seven27

I've also contacted rotation labs. So far, I've scheduled one rotation, had a PI tell me to talk to her when I arrive, and another hasn't responded. I didn't include a CV or personal statement, but I did quite briefly outline my experience and interests for PIs who I thought might not know (or remember) much about me. I also mentioned something about each PI's research, which was pretty simply 'you do this type of research on this model, and I like that.' I met all of these PIs at the interview visit last February, which I think made each e-mail much easier to write. I was given advice to leave one quarter open in order to keep yourself flexible for changing interests and situations that happen after you arrive. I haven't really paid attention to that advice, but it seems reasonable.

Hi there! I'll be starting UW's Neuroscience PhD program this fall, hopefully researching retinal neurophysiology in mouse or primate. I'm ready to start now! Ahhh

Hey, I think it is pretty normal to feel like you left something better behind when you choose from a bunch of good options. I know every time I get close to choosing a school, I start to feel like I'm not valuing my other options enough. At least you made a decision! I'm still pulling my hair out over here. Anyway, Yale is obviously a fantastic institution. In the end, it seems you had no bad options, and once you get to Yale you'll just have to put your best foot forward to make the experience as great as it can be! Good luck!

Echoing what's already been said. My uGPA is ~3.0, but a master's degree from a respected institution w/ good GPA (>3.8) gave me a shot at solid programs. By the way, I dunno if your undergrad institution was in the U.K., but I had a 2:2 out of undergrad and I thought it was the end of my grad school road. Now I have a PhD offer from UCL. Things that helped me: authorship (not first author), poster presentation at a respected conference in my field, designing a new prep in my master's lab (which I wrote a bit about in my SoP), at least one very influential LoR, and proven experience with techniques relevant to my research interests. I wasn't successful everywhere I applied, but I've been admitted to a handful of very good programs. I'm sure you'll have a similar or better outcome down the road. I suggest you get a mentor to look over your SoP when you get to that point. Good luck!

Just heard from UW. Hope it's good news for @neuroslice and @Bbbbbbbb (and whoever else is waiting for a response) as well

I haven't heard from UW either. A few of the current students said they heard back quickly, so I was expecting to hear back later this week or early next week.

I believe there are NYU-invitees floating around here. Can someone give their NYU interview dates? It seems pretty late for NYU to send out more invites, despite our 'under review' status

That's good to know. I'm not holding my breathe either, but at least there's a chance.

I sometimes wonder if schools immediately accept a group of outstanding applicants, then are stuck deciding between 30 students with more or less comparable records for 10 interview spots. At this point, do schools offer interviews to those who will cost less? If I lived in NYC, maybe I would be more likely to interview at NYU or another east coast institution, compared to someone with similar credentials in Billings, Montana or Tempe, Arizona. I mean, this probably doesn't happen, but it's something I think about while refreshing my inbox. Also, I noticed that a bunch of people received NYU Neural Science rejection e-mails yesterday. My application is still labeled under review as of ~10AM today according to the NYU tracking system. I wonder if that should be an encouraging sign.

I'm going to go against better judgement and allow myself to believe UCSF may also have additional invitations to send.

damn. Thanks for letting me know. Congratulations!

If the person who submitted the Duke Neuroscience interview invite is lurking this thread, could they let us know if they applied to the psychology & neuroscience program or the neurobiology program (edit: or the cog neuro program)? Thanks!

Hang in there! There are more invites to come.

I see someone got an invite from UC-Davis. Congrats to them! 2 for 3 so far

Fair enough! Hope we hear from Northwestern & NYU soon.

Hopefully a 1 year master's program isn't considered too incestuous for a PhD program from the same institution!

Is that common among universities? I thought it would be the opposite!

+1 to moving this thread to the Biology forum, if possible. @Neuro15 U of Oregon as in the one in Eugene. They do a neuro program through their biology department.

Thanks for creating this thread! @lucky_panda any reason you didn't apply to U of Minnesota's neuro program? To those curious about Northwestern, admissions had a 4 hour meeting yesterday. I assume interview invites will be sent out by Friday.

Looks like U of Oregon neuro has started sending out invites. My POI told me e-mails will be sent out next week--not sure if everyone gets a call.

I just got mine as well. See you there maybe

Hi! I am having a difficult time deciding on my next step after finding no success with PhD applications. I've been accepted to MS/MSc programs in Neurobio/science at Northwestern, UCL, and U of Edinburgh, and I am really struggling to decide which option is best for me. I also recently interviewed for a position at the Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, so that could be an option. I am wondering if anyone has insight into these options, or an idea of what I should be looking for in a master's program? I do hope to re-apply to PhD programs after a master's program or 2nd job in research. My thoughts are: Pros of UCL are the coursework and the possibility of working in a well-known laboratory for my master's research project. Also, UCL seems to have a good reputation within the neuroscience world. Unfortunately, I've been unable to garner commitments from any of the labs in which I really want to do research, so I'd be going in only hoping to get a project that fits my interests. Northwestern offers a more expansive research project (1 year vs 6 months), but the coursework is general and limited (1 elective, 2 general neurobiology courses). Coursework options are fairly important to me because I'd like my master's GPA to be as influential as possible in order to effectively counteract my relatively poor uGPA. Still, the more involved master's thesis is intriguing. I know research experience tends to be important for PhD applications. Edinburgh's coursework is just OK. I've had encouraging responses from PIs about research projects, so I am confident that I would be able to do research in an area of interest. The job at the Allen Institute is pretty intriguing, but I am hardly the only candidate for the job. The scientists I spoke to over the phone seemed to think that 3 years with them would be a much better option than any master's program, mostly because of the chance to expand on my research background. It would also be nice to make money instead of having $70,000 of debt over my head for one year of school. I was lucky enough to not incur debt from my undergraduate degree. About me: I have an undergraduate degree in Neuroscience from the University of St. Andrews, but I graduated with a lousy GPA (~3.0). I did 19 months of work as a lab technician at the University of Utah after graduating with my BSc, which hopefully netted me a second-author pub (if the PI ever manages to finish the manuscript!). As a technician, I learned blind/slice patch and LFP electrophysiology, which apparently are standout points of my resume. My GRE scores are OK: V: 163 Q: 158 : W: 4.5. My research interests are in neurophysiology/computational neuroscience, preferably in visual processing or motor control. Documented computational experience was somewhat lacking in my previous PhD applications, so I really hope to use my next experience as tangible evidence of computational proficiency. Anyway, any kind of general insight or opinion on master's programs I listed (or any comment, really) is appreciated. Thanks!