2022 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admissions Results

[abineuro]

While the agonizing wait continues, I would love to hear what programs you all applied to & what your top choices are, if you're interested in sharing! 

[abineuro]

I wonder why so many schools haven't sent out interview invites yet? It seems that in years prior, a lot of programs had sent them out by this point. 

[Neuroimager]

51 minutes ago, abineuro said:

I wonder why so many schools haven't sent out interview invites yet? It seems that in years prior, a lot of programs had sent them out by this point. 

How so? If you look at last year, the majority of bigger programs sent out invitations the week of or the week after Christmas. This is still somewhat early.

[ManifoldsAreMadeUp]

27 minutes ago, abineuro said:

I wonder why so many schools haven't sent out interview invites yet? It seems that in years prior, a lot of programs had sent them out by this point. 

I know internally that some programs are scrambling because they expected to have in-person interviews but with the recent delta surge before even omicron has arrived, they might be rethinking things.

[abineuro]

21 minutes ago, Neuroimager said:

How so? If you look at last year, the majority of bigger programs sent out invitations the week of or the week after Christmas. This is still somewhat early.

You're totally right! I'm a little biased because a few of the programs I'm really interested in started sending out invites around Dec. 7-8 the past few years. But it's still really early. 

[GibonFrog]

Anyone else apply to one of these schools? I have yet to get a single interview invite. 

1) Univ of Oregon

2) CMU

3) CNUP

4) NUIN

5) UCSB

6) NYU

7) Brandeis

8 ) Umass Amherst

9) Brown

10) Dartmouth

11) Princeton

12) Uof Rocherster

13) USC

14) Emory 

[abineuro]

20 minutes ago, GibonFrog said:

Anyone else apply to one of these schools? I have yet to get a single interview invite. 

1) Univ of Oregon

2) CMU

3) CNUP

4) NUIN

5) UCSB

6) NYU

7) Brandeis

8 ) Umass Amherst

9) Brown

10) Dartmouth

11) Princeton

12) Uof Rocherster

13) USC

14) Emory 

I think that a few people have received interview invites from Dartmouth and Brandeis according to this additional thread, but not many: https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=neuroscience

I haven't heard anything about the other schools though. It seems that a lot of programs have yet to send out invites. Good luck!

[GibonFrog]

6 minutes ago, abineuro said:

I think that a few people have received interview invites from Dartmouth and Brandeis according to this additional thread, but not many: https://www.thegradcafe.com/survey/index.php?q=neuroscience

I haven't heard anything about the other schools though. It seems that a lot of programs have yet to send out invites. Good luck!

Yeah i saw that and I am hoping it was only the first wave of interviews, but i am probably screwed with those two. 

[SloppyLime]

Hey everyone! A bit late to finding this thread. I've been working in neuroscience labs since I was 18 and now I'm 25. Pretty stressed just waiting with no "official" date when interview decisions will be released, especially since this is 6 years in the making. Also, if I would have found this thread sooner I definitely would have applied to a safety (applied to 11 of the top 20 schools pretty much by accident). I wish everyone the best, and I know whatever happens is what is supposed to happen! 

[SloppyLime]

Undergrad Institution: Big public school (top 30)

Major(s): Biology & Interdisciplinary Studies: Neuroscience and Behavior

Overall GPA: 3.72

Type of Student: Domestic, white, male 

GRE Scores:  not today satan

Research Experience: 6 years of research experience in 5 labs (a bit unorthodox) (3.5 years part time in undergraduate, 2.5 full time postbac at the NIH)

Publications: 4 publications (1 middle author in Science, 3 other computer science papers) & 7 national presentations

LoRs:

-One from NIH PI
-One co-written by founder of neuro department and current director of research institute at my school
-Three from professors I've work for as a part of internships

Applying to Where:

• Dream: Harvard, Stanford, MIT, NIH-GPP (OxCam, Brown), San Diego, UW, Berkeley, Columbia, UCLA, San Fran, UMich (PIBS)
• WHY DID I NOT DO SAFTEY, I THOUGHT SOME OF THE SCHOOLS WERE SAFTEYS

[SloppyLime]

Sorry for the triple post, ? but I looked at previous grad cafe stuff for the schools I applied to and figured it would help for people with overlap:

 

Harvard: December 18^th-20^th

UC San Francisco: December 18^th-20^th

UC Berkeley: December 18^th-20^th

University of Washington: December 18^th-22^nd

University of Michigan (PIBS): December 20^th-22^nd

MIT: December 17^th-27^th

Columbia: December 22^nd

UCLA: December 19^th - January 8^th

GPP: December 20^th-January 12^th

UC San Diego: December 23^rd - January 3^rd

Stanford: Week of January 3^rd

 

^{Keep in mind I did all these ~fast and loose~ so they could be a bit off.}

^{P.S. the 18th-22nd usually aligns with the last day of the week before Christmas (soooo I speculate this friday ?)}

[medlrf]

1 hour ago, SloppyLime said:

Sorry for the triple post, ? but I looked at previous grad cafe stuff for the schools I applied to and figured it would help for people with overlap:

 

Harvard: December 18^th-20^th

UC San Francisco: December 18^th-20^th

UC Berkeley: December 18^th-20^th

University of Washington: December 18^th-22^nd

University of Michigan (PIBS): December 20^th-22^nd

MIT: December 17^th-27^th

Columbia: December 22^nd

UCLA: December 19^th - January 8^th

GPP: December 20^th-January 12^th

UC San Diego: December 23^rd - January 3^rd

Stanford: Week of January 3^rd

 

^{Keep in mind I did all these ~fast and loose~ so they could be a bit off.}

^{P.S. the 18th-22nd usually aligns with the last day of the week before Christmas (soooo I speculate this friday ?)}

Thanks for this!! Really helpful!! I feel better after getting this information...

[sem12]

What happens if one of my letters of recommendations only got submitted Dec 12th?

Since the deadline was Dec 1st, I didn't realize review and interviews got sent out so soon after. I just realized that most invitations will happen this week and now I'm freaking out. 

 

 

[punishingly.introspective]

Hi all! I only applied to one Neuro PhD program (the rest were health/biopsychology) but I am very anxiously awaiting a reply, so I thought I'd hop on this thread

 

 

Undergrad Institution: Big public school w/ good research reputation

Major(s): Psychology & African Studies

Overall GPA: 3.94

Type of Student: Domestic, white, woman

GRE Scores:  did not take

Research Experience: 3 years of undergrad research + 1yr full time post-bac; all in psych, neuroscience, and/or medical settings

Publications: 1 first-author pub, 1 middle-author, 2 under review

Awards/honors: wrote honors thesis, graduated summa cum laude, highest award in the college of liberal arts granted to 20 seniors/year, scholarship funding thesis research

LoRs:

-one from current PI

-one from undergrad PI who currently works in the department I'm applying to 

-one from my undergrad thesis advisor

 

Applying to Where:

• UT Austin

 

Has anyone heard back from UT yet?????? 

Edited December 15, 2021 by punishingly.introspective
adding awards section

[green_228]

Undergrad Institution: Temple University (1 year) -> Transferred to Hunter College

Major(s): Economics at Temple, Biopsychology at Hunter

Overall GPA: 3.93

Type of Student: Domestic, white, male 

GRE Scores: N/A

Research Experience: 1 year undergraduate research (wet lab). Currently working on honors thesis and poster based on independent research in this lab (will be presenting the poster at a conference in spring and defending thesis in the spring as well)

Publications: 1 manuscript under review 

LoRs:
-One from my current PI

- 4 from professors I have taken STEM classes with (2 of which were research based classes)

Applying to Where:
Top: UMD (PIN), Mount Sinai SOM (Neuroscience), UT Austin (Neuroscience), UMich (Direct), OHSU (BSN), UPenn (NGG)

The Rest: University of Utah (Neuroscience), University of Chicago (Neurobiology), Texas A&M (Psych - BCN Concentration), Temple University (Psych - Neuroscience concentration)

Edited December 15, 2021 by green_228

[YourNeighborBob]

Just got my interview invite to the UW neuroscience program! Here are some useful information I thought I'd share:

Good luck everyone!

February 8-9 

Feb 8:     Interview Day – brief overview of program; interviews with faculty; virtual events with faculty & students 

Feb 9:     Program presentations/orientation; poster session with faculty; graduate student social 

 

February 9-10 

Feb 9:     Program presentations/orientation; poster session with faculty; graduate student social 

Feb 10:   Interview Day – brief overview of program; interviews with faculty; virtual events with faculty & students 

 

NOTE: We have tentatively scheduled our interview days to start at 8:00am PST and end at 4:30pm PST. We wish to respect everyone’s time for our interviews, to recognize that for some prospective students they may have time zone differences (since we are on the West Coast), and finally to recognize the real issue of Zoom and gather.town fatigue that may occur. Our goal is to make sure that you have sufficient time and opportunity to learn about our program and interact with our faculty and students but not to make this an arduous process at the expense of your well-being.  

[SloppyLime]

31 minutes ago, YourNeighborBob said:

Just got my interview invite to the UW neuroscience program! Here are some useful information I thought I'd share:

Good luck everyone!

February 8-9 

Feb 8:     Interview Day – brief overview of program; interviews with faculty; virtual events with faculty & students 

Feb 9:     Program presentations/orientation; poster session with faculty; graduate student social 

 

February 9-10 

Feb 9:     Program presentations/orientation; poster session with faculty; graduate student social 

Feb 10:   Interview Day – brief overview of program; interviews with faculty; virtual events with faculty & students 

 

NOTE: We have tentatively scheduled our interview days to start at 8:00am PST and end at 4:30pm PST. We wish to respect everyone’s time for our interviews, to recognize that for some prospective students they may have time zone differences (since we are on the West Coast), and finally to recognize the real issue of Zoom and gather.town fatigue that may occur. Our goal is to make sure that you have sufficient time and opportunity to learn about our program and interact with our faculty and students but not to make this an arduous process at the expense of your well-being.  

Congrats! That's amazing news, UW is a great program. No word on if the interview invites are sent out in batches right?

[YourNeighborBob]

16 minutes ago, SloppyLime said:

Congrats! That's amazing news, UW is a great program. No word on if the interview invites are sent out in batches right?

Thanks! Time to read up on the professors again haha. And, yes, no word on that.

[amb347]

Here are the schools I applied to in no specific order:

1. University of Pittsburgh
2. Georgetown University
3. Emory University 
4. Northwestern  University
5. Washington University in St. Louis
6. Tufts University
7. University of Wisconsin-Madison
8. University of Maryland

I'm dying inside and opening my email 1million times a day. I last heard from the University of Maryland on 12/10/21 saying they were still going through applications. 

Good luck!

 

(Accidentally created a whole new thread with this comment so ignore pls.. RIP)

[shuaizh117]

17 hours ago, SloppyLime said:

Sorry for the triple post, ? but I looked at previous grad cafe stuff for the schools I applied to and figured it would help for people with overlap:

 

Harvard: December 18^th-20^th

UC San Francisco: December 18^th-20^th

UC Berkeley: December 18^th-20^th

University of Washington: December 18^th-22^nd

University of Michigan (PIBS): December 20^th-22^nd

MIT: December 17^th-27^th

Columbia: December 22^nd

UCLA: December 19^th - January 8^th

GPP: December 20^th-January 12^th

UC San Diego: December 23^rd - January 3^rd

Stanford: Week of January 3^rd

 

^{Keep in mind I did all these ~fast and loose~ so they could be a bit off.}

^{P.S. the 18th-22nd usually aligns with the last day of the week before Christmas (soooo I speculate this friday ?)}

I know Harvard BBS will send out interview invitations on Dec 17th. Good luck!!! 

[SloppyLime]

21 minutes ago, shuaizh117 said:

I know Harvard BBS will send out interview invitations on Dec 17th. Good luck!!! 

Thanks! Ya, I expect Friday to be a busy-ish day around admissions offices. My parents are both professors (non-stem) and for years I have been used to the last push before Christmas to get new hires/ graduate interview emails sent off before the holidays. Of course some years they ran out of time and then things come back two weeks later (week of Christmas off, one more week to finish up). Good luck everyone!

[abineuro]

Does anyone know if UPenn or Johns Hopkins sends out their interview invites in batches, or all in one day? 

[medlrf]

25 minutes ago, abineuro said:

Does anyone know if UPenn or Johns Hopkins sends out their interview invites in batches, or all in one day? 

Princeton sent invitations from 23 to 27 Dec last year. So I think Princeton would do it in next few days. 

And has UPenn started to send invitations?

[zip7]

38 minutes ago, medlrf said:

Princeton sent invitations from 23 to 27 Dec last year. So I think Princeton would do it in next few days. 

And has UPenn started to send invitations?

I know they started to for other programs today... not sure for neuro specifically

[abineuro]

40 minutes ago, medlrf said:

Princeton sent invitations from 23 to 27 Dec last year. So I think Princeton would do it in next few days. 

And has UPenn started to send invitations?

I don't think Hopkins or UPenn has sent any neuro invites yet, as far as I know.