dopamine_machine

I want to emphasise that both schools are excellent for biology. However, the specific research you want to do may show some school preference. I recommend looking at every professor's research and seeing if you can visualize yourself being happy in those research labs. First, evaluate if your research goals are in line with the Faculty member. If your interests are aligned, then start to consider other factors, including: Postdoc to PhD student ratios, size of labs, general laboratory funding, where the PhD students publish each year, as well as how many times each PhD student publishes. While this may seem like a lot of work, it will all help in the long run to ensure you are placed in a well-funded lab with adequate support to finish your PhD in a shorter amount of time. It might also help land you a postdoc, specifically if your PI is well-connected/well-renowned in the field of biology that interests you. If you can ask your current PI/mentors about PIs at the schools that they have good impressions of (not just in research, but in personality), this will also really help! Good luck and remember that there is really no "right" or "wrong" choice!

I doubt admissions would be able to tell you their criteria that lead to their decision. However, if you know the professors that you interviewed with, they might be able to offer you some advice/recommendations so long as you contact them individually. I want to preface that I have no knowledge on if this is even allowed, but I am just trying to think of things you might be able to do. A better thing to do might be to contact your references and inform them that you have not gotten in. Rather than being accusatory, such a letter might help you gain insight into the reason for rejection (whether it was a LOR technical problem, or some other issue). I doubt your references would have failed to send in their LORs so long as you reminded them. I also doubt they spoke in a defamatory way so as to jeapordize your admission to a program. However, contacting them will help you learn what to gain in experience in the next year before applying again, so as to improve your application strengths and diminish the deficits. I wish you the best of luck!

It's really too hard to tell at this point, as the American economy is really going to be at the hands of the virus, mostly in how long quarantine-like measures will stay in place. I think it is largely going to be field-dependent as well. I personally suspect that there's potential for increased science funding in the coming months as the US begins to draft preventative legislation to fight against future threats to public health. Though, I think it may be safe to assume that universities will be well-insulated against economic conditions, as economic crises in the past have generally been strongly correlated with increased amounts of people applying to educational programs, despite increased costs of tuition/educational program. Such a trend has been shown to ensure university persistence, keeping educational programs afloat (Stanford article). I also wanted to link an article published a few weeks ago about potential COVID-19 linked changes to holistic graduate admissions: https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2020/3/23/coronavirus-grad-school-admissions/

I'm wondering the same thing! Slightly worried that admissions will be impacted and cause me to waste money/time if admissions numbers are strongly cut. I've been trying to search the internet/posts on here to see what others who are already in programs think, as well as for articles that explain how graduate admissions were cut during the 2001/2008 economic crises. However, most of those articles/posts were either for graduate school admissions in general (not biology programs, but for the entire graduate school in general) or written by people in fields that may have less funding than biology fields. What I will say is that MIT has admissions data dating back to their 2009 PhD Biology cycle (as well as for other graduate programs). You can find it here. From the data, it doesn't seem like admissions were impacted in their Biology program, or programs from most other MIT graduate schools.

Hi all, I know it's a bit early to be posting admissions profile, especially with all the turmoil going on in the world. However, I thought I might as well ask how strong my application would be if I were to apply for the 2021 PhD cycle! Undergrad: UCSD Neuroscience and Physiology major; Studied abroad at UCL (Biological Arts and Sciences) GPA: 3.76; major GPA 3.78; senior GPA 4.0 (likely cum laude) GRE: Haven't taken yet; unsure if can/will Research experience: 3 years of work as a Lab tech in a prominent neuroscience lab at the Salk Institute. Wet Lab: learned a lot of skills, such as tissue culture, protein/DNA/RNA related work (gels, WB, PCR, etc), immunofluorescent/immunohistochemical staining, histology (cryostat/microtome), perfusion/tissue collection, protocol optimisation Dry Lab: Learned basic R programming, Figure Creation for papers, Imaris, Confocal Imaging, Fluorescent Microscopy, ImageJ Have previous experience working with mice colonies, and experience working with most types of neuronal cells I've worked in developmental neuroscience, as well as on studies pertaining to Autism, Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Alzheimer's. Publications: My old boss is almost finished with revising a paper that needed revision after submission to Science last year, on which I am a first author Two scientists I have worked under are in the process of generating papers, but have not yet submitted any for review Awards/Honors: Just some basic things like Provost's Honors (Dean's List) every year, College Honors ceremony award, and a couple other smaller honors awards Extracurricular Activities: I have acquired approximately 120 hours interning in two different hospitals (one of which is a highly competitive program with <8% acceptance). I've worked in the Emergency Department, Surgical Acute ward, and Neurological Progressive Care ward (mostly dementia/epileptic/spinal problems). I was secretary of a club (Project Kilimanjaro) for one year. The club's mission was to inform people of the HIV and Trachoma (leading global cause of preventable blindness) epidemics in the Maasai villages of Tanzania at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, in addition to secure first aid and clean drinking water for such communities. The club helped fundraise and ultimately allowed certain members to go on a 2-week service trip to Tanzania. LOR: I hope to secure a strong LOR from my PI (a prominent scientist in the neuroscience field). I work under a senior staff scientist, who is leaving my current lab to become a PI at UCSD, so I will likely ask her for a LOR as well. I also am in the midst of securing an LOR from a distinguished professor who I have taken 2 upper-division physiology courses with and knows me very well. I might ask an old post-doc in my lab for a LOR, as he moved to a different country to become a PI. Personal statement: I plan on drafting it in the next few months and asking my current/previous bosses and LORs to read it, so it will likely be pretty solid. Planned Applications (will probably decrease later): Harvard, Columbia, UCL, UCSF, JHU, NYU, Univ of Washington, Cornell Weill, UCSD, Rockefeller, Icahn, University of Pittsburgh, Boston University Let me know if you think I have anything to improve on before applying for the Fall 2021, or any advice you have if you applied for the 2020 PhD cycle! I am currently debating whether or not to take the GRE and am looking for advice. Thanks!

I assume that many, if not most, programs will waive standardized testing requirements for the Fall 2021 cycle, especially given that the remote GRE test that available at home is only available to Windows users and does not support Macintosh operating systems. However, I worry about a lack of funding and decreased admission rates for PhD programs for this cycle, given the uncertainty of the economy. I'm applying for Fall 2021 Neuroscience PhD programs, so I'm hoping for the best.

Hi all, I was wondering if I could get your opinion on whether or not to include hospital experience on PhD applications (Neuroscience) I plan on submitting in the fall. I just graduated from my undergraduate studies at UCSD with a BS in Neuroscience and Physiology. I volunteered in 2 hospitals (around 150 hours) to see if I was interested in medical school, but quickly learned I wasn't a fan of the crazy hours I had to work. I worked in the Emergency Department ward, Surgical Acute Care ward, and the Neurological Progressive Care ward. I worked full-time at my lab while volunteering in the hospitals, so I don't think it would show a lack of interest in research. I work in a Neuroscience lab studying developmental neurobiology in psychiatric disorders (schizophrenia, bipolar, autism). I was mostly wondering the following: 1. Would my hospital work (specifically in the Neuro ward) be specifically helpful since it is in relatively the same field as my PhD applications/undergraduate major/research experience? I worry that they'll take my hospital hours as something that shows me lacking in interest for research, while I hope to include the hospital hours so as to show that I am even more interested in neuroscience. 2. Would my work in the hospital make me appear more suitable to translational research PhD programs? I also am very interested in translational neuroscience research, so I wonder if having hospital hours would be beneficial to my applications to translational neuroscience PhD programs. Thanks for your help!

Apparently the GRE is being offered remotely due to COVID-19. I checked their website and you can actually take the exam online in the presence of online proctors for the exam, so I guess you don't need to go in person to the exam center to take the GRE.

I'm trying to figure out everything too! I'm still wondering if we'll be forced to take GRE for those of us applying to schools requiring GRE for grad programs (ie Columbia GSAS) given the COVID-19 pandemic chaos.