2019 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admission Results

[Scrappyhappy]

3 minutes ago, Ntwadumela said:

I'm interested in the interplay between neural circuits and behavior, and I want to focus more on how these circuits are transformed in disease states like schizophrenia, but I want to keep an open mind for grad school.  Your research interests sound very interesting which schools did you apply to?

That sounds super cool! I applied to nyu, brown, Harvard, princeton, mit and Columbia.  Haven't heard from any ??

how about you

[shouldhavedone]

57 minutes ago, k8e said:

I'm not sure! Everywhere I applied is somewhere I'd be ecstatic to go, and I have a lot of investigating to do on interviews to really nail down a top choice.

what is your research interest in neuroscience out of curiosity?

[neuranxiety]

2 hours ago, Scrappyhappy said:

For a change of topic while we wait...

What area of research and techniques are you guys interested in? 

I primarily am interested in simulations of Systems of neurons and detecting patterns that arise

Broadly interested in systems neuroscience - using circuitry mapping tools to perturb certain aspects of the circuit to dissect the functional domains and subsections of the circuit. More specifically, I'm really interested in sensorimotor integration in the neocortex - namely the convergence of sensory inputs in the motor cortex and the ability of the motor cortex to 'translate' them into a more coherent output.

Not limited to that, however, I'm also interested in simple Pavlovian conditioning behavioral studies involving the amygdala and the insula cortex in rodents.

My dream is to be able to take my experimental data and develop a computational model / simulation that can relatively capture the dynamics that I can observe in these systems (synchronous firing, waves of firing etc) so that I can use my experiments to strengthen my model and I can use my model to further guide my experiments.

 

[Ntwadumela]

8 minutes ago, Scrappyhappy said:

That sounds super cool! I applied to nyu, brown, Harvard, princeton, mit and Columbia.  Haven't heard from any ??

how about you

Other than brown we applied to the same schools haha. I also applied to caltech, uchicago and a few backup schools.  Columbia has been my dream school since high school so not hearing anything from them is kind of freaking me out!  Did you apply to the computational neuroscience programs because your interests seem pretty computational?

[Scrappyhappy]

9 minutes ago, Ntwadumela said:

Other than brown we applied to the same schools haha. I also applied to caltech, uchicago and a few backup schools.  Columbia has been my dream school since high school so not hearing anything from them is kind of freaking me out!  Did you apply to the computational neuroscience programs because your interests seem pretty computational?

Yes, I have a math background, and slowly transitioned from pure math to theoretical/computational neuroscience over the years.  My interests are computational because I've been more exposed to that side of neuroscience and my background fits better, but I find experimental studies fascinating as well! Are you focusing on computation as well?

[_kb]

20 minutes ago, neuranxiety said:

Broadly interested in systems neuroscience - using circuitry mapping tools to perturb certain aspects of the circuit to dissect the functional domains and subsections of the circuit. More specifically, I'm really interested in sensorimotor integration in the neocortex - namely the convergence of sensory inputs in the motor cortex and the ability of the motor cortex to 'translate' them into a more coherent output.

Not limited to that, however, I'm also interested in simple Pavlovian conditioning behavioral studies involving the amygdala and the insula cortex in rodents.

My dream is to be able to take my experimental data and develop a computational model / simulation that can relatively capture the dynamics that I can observe in these systems (synchronous firing, waves of firing etc) so that I can use my experiments to strengthen my model and I can use my model to further guide my experiments.

 

That is so interesting! I currently work in a lab that studies sensorimotor processing in the neocortex during complex learning and memory tasks and we use optogenetics to silence specific regions to hopefully perturb behavioral output. I think I will try and stay along this path of research in graduate school, but like you, I am definitely going to remain open-minded because there are so many areas of neuroscience that explore these sort of questions using different techniques and models. 

[shouldhavedone]

11 minutes ago, Scrappyhappy said:

Yes, I have a math background, and slowly transitioned from pure math to theoretical/computational neuroscience over the years.  My interests are computational because I've been more exposed to that side of neuroscience and my background fits better, but I find experimental studies fascinating as well! Are you focusing on computation as well?

I'm less familiar with computational neuroscience, as my interests are predominantly within the behavioral and cellular branches. What do you do with it?

[_kb]

Did anyone here hear back from UCLA today? Do you guys think they will be sending more?

[Scrappyhappy]

3 minutes ago, shouldhavedone said:

I'm less familiar with computational neuroscience, as my interests are predominantly within the behavioral and cellular branches. What do you do with it?

Currently, I simulate populations of neurons using a reasonably realistic model and vary certain aspects of the model to alter population firing patterns.  Then we quantify how the change in firing pattern of the upstream population affects the firing patterns of the downstream population.  What behavioral studies do you do?

[Ntwadumela]

15 minutes ago, Scrappyhappy said:

Yes, I have a math background, and slowly transitioned from pure math to theoretical/computational neuroscience over the years.  My interests are computational because I've been more exposed to that side of neuroscience and my background fits better, but I find experimental studies fascinating as well! Are you focusing on computation as well?

Same here! I'm trying to move more into the experimental side, so I only applied to schools that are strong in both experimental and computational and it looks like you did the same!  Which PIs are you interested in at Columbia?

[Ntwadumela]

9 minutes ago, _kb said:

Did anyone here hear back from UCLA today? Do you guys think they will be sending more?

I heard back from them today, and I'm 90% sure they're going to be releasing more over the next few days!

[Scrappyhappy]

3 minutes ago, Ntwadumela said:

Same here! I'm trying to move more into the experimental side, so I only applied to schools that are strong in both experimental and computational and it looks like you did the same!  Which PIs are you interested in at Columbia?

Will PM you so that this thread isn't spammed 

[pipettestan]

I literally have not heard anything aside from the schools that I listed in my signature. Starting to lose hope

[shouldhavedone]

2 minutes ago, charmingdiary said:

I literally have not heard anything aside from the schools that I listed in my signature. Starting to lose hope

You applied to some really good schools. Don't lose hope. Also OHSU's NPG hasn't sent out any invites yet. The behavioral one has though.

[skippinglives]

Does anyone know how I can update my apps? A manuscript where I will be a middle author is now officially in prep and will be submitted next month, and I feel like I should probably add that to my apps, right? Is that a thing you can do?

Edited December 20, 2018 by skippinglives

[pipettestan]

3 minutes ago, shouldhavedone said:

You applied to some really good schools. Don't lose hope. Also OHSU's NPG hasn't sent out any invites yet. The behavioral one has though.

I'm a little confused by OHSU. Some say they applied to NGP but have been receiving invites from Behavioral. I don't remember them saying they transfer apps between the two departments. 

[maya123z]

14 minutes ago, charmingdiary said:

I literally have not heard anything aside from the schools that I listed in my signature. Starting to lose hope

Stanford doesn't send invites until January, so don't worry about that one!

Edited December 20, 2018 by maya123z

[Ntwadumela]

2 minutes ago, skippinglives said:

Does anyone know how I can update my apps? A manuscript where I will be a middle author is now officially in prep and will be submitted next month, and I feel like I should probably add that to my apps, right? Is that a thing you can do?

Also, how do I set a signature lol

You should send an email to the departments you applied to right away letting them know; that will look great on your application!  You can get a signature in the account settings options

[maya123z]

According to the results page, Harvard PiN is done sending invites. Sorry guys, we can commiserate together. Congrats to those who got an interview!

[gradapp2018]

Anyone know if JHU and University of Maryland-Baltimore are still sending out interview invites?

[_kb]

Just now, gradapp2018 said:

Anyone know if JHU and University of Maryland-Baltimore are still sending out interview invites?

I emailed JHU admissions to try and figure that out but no response... ? 

[pipettestan]

Just now, maya123z said:

According to the results page, Harvard PiN is done sending invites. Sorry guys, we can commiserate together. Congrats to those who got an interview!

Harvard was a long shot hahaha, although I did love one of their labs.

I think UWashington is done too. My top schools still haven't said anything. Really hoping they're spreading out the invites. I know Pitt invited me since I'm currently a post-bacc there lol.

[shouldhavedone]

On 12/20/2018 at 2:37 PM, charmingdiary said:

Harvard was a long shot hahaha, although I did love one of their labs.

I think UWashington is done too. My top schools still haven't said anything. Really hoping they're spreading out the invites. I know Pitt invited me since I'm currently a post-bacc there lol.

What about Washington University in St. Louis? Are they done sending out invites?

[gradapp2018]

7 minutes ago, _kb said:

I emailed JHU admissions to try and figure that out but no response... ? 

Let me know if you hear back, hopefully they are too busy sending you and me an invitation and can't respond to your email! Best of luck! Looks like last year they spread out the interview invites a few days.

[_kb]

2 minutes ago, gradapp2018 said:

Let me know if you hear back, hopefully they are too busy sending you and me an invitation and can't respond to your email! Best of luck! Looks like last year they spread out the interview invites a few days.

I will and you too! Haha thanks I hope that is the case, fingers crossed!