ucdguy88

Accepted to University of Hartfords MS in Neuroscience. Probably going to go

shouldn't matter at all. life happens

I haven't heard anything yet =( I'm waiting to hear back from San Marcos and Humboldt. I know LB and SB are super competitive. I'll let you know!

I totally disagree. Do you stand a chance? Of course. Does that mean you'll get in? No. Lets focus on the positive things first. You say you have NIH funding and the grant was awarded to you...I'm not from the clinical world, but in neuroscience, if you received a grant from the NIH of any kind thats application gold. You've also mentioned your presentations, which I assume are abstracts. Abstracts of any kind show original research work and your personal ability to do research. If you have your name on a paper at all that outweighs a lot of things. Be specific with what your actual goals are. As far as your GPA goes, if this were an social/developmental/bio psych app you would be just fine. I tried to click on the link the other poster provided but no avail. So you had a weak first two years and a strong last two, thats normal. However be prepared to get rejected from schools because there are those with shiny 3.8 GPAs. You also have to ask yourself if thats the program that fits you best. I couldn't imagine myself at a school where the average was a 3.8 personally. If you decide to mention your first two years, just say your path changed and thats not what it was meant to be. Life happens, and you don't want to bash yourself over the head for "life being life". Keep it VERY minimal like two sentences max. I wish you the best sir and as far as being a minority goes, I'll let you know if being Palestinian helps me

Did anyone apply to any Cal States?

I have not heard anything back as of yet. Supposed to hear back starting in March, 3 by April 1st, the rest by June *sigh*

so many of the posters here are going to Ph.D programs. heres some love for those of us that arent

Ugh this is going to suck but here's my stats 2.7 GPA ( I did bio mainly and I was ill one year) Verbal, 163, Quant 159, Writing 5.0 Taking my psych GRE soon On 3 abstracts, First author on one Two Publications, One First author still working on it 3 years in neuroscience Only applying to Masters

You are not too old!!!!!!!!! Pursue your dreams.

Whats most important in this case is "What do YOU want to go to graduate school for?" If it's a masters, I don't think it matters much as long as you have a BA degree, research experience and decent LoR's However, if you are applying to programs that have like an average of a 3.7 GPA admit then maybe the minor will help? I've been told multiple times it doesn't matter what the paper says, just the courses you have taken. Well at least thats what the chair of my dept. tells me.

My GPA is not on my CV. Also curriculum for your major varies by school. My Advisor told me pretty much to explain why my GPA took a hit and let my letters and experience do the speaking for me. What I've gathered so far is as long as you arent at like a 2.7 you aren't completely screwed (MASTERS wise). Darwin, you have a 4.0 in your last two years of school and a ton of experience, you worrying about GPA would be the last thing I would do if I was in your shoes.

Thanks for the feedback. My advisor accepted someone as a Ph.D student with a 2.8 so it's not out of the ballpark. I've contacted a few advisors already who have my CV but I have not brought up GPA yet. Would the psych gre help? Thanks!

SFSU, SDSU, CSULA, CSUF, CSUSM. Well They were okay at first (i transferred so all of my lower divs at a CC) and then went down, went up (had a few c's but mostly A's)

Hi Everyone, So I'm finding myself now facing applying to a masters first before my Ph.D mainly due to...wait for it....GPA! It's a 2.9 My background in psychology is more biology oriented. I took a lot of neuroscience classes, microbiology, gen biology, etc. Also, one quarter I was very ill (they thought I had a severe disease which I do not thank god) and I got poor grades. Anyway! I wanted to know if any of you had success applying to schools (particularly CSU's) and being accepted with stats like mine: GPA: 2.9 GRE: Qual: 162, Quant: 160, Writing: 4.5 3 years of research experience 2 co-authorships, 1 first author 4 selected abstracts I keep hearing that my pubs and my letters will outshine my GPA by a LOT but who knows if that's total crap to make me feel better. Any takers??