brainmatters

I made my decision: going to UC Irvine. Hopefully that will open up a spot for you at USC.

I went to the last USC interview. How about you? I did like UCI's campus. I didn't get to explore Irvine due to an early flight, but I like the idea of living in a more suburban neighborhood. When people at work ask me which school I'm going to, I say that it will probably be Irvine. Maybe I've already made my choice and just need to convince myself that it's the right one. That's a good point. The rankings will change during the five+ years we are at graduate school.

That does seem strange. Yeah, maybe they are not sending out all the offers at once or maybe they haven't decided on all the acceptances yet.

I got an email from Mallory last week with an offer letter. Maybe you contacted her before last week? There were 3 interview weekends, but they mentioned that they were considering all graduate students in one pool, meaning someone in the last weekend would get equal consideration with someone in the first weekend.

I'm trying to decide between USC and UC Irvine. I was wondering if you guys had some input into either school. I'm leaning towards UC Irvine because I connected more with the professors, they seem to value their graduate students (one of their selling points), and they are offering me a fellowship. I'm interested in many areas of neuroscience so I'm a little concerned that UCI has a large focus on learning and memory. I am interested in learning and memory but what if I want to study something else? Also, USC has a lot of money. They recently bought a bunch of people from UCLA. How does the wealth of the school affect my graduate studies? Lastly, what is the reputation of both of these schools? Is one better than the other in terms of status alone? That was a lot of questions and pertain more to the decision making phase rather than the application phase. But I thought since applications are over this is a good time to bring it up. If you guys have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks!

Thanks for all the input. I've started to ask professors about whether or not they are taking rotation students. I'm trying to show interest while making it clear that I haven't committed yet.

Hello gradcafe community, I just joined and thought I would start it off with a new topic. I just received offers from two neuroscience graduate schools. In my interviews I asked a few professors about rotations. Some mentioned they were taking students while others were not. Is now a good time to email professors and ask about rotations? I want to see which professors are available from both schools before I make a decision. One concern of mine is that I will tell a professor that I want to rotate in his/her lab, decide on the other school, and then have to send an email saying I changed my mind. I'm guessing this happens a lot so I shouldn't be too worried.