Jvcxk

I'd definitely like to hear more from people who have already gone on some interviews (official/phone/Skype) What were the toughest/most unexpected questions? How much did your knowledge if your area coke into play? Knowledge of your POI's work?

Short of subscribing to a bunch of professional journals, how do you stay on top of trends, directions, and the latest news in your field? Do you just search recent articles through databases, follow particular researchers?

I hope you get into your dream school! and I wouldn't be too worried about your science background, looks like you at least have some foundation in all the areas you need. My impression is neuroscience department neuro programs are really popular right now- lotssss of applicants. Neuro programs in the psychology have far fewer applicants, partly because a lot of these programs require a distribution of psych courses that aren't necessarily relevant to neuro/bio psych (I feel like this may put some applicants off because neuroscience is quite the complex subject and they want as much relevant training as possible). Anyway, I'm quite nervous about the interviews as well. I think they'll give you some leeway with English, as long as you can use scientific terminology correctly. Good luck to you too! Really cool that you've done work with TMS- I really think there's so much to be done with this technique. Are you interested in doing anything else with it?

mostly psychology department programs. I'm somewhat worried about my science background (or lack there of..), gen. bio I&II, anatomy & physiology I&II, handful of bio/cog psych type of classes. (Opted out of chemistry for a year of physics for some reason) My interests and most of my knowledge stem from independent work and research positions, but I feel like that's not enough for straight neuroscience programs. What about you? What are your research interests?

everyone else seems to have their own thread! I know there's just a few of us but if you wanna post any news or whatever, I thought this could be our place. I haven't heard anything yet, myself.... keeping my fingers crossed.

I didn't email any professors myself, though I do question my decision sometime. I think it can be helpful and I read a really great article months ago (wish I could find the link..) written by a professor on this topic. To summarize, he said professors are inundated with emails throughout the application season and if you want to have any positive impact on your application, you'll have something unique and interesting to say about their research (not a compliment, but a commentary/proposal/etc). It sounded like reaching out in any form won't hurt you, but that to truly make yourself stand out, you need to have something thoughtful to say, you need to flex your research muscles. On the other hand, I think emailing POIs just to see if they are accepting students is probably a good idea. I'm sure I could have saved an application fee or two if I had checked on this before applying.

Just chiming in because I'm in the cognitive/behavioral neuroscience area myself. My sense of things is that you should really consider the financial aspect of any masters program. While in certain areas of psychology, like clinical I believe, it's more or less normal to obtain a masters and then transition to a PhD program. In the neuroscience area, this is way less common. Few programs offer terminal masters in this area and I think part of the reason is because neuroscience PhD programs don't really accept the work you did for your masters, and it more or less becomes a waste of money. It sounds like you feel you need a stronger background in psychology to move onto a PhD program, which is totally reasonable, but there may be a more cost-effective method to do so. If you can obtain the necessary psych background, I don't think it matters much whether you did so in a degree program or not. So explore your options!

I've head that some applicants are asked to propose a project. Do you think the proposal should be viable for the lab you are applying to? Or just related "enough"? Also, I know some people included project proposals in their SOPs. I was not on of them, but if you are, would you riff on what you had already written? Or come up with something new entirely?

If I'm not accepted this year, I really want to get some training/take some classes so that I can work as a neuroimaging technician somewhere. (I'm a behavioral neuro person, so it's relevant and requires just enough skill that I won't be competing with lots of undergrads). That being said...I'm not sure where I would get this type of training outside of a graduate program. I figure I could pay per class at some grad programs, but of anyone knows of a more streamlined training program (or knows more about general requirements to be an imagining tech) let me know!

One additional thought- If it IS the case that students in the lab feel that their professor has this type of attitude- how likely are they to admit it? I know that if it was me, I would feel somewhat embarrassed and wouldn't really want to advertise it. So, even if asked directly, they might not admit to it unless they're willing to put the future of an unknown student over their own pride.

Hahahahahahahaha thanks for a good laugh. Halo effect definitely crossed my mind when I first posted this. To everyone- It's interesting how the interpretation of the question varies. I definitely don't think that majority of professors take attractiveness into account (beyond a clean, professional appearance). I'm not concerned that my looks will keep me out of Professor Creepy's lab, I'd be more concerned that Professor Creepy's perception of his students is...inappropriate, and whatever else follows from that. I guess I'm inclined to give the benefit of the doubt and stick to framing questions about the social atmosphere in a more general way. DarwinAG, I do somewhat disagree with you in that, if I wait until it becomes a problem than it may well be too late (though I guess this depends on the individual program's policy about changing mentors, the availability of mentors, etc).

That's a great idea. Now I just hope I can phrase such a question diplomatically enough.

This is kind of a weird question, but I'd like your opinions (and hopefully, a confirmation that I'm just paranoid)- Browsing through lab pages, they usually have a lab group picture. Now, I've come across a couple of these pictures where the first thing that jumped out at me was the sea of really attractive women. As a woman myself, I worry that "appearance" is sometimes a more persuasive factor than it should be. Now, I'm sure that all of the women in these labs are highly qualified and deserve to be there BUT as we all know- there are lots of qualified people who are turned away every year. Should I be at all concerned when I come across a (male-run) lab that looks like a modeling agency? I don't want to spend the next x years of my life dealing with awkward sexual undertones or whatever. Pleaseeeeee telll me I'm wrong.

Fallen- I suppose it is average. At the same time, you figure that the top x% of college grads apply to grad school...of those, the ones who are especially motivated are the ones who seek out advice from sources like these. So maybe it's is average but I might qualify that with "among applicants that are seriously considered" (ya know, vs rejected fairly swiftly after passin the gre/gpa screen) Mabro- Your resume is seriously impressive! I'm sure it will more than make up for a slightly lower verbal gre score, especially since you seem to have done a significant amount of academic writing.

DarwinAG, I'm actually not applying to UNC. I looked at Dr. Fredrickson's lab page just now- she's actually a little light on the "neuroscience" end of the spectrum for my tastes. I primarily applied to people who are looking at the molecular and neural bases of emotional states/regulation/etc, whose hypotheses are conceptualized more or less in biological terms, rather than psychological theory. Did you mainly apply to the social area? Or did you apply to the cognitive neuroscience area?

Thank you, everyone, for your input. It's really fascinating to see everyone's experiences in greater detail- really drives home how difficult it must be to compare one student to the next. Sing something- Sounds like we have somewhat similar interests- care to share where you are applying? EDITED: Saw where you applied at the bottom of your post. We have some overlap- Columbia, U Michigan, CU Boulder, and Boston College. Good luck! Tolman's Rat- I know the feeling. The whole reason I started this topic was because, aside from peers in your own institution and the ambiguous "worked in XYZ lab for 2 years" frequently posted in members' profiles, it's hard to truly understand what level of work is going on in the greater scientific community. In my case, I actually stand out at my school for the sole fact that I've pursued research so seriously (I'm literally the only student with a key to the lab). Yet, at other institutions with greater research emphasis, I'm sure it requires much much more to distinguish one's self. I just hope that I've prepared myself enough for graduate programs that eat, sleep, and breath research.

I'm pretty new to gradcafe but I've read through a ton of the site, so helpful. I've pretty much finished my applications for Fall 2013. I'm confident in my GRE/GPA/LORs and I don't THINK anyone's going to hold my SOP against me (haha..) However, I'm somewhat concerned about my research experience (re: relevance to current interests), So I wanted to get a sense of other applicant's research experience, in terms of: how long?, what duties?, how relevant to your graduate interests?, any publications/presentations? My story: I'm a psych major (B.S.) from a small (but reputable) private college where there is minimal funding for psych research and absolutely no lab facilities, beyond a room with a computer from early 2000 (so sad..). When I began working with two of my professors on separate research projects (social/developmental lab and visual-cognition lab) , I was ok with these limitations because I was merely trying to explore and find what interested me research wise. Once I realized that my interests were more on the neuro side of psychology, I knew that the opportunities at my schools simply wouldn't cut it, and I obtained an RA job outside of my school in the lab of a well-known psychiatrist doing neuro research in psychiatric populations. I have been working in the "neuro" lab since May 2012 doing data collection (mostly in in-patient units), and I am currently collaborating with my PI and 2 other doctors in the neuro and medical fields writing a paper linking neurophysiological, perceptual, and behavioral variables. The paper is a work in progress, but I've been promised first authorship (though I did not indicate this last point anywhere on my apps). I have been working in the developmental lab at my school since Fall 2011. When I joined, data collection had already been finished, but I independently developed a hypothesis and linguistic coding scheme, performed data analysis, authored the abstract (1st author), and, with my professor, presented the poster at a conference. We are currently writing our study up as a full-length paper. I have been working the cognitive lab at my school since Winter 2012. I assisted with experimental/stimulus design and data collection. Listed as 2nd author on abstract currently submitted to conference (no word on acceptance yet). I should add that my current research interests fall under the broad label of "affective neuroscience." I want to study emotion (and motivation) at the molecular, cellular, and systems level (and the psych/behavioral correlates etc). Obviously the neuro lab was the most relevant to my current interests, but my other research experience did have some relevant elements (which I made sure to mention in my SOP). Anyway, I know the whole admission process is so subjective, but there's no doubt research is important. I'd love to hear about others' experiences, especially those with similar interests to mine (~~neuro).

My mistake, I'm referring to (experimental) neuroscience programs within the psychology department - cognitive neuroscience/behavioral neuroscience/ integrative neuroscience - all the various permutations. Thanks for the info though!

Does anyone know how common it is for applicants to phd programs in neuropsychology to be invited for an interview (as opposed to accepted merely on the basis of their application, with no interview?) Also, any idea whether, for a given program, a stronger applicant may be accepted directly while a more on-the-fence applicant may be more likely to interview? (Or is it that programs either do or do not interview candidates?) I hope this isn't too confusing, thanks!