neuropanic

I HATE HIM TOO. Not going into animal behavior as of now (looks like something else in neuroscience, maybe epilepsy, but I'm only a sophomore!), but I train and compete in a dog sport pretty competitively. People always ask if I'm the new dog whisperer as a joke and I'm always just like, "He is stupid. No, I actually looked into the science of dog training before claiming to be an expert." People are taken aback. Seriously one of my pet peeves. Got into a fight on reddit about it too. I never even comment on reddit, lol. JAKABSHJAHAVAB DONT WATCH THAT STUPID SHOW GUYS!!!!!

Love this advice. It's not impossible to enjoy yourself and do well. I'm in a sorority and managed a 4.0 this semester (Christmas miracle!!!!!). I ended up putting off my lab experience until January because I wasn't sure what I wanted. I took this semester off to take a good hard look at my interests, enjoy myself, and focus on grades. Now I'm pretty sure that I'll enjoy what I'll be doing now that I've matured. It's only been a semester, but it was a big step for me being my first semester sophomore year. I would have been doing something completely different had I not waited and discovered that I hated it after taking a class/lab on the topic. You are fine. Pull up your GPA, work hard in whichever lab you choose, and relax. Stretching yourself too thin isn't worth it.

Oops, didn't explain that very well. I guess I meant would you consider that an "award" or an "honor" if I was only nominated?

Thanks! I would take grad. classes junior year and start rotations maybe the next semester and choose my PI around then. I'm starting in a participating lab soon, so we'll see. I'm just not sure it will be necessary for what I want to do.

My school just started offering a combined BA/MS degree! I would apply next semester for it. What did you think of it? Are you glad you did it?

Question on "awards." Say I was nominated for an undergrad departmental award in English. Would you include that? I'm a Bio major looking at neuro schools.

My school is offering a 5 year program where I would graduate with a master's in neuroscience. It is not a funded MS. What are the benefits of doing this? I'm pretty sure I want a PhD, so will this just cost me extra time and money?

Right. Your classes will get harder as you progress. Buuuut, if you don't know how to study for those classes now and handle a big load, it could be better to put it off. You could always add it and drop it later if it's too much (making sure to not let your other grades suffer)?

I doubt if you have a bad GPA one semester in important classes that they'll excuse it just because you were taking more credits (but it probably depends). I think that would just look bad on you for taking on too much. If anything, I'd put off biochem until after orgo 2 or cell bio depending on how the class is set up (maybe email your specific biochem professor?). Those are both of the prereqs for my biochem. Anyway, I like taking similar courses in the same semester. It really cuts down on overall study time since a lot of the classes have similar foundational concepts. At least at my school, these courses have a lot of overlap. If you're someone who is overwhelmed by all science courses, maybe that isn't for you anyway- unless you're concerned about having so many labs on top of your coursework. Hopefully that helps! EDIT: How many credits is that? EDIT 2: What do you mean by option? Is it required to graduate, just an elective/counting for hours?

Ours is more of a class that is either mostly structure (chem) or mostly signaling (bio) rather than difficulty. We have a normal lab and an advanced lab, both of which are in the chem building. Students who don't want to go into research are discouraged from taking a lab.

Should I maybe study for a take a full ACS? Is that even possible?

I took a mock 1st semester ACS for my Orgo I final, but didn't take the full exam because I took Orgo II abroad (same university, just in one of our international houses). I was not told what I made on the final, but I do know that it brought my grade up quite a bit. I could try to find out, but I doubt she kept a record of it. My first semester professor had a reputation for setting a pretty low bell curve in the class (almost half of my class was forced to drop after the first exam), so I was probably average in my class. I do plan on taking biochem. Should I take this in the chem department to prove I know structure? A bio/neuroscience professor told me the bio side of biochem might be better for neuroscience.

Orgo actually taught me a lot about how to study. I'm expecting a 4.0 or close to it this semester, mostly thanks to my new studying techniques. I think it made me go from a mostly A- college student to a mostly A student, which makes a difference.

I might should add that it's hard to tell that I just had a hard semester because I made A's in all of my other classes, but mainly because they were easy divisionals. I was struggling with multiple levels of just plain bad stuff, and really didn't know how to study for that class on top of all of that. The C came more from bombing the first half of the class and making up for it in the next half than from not understanding what was going on. My gen chem ACS scores were in the 98th percentile if that helps? I really do enjoy the molecular aspect of neuroscience, so I feel like this could really hold me back.

I am looking at a neuroscience school that says it wants B's or higher in all general science coursework. It then says C+'s and lower need to be explained. I made a C in Orgo I, but made a B in Orgo II. I do not want to retake Orgo I if I don't have to (would rather take more fulfilling upper level courses to prove that I know my shit... I just had a rough semester that semester). I am not applying until the rounds for Fall of 2017, though, so I have some time and flexibility- well, sort of. A lot of my upper level bio classes are offered 1 section, 1 semester per year, so scheduling is difficult. Anyway, I figured I should probably ask the department what they would prefer. My other stats seem to be above their average stats currently, and it isn't necessarily a top-ranked program, but I feel that most other programs would see things the same way (wanting grades to be B's and above). How should I best go about this?

Thanks! That's what I thought might be case, but I wasn't sure.

I was just looking around at some programs and found one in my state that matched my current research interests (not applying for a few years). It is a pretty highly ranked public university in my state. Does an in-state student have a better chance at a public school for STEM (neuroscience) programs? I am not sure if I even want to stay in state, but am curious. Thanks.

Your school lets you register for biochem without organic? At my school we need Orgo II and Cell Bio to register. Wow. I would say put it off.

Thank you! I just feel weird about going to office hours when I am not having an issue in the class sometimes. I have one professor that I visit to discuss neuroscience with (she is very passionate about undergrads in neuroscience) and am probably going to choose her as my advisor. Another professor is a post doc in the lab I will be going into. I have interacted with another neuroscience professor who is one of the professors of my neuroscience class. He let me borrow books on neurochemistry and tried to help me out a lot with choosing my majors and minors, but I am just not sure that we click well. I guess that plays a major role, too.

I was told to not retake Orgo I and to just focus on improving in Orgo II and making an A in biochem. What do you think about this advice? I don't particularly think a C and a B are going to kill my application, but I could be wrong. I only have 2 more chem classes to take (one being biochem). And obviously I'm not just excepting publications to be handed to me. Thanks! EDIT: Should maybe mention that I was having medical/psychological issues while taking Orgo I and then got really behind on a lot of the foundation, some of which transferred over to issues in Orgo II. I can't really tell grad schools I was having those issues, though, sooo...

Ha, I am thankfully in a sorority so that kind of forces me to enjoy myself.

Soooo, probably a bit early, but I'll be a junior after this semester so I'm panicked already. Basically, looking into programs that do work in neuropharmacology, molecular neuroscience, etc. I have a huge list of schools that I'm having a hard time pruning down. I would like to start thinking seriously about where I will be applying as I'm studying to take the GRE. I would also like to see what part of my application should be improved if I were to apply to these schools. Should graduate Winter 2016/Spring 2017 depending on whether or not I want a fairly easy senior year or to graduate early. Current GPA is a 3.5, but that's mostly due to getting a very low grade in Orgo I (was able to pull it up to a B in Orgo II and felt really comfortable with the biochem section, so looking forward to that class). I am mostly an A/A- student with like 2 B+'s aside from the Orgo shenanigans and do better in more focused/ upper level courses (motivation issues?), so I except to graduate with a 3.5-3.7ish. I will be starting in a physiology/pharmacology lab next semester working with seizures doing immunohistochemistry and optogenetics, possibly behavior analysis and should have several publications. I am also required to do two independent projects for my major (BS, biology) and minors (neuroscience, chemistry) requirements. These need to result in at least poster presentations. My lab is with mostly post-docs and grad students, though, so I feel confident that I can get my name on publications- but is not working directly with your PI a negative? Also, pretty sure the lab usually publishes to journals with an IF around 2-3 if that makes a difference. Right now, I'm starting to seriously look into Yale, UC-Berkeley/Davis, CSU Boulder/Denver, Duke, UNC-CH, UMT, UVA, Scripps, Stanford, UVT, Caltech, MIT, and possibly Cornell or Princeton. Are there any other schools I should be considering? Obviously, it's hard to tell without GRE scores and another year's worth of courses, but I really want to make sure I'm on the right track and not overshooting things. Also, any courses that I absolutely must take/ ace for certain programs? Any part of the application process that I should really focus and improve on so far? Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.