ilovelab

I think it depends on the program. Most likely they don't take transfers unless your PI is joining the new school/department. You most likely will have to find a PI who is willing ot take you, I doubt they would let you rotate again.

That's the key thing though. For the OP an unfunded masters is a Waste of money. Unless you have no choice but to do one. A research tech job in a lab/industry is far more valuable.

What do you want to study in the field of neuroscience? You need to answer that before anyone can help you. Honestly its not that hard. Figure out what you are interested in and then do a pubmed search. Find the PI on the paper and look what school they are affiliated with. Then browse through the schools grad program and see if it fits your research interest.

Your GPA isn't that abysmal. People have had similar GPA's and have been accepted to top programs. You can't do anything about the GPA now. Your GRE is what needs to improve quite a bit. Most schools have unofficial GRE cutoffs. You need to do well do ensure your app is read. Other than that you need to carefully research what programs you want to go to. Make sure that your research interests fit well with the program. Otherwise you aren't going to have a shot. You are not in as bad of a situation as you think you are. If you can't afford it don't do a masters, its not worth the money. A research tech job is far more valuable.

One thing you have to remember is that you will not even be able to send in our grades from the first semester of your masters program if you apply this fall. You might be able to send them to schools with a later deadline but most are dec 1st. IF ends up being the case how valuable is the masters program. And adcom will see you are in the program but without grades they have no idea how you are doing. That being said you wouldn't be a different candidate than last year. I personally would choose the research job. Yes, it will take 2-3 years but you shouldn't be in a hurry to go to grad school. Being a lab tech and publishing will help your chances more than a 1 year masters ever will. Is the masters funded? If not you're risking 60k+ in debt with no guarantee that you will get into grad school this cycle.

Invite friends and bribe them with Beer and Pizza!

Honestly, a research tech postilion would be better for your chacnes. Since that doesn't seem like an option it seems like a decent program. There are not a lot of biology heavy courses though. There is no thesis component to the masters either. You should speak to the admissions department or someone in the program about how many students go on to phd programs. Most of these masters are designed for people already in industry. How much debt will you be in after this?

I personally would avoid applying to public schools if I were you. They have limited funding and will take a few international students each year. UCSD has a pre-application that you can fill out and they will let you know whether or not its worth applying to. Look at private schools like Cornell, WUSTL, PENN which take large numbers of international students each year.

That's not relevant. What they did in the 60-70's would not be allowed by IAUCC now. Research animals are not treated that way.

IACUC regulations/standards are prevent research animals from being treated inhumanely. If you are working at an institution the vivariums that house the animals follow IACUC regulations strictly. Honestly the research animals live better than their counterparts in the wild. They have unlimited food and water. The biggest thing when working with research animals is making sure you don't get attached. The storycollider podcast is a great example of what happens to people when they get emotionally attached to research animals that will require terminal procedures. Its fine when you are just doing behavior work and giving them treats/rewards but when you have to kill the animals its different. The monkeys and mice that I work with will get "sac'd" eventually I don't enjoy doing it but I have to for my research. I had an undergrad who named all of the mice we were working with and when it came time to sac the mice and preform cardiac perfusions she couldn't do it. 3 months of work went down the drain because she was emotionally attached. If you can't remain unattached to the research animals you are working with than animal research is not for you. The company you work for may have you to tumor implants for example, is that something you are comfortable with? You may have to sac monkeys and harvest tissues, would you be fine with that?

Potentially. It depends on whether your masters coursework will count at your new school. You usually have 2 years of coursework that phd students spread out over 4-5 years. It also depends on when you qualifying exam is. It could be fall semester of your 3rd year or it could be the summer after your first year. Chances are you will have to spend at least 3 years for the phd. My boss did her phd in genetics in 1.5 years but that was in the early 90's.. things have changed since then.

Unless you want to re-apply next cycle this is your only path forward. I looked up the program, it looks good on paper. While there is no thesis requirement it seems as though a lot of the students do research, which I would start looking at Day 1. If you choose to go there, start emailing faculty you like that you are interested in doing research with them. The most important thing for you is going to be the grades, you are going to have to work you ass off. IF you do well in the coursework that should be enough to make the difference come phd application time.. Good Luck!

That ranking is meaningless. Don't base your decision on that. Where do you want to live? Stony brook is pretty different from the South. Since you consider both programs essentially equal its gonna be outside factors that make the difference.

Go to Dartmouth. 100K+ in debt isn't worth it to live in a big city. Yeah Dartmouth is small but the school is excellent and you can suck it up for 2 years. Plus with the money you save you can travel.

Congrats!!! That's awesome. Earlier in the thread you posted your story about getting rejected from grad schools and how it was the best thing that could have happened to you. Could you post that again after April 15th for all the posters who were not accepted into grad school this cycle. I think it would be good for people to see that if you don't get into your dream schools this time around its not the end of the world, there are other avenues you can take to get into you dream grad program.

My PI's are out of town. They have yet to tell me what experiments I'm supposed to run this week. I honestly think they forgot. I've emailed them twice but no response. I sat at my desk in lab watching the first season of House of Cards. I'm going bat shit crazy in lab. I want experiments to run

Where are you leaving towards?

I guess you have to go with your gut at this point. If all 3 of the schools have the PI's/Funding/environment that you want you can't go wrong with any of them. Did you like one of the campuses more than the other? Is one school closer to family (don't know if that's important for you)?

CONGRATS!

It depends on the program. What you NEED to do is email every program when you apply and ask if the 2.6 GPA can be overlooked by your 3.6 major GPA. Most grad schools have a minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA. Some schools will have exceptions. You may have to do a masters first before you can go for a PhD. The programs should give you a direct answer, if they don't bother answering, don't apply. You will waste your money and time.

Do each of the 3 schools have multiple PI's that you can work with? Have you emailed the PI's to see if they can take students next year? Do you want to live in a large city/small city? Do you want to be part of a large program/small program? How is the funding at the 3 schools? Can you live comfortably in each of the 3 cities based on the stipend?

No program is going to let you transfer. You are going to have to Master's out and then re-apply to phd programs. You can only transfer when your PI is moving institutions.

I would personally live in Grad Housing my first year. Its usually close to campus, Weyburn at UCLA is in westwood so you can walk to campus. That way you don't have to worry about a major commute. I'll be honest NO employer is going to care that you went to a public school for undergrad and a private for grad school. They will care about the work you did primarily @ your grad school. I would put more emphasis on who you want to work with than if its a state school/private school.

Lab A for sure. Its better to have a supportive PI that's "everything you want" than a well known prof who isn't open to new ideas. If the current project in Lab B doesn't pan out how you would like it seems as if you would be stuck doing a project you're not really interested in. Especially if Prof B isn't into new ideas/projects. If you're not interested in an academic career Lab A sounds like the better option since the PI is supportive of that career path. Seems like you've pretty much decided on Lab A. Lab B can be tempting especially when students/post-docs are regularly publishing in Nature/Science/Cell, funding isn't an issue, and the PI is well known in their respective field.

I can't speak for Stanford or Hopkins but I did my undergrad at UCLA so hopefully I can offer some helpful advice. UCLA has the same name recognition as Stanford/Hopkins. There is a reason it is the most applied to university in the country. I don't know about history, but for the sciences you don't have a problem finding jobs/getting into grad school from UCLA (obviously you have to be qualified). Bigger department and cohort sound like bonuses to me. If you don't like one POI chances are there is someone else you can work with. UCLA has a MASSIVE Graduate population. They always have mixers etc for grad students and more clubs than you know what to do with. You don't have to be great friends with people in your cohort, chances are your housemates will be some of your best friends in grad school (unless they are roommates from hell). If your funding is guaranteed for 5 years you shouldn't worry about $$$. Unless you are worried you can't finish in 5 years. Still you can TA/apply for fellowships, I wouldn't worry about the $$$ at this point since you have 5 years guaranteed. The quarter system can be killer if you are not on top of your stuff. It also means that you are going to have to grade essays/projects faster than if you were on the semester system. That shouldn't be a deal breaker though.