brainsandeggs

Omg I hope the MIT is a troll

Also got a call from Emory neuro!

Just got a phone call from Emory neuro! Very excited!

Amazing!! Congrats!

Yay! Congrats!:D:D

Got one for Mt. Sinai - excited! Thank god they didn't call me and try to ask me questions, I was commuting to work and would have been totally brain dead

Yeah I keep hearing the same things - I actually don't know much about the program at all, but from what I know about other schools, being involved with the SURF program can definitely help you but it won't represent an "easy in" if you will. It's interesting that the dean was downplaying stats when you were there. If you were a SURF fellow I would for sure go for it and highlight this in your app - the same rules apply I'm sure as for any other program - research experience and most importantly, fit, are the critical factors.

I totally 100% agree - If that's been your experience at MOunt Sinai I will definitely be looking into way more closely! Sorry to hear you hate NYC! Haha its so funny - I've been here for about 8 years, I really love it but probably 3x a week either the MTA, the crazies, or the "80% of my paycheck on rent" makes me say "THIS TIME I"M NOT KIDDING I AM GETTING THE EFF OUT OF NEW YORK." and then i dont. But thanks so much for your perspective I appreciate it!

I totally agree - a friend goes to the medical school so I've had the program on my radar, but my anecdotal experience on here is that people don't include it in their lists which is crazy because I would tend to think it would get swamped being another Ivy in Manhattan. It flies under the radar I guess! And I would very much appreciate running a few questions by your friend if they get the time! Any info at all helps make both my application stronger, better tailored to the culture of the program, and allows me to figure out if I am a good fit.. Thanks!

Aha! That is excellent to hear - this is exactly what I am hoping. Not sure if you saw my stats posted up above somewheres, but while I do have just about 8 years (5 at my current lab) of research experience, my uGPA is 2.46 so my main worry is that my app WON"T get into the hands of a human. But my Master's GPA is 4.0 in molecular biology so I'm hoping someone will do some kind of fancy math that squeaks me up over a 3.0 - the last 60 credits of everything together is just around 3.2, which I would be super happy with counting as my overall GPA, as long as it let's me get into consideration. I suppose schools keep this process super secret as no one has a list of schools that do this or schools that dont, though I have heard rumors of certain specific schools, like Rockefeller, that keep it really strict on stats. I was telling my friend the other day that once I started researching the incredible stuff MIT is producing (I wrote my last paper on it!) I sort of fell in love with the program, but it felt like the equivalent of falling in love with a movie star. And then deciding that you, a regular person, was going to find a way to meet them in real life and get them to marry you - impossible! But...maybe?

I'm applying to MIT - it's my super reach dream school, but I have to do it. Are you looking at biochem there or something else? I've done a lot of research on the labs I want to get into/the school itself - all the most recent insanely blockbuster research in my field came out of there. I'm hoping something will stick.

Yes for sure - I definitely consider Mt. Sinai to be a reach program as well - like in the range of Weill Cornell or NYU - is this a correct assessment? I saw in your sig you are there now - what do you think about the program? I haven't done as much research on Mt.Sinai just because I am looking for more realistic choices since my list is already populated with golden ticket type programs. I think my best chances are at programs that would be willing to take a risk on a low uGPA student for research fit/exp and MS didn't strike me as that kind of place, but I would love to go there - the lab that I work in now has a lot of people from a lab there so the "science lineage" is there.

I agree with this - I said somewhere above but my PI had me write my own letter and it was really really tough- almost as tough as writing my SOP. I would also say to make it as enthusiastic and glowing as you can (as you dare), and have them make changes if they need to. I think in most cases you would be better off having your PI have to tone it down slightly then playing it safe and writing a more mediocre letter - the type of PI who doesn't have time to write their own letter probably also won't bother going back in and editing it to make it as impressive as you could do yourself. In the end, I went through many drafts with him, each time he had to push me to make it more sappy and positive, which might annoy/make them second guess you if you had to do that too many times. I would say its also important to emphasize the things they are truly looking for - ability to work independently and with a true understanding of process, and the ability to analyze data to synthesize results for publication. And then, as they said above, SHOW how you have done that. Good luck!

I have FOR SURE been considering Weill Cornell - both WC and Cold Spring harbor seem like tough programs to get into, but I have done a lot of research into their faculty and research areas so I might take the leap. And Wow Yes! I would absolutely love the chance to email your friend and get a sense of their experience in the program - that would be great, thanks so much! Would you mind if I asked you why you chose WC over UChicago? I'm looking there too, just because I was accepted there for undergrad (ended up not going) but I did a lot of research into their particular "culture" and the school itself so I felt like I knew how to write an essay for them. Was it just research fit/location/something unique to you or you felt something objectively about the programs was better/worse? But thanks so much for your advice! In my lab, I"m the only person who actually does any work (the rest are PIs/Senior doctors/Scientists who are on the grant in name, but don't do anything) so I'm very isolated and don't have many people to ask for advice - thus the gradcafe stalking!

Thanks so much for replying! I appreciate your feedback on my research exp, my supreme hope is that it'll be enough to force my way past initial screenings. I'm tearing my hair out with these apps haha. I am definitely considering CSHL, I consider it in my reach-tier, but I've read on these forums that Rockefeller has this crazy high GPA cutoff rate? Of course I am hoping that my Master's GPA will help compensate in some way for my insanely low uGPA. But I've ALSO read on these forums that schools don't weigh a high MA GPA that well because getting a B in graduate school is basically failing (that was not my experience however, I know a lot of kids who got Bs, and my As were a real battle it was NOT easy). I guess this is the wrong place to get advice on that since most people here are still applying, but I wonder if it is a common experience to have a MA GPA successfully override such a terrible uGPA? The forums seem to be divided on this, but all the advice for low uGPA people is "GET A MASTERS". If you are in the NYC area also, do you know anything about programs that might be more mid-tier - like Fordham/Rutgers etc.? Although I am cautiously optimistic about SUNY Downstate as a safety school, I would like to try and find more places that could be forgiving, though I know it's also a crapshoot - I've also heard that middle-ranked programs might use stats more than a top program would. Anyways, good luck with your apps! Neuroscience is so tough...

Undergrad Institution: Ivy, Graduated in 2011Major(s): Neuroscience and BehaviorGPA in Major: 2.9Overall GPA: 2.5Position in Class: N/AType of Student: Minority (africanamerican) Female Master's Institution: Good State School, Finishing up December 2015 Major: Neurobiology MA GPA: 4.0 (in fact, all A+s) GRE Scores:Q: 163 (91%)V: 155 (61%)W: 4.5 (78%)B: Not taking LORS: Are superlative - this is because my PI made me write the letter for him, and he even changed it to be even more enthusiastic than even I could manage. Have another one from the other PI, his will be excellent, and a third from the prof who teaches the hardest class at my MA institution, where I did very well, and am currently rocking his seminar class.Research Experience: Aug 2011 to Present: Neurohistology Laboratory Research Director at undergrad Ivy- I've been running this lab for the past 4 years (started as a volunteer and worked my way up within a year to running the lab and doing independent research) - this includes writing NIMH grants (R21 and R01), writing publications (authorship on 4 papers, 1 first to decent impact journals), managing the budget of 2 NIH grants, conceptualizing and executing Neurohist protocols - several of which have never been done in monkeys before. Also did a ton of work with the monkeys- all kinds of medical and surgical procedures, behavioral ratings, fMRI etc. Main work is studying neurogenesis, ELS, depression, SSRIs etc. The new R21 I'm working on is studying a really cool protein involved in a certain brain process, and have assistance from PI who discovered it. My master's thesis is along this same vein. My PI is pretty well connected at my undergrad Ivy, he's got me a couple interviews here with truly perfect fit faculty...Those are this week. EEK. I am terrified about my low uGPA. I am not sure exactly how to address it in my SOP. The honest reason is that my best friend committed suicide the month before I left for college, and I was just devastated and pretty lost I guess...it took me until the summer before senior year to really figure out what i actually wanted to do (my GPA rose from like 2.0s to 3.4/5 senior year). BUT I really don't want to bring this up in the SOP - it feels really distasteful to me for some reason to use that as an excuse. But anyway, I was pre-med at the time so I just kept registering for all these crazy hard classes that I KNEW I wasn't going to actually be able to use - orgo/calc etc. and bombing them. Not until I decided I wanted to do research that I finally wised up and got down to bizness. After graduation I applied to the lab, worked my ass off, and then determined to prove that my uGPA wasn't representative of my academic capabilities. This meant applying for non-degree status at Hunter, acing those first two classes (while working full time) and then hoping against hope for Spring admission. I got it, and then continued to work as hard as possible to make sure I kept that 4.0. I am trying so hard to not lose hope, but the current grant that funds my research is up this fall, so I really need to get in somewhere this year (my PI is personally providing my salary until the R21 gets thru fingers crossed). If anyone has any advice or was in a similar situation - please let me know what you did or what I could do to help! I am considering applying to a few MA programs in a slightly different field (computational neuro) to try and increase my chances next year if I need to...but I really don't want to have to do that. Also - are there any other schools I should be looking at outside the NY area? Particularly schools that might look at only last 60 credits, or most recent degree GPA etc.? Thank you!! Applying to Where: I guess its obvious where I am from my list of schools and everything but... SUNY Downstate: Neuroscience CUNY Grad Center: Cellular, Molecular, Developmental Bio (this program has the same exact core that I've taken already as a Master's student, so I''m hoping strong LOR from one of the profs who teaches one of the more difficult classes there will help, and demonstrate that I am academically able to handle the coursework). Columbia: Neurobiology and Behavior NYU: Neural Science These apps are in already, but I want a few more schools: Considering: SUNY Upstate/ Albany One of the Cal-State Unis One or two more reach schools (I have pretty good research fit with labs at harvard and stanford. I know it's like buying a 200 dollar lottery ticket but....)