and shared it with my professor; thus, my newfound mentor directed me toward the auditory speech and perception lab. We correlatively studied audio-visual phenomena such as speech alignment and emotional congruency in the normal population. The overall focus of Dr. Rosenblum’s work is to explore higher-order perceptual phenomena, as described in his book. Ordinary people have the ability for what he calls perceptual superpowers; just as a blind person can use tactile stimuli, sounds, and even smells to see. This cross-modal sensory perception phenomenon has been demonstrated across all different sensory processes. Mechanistically, deficient sensory input can lead to multimodal plasticity and a reorganization of integrated afferents. This interesting culmination of Dr. Rosenblum’s research was not enough of a conclusion for me. How are these phenomena modulated? How specifically can you affect this modulation? These burning questions led me toward systems neuroscience. I wanted to qualify this behavior by quantifying something more tangible- the activity and plasticity of the brain. I found this next step in Dr. Hickmott’s lab in characterizing the neuroplasticity of the somatosensory cortex as a result of physical disruption of a specific stimulus (deafferentation) to that area. We could quantify plasticity by examining the border shift between two adjacent somatotopic areas in the cortex. In this model, the experimental variables could be isolated and controlled. It was a relief to work with a research question that was not complexly confounded by high variance in the population. Dr. Hickmott’s courses introduced me to possible mechanisms of the reorganization that had been a theme so far in my career. I studied normal neural organization and development in class with him as we investigated the properties of adult reorganization in lab. My favorite class, however, was his Neuropharmacology class. We began with cellular mechanisms and neurotransmitter modulation; we continued by discussing common and rare abnormal brain states and pathological brain diseases as it pertains to the modulation of circuits. The class opened my world of thinking, giving me the mindset to conceptualize every field in my interests and approach it in this way. Soon after, I applied this thinking in Dr. Machado’s lab at the Cleveland Clinic studying motor rehabilitation in the Lerner Research Institute. We experimented with different paradigms of electrode stimulation of deep cerebellar nuclei, a modulatory center of the motor circuit. We showed that stimulation here caused motor plasticity and reorganization that promoted rehabilitation after stroke or ablation. We further investigated the properties of neuronal activity at this target. The oscillations found at the deep cerebellar output nuclei during a specific movement are instrumental to describing the entire circuit’s modulation of movement. Evidently, the mindset of circuit modulation remained prevalent and pertinent in my subsequent classes and research endeavors. With this mindset, we can approach higher order complex problems such as the modulation of perception or cognition. Both perceptual and cognitive phenomena cannot thoroughly be explained without an investigation into the characteristics of higher order processing. Earlier on I became curious in the possibility of improving cognition via neuroglia. In my neurodevelopment class and post-doc seminars at the Cleveland Clinic, the broadness of its possibilities started to assemble. In Dr. Hickmott’s lab, we have begun to investigate the implications of microglia activation and process complexity in reorganization. As evident at this past Society for Neuroscience conference, research in neuroglia is rapidly expanding. This field is still in its molecular stages; but its applications could potentially thwart the progression of neurodegenerative diseases, such as by promoting the survival of dopaminergic neurons in Parkinson’s Disease. At the Cleveland Clinic, I was lucky to learn much from Dr. John Gale, currently working with MPTP-treated Parkinson primate models. His work involving deep nuclei like the nucleus accumbens and basal ganglia demonstrated that these middle order processes filter and integrate multiple modes of stimulus to produce a more complex response. I believe it is in these intermediate targets of circuits that we can study the manifestation of cognition and attention. I dream that my career’s culmination would be to discover how these circuits integrate and modulate behavior so that we might ultimately modulate circuits pharmacologically or electrically to enhance more favorable archetypes. This work in neuroplasticity could cure brain diseases or enhance normal functioning by reorganizing or modulating the strength of the different circuit components. It is encouraging that I have been exposed to three unique labs all involving some aspect of neuroplasticity. Moreover, my two most recent labs are two sides the same coin, studying the brain’s circuit processing of opposite tracts. Dr. Hickmott’s sensory work revolves around disruption in the incoming information to the somatosensory cortex; Dr. Machado’s motor work centers on prevention of outgoing information to the adjacent motor cortex. Reorganization has very different properties depending on various influential inputs. Even the reorganization during learning and the retention of memory can be functionally and physically different depending on associative stimuli and stimulation from neighboring circuits. While afferent information has less confounding influences, studying the efferent side, behavior, allows for an investigation into the influence of higher order modulation, albeit more complexly. I would like to continue to work in this field and let my interests and knowledge evolve.

What do I send professors as information about the programs I'm applying to? Also, my one school's deadline is in 2 weeks! But, they will not send out the request for recommendations until I submit the application. does this mean that they're not due on the 15th?

A year can be very valuable. Don't just think about getting in with professors... you wanna get to know them and their research and teaching style so that you can make a good decision about who you would like your career and the next 5 years of your life to rest with. Try internships or observe. Most PIs are too busy to really respond with substance in email. Moreover, if you can get to see the lab, you'll learn new techniques now and be able to compare the different options of lab experiences.

I'm wondering whether to describe all of my classes... It seems like a good idea. Describe what made your learning experience unique in one to two lines. But, it takes up a full page vs. a quarter page if I were to just list them.

I agree that a statement of purpose is NOT a personal statement. Unless you know otherwise, I'd take it out. You know what's personal to me? My research and career goals. And I write to show people my qualities. So many people list them off. That's what your writers of your letters of rec should do. Because they have reputation. Why would they believe your self assessment of yourself when you haven't demonstrated anything? It's a waste of words. Redundant and ineffective. I guess that was a rant too.

I did chronological on my CV, but I've got 5 letters... and 2 are usually required, 3 recommended. That means that I have to submit the last 2 as supplementaries and they might not get read. I read a short letter from my #1 slot today because he is trying to help me petition to take an additional grad course next quarter. He said I was "easily as good or better than a typical first-year graduate student". Maybe my first 2 will get me there, and the rest are just icing. I hope. I think I'm just biased by the amount of interaction and feedback I have with each professor. I'm leaning toward having that PI I've barely interacted with but worked for the longest as my 3rd and the professor who will definitely write something kick-ass as my 4th. I know it might not make or break it for me... but it might.

Oh I forgot. I have 5. The one I haven't worked for will give me a glowing rec. He's helping me write my SoP. But, he's only in a related field too. Idk whether he should be my 3rd or 4th, since I never worked with him. My friend who got into duke's Chem PhD program told me that if I didn't put him first that it'd make it seem like there's something wrong... because I did work for him for 2 years vs. 3-6 months.

The professor I worked for the longest is in a related, but not my exact field, it was the longest ago, and he was not very active in lab. I worked with him for 2 years, vs. 3-5 months for the 2 who know me better. Is it okay to put him as my 3rd reference?? I have a 4th.

Yes. Ask now while you still have a fresh impression. Let them know that you will not be applying for a while. Some professors would rather write it when you need it, so respect whichever option they would prefer. Keep in touch during your time before grad school with an update on your activities and progress. Make it short and sweet.

I think you're good. Just try and aim for 60th percentile at least. My practice test was 163 and 164. I tried to get it up to 167 with a prep course, but it didn't help. I ended up taking it twice getting about 156, improving by 1 point the second time. I'm hoping I'm okay, but my GPA is not good... something that they really look at.

Actually, I disagree. I think talking about your experiences is a great use of your SoP; but, I would go even more in depth. It's great that you learned about these things and you enjoyed it! Now... how have those opportunities prepared your for a graduate career? What would you like to focus on in your thesis? It's great that you have all this experience, but if you can bring it to the next level... show that you and your unique experiences have shaped you into a graduate candidate that they want to accept. Don't just focus on what you have done; now show them that you are enthusiastic about what you WILL do... and that they should be excited too.

Don't do it! ...if you want to do it, qualify their opinions. Do not attempt to invalidate others views. Then offer an alternative view. It's good to show that you have different thinking, but make sure not to sound closed minded. You're young in this field, don't attempt to assert that you know more than those with more expertise.

I'm scared of the length requirement too. I just finished my first draft and it's just over 1.5 pages. I think your thinking is right on the money. Don't tell them why they should accept you... show them. Your thinking makes you unique, so I think this is a great way to approach it.

How much can you divulge in describing your research about currently unpublished work?