UnagiForever

I'm not sure if that was a genuine gratitude or a pure sarcasm, but you appear to be completely clueless about ERR_Alpha's main point. Here is an advice - if you hate the feeling that people are getting sick of you, try to write polite posts or replies with better attitude that could prompt a more constructive response. It's really no brainer.

I hate to resort to saying this but at this point I am almost certain that your d*****bag attitude was part of the reason that prevented you from getting into any grad programs in the first place. Even if you get admitted somewhere, I truly feel sorry for the advisor who will have to bear with a truly immature and a hostile person like you for two or more years (or even less, if the advisor decides he/she cannot handle a disrespectful student like you any longer). Oh and for the record, we have read past OP, but since you love treating others' advice as a series of useless junk, reprimands are what you'll hear for the most of the part at this point.

Many life science fields are overlapped so if you get a master's degree in a field that's not explicitly neuroscience but a life science with similar research or focus, I don't see why that should matter in the long-term for your neuroscience pursuits. As for your question regarding whether a 4.0 GPA in that program will have any value in a future PhD, yes, of course it will (certainly a lot more value than your undergrad GPA). I'd also recommend you to show a minimal gratitude from time to time towards us for taking time to help you, rather than replying with a jerk-like statement "since even a Kavli prize winning professor can't give me a good advice, now I have to rely on you internet people". If that's how you feel than you shouldn't be asking us for help at all.

I'm not in a neuroscience field but I think the user "000" (the neuroscience grad student) might be able to provide more helpful input in regards to your admission potential for these programs you are applying as part of plan B. You can probably send a PM. If those schools you listed do not have minimum GPA requirements posted on their website, it certainly doesn't hurt to apply and maybe your admission potentials are much higher than the previous schools you applied to. I am pretty sure other people on this thread have figured that out too, even though they didn't explicitly state it like I did. Just because a Kavali prize winner, nobel laureate, or a world's most respected scientist assures you that you will get into one of the programs you applied to, it doesn't mean at all that you are absolutely guaranteed to get in (sure, they will be GREAT references, but unless they have the direct power over those schools' admissions, your admission is not guaranteed regardless of what they say).

Regardless of how false your recommender was in terms of your admission potential, you should not be blaming others for suggesting you to apply or giving you false hopes. No matter what someone else has suggested or what someone else said about your potential for getting accepted, it was YOUR choice alone to ultimately apply to these schools, and you only have yourself to blame. Since she wrote the letters for your past applications, I don't think she'll have any problem writing more letters for your new applications for this fall admission.

Blade runner

Brandeis accepts M.S. applications for Neuroscience on rolling basis (until June 1, 2015): http://www.bio.brandeis.edu/grad/neuro/index.html Google "neuroscience rolling admission" and you might get some results on programs that might still accept applications.

big idea

I couldn't agree with neuropanic and ballwera less. With that 2.3 GPA, other professors and adcom will seriously doubt that you understand your material enough to be granted a graduate admission offer. Somebody I know personally (who maintained a 2.1 GPA) was admitted to a master's program under EXCEPTIONAL circumstances. BUT, he had valid reasons (for the sake of his privacy I will not disclose them in details here, but they include natural disasters affecting his college livelihood, etc). He did not do an entire post-bacc sequence, but only had several years of working experience at various odd jobs after graduation. While unfortunately most professors did not care about his personal history, a couple professors did, sympathized with him, and decided to accept him (he also had great interview skills). If you think your personal history that explains your low GPA can grant you admission under exceptional circumstances, then you might still have a chance for a grad school admission the next time you apply (since it provides a valid excuse and convinces those schools that you do understand material in your field). However, if you do not think any POI will be convinced whatsoever no matter what your story is, I hate to tell you this but you will have to go through an entire post-bacc sequence and perform very well academically. That I think is the only way you can truly be guaranteed an admission to a master's or a PhD, which will lead you towards academics career. Yes, it might require you to take out more loans. But as long as you continue to enroll in schools, you do not have to worry about paying back federal loans until you finish your grad degree.

Not necessarily. I'd say wait until mid-February. Hopefully by then you'll have some good news

Yuanyang, maybe I am exaggerating (I'll have to see if other users agree with me on this), but I find your comment to NSG-mdx's reply pretty offensive: by "prime age" are you saying that people who start Ph.D. in their later years in neuroscience are less capable and less competent when it comes to making great discoveries? So should we too be discouraged from pursuing a PhD just because we are beyond "prime age"? Mind you, this can be quite insulting to many people on this forum who are starting their Ph.D. in their 30s-40s.

war draft