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Neuromantic

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Posts posted by Neuromantic

  1. Hey: I just got accepted to an incredible program, but they're expecting a final decision by next week. I still have two more interviews and would like to weigh all of my options before making a final choice! Is it okay if I email admissions and request more time before accepting/declining my offer? Is that too selfish?

  2. On 1/15/2021 at 11:09 PM, sirtuingirl said:

    I saw a number of people posting about receiving rejections from UNC BBSP in the results page today. I was one of them. 

    I have a more fundamental question: why do so many students apply to the BBSP PhD program? I get that it’s an umbrella program with many disciplines but I don’t see why they should be getting so many applicants. It seems to be a good broad program but my cursory research indicated that it was not really top notch in any one area. In my case, I knew what my top 4 choices were but wanted to apply to 4 more to feel more secure. I don’t think that provided any extra security because I have received interviews from my top 4 choices but received rejections from 2 of the others, WashU and UNC BBSP and I have yet to hear from the remaining 2, NYU and UPenn (which mean likely rejections)

    Would love to hear everyone’s thoughts on why so many apply to UNC BBSP.
     

     

     

     

    3 hours ago, sirtuingirl said:

    I don’t have data about UCs but I read that someone who got rejected by UMich PIBS in the last week of December asked for feedback and got a response that giving specific feedback is not possible because the program received over 1300 applicants for the Fall 2021 cycle and has invited approximately 100 to the interviews. 

    I also read that UNC received over 2700 applications this year (versus 1900 last year) and have invited 310-320 to the interviews. They expect 85-95 to matriculate, a bit smaller cohort size than last year. I don’t know how many offers they plan to give out. Whether the slightly smaller cohort size estimate is based on a smaller number of offers to begin with or expectations for a higher percentage of students to reject the offer, I have no idea. I hope it’s not the former.

    It seems to me that this year, PhD aspirants in biomedical sciences (including neuroscience) have applied to many more universities on average than last year. I think it’s because everyone kept hearing this year that there is a big increase in number of applicants and there are less slots in most programs. Even if the total number of slots is slightly reduced, the increase in number of applications outpaces that by a large margin on a percentage basis, based on my guesstimate. 

    If a program typically gets 200 applications, it’s not too difficult to see an increase to 300 or even 400 this year. However, it is a major feat to increase an already large size of applications of 1900 to 2700. I attribute that mostly to excellent marketing and outreach and I saw that first hand.

    Moral of the story.....if you receive interviews this year, you should feel damn good. If you haven’t heard back, you should not lose hope because programs have so many more applications to review. Also, I think this year many programs will get their acceptance percentage assumptions wrong and some will get less acceptances than they estimated. Hence, if you got rejected from one of your top choices, it wouldn’t hurt to contact the program in March and let them know that you are still very interested. 

     

     

    Hey, sorry for being MIA: had my first interview this week and was swamped!

    My two cents: More importantly, I think that UNC is considered a safety net for many, many applicants. It's an "easy" first interview, is a solid umbrella program, and has a reasonable priority deadline. I got my UNC rejection on Friday along with everyone else. I would argue that UMich has a better Neuroscience program than UNC (Huda Akil vs. Tom Kash,) but it depends on your specific research interests within the field. I'm surprised that PIBS only offered 100 interviews... wow! Thanks for providing that insight- I'm also hoping to get a better idea of the applicant pool size vs. interviews offered during my interview weekends.

    I think that more students applied this year because a) they had nothing to lose and b) GRE requirements were dropped by more institutions than the last cycle. Plus: there is a higher focus on DEI and recruitment of minorities. That alone spikes the applicant pool a decent amount, especially when you consider first-gen and non-traditional applicants (like myself). I'm still amazed that I got at least one interview. The competition is berserk, and we need to keep uplifting and supporting each other. It's so competitive, I can't wrap my head around it. My interview this week only had 14 students! 

  3. Just now, neuro2021hopeful said:

    Thank you, I really appreciate that! I'm the first person in my family attempting to go to grad school, so I really wasn't sure what to expect when applying. But I'll keep my hopes up!

    I am, too! 2/6 is more than most people and considered pretty good. I can definitely provide more information about the post-bacc experience later on if you still need it :)

  4. 27 minutes ago, neuro2021hopeful said:

    Hello! I'm finishing up my senior year of undergrad right now. I've applied to a few PhD programs, but it seems likely I might not get accepted this cycle (only have interviews at 2/6 schools applied too). I'd definitely be interested in a post-bacc at the NIH if I don't get into any programs for the fall. What was it like?

    2/6 interviews is AWESOME, and you very well may get accepted, dude! I'd say focus on your interviews before planning your backups.

  5. This may be controversial: I don't think that it's worth investing your heart and soul into the Ivies or the UC's. For domestic & international students alike, it's a game of 3D chess to determine who they call to interview. More often than not, it's domestic students with connections and/or legacy. I feel for international students because they are going through rings of fire due to our current administration and the lack of available spots in the Ph.D pipeline throughout the U.S. Going to lesser known and/or top 50 programs, doing a killer job, then kicking ass in your postdoc may be the most secure route for now. I know that this is a path that non-traditional domestic students consider since we're also in a difficult position here when competing against your stereotypical "strong" applicants. Don't lose the faith and keep pushing for your dreams. It's going to happen one way or another. ❤️ 

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