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gs1992

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Posts posted by gs1992

    2016 Neuroscience Ph.D. Applicant Thread People Thing

    in Biology

    Posted

    45 minutes ago, AngryRobot! said:

    A question about small computational neuroscience community. It looks like there is a chance I may get into computational neuroscience research in Weill Cornell. It certainly is not one of the top computational neuroscience communities such as Columbia, NYU and Princeton nearby. But I think their faculties are excellent, too. Anyone has some comment on what the outcome would be? And since it is located in NYC, would you expect some practical collaboration experiences in nearby larger communities?

    I work in computational neuroscience in NYC, and, while I think it would be possible to collaborate with NYU or Columbia if you really put in the effort, I don't think it's something that happens all too often. In fact, I didn't even realize there were computational neuroscientists at Weill Cornell, but that could just be my ignorance.

    2016 Neuroscience Ph.D. Applicant Thread People Thing

    in Biology

    Posted

    4 minutes ago, neuro_queen said:

    This may have been asked already, sorry! However, for those who have been invited for interviews have you noticed your application status change online? Two of my applications still only say "submitted" and it is making me feel like they dismissed my application immediately. Thanks.

    Out of the six interviews I got, none of them have updated my status on the application form.

    2016 Neuroscience Ph.D. Applicant Thread People Thing

    in Biology

    Posted

    1 hour ago, Fleet Fox said:

    Hey peeps -- especially those of you interviewing at penn

     

    In their email, note that they say "Pack warm clothes: hats, gloves, coats, warm boots will be needed since you'll be walking outside across campus for interviews. Dress is casual--no suits expected or required."

    I found that kind of odd and I got in touch with someone in admissions. This person said "As for your dress – lots of people end up in suits anyway...  We just like to make it clear that if people are choosing warmth/comfort over business attire it is fine."

     

    Just wanted to let people know (it seems to me at least) that they aren't suggesting jeans and a sweater, rather pointing out that it's silly to wear only a suit and dress shoes if it's 20° with 6 inches of snow on the ground.

     

    Thanks! I was wondering about that.

    2016 Neuroscience Ph.D. Applicant Thread People Thing

    in Biology

    Posted · Edited by gs1992

    16 minutes ago, bdnf_13.1 said:

    NYU people- are you all hearing from the Neural Science or Neuroscience and Physiology program?

    They're combined programs now and the interviews are combined. I know that the adcom is combined as well. For what it's worth though, I heard from Neural Science.

    2016 Neuroscience Ph.D. Applicant Thread People Thing

    in Biology

    Posted

    2 hours ago, EveryDay said:

    That's what's confusing me as well. I'm secretly hoping that my POI just didn't call me and is waiting for the official email to go out in January. In reality, though, my hopes have gone down to almost 0.

    I just want them to send me a rejection email so I can stop thinking about it.

    Congrats to everyone that got an interview.

    Well BCS seems different in the sense that you had to specify readers for your application, rather than it being just a straight up adcom. It's possible that readers have until January to look them over but some have done so earlier than others. That's my theory for why I haven't heard yet...the first stage is denial.

    2016 Neuroscience Ph.D. Applicant Thread People Thing

    in Biology

    Posted

    So I'm thinking I'm going to email a program to ask about my application status (this program's interview would conflict with one that I was just offered, but I'd rather attend this program's). At a conference I had a conversation with a professor on the adcom and she seemed very excited about me applying there (her former adviser is my current PI). Is it too annoying to email this professor instead of the general "info" email that's listed on the program's website?

    2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    So I'm thinking I'm going to email a program to ask about my application status (this program's interview would conflict with one that I was just offered, but I'd rather attend this program's). At a conference I had a conversation with a professor on the adcom and she seemed very excited about me applying there (her former adviser is my current PI). Is it too annoying to email this professor instead of the general "info" email that's listed on the program's website?

    2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    10 hours ago, PlanB said:

    http://weill.cornell.edu/news/publications/pdf/factsheet/WCMC_fact_sheet_2010.pdf

    The average  science GPA of  entering PhD students at Cornell is 3.7.   Fact.

    I agree that there are plenty of smart people that do not necessarily have high grades. Not trying to put down applicants here, however, again, just being objective.  

    I am a scientist. I liked data. Not opinions.

    And stop rating my posts negatively.

    So you're making absolute claims based off the average of one arbitrarily chosen variable to a complex process. That's pretty much the definition of being a crappy scientist. Hopefully you'll learn this stuff in grad school... 

    2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    10 hours ago, PlanB said:

    Your GPA  is not high enough for duke, Princeton, yale, tri-state or cornell. THe average student admitted to those programs is like a 3.75+.  A higher GRE score, however, may help you out in the process. Mount sinai will most likely come through.

    Aren't you applying to PhD programs? Shouldn't you know that correlation does not imply causation? It seems very likely that the most qualified applicants (great research experience/LORs etc.) also happen to have higher GPAs and GREs on average. You know absolutely nothing about those distributions and what adcoms are actually looking for, yet you still choose to discourage someone whose GPA isn't half bad -- you should stop doing that.  

    2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    unfortunately, GPA and GRE happen to matter a lot when it comes to the very top tier schools (HMS, MIT, Berkeley, Stanford, Rockefeller, UCSF, etc). Someone I know had a decent GPA (3.5 I think) and decent GRE scores, worked for 7 or so years as a tech and published three first author pubs (all impact factor >10), and was a co-author on several Nature papers. Due to his GPA he was outright rejected from the top-tier schools and was offered spots and the mid/upper tier ones

    I'm sorry for calling you out, but this is total garbage.  This seems extremely unlikely and I have not heard similar experiences at all. I know several people who got accepted to the schools you mentioned (particularly Harvard and MIT) with subpar GREs on math and verbal (<65%) or subpar GPAs (<3.2).  I've also spoken with adcom members at these schools who have reiterated the same things.  There are several things that could have gone wrong with your friend's application process and there's obviously no way to know that it was his GPA.  The things that differentiate highly qualified applicants almost always has to do with how you fit with that particular university and if they just generally like you at the interviews.  You could look like the second coming of jesus on paper, but if you seem like a prick at the interview then you're not going to get in. 

    I was originally very discouraged when I first started reading through gradcafe, but the more I learned the more I realized that this forum is no where near a fair representation of the applicant pool and that a lot of people on here actually have no idea what they're talking about.  So, for those who feel discouraged, don't listen to junk like this and get back to working on your application, as I will right now.

      

    2016 Applicant Profiles and Admissions Results

    in Biology

    Posted

    Undergrad Institution: Mid-tier state school
    Major(s): Neuroscience
    Minor(s): Chemistry
    GPA in Major: 3.7
    Overall GPA:  3.6
    Position in Class: Unknown
    Type of Student: Domestic white male

    GRE Scores (revised/old version):
    Q: 85%
    V: 79%
    W: 80%

    Research Experience: 3 separate research experiences as an undergrad. One clinical, one in cognitive neuroscience, and one in computational vision science with a well known PI.  Since then, I'm in my second year as an RA in a famous computational vision science lab and have a co-first authored paper submitted to a top journal, a middle author paper being prepared, and middle author on an SfN poster.  I'll have great recommendations from all four PIs.

    Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Dean's list most semesters, awarded a fellowship in integrative neuroscience

    Special Bonus Points: Obviously well connected in my current home university (a top choice).  My current PI is one of the most influential people in my field.  Not sure if this counts for bonus points, but I've pretty much narrowed down my interests to computational vision science, and I'm already very familiar with the field.

    Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:  My undergrad program did not focus on anything quantitative, so my formal background in math is unimpressive even though it's one of my strengths.

    Applying to Where:

    Neuroscience/neurobiology programs for the schools below, roughly in order of preference:

     

    Columbia

    MIT

    NYU - CNS

    Stanford

    University of Washington

    UT Austin

    UCSD

    Princeton

    Duke

    University of Chicago

    Harvard

    UC Berkeley

    U Penn

     

    I have no idea how competitive of an applicant I am or whether I stand a chance of getting into the top tier : /

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