2019 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admission Results

[BabyScientist]

51 minutes ago, 1.21_Gigawatts said:

I have to be honest, I'm pretty frustrated with my experience so far. I have 4 years of full-time experience, over 20 publications, 4.0 in my MS, 3.0 undergrad GPA, strong letters of recommendation and lots of teaching/ presentation experience but I keep receiving rejections. So far only 1 interview and 7 rejections... I'm still waiting to hear from 5 more schools, but I'm starting to feel pretty discouraged and confused. Anybody else in the same boat?

It could be fit with programs. Did you apply to all top programs? Are there faculty with similar interests to you at those schools? Are you sure one of your letters didn't have a red flag in it? So many possibilities. 

[BabyScientist]

23 hours ago, theschuster said:

Just got an email from UCI saying my application has been received and is now available to review??? What can this mean?? ?

I think that means you can log in to your online application system for it and it might say something in it? 

[1.21_Gigawatts]

5 minutes ago, BabyScientist said:

It could be fit with programs. Did you apply to all top programs? Are there faculty with similar interests to you at those schools? Are you sure one of your letters didn't have a red flag in it? So many possibilities. 

It could certainly be any of those things.. Its particularly frustrating because I know a few undergrad students with no publications or full-time experience that received interviews and 4 of the places that rejected me. 

[AnonNeuroGrad]

2 hours ago, 1.21_Gigawatts said:

I have to be honest, I'm pretty frustrated with my experience so far. I have 4 years of full-time experience, over 20 publications, 4.0 in my MS, 3.0 undergrad GPA, strong letters of recommendation and lots of teaching/ presentation experience but I keep receiving rejections. So far only 1 interview and 7 rejections... I'm still waiting to hear from 5 more schools, but I'm starting to feel pretty discouraged and confused. Anybody else in the same boat?

Welcome to the club bud. How are you counting those pubs? Are they actually accepted into international peer-reviewed journals? Are they research and not reviews?

I've got 5 publications, 4 years full-time exp. 3 years of undergrad exp., 3.7 in my MS, 3.1 undergrad, strong letters, GRE V/Q/W at 98%/83%/99%, and I'm currently batting 3 for 11 (pending 2 apps still in review). I only got asked to interview for schools not in the top 100 . One of them is actually my top choice though it's just in a different department although you won't find it in the top-20 because it has a weird inter-institutional structure. If I don't end up getting in/liking the schools, I'm taking two years off to work with a big-name and birthing these two first-author projects I'm on. Those two things are the only things that can save you/I.

It's a fairly unfair notion (given I was working a job to pay off loans) but I've been told that, having taken time off, I should have maintained or exceeded the same upward trajectory as if I had been admitted to a top school which means high-authored pubs, posters at conferences like COSYNE, etc.

Pretty sure it's the undergrad GPA which is a shame. I had/have a medical condition that didn't get addressed until later after which my grades jumped to straight-A's.

Edited January 19, 2019 by HawaiiLee808

[Abhijit]

Hey, has anyone heard back from McGill IPN rotation program?

I just got an email to attend the open house during the Feb 4 week.

[kath88]

16 hours ago, 1.21_Gigawatts said:

I have to be honest, I'm pretty frustrated with my experience so far. I have 4 years of full-time experience, over 20 publications, 4.0 in my MS, 3.0 undergrad GPA, strong letters of recommendation and lots of teaching/ presentation experience but I keep receiving rejections. So far only 1 interview and 7 rejections... I'm still waiting to hear from 5 more schools, but I'm starting to feel pretty discouraged and confused. Anybody else in the same boat?

As a heads up (and for people applying next year) most of the top programs are getting around 10000 applications for neuro this year. To just weed to the bottom of the pile they have started doing GPA cuts like the kind med school does.

Not saying that people who have received invites are not qualified, but they are definitely missing a ton of people with probably better research qualifications then most of the people they are accepting but with lower grades. If they are looking at your 3.0 from undergrad, then your application was probably cut by someone in the office. It probably did not even go forward for review.

[maya123z]

51 minutes ago, kath88 said:

As a heads up (and for people applying next year) most of the top programs are getting around 10000 applications for neuro this year. To just weed to the bottom of the pile they have started doing GPA cuts like the kind med school does.

Not saying that people who have received invites are not qualified, but they are definitely missing a ton of people with probably better research qualifications then most of the people they are accepting but with lower grades. If they are looking at your 3.0 from undergrad, then your application was probably cut by someone in the office. It probably did not even go forward for review.

I think you mean 1000 not 10000. At U Penn they told us they had 500 applicants this year so I'm sure some of the other big names got 1000 or more. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some GPA cutoffs being put in place, especially after dropping GRE requirements at many schools.

[kath88]

4 minutes ago, maya123z said:

I think you mean 1000 not 10000. At U Penn they told us they had 500 applicants this year so I'm sure some of the other big names got 1000 or more. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some GPA cutoffs being put in place, especially after dropping GRE requirements at many schools.

I was surprised too, but no it was 10000 according to my PI. Yale was definitely 11,000 since it said that on the rejection email - unless they messed that up or something 

[maya123z]

Just now, kath88 said:

I was surprised too, but no it was 10000 according to my PI. Yale was definitely 11,000 since it said that on the rejection email - unless they messed that up or something 

That seems really unlikely to me unless they're talking about a big umbrella program. I could be wrong though.

[kath88]

[maya123z]

Just now, kath88 said:

That looks to me like they're talking about Arts and Sciences as a whole. Again, I could be wrong.

[kath88]

1 minute ago, maya123z said:

That looks to me like they're talking about Arts and Sciences as a whole. Again, I could be wrong.

Also what would you consider “top” programs? Trying to figure out at what places my application still stands a chance 

[maya123z]

Just now, kath88 said:

Also what would you consider “top” programs? Trying to figure out at what places my application still stands a chance 

To me that means like top 20, just an arbitrary cutoff. I imagine most of them are in the 500-1000 range if they're not umbrella programs.

[fearfulocelot]

On 1/17/2019 at 11:54 AM, sauvezleschats said:

In the same boat! Thought I had a good chance, but no new interview invites after Monday. Wondering if there’s a waitlist or if they’re still working on reviewing applications. With the interview weekend so close, I kind of doubt they’ll be sending any more invites after early next week at the latest. Any info would be great!!

Currently at the first interview for Rochester (and stuck here, it's snowing quite hard, but that's another story) and it seems like they've finalized the interview list, sorry! 16 people in the first interview and 19 in the second interview. 

[Scrappyhappy]

3 hours ago, maya123z said:

To me that means like top 20, just an arbitrary cutoff. I imagine most of them are in the 500-1000 range if they're not umbrella programs.

How do you determine top 20 if not considering a specific focus?  What would you guys consider the top 20?

[maya123z]

7 minutes ago, Scrappyhappy said:

How do you determine top 20 if not considering a specific focus?  What would you guys consider the top 20?

I’m definitely not an expert in this, just considering the prestige and rate of high-impact publications for the program as a whole. Your list may differ from mine. 

[kath88]

35 minutes ago, maya123z said:

I’m definitely not an expert in this, just considering the prestige and rate of high-impact publications for the program as a whole. Your list may differ from mine. 

It depends on what you are trying to do too. For instance, if you want to stay in science going to a place like UCSF or UCSD is terrific. However, if you want to go into industry after, most recruiters would barely take notice and it would be more difficult to get a job. You would be much better off going to an Ivy League school regardless of its reputation in science

just things to consider 

[lil13]

39 minutes ago, maya123z said:

I’m definitely not an expert in this, just considering the prestige and rate of high-impact publications for the program as a whole. Your list may differ from mine. 

Just out of curiosity, I'm a bit uninformed about the neuro community: what are the top ten neuro programs? I'd assume Harvard, MIT, and Stanford but honestly what are the other ones? Trying to figure out which ones have the most competitive applications so that I avoid them for applying again next year?

[_kb]

45 minutes ago, lil13 said:

Just out of curiosity, I'm a bit uninformed about the neuro community: what are the top ten neuro programs? I'd assume Harvard, MIT, and Stanford but honestly what are the other ones? Trying to figure out which ones have the most competitive applications so that I avoid them for applying again next year?

Harvard, MIT and Stanford are up there for sure but UCSD, UCSF, and  Johns Hopkins are very competitive as well (among MANY others I'm sure). I've asked a few of my mentors the ranks of schools but ended up just googling it. Here's an example but each website uses different criteria so it mostly based on what your interests are/fit and future goals... I wouldn't avoid applying to top schools because they are competitive, but apply to schools that actually align with your interests and experience and you'd be surprised. For example, my GPA isnt competitive but I received interviews from two top schools (although I got rejected everywhere else lol) but still! you never know! Hope that was helpful  

https://www.usnews.com/education/best-global-universities/neuroscience-behavior 

 

[BabyScientist]

On 1/18/2019 at 7:02 PM, 1.21_Gigawatts said:

It could certainly be any of those things.. Its particularly frustrating because I know a few undergrad students with no publications or full-time experience that received interviews and 4 of the places that rejected me. 

Right, but that's why all these other factors matter. They might have gotten right what you got wrong. I knew someone with a great CV, 5 years experience after undergrad, lots of publications etc but found out after the fact that one of her letter writers who was getting old and didn't remember her well wrote something blatantly false in he rletter (if you knew her) and it was a red flag for adcomms so she didn't get interviews.

All you can do is try to find the holes in your application and hope to do it better next time. 

[zzzz233]

14 hours ago, maya123z said:

I think you mean 1000 not 10000. At U Penn they told us they had 500 applicants this year so I'm sure some of the other big names got 1000 or more. I wouldn't be surprised if there are some GPA cutoffs being put in place, especially after dropping GRE requirements at many schools.

 

14 hours ago, kath88 said:

I was surprised too, but no it was 10000 according to my PI. Yale was definitely 11,000 since it said that on the rejection email - unless they messed that up or something 

Just finished the interview in Harvard program in Neuroscience, they said they received 550 applications this year and this is so far the highest number of applicants they have received over the years..

[yash13177]

10 hours ago, fearfulocelot said:

Currently at the first interview for Rochester (and stuck here, it's snowing quite hard, but that's another story) and it seems like they've finalized the interview list, sorry! 16 people in the first interview and 19 in the second interview. 

Damn looks like no interview invite... sad   But congrats on the interview! I hope it went well and you get out of the storm safely!

[zzzz233]

By any chance, is there anyone here has a skype interview scheduled for next Tuesday with Weill Cornell Neuroscience?

They haven't sent out any schedules or anything... I'm very concerned....

[maya123z]

9 hours ago, zzzz233 said:

 

Just finished the interview in Harvard program in Neuroscience, they said they received 550 applications this year and this is so far the highest number of applicants they have received over the years..

Yeah I'm pretty sure that 10,000 number must be for the entire Arts and Sciences division not just neuro. Penn also said their 500 was the highest ever.

[sauvezleschats]

On 1/19/2019 at 2:17 PM, fearfulocelot said:

Currently at the first interview for Rochester (and stuck here, it's snowing quite hard, but that's another story) and it seems like they've finalized the interview list, sorry! 16 people in the first interview and 19 in the second interview. 

Thanks for the info! Hopefully you'll be able to get home! However, it looks like you applied to the Brain & Cognitive Sciences department, which is separate from Neuro, if I'm correct.