3point14

My quant score (on the old scale) was somewhere just above 50th percentile. Your other stats are good, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. Research experience and LoRs are waaaaay more important. Yay behavioral neuro!

It's definitely not too early. As stated above, professors like to know well ahead of time, so they can work writing letters into their already busy schedules. Plus, if for some reason someone declines to write you a letter, you have time to ask someone else.

If you're already in the program, I'd just arrange a time to meet with her in person.

This probably doesn't help you all that much, but I was accepted to the BU program. My GPA was a 3.1, quant GRE was mediocre, verbal GRE was good, good research experience and letters of recommendation. Just FYI though, BU doesn't fund their masters students.

My boyfriend and I did long distance for a year while he was in grad school, and I was not. It was really really hard. In a long distance relationship, it's really not enough to love each other and hope everything works out for the best. Both parties have to be willing to compromise. Open, honest communication is absolutely key. Have you told her that you feel like she doesn't have time for you? Something that really helped us was to schedule weekly skype dates. It sounds like you really need to have a good talk with her and find out exactly where you both stand in regard to the relationship.

My AI class only had other CS and Math prereqs. I didn't have the math, but I talked with the professor before signing up for the class and explained my situation. He allowed me to take the class as "Independent Study in CS" (or something like that). I didn't have to take all the exams or do all the labs, but I had to write a few short papers about how some of the topics we were discussing were relevant to psychology/neuroscience. I also agree with everything LisaLisa86 has said, especially about contacting professors at your university as well as checking out course requirements for programs you might be interested in. If you can get into a Research Methods type stats course, that would be really helpful (and is often a requirement). With regard to linguistics, I would say it might be a little bit of overkill unless you're interested in psycholinguistics.

Not really sure what sort of classes you need to take, but I took an interesting Artificial Intelligence class in undergrad. It was technically a CS class, but I took it as an elective for my neuroscience minor.

At the school I'm attending, the Neuro program allows for lab rotations in psychology. I'm in behavioral neuro (so in the psych department), but about 1/3 to 1/2 of the students I met when I interviewed were actually with the neuro program

I looked into it. To mail four 25 lb boxes from Virginia to Texas will cost ~$100. Also, you can go onto the UPS or FedEx website if you want to get an estimate for shipping costs.

My TX move-in date is also August 18!

Personally, I found it easiest to just go through flash cards. But, as stated above, just memorizing the dictionary definition of a huge number of words isn't going to guarantee you a good verbal score. I learned 200+ words, and exactly none of them showed up on my test. What I found most useful were the "words with similar meanings" listed on my flashcard. I didn't necessarily know the exact definitions of the those words, but I had a general idea and knew what type of context they would be used in

bell curve

I'll be moving about 1200 miles from VA to TX in a few weeks. I think I'll be shipping my car and a couple boxes of clothing. Does anyone else have any car shipping experience?

This is so true. I learned every single one of my 200 words, and none of them were on the test. I think the most useful thing was the "words with similar meanings" on the back of all my flashcards.

I had this same issue. I didn't get transcripts from my summer school university (would have had to pay $10/transcript, while it was free from my normal school) and had no problems. However, I might have just gotten lucky. Like fuzzylogician said, the smarter route is definitely to just contact the school and ask.

This is definitely acceptable! I did this for pretty much all the schools I applied to. I sent an initial email to professors expressing interest in their work/the program and asked if they would be accepting grad students for Fall 2012. If I got a generally positive response, I would follow up with something along the lines of "I'll be in [X City] between these dates, would it be possible to meet in person and talk about your work?" This worked really well for me, and I met with all of the professors I emailed (ironically, the only one I didn't meet with is the one whose program I'll be attending).

Hm, I've been thinking about starting a blog for when I start school. I figured it might be kind of stress-relieving to log my journey.I think I will do this, you've inspired me!

I am not in your field (behavioral neuro), but I too had a low GPA going into my junior year. I had a 2.9 that I was eventually able to bring up to a 3.14 by the time I graduated. I had a decent GRE, good letters of rec, and a good deal of research experience including my name on a publication (though not in my field). Fortunately, I ended up being accepted to my top choice PhD program. My research experience and letters of recommendation proved o be much more important parts of my application. Of course, a low GPA does make it a little bit more difficult to get through the initial screening rounds, but as long as the rest of your application is above par, it is certainly not impossible to overcome.

My move-in date in TX is August 18. Orientation is August 23, and classes begin on the 29th.

All of those schools are well-known schools. This isn't really what you're asking, but I don't know much about the other schools, but I did my undergrad at Wake Forest, and I know most of the Masters students went on to good PhD programs (Duke, UVA, UNC Chapel Hill, etc)

To add to rockandroll's list, Boston University offers merit-based fellowships. Also, I seriously doubt a Master's program is going to be a good time to relax.

I'm in a similar field (behavioral neuro). I was a psych major, but was able to minor in neuroscience. However, several of the people with whom I interviewed (and who were accepted) were just psych majors. Does your university offer any biopsych or physiological psych courses? If you are able, you could try to pick up an intro neuro or bio class. If you have the opportunity to work/volunteer in a cognitive neuro lab, that would help too. Honestly, I would just find programs/professors you're interested in working with, and send them an email with a brief summary of your background, express your interest in their work/program, and ask if they'll be taking grad students for whatever semester you want to apply.

Apparently, come July, you will be able to select which scores you send schools, so they won't know how many times you took the test. How did you study before? Did you use a book? Which one? Do you know what your biggest weaknesses were in each section?

Me too. I'm also pretty sure I'll be his ONLY student for a while because the other one is taking some time off. But there are a couple of people (not undergrads) volunteering in the lab, and my actual cohort is pretty large so hopefully it'll work out ok!

Agreed. Plus it's great to be putting on some muscle while also burning fat. For me just burning fat doesn't really get the results I want. I just look like a smaller version of old me. But adding strength training is really what gets me to my goals in terms of body composition.