First post ever - a little late but I figured why not.
Undergrad Institution: Mid-tier state school Major(s): Neuroscience
Minor: Chemistry GPA in Major: 3.75 Overall GPA: 3.60 Position in Class: Not sure
Type of Student: Domestic, White Male GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 162
V: 158 W: 4.5 Research Experience: Summer doing unrelated clinical research, two years in a cognitive neuroscience lab at my home institution, SURP program at a top university with a well known PI in systems neuroscience, and in my 2nd year as a lab tech/manager with a PI who is one of the most famous and largest contributors in systems/computational neuroscience. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Fellowship for integrative brain research, scholarship for my home university, and dean's list most semesters. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: As described above, 2nd year as a lab tech. Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: No publications just yet. Audited multiple classes while working as a lab tech.
Special Bonus Points: As described above, my current PI is one of the most well respected neuroscientists in the field and his connections will be extremely helpful - my other PI in systems neuroscience is also somewhat of a big-shot. I'll have very good recs. Also, my research interests are already pretty developed and every school I apply to is a great fit for those interests. I've had some slight contact with professors at most of the schools I'm applying to.
Applying to Where:
Interested in systems/computational visual neuroscience and sensorimotor integration.
MIT - Neuroscience
Stanford - Neuroscience
Caltech - Neurobiology
UCSD - Neuroscience
John’s Hopkins - Neuroscience
University of Chicago - Neurobiology
Harvard - Neurobiology
UC Berkeley - Neuroscience
University of Washington - Neurobiology & Behavior
Columbia - Neuroscience
NYU - CNS
Duke - Neurobiology
No particular order, but I'm particularly interested in MIT, Stanford, Caltech, and UCSD. Clearly my list is ambitious, especially when it's so hard to gauge how competitive I actually am (home institution, gpa, and GRE's are all a little subpar). Any thoughts? Am I totally nuts?
