neuropsych76

I'd be curious to see this graph. I'll probably stick around when I'm in grad school (but under a super secret new user name ) This forum was SO incredibly helpful for me during the grad school app process, I'd like to reciprocate a bit.

If you volunteer and pay for your own housing/ travel/ living expenses a professor will be more likely to be able to accept you into his/her lab. I would tell them this up front. Connections help but are not required. An email showing interest with a strong CV attached works as well. You can find some RA positions online but the best bet is to email many professors. You are not too late yet but its getting close to crunch time. Start mass emailing people ASAP

[quote name=hello! ' timestamp='1302746085' post='244465] It's a good place to start, but you're right about there being slight differences... Just something to be aware about if there comes a time to make the transition. I can't comment on the specific differences though, since I've never personally used Octave. Good luck!

I also agree, branching out not only allows you to develop academically and grow as a person more, but looks better to future employers (or so i hear). I've lived in the same place my whole life to and I would hate being stuck here for another 5 years. I'll be moving a comfortable 600 miles away

I have been using MIT's open course for linear algebra and its been great Thank you for the advice on learning matlab! But what if I do not have access to matlab? Would Octave be an adequate replacement for gaining a basic understanding of matlab or would i just confuse myself when I actually do use matlab? I know they are pretty similar and I think octave can run matlab files Thanks again!

[quote name=hello! ' timestamp='1302722868' post='244239] Just because the Matlab program is built around the concept of matrices, it doesn't necessarily mean a course in linear algebra would boost one's facility to pick up the language. For those who have little to no programming experience, I would recommend an introductory course in java or something, offered at most community colleges. As was1984 said, it's important to gain a theoretical understanding of computer science if one wants to eventually become a proficient programmer; it's less important to study the specific math that Matlab performs. You'll probably find scripting in Matlab much easier if you already know concepts such as data structures, data types... Do you know what's the difference between a cell array and a matrix? What are structure arrays typically used for? These are important concepts that will come up if you were to write your own code. Of course, I'm not saying that learning linear algebra won't help you. It's great general knowledge to have, especially in cognitive neuroscience research.

So for people who have not used matlab much before (me) what do you think is the best way of getting a good background before using it? You mentioned learning linear algebra and I was told that this was a good way to go. Is there anything else I should do before starting grad school (i know i'll be using matlab heavily so i'd like to come in with even a little knowledge) Thanks!

It's difficult but it can be done. Most summer RA ships will be volunteer positions and will take a lot of searching around. Basically, if you email enough professors one will respond back with a summer position somewhere. I worked in a lab at a summer far away from where I lived and it was an awesome experience.

I keep hearing how rankings do not matter much at all. It's all about what kind of research experience you obtain from your mentor/department. However, I also hear that students should be wary of schools at the very bottom of ranking listings because of suspect training/funding. If you do look at rankings, look at ones from phds.org or something because undergrad school ranking literally means nothing.

Both Arcadian and psychapplicant make good points. Fit is the most important factor followed by research experience. GPA is not as important. BUT, for highly competitive programs a lower GPA will severely limit your chances of admission. I'd only apply to a couple top top programs.

I ended up getting a rejection but still haven't heard back from one school I interviewed at. I feel like for doctorate programs, if you don't hear back and its getting close you April 15th and you have heard nothing, you're not getting accepted.

Some of those schools you mentioned are very competitive and a 3.12 might will stand out to those adcoms. I would first decide if you want to do cognitive neuroscience OR behavioral neuroscience, you can't do both. Also, you may want to get a little more research experience. Chances are really hard to gauge for anyone though.

I'm in the same boat. Also, I don't want to have hundreds of paper pdfs laying around that I will surely misplace. I was debating whether or not to get a kindle or nook for an e-reader but i think its worth the extra money to get an ipad.

Thank you all for the replies and the helpful thread rising star!! This ended up being an easy decision for me as my future prof and grad students in the lab will be gone most of this summer lol. So, i'll have a summer to relax but I won't get a head start on research. Oh well

What about just creating a lab webpage? I know some undergrads and RA's do this but would grad students ever just create a simple lab webpage?

I think it looks bad for a program when their department has a poor web design, broken links, and faculty webpages from the 1990's. I really wouldn't mind building a lab webpage for my program though. I always thought it was cool to see a lab have it's own webpage

Exactly! it is interesting to see the acceptance percentages though.

I think the application success rate can't really be measured by % of acceptances. I was accepted into a great school with a perfect research fit so I would consider that a success

I agree with the previous posters about emailing profs and working in a cogneuro lab. I used the shotgun approach and emailed lots of profs and was lucky enough to get a summer position in an fmri. this was a wonderful experience and probably was the main reason i got into grad school.

i'm wondering this as well! my department's webpage is not impressive looking at all. and my professor's lab doesn't even have a webpage! i want to ask my future professor if i could help make her one but i don't know if that would be weird to ask considering i haven't worked in the lab yet..

Yes, grad students have been very helpful so far but there are SO many different places to look with often conflicting reviews. Also, I just found what seems to be a nice room listings website for my school. Problem is I need a school ID to access it :/

I'm hesitant to contact the school because they do offer graduate housing but it's more expensive. I feel like they wouldn't give me objective information Anyone have any insight on whether grad school housing is worth it? I've only been searching for an apartment for 2 days are I'm already frustrated lol. Every time I think I find a good potential place, I read something awful about it :/

I just made it really simple and straightforward. something like "after much consideration I have decided to accept your offer for school X's Phd program. I look forward joining the department!" I received a nice reply from my POI welcoming me to the lab and I've been in contact with the current grad students. It is a little strange just sending a brief email for something that will dictate the next 5 years of your life but I think you don't need anything elaborate: you're in!

I think that would be a good option for me. How do you go about asking for funding though? Just say something like I was wondering if I could work in the the lab a few weeks early if there is some funding available? I don't want to seem pushy to start my grad career

I wish I would have done better (580 V, 630 Q, 4.5 A) but I studied very hard and I don't think I could have improved much considering how busy I was. I was really happy with my score and it allowed me to get invited to some good schools so i dont think it held me back too much. But I guarantee it kept my application from being seriously considered from the top, top schools I applied to. In the end, I went to a school that was the best fit for me of all the schools I applied to. A mediocre GRE score wasn't a factor. I wish I didn't stress out about the GRE so much when I had to take it