Speculations

[crazyabout]

I know many have already posted things like this, but I would love everyone's (brutally) honest opinion. Thanks!

I go to a small, liberal arts college. I would like to go to grad school for neuroscience, which is my current major. I would love Penn State Hershey neuro grad program, so please focus some attention on that school.

Ok, some stats for when I apply:

GPA: 3.4

GRE: I haven't taken them yet

Research experience:

Spring 2008---Drosophila fecundity

Spring 2009---Verbal fluency

Summer 2009---Verbal fluency

Fall 2010---Drosophila: dysbindin mutated

Summer 2011 (I think I may have a position)--Neuroendocrine research

Extracurriculars: (Do these even count for grad school applications??? and if so, which ones?)

Those related to neuroscience:

Brain Awareness Week: Teaching neuroscience to younger children, ages 6-12

Brain book for children: educating younger children on neuroanatomy and neurophysiology

Volunteer: Cops n’ Kids Program: part of brain awareness

Founder and President of BRAIN (Building and Raising Awareness In Neuroscience) at Moravian College

President of BRAIN when BRAIN received Omicron Delta Kappa Progress Award

President of BRAIN when BRAIN received Omicron Delta Kappa Educational Program of the Year Award

Other activities:

Beta Beta Beta National Biology Honor Society Full Member

Treasurer of Beta Beta Beta

Points Keeper of Beta Beta Beta

President of Amnesty International

As for letters of rec:

I think one professor thinks I'm incompetent, but I think she almost expects me to ask her, so now I feel obligated to ask her. I did some research with her but she didn't like me work very much.

Posters presentations:

LVAIC

Medieval and Middle Ages history conference: Neuroscience history through Renaissance (The medieval isn't *that* random; it still involves neuro

I am soooo worried about GPA and letters of rec?

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. I am a junior btw.

[vortexcortex]

Hi neuravinci,

There's no way to really predict your chances at any school at this point. Your GPA seems decent, and you seem to have adequate research experience. Letters matter a lot, and along with research experience are the most important parts of your application. You haven't taken the GRE, so it's hard to tell if you'll make the GPA/GRE cutoff for any particular school. If you know that you want to go to grad school for neuroscience, the best thing to do would be to narrow your interest down to something specific in the field. For example, I'm interested in the molecular basis of learning and memory. It took me a few weeks, but reading literature and gauging my interest level helped me decide this. Just check out labs at universities that are working on what you want to work on, and apply to those schools. It's also good to keep in mind that applying to all "reach" schools will you not get you many acceptances.

Hope this helps.

[singlecell]

Yikes, do not ask that professor for a letter if you are not confident she will write a glowing one... So what if she expects to be asked, if she has anything remotely negative to say, you don't want the admissions committee to read it.

[allisonkermit]

I agree - I would not ask that professor for a letter! And for other letters, I think the best way to phrase the request is to ask, "Do you feel comfortable writing a letter of recommendation for me?" which will give the prof an out if they, for any reason, don't want to write one, without putting them on the spot.