I wanted some advise on whether I should pursue a neuroscience PhD at MIT given that I have no background in neuroscience. I'm mainly interested in solving problems on brain diseases and wanted a degree in neuroscience to complement my engineering background for my career.
My background: I have three degrees in electrical/mechanical engineering (a bachelors, plus MIT two master's degrees). GPA: not the greatest undergrad GPA (below 3.0/4.0) but much better grad school GPA (4.8/5.0). My hesitations: no neuroscience background, no papers published in the area (obviously), and my undergrad GPA was much less than ideal What might help: I already have a couple of degrees at MIT, my GPA was much better in grad school, and I worked at several neuroscience labs part-time for about 3 years during my time as a student here, mostly learning the basics like how to run brain scans, dissecting mice and imaging their brains, etc. I also have a couple of bioengineering papers coming out soon (no bio background, just got lucky with an opportunity that needed my engineering skills). I'm also hoping to use my engineering degrees and years of industry engineering experience as leverage as most neurosci labs I worked in were eager to have me there because of my engineering skills.
So, given the info, do you think I have a shot at a PhD in neuroscience? Or should I even bother? I'm thinking of applying to MIT (and maybe Harvard). If you think I should apply, do you have any suggestions on how I can make my application look stronger (what to focus on in my essay, test scores to aim for in my GRE, etc.).
Question
j118
Hello everyone,
I wanted some advise on whether I should pursue a neuroscience PhD at MIT given that I have no background in neuroscience. I'm mainly interested in solving problems on brain diseases and wanted a degree in neuroscience to complement my engineering background for my career.
My background: I have three degrees in electrical/mechanical engineering (a bachelors, plus MIT two master's degrees).
GPA: not the greatest undergrad GPA (below 3.0/4.0) but much better grad school GPA (4.8/5.0).
My hesitations: no neuroscience background, no papers published in the area (obviously), and my undergrad GPA was much less than ideal
What might help: I already have a couple of degrees at MIT, my GPA was much better in grad school, and I worked at several neuroscience labs part-time for about 3 years during my time as a student here, mostly learning the basics like how to run brain scans, dissecting mice and imaging their brains, etc. I also have a couple of bioengineering papers coming out soon (no bio background, just got lucky with an opportunity that needed my engineering skills). I'm also hoping to use my engineering degrees and years of industry engineering experience as leverage as most neurosci labs I worked in were eager to have me there because of my engineering skills.
So, given the info, do you think I have a shot at a PhD in neuroscience? Or should I even bother? I'm thinking of applying to MIT (and maybe Harvard). If you think I should apply, do you have any suggestions on how I can make my application look stronger (what to focus on in my essay, test scores to aim for in my GRE, etc.).
Thanks in advance!
Edited by j1182 answers to this question
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