DrFino

Thanks for the responses. I really appreciate your insight. I am fully committed toward reaching my goal, and I know that I have the capacity to achieve them with any volume of effort. At this point, I guess what I am questioning is the efficiency of my progress from now until I am working within my prospective field. I have applied to neuroscience programs at UTexas at Dallas, U of Idaho, Tulane U, Stony Brook. Accepted into U of Hartford. Rejected from Penn State. Some of the questions I have (assume solid performance during MS and PhD work): I have an undergraduate degree (PSU) with relatively little experience or work within the field I am applying. With the goal of obtaining a PhD, am I right to assume MS work is required? Relative to undergrad, how much weight will my MS work have on an application into a PhD program? Should I be worried that an MS from outside of the top 10 (25?, 50?) schools will lead me to a dead end with lots of debt? Should I be worried that a PhD from outside of the top 10 (25?, 50?) schools will lead me to a dead end with lots of debt? Thank you all for your help, it means a lot.

I've applied to 6 MS programs (heard back from 2), and until now, I was just waiting for the letters to roll in. I just read about the April 15th deadline, and it worries me that I'm still waiting on 4 schools, all of which abide by this deadline. I'm assuming it mostly applies to PhD programs with funding, but I'm not sure. I've also been second guessing myself based on things I've read around reddit, and I don't know if I'm on the right track anymore. Ultimately, I want to land anywhere between research and academia within a brain sciences field. I don't know if I'm right going into MS programs in order to obtain a PhD further down the line, but I know I wont be accepted into any reputable PhD programs without Master's work to make up for my lack of experience and publication. Basically, I want to be sure I wont kill myself with wasted years and loans, only to come out with very little to show for it. Right now, I'm not 100% convinced. Thanks for your time.