swtster

I just wanted to mention how much I love the diversity in this thread. I am an OD thinking about pursuing a PhD in neuroscience as well. I graduated, finished residency, and I've been working for a few years now. I've worked a lot with OTs and PTs when co-managing patients since I do brain injury vision rehabilitation. I have great respect for therapists because I see how difficult it can be. Even though you're not loving the path you're on now, I have to echo @BabyScientist 's sentiment by applauding you for your drive and commitment to see it through. I also believe that working for a little while to gain clinical insight is invaluable as it can not only help you narrow down your interests but you can offer a different perspective to your research as well. Good luck!

Well, it's a bit unfair because I have a professional degree and postdoctoral training. I've been working for a few years already and it was a culmination of my background and my experiences that lead me to my current research interests. However, maybe I can give you some insight into how to narrow down your choices. I decided on my current labs of interests for the following reasons: 1) I want to do translational research that can be applied clinically. 2) I prefer to work with human data as opposed to animal models. 3) I'm comfortable with various imaging techniques and I want to utilize imaging in my research. 4) I'm pretty forward thinking and I believe that computational and coding abilities are good skills to have so I want to be able to incorporate computational models in my research, if possible. 5) My ultimate goal is to work in a research hospital where I can work as a research-clinician. So, I want to be in a lab with current research-clinicians to get a better sense of what that would be like for myself in the future. So, to summarize: 1. Think about what research modality you're comfortable with. For me, I'm not comfortable working with animal models. 2. What skills do you have that you feel would help you in your intended research? Will you be able to utilize those skills in the labs you choose? 3. What skills do you hope to gain through your research? Which program will provide you the best mentor to help you develop those skills? 4. What question(s) do you intend to answer with your research and does your chosen lab have the resources to help you find those answers? 5. What do you want to do in the end with your degree? Do the faculty in your chosen program reflect what you hope to achieve professionally?

My research interests are incredibly specific and very niche so I don't imagine myself applying to more than a handful of programs. I actually only have 2 in mind at the moment.

Same. Thanks for starting this thread.

I am currently struggling with the same dilemma sans kids. We are newlyweds and my husband is working at his dream job with lots of potential for growth and advancement. I would hate to ask him to leave and we know we want to settle in the city we are in now. Unfortunately, my top choice program is 10 hours away. At the moment, we are open to doing long distance again (we did it during our residencies) but we also want to start a family in the near future. If I am offered admission, I was thinking about asking about relocation assistance for my husband, i.e. we want to see if he can apply for a position at the university's hospital, or at the very least, a travel stipend to allow us to see each other more frequently.

Hi everyone, I am preparing for my applications for next cycle (Fall 2021) and my research interests are very specific: vision loss and neuro-rehabilitation. It has been rather tedious scouring each school's faculty profile and looking up their research to find a lab that aligns with my interests since it's so specific. So far, I have only been able to identify a few schools. Does anyone know of any other schools that are doing vision research? TIA!

Does anyone know of any volunteer research positions that are open to non-students? Does quality over quantity hold true when it comes to research experience? Background: I finished undergrad a decade ago and I hold a professional doctorate degree. I would like to pursue a PhD in neuro beginning Fall 2021. I have a lot of clinical research experience but little laboratory research experience (similarly, all of my posters, abstracts, and publications are clinical). I was very fortunate to find a PI at a local university who was willing to take me on as a volunteer in their biomedical engineering lab. The projects are fascinating to me and many relate to my interests. However, given that I work full-time, I currently can only go in one day a week on my days off. I understand that programs want to see candidates with more research experience and I was thinking about volunteering in more labs eventually. However, time is not on my side and it's been difficult to find other positions since many (as I've been told in the past) are reserved for current graduate and undergraduate students. Any input would be greatly appreciated!