dopamine_machine

I received a Columbia invite late last night so I think they are still sending out interviews. Don't lose hope! 

Hey everyone, first time grad applicant. I hope applications are going well for you all! I am finding that worse part of applying to grad school is the very real possibility of being rejected after putting in so much work... and all the essays that require you to essentially repeat yourself. 
Undergrad Institution: UC San Diego
Major(s): B.S. Cognitive & Behavioral Neuroscience
Overall GPA: 3.876
Major GPA: 4.0
Type of Student: Domestic, Hispanic/Mixed 
GRE Scores: N/A
Research Experience: 
- During Undergrad -
- 4 months (24hrs/week) in a Cognitive Science lab researching the depth of dolphin communication and cooperation. I trained dolphins the whole time and smelled like fish. 
- 6 months (20hrs/week) in a Neuroscience lab researching mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE). Mostly performed histology (IHC) and microscopy (epifluorescence and confocal).
- Post Undergrad -
- 25 months as a Research Assistant/Lab Manager in Neuroscience lab continuing research on mTLE (COVID really pushed everything back), molecular pathways of viral induced neural toxicity, mechanisms of Alzheimer's disease. Performing stereotaxic surgery, viral injection, cell culture, histology (IHC, FISH), microscopy (epifluorescence, confocal, in-vivo 2-photon), molecular biology (mostly western blot and pcr).
Publications:
None so far, but have been acknowledge in a paper (eLife). Probably doesn't mean much but I am proud of it haha. 
Awards/Honors/Recognitions:
Provost honors 4 quarters and graduated Magna Cum Laude
Other Info: 
From an underprivileged background, overcame many life hurdles to get where I am today. First member in my family to graduate high school and only member to attend/graduate college. 
TA'd for two undergraduate Cognitive Science courses during undergrad. 
Applying to Where:
UC San Diego, UC Irvine, Stanford, Skaggs Graduate Program, U Penn, MIT, Yale, Princeton, Georgetown

Hey all, went through this whole process last year and am a first year in a Neuroscience PhD program.  If I can recommend anything, don't go by previous year statistics/try to "chance yourselves," or even think too much about professor email responses.  At the end of the day, I got accepted to programs that I thought would reject me, and rejected from programs that I thought I had a good shot at getting into.  A lot of it is down to research fit and pure chance.  Wishing all of you the best of luck!!!!!!!

Hey all, went through this whole process last year and am a first year in a Neuroscience PhD program.  If I can recommend anything, don't go by previous year statistics/try to "chance yourselves," or even think too much about professor email responses.  At the end of the day, I got accepted to programs that I thought would reject me, and rejected from programs that I thought I had a good shot at getting into.  A lot of it is down to research fit and pure chance.  Wishing all of you the best of luck!!!!!!!

Definitely recommended! I contacted multiple POIs at most schools I applied to to see if they were taking students/if our research interests were a match and POIs were very receptive to me reaching out.  I would recommend reaching out anytime in late August through December 1st when applications are due for PhD programs.

Late because I stopped checking this thread obsessively, but University of Southern California!

Columbia University!!

Columbia University!!

Happy April 15th! We're finally done with this cycle! applying during the pandemic put a new level of stress on top of one of the biggest decisions we'll make anyway. Without being able to visit schools and interview in person, I've definitely leaned on y'all for information, so thank you  congratulations to everyone regardless of acceptances, we all made it through and came out of this stronger. 
I'm headed to MD Anderson! if any of y'all are too, message me!

Its April 15th! What programs did everyone decide on? 

I will be buy new/used. I am currently in a furnished rental.

Hi all, will be joining Management PhD program at Columbia Business School in fall! Will be moving from the midwest, so need to brace myself for the rent in NYC. 

Hi all,
I will be joining the IEOR PhD Program this Fall at Columbia !

I don't personally know about those programs but thats my research interest as well! Maybe if you love them all, either choose the one with the most labs you'd be interested in (for possible fall back) or just go straight for prestige. Or go by pure feeling, draw a random one and if you're immediately like "YES" or "oh damn, I wanted this other one" pick that way.

Hey! A little late but I've committed to Columbia CMBS (Microbiology, Immunology and Infection). Nice to meet y'all! 

I'll be joining you there this fall! Thank you again for the random plug post for the program. 

I chose Harvard PiN! I'm excited and scared but mostly excited. I want to focus on celebrating the decision before planning some logistics to move and whatnot you know?

Drexel accepted me off the wait list! Yayyyyy

Does this offer still stand? I made an account just for the flowers...
 
 

I really really hope BU comes through on my end! fingers crossed!
 
if anyone has been accepted and doesn't want to go, I personally would send you flowers if you declined haha!
 

So happy for you!! Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!! You're on to do amazing things

Yesterday was the best day ever! I accepted into Boston University's GPN and received the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship! Can't wait to start working towards my PhD in Computational Neuroscience in the fall!
To everyone still waiting to hear back or who are currently waitlisted at their top choice, don't give up or let it get you down! Even if you don't get in to your top choice (or any where this application cycle), take consolidation that between university budget cuts, the amount of students who deferred a year last cycle, and the waiving of the GRE requirements, this was one of the toughest grad application cycles in probably the past decade and thankfully it is almost over!
The fact that you are on this forum means you are invested in your career in neuroscience and I have no doubt that you will succeed no matter what obstacles are thrown your way! 
 

Since you're applying to places with rotations (or at least the programs you're applying to that I'm familiar with), make sure all the schools you apply to have a few professors (preferably at least 3) that you could see yourself working with (I asked sooo many grad students during interviews for advice on picking a school and every single one of them said go wherever there is the highest number of labs doing work that is really interesting to you that you could see yourself doing). It doesn't hurt to reach out and ask a professor if they will be taking on new students next year. You want to go into a department that generally supports and has strengths in the type of research you want to do, and you want to have a few professors you could work with so if the prof you most want to work with can't take you (or you end up not vibing with them during the rotation) you have options. Plus, if your research interest align with the department strengths, you have a much better chance of being accepted.
 
Beyond that, you will want to take account into aspects such as location of schools (the city, weather, what there is to do in the city, how close you are to friends/ family, opportunities for industry if you decide to go in that direction), along with what students in the program generally do afterwards (if that info is available) to see if it aligns with your goals (also look at the career trajectories of students from labs you may want to work in)
 
Given the brief background you provided, I️ think that you have a good shot at those reaches and that your list does seem well balanced (you really do not need a pub to be competitive). Also, make sure every school on your final list is somewhere that you would be 100% happy to attend if you were for some reason rejected everywhere else.

I completely relate to this ? I probably won't just because it's hard to schedule this with my current workplace, but if it doesn't impact your work, I 100% think it's worth it to go visit each school

I completely relate to this ? I probably won't just because it's hard to schedule this with my current workplace, but if it doesn't impact your work, I 100% think it's worth it to go visit each school