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December 22, 2014

I hope you hear from them soon too, I'm sure it's just rolling out - there's no reason that they'd send all interviews out on a Sunday!

The dates are the actual open days, which I probably will fly to the States to attend especially if I get other interviews around that time. It is possible for internationals to go without attending the actual open days, and I was told to specify dates and times within the first half of January for a skype interview with faculty.

Does that mean that you will have two interviews then?

December 21, 2014

Just heard from Columbia by email (wasn't expecting any news on Sunday)! I've been dying waiting for my first interview and thrilled that the much-awaited first is one of my top choices! The dates are Jan 22 - 24 and February 5-7 and I am still trying to decide when.

Congrats, that's awesome! Are these dates for Skype interviews?

Also, you ruined my nice Sunday night since I can't think about anything else now.

December 18, 2014

LOL.

University of Pittsburgh, see here: http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/08/justice/pennsylvania-doctor-cyanide-poisoning/

His info was still on the department website when I applied! I almost hope I don't get an interview there because I might die of awkwardness.

Obviously, I immediately googled it after I read your post It looks really strange though. The way the article describes the events he made some very simple mistakes like ordering cyanide the day before. Anyway, I'm not going to start an offtopic discussion.

Read_books · December 18, 2014

When you write in your SOP about how you think Prof X's research is so cool, and then after submitting your application you see Prof X on CNN for killing his wife with cyanide...

I think you won this topic.

December 16, 2014

Do you know, in general, when Skype interviews for international applicants are scheduled? Are they close to the regular interview dates?

December 11, 2014

Congrats to everyone on their interviews!

While we are all anxiously awaiting a call or email...what is everyone's research interest? I'm interested in studying sensory systems using computational/theoretical methods, as well as modeling simple model organisms.

Ah, good, more computational neuroscientists. Right now I'm reorienting myself towards learning in networks of neurons. I'm mainly interested in spike timing-dependent plasticity. Before that I had two completely different projects; one on information transmission in the retina and one on inferring the "conductome" of excitable cells.

gliaful · December 5, 2014

I did, and got nearly every type of response you could imagine. Some didn't respond, and others briefly confirmed that they were taking new students, but told me to just apply to the program. One professor was super encouraging, and offered to look over my CV for me. And two others arranged phone calls with me to talk about their research/my grad school plans. We'll see if any of this matter though, haha.

Oh, great that you had phone calls with those professors. Did they say anything more about the application after talking with them, if it's not too much to ask?

I contacted only one, a professor at NYU, and I received I guess the mid-range answer on your scale, though I emailed him 3 days before the deadline. He was teaching at a summer school I went to and he said he looks forward to my application and that he remembered me from the school, which was surprising since I didn't talk to him.

December 5, 2014

I'm curious, did anyone email faculty at your chosen universities before you applied?

Also does it in general make a huge difference?

December 3, 2014

Somewhat unrelated question (reading this made me think of it) that may be better placed elsewhere:

Are applications reviewed in the order in which they were received? (At non-rolling admissions schools?)

You might want to check out this:

http://graddecision.org/

It explains a lot about the admission process at different schools.

poweredbycoldfusion · December 3, 2014

You should read this post. Matt Might is a prof of CS and Utah and it is a good recap about getting into grad school. Check out the "do the math" section

http://matt.might.net/articles/how-to-apply-and-get-in-to-graduate-school-in-science-mathematics-engineering-or-computer-science/

I think the uniform distribution makes for a rather simple model of grad school admissions

I would be willing to increase my chances by waiting out a year and apply to the same programs than not do what I want. Although I really want to do research, I don't want to do just any research.

Although to be honest, there was one guy on the same topic one or two years ago who apparently got into only two PhD programs out of 13, but one of which was Caltech. I can't really wrap my head around this.

December 2, 2014

Thanks for your reply.

Just to clarify, UK universities have a different marking scheme which is this:

A: 70-100

B: 60-70

C: 50-60

D: 40-50

Fail: 0-40

So I actually have a B average for the whole year because the two A's that I got were quite high. My question would then be to what extent would research and the other related extra-curricular activities ( very good summer schools ) offset my marks?

At my first university I took some graduate courses which were much better and also very relevant:

Advanced Vision: A

Natural Language Understanding: A

Machin Learning and Pattern Recognition: B

Computational Neurosciene of Vision: A

Computational Cognitive Neuroscience: A

Probabilistic Modeling and Reasoning: B

Neural Computation: B

Neural Information Processing: B

Bioinformatics 1: A
Bioinformatics 2: A

Information Theory: A

December 2, 2014

This is reposted from a topic on The Menu.

I'm studying in the UK and applying for PhD positions in the US starting next fall. My goal is to get into a computational/theoretical neuroscience program and work in memory/learning/synaptic plasticity. I would appreciate some comments on my profile.

Degrees: I have an integrated Master's degree in Artificial Intelligence from a top UK university in computer science (top 12 worldwide according to QS) (upper second class, ~68%). I'm currently doing a 2-year MSc in Mathematics at a top 4 UK university in maths and top 25 worldwide in maths (again according to QS). I will likely get upper second class as well (between 60 and 70).

Courses: I took some tough, very rigorous courses in maths but my marks were generally not very good in the first year (I am in my second year of the MSc now).

Here they are:

Measure theory ( D )

Qualitative theory of ODEs ( B )

Ergodic theory ( C )

Fourier Analysis ( C )

Functional Analysis I ( C )

Functional Analysis II ( A )

Relativity and Electrodynamics ( B )

Probability theory ( D ).

This year I'm taking (all graduate-level courses):

Stochastic analysis

Dynamical systems

Introduction to topology

Advanced PDEs

Brownian Motion

Advanced real analysis

Introduction to theoretical neuroscience

Mathematical Relativity.

At my first university I took all computational neuroscience courses available --- about 6 and I got an A on 4 of them and two B's.

Research:

1. Dissertation in computational neuroscience for my Master's degree in AI (Mark: A, 73).

2. First year project in computational biology for my MSc in Mathematcs (Mark: A, 87).

3. Dissertation (second year) in theoretical neuroscience for my MSc in Mathematics (Ongoing). This one is relevant since it is directly on topic (synaptic plasticity).

I have no publications. I had to publish my first dissertation as a first author but never got around to do it.

Letters of Recommendation: (correspond to the research experience above)

1. My supervisor is a Reader and very enthusiastic about me. Well-known in the field. Has written very good recommendation letters for me at least 5 times and always sends them to me to read.

2. My supervisor is again a Reader, co-director of Systems Biology Centre, very enthusiastic. In a different field. Also wrote a couple of recommendation letters for me and sent them to me.

3. Just starting out so I don't expect a great recommendation. He is also a Reader and a very well-known researcher.

GRE:

Q: 163

V: 163

A: 4.5

Programming: I did AI and Computer Science so I'm comfortable with many languages (Matlab, Mathematica, python etc.). Have worked with frameworks popular in computational neuroscience.

Extra:

- I attended several big summer schools in computational neuroscience with the majority of accepted students being PhD students. I attended one of the top summer schools in learning and memory with many top researchers as lecturers and the school itself was fully funded (accommodation plus food plus trips minus travel to Asia). I got a travel grant from INCF. There was also a small research project that I can talk about in my statement of purpose.

- I attended another fully funded top summer school on memory but from a broader perspective including philosophy (this time travel expenses were covered).

- I presented two posters on two separate summer schools.

- I sat on the Board of Studies at my first university.

Programs I applied to:

1. MIT

2. NYU

3. UCSD

4. Columbia

Questions:

1. Do you think my profile would be good enough for the universities I have chosen?

2. Do you think my marks and my GRE would significantly hurt my chances?

3. What other programs would you suggest are suitable for my profile?

I am a bit worried about my grades and GRE. These could be corrected if I wait another year but what do you make of the rest of the profile?

Posted November 29, 2014 · November 29, 2014

I have a B average albeit from universities that are quite good for my degree. That is what I am worried about because I expect most applicants to top schools will have a high GPA.

I am therefore asking about the typical amount of research PhD applicants to top schools have.

Posted November 28, 2014 · November 28, 2014

Thanks for the reply, Agrippa.

My question shouldn't be seen as specific to Computational Neuroscience but I want to know in general how much research you are expected to have done before you begin a PhD. Also, to what extent, for top schools, research offsets grades.

Posted November 19, 2014 · November 19, 2014

I'm studying in the UK and applying for PhD positions in the US starting next fall. My goal is to get into a computational/theoretical neuroscience program and work in memory/learning/synaptic plasticity. I would appreciate some comments on my profile and suggestions for suitable programs.

Degrees: I have an integrated Master's degree in Artificial Intelligence from a top UK university in computer science (top 12 worldwide according to QS) (upper second class, ~68%). I'm currently doing a 2-year MSc in Mathematics at a top 4 UK university in maths and top 25 worldwide in maths (again according to QS). I will likely get upper second class as well (between 60 and 70).

Courses: I took some tough, very rigorous courses in maths but my marks were generally not very good in the first year (I am in my second year of the MSc now).

Here they are: Measure theory ( D ), Qualitative theory of ODEs ( B ), Ergodic theory ( C ), Fourier Analysis ( C ), Functional Analysis I ( C ), Functional Analysis II ( A ), Relativity and Electrodynamics ( B ), Probability theory ( D ).

This year I'm taking (all graduate-level courses): Stochastic analysis, Dynamical systems, Introduction to topology, Advanced PDEs, Brownian Motion, Advanced real analysis, Introduction to theoretical neuroscience, Mathematical Relativity. I don't have any marks yet, of course.

At my first university I took all computational neuroscience courses available --- about 6.