Prospective Neuroscience PhD Student needing advice

[UKxJosh]

Hey all, so as the title states, I am planning on applying to various Neuroscience programs this coming fall. I just want some advice from those of you who have been accepted or have been interviewed.

Some background info about myself:

I'm a psychology major/neuroscience minor at the University of Kentucky. I currently have a 3.1 gpa (I'll explain why in a second). I have been in a developmental psychology research lab for 3 semesters and I'm in another one starting this semester more focused on behavioral neuroscience. I have proposed a research study in which I'll get a grant to do this summer if it is accepted (more research experience). I have not taken the GRE yet. I have another year of undergrad in which I'll be doing an honors thesis which I'll conduct an experiment and draw results by myself (under supervision of my neuro advisor). I have taken gen chem 1, gen bio 1 and 2 with labs.

Here's where I need advice. I have a low GPA mainly because I failed calculus BUT I am retaking it in the fall and have no doubt I'll receive a B if not an A. My question is I will be sendings transcripts out this fall and the grade will show that I have an F in the class. I cannot wait to send them because most deadlines are December 1st and I won't have a grade by then. Will this impacts chances of getting accepted to some of the better programs offered?

Secondly, as I said above, I have only 1 semester of chemistry but do plan on taking another semester in my last semester in spring 2014. How much will this lack of chemistry effect my chances of getting accepted? Is it worth spending another year to take organic and physics?

I'm wanting to go into neuropharmacology, or other programs focusing on drugs of abuse. I'm not sure how much these sort of programs will want me to have taken chemistry. I've emailed a few of them and most say "we do not have specific requirements..........we do want applicants to have significant research experience". The research part I'll have, I just need to know how much I'll be limited due to the lack of chemistry/physics.

I should have a GPA of around 3.5-3.7 when graduating and taking a GRE prep course through Kaplan so hoping to score a 160 on both sections.

Any input, advice, comments, etc. is greatly appreciated. Thanks

[aberrant]

If I were you, I would wait until next year when you have completed more chemistry and biology classes that required for your interested programs and boosted your GPA. After all, those classes are freshman / sophomore classes for the majors.

 

It may also be a great idea to prepare for your GRE now, too. 

 

Edited: you want more things / accomplishment under your belt and an upward trend of your GPA. you should also consider taking graduate level classes when opportunities come.

Edited February 15, 2013 by aberrant

[soccergirl44]

You should definitely start preparing for your GRE now.  Take it once during the summer to get an idea of how well you'll do because you will be super nervous the first time you take it, and you need to get that out of the way.  You should use Magoosh to prep for it: they have sales, and it is $100 during the sale, which is incredibly cheaper than the Kaplan or Princeton Review online preparations courses (about $400 apiece).  You WILL NOT be adequately prepared for the GRE if you just use a prep book.    Magoosh has multiple schedules for preparation, so you can use a two-month schedule, week long, or  a month.  It's really important to start preparing now though, just to make sure that you will have the scores you need, and this will prevent you from freaking out about them during the application season.  Most schools would probably overlook your GPA if you have a great GRE score and great letters of recommendation.

[UKxJosh]

You should definitely start preparing for your GRE now. Take it once during the summer to get an idea of how well you'll do because you will be super nervous the first time you take it, and you need to get that out of the way. You should use Magoosh to prep for it: they have sales, and it is $100 during the sale, which is incredibly cheaper than the Kaplan or Princeton Review online preparations courses (about $400 apiece). You WILL NOT be adequately prepared for the GRE if you just use a prep book. Magoosh has multiple schedules for preparation, so you can use a two-month schedule, week long, or a month. It's really important to start preparing now though, just to make sure that you will have the scores you need, and this will prevent you from freaking out about them during the application season. Most schools would probably overlook your GPA if you have a great GRE score and great letters of recommendation.

Well I'm not just reading a prep book, I'm taking the actual prep course through Kaplan. It's expensive but from what I can see its really effective. I am taking a real practice test in March offered through my university so that will give me an idea of where I'm at with it. Ill begin studying though fairly soon.

I'm mainly just trying to see whether or not I'll get accepted into the programs I apply for or if I'll get rejected and have wasted all that time and money.

[risingsun11801]

Does your research experience involve wet lab bench work? If you want to do pharmacology, I think you will need more chemistry experience- almost all programs require biochemistry, and if you haven't taken organic it will be a hurdle. (not impossible, but challenging)

Look at the IBS class requirements at UK- they suggest bio, chem, and organic chem. I would use that as a benchmark for which classes will help you succeed.

Not having background coursework won't rule you out for acceptances- one of my peers was a math major with no science coursework- but once you're in you might have a more difficult time with the grad coursework.

[UKxJosh]

Does your research experience involve wet lab bench work? If you want to do pharmacology, I think you will need more chemistry experience- almost all programs require biochemistry, and if you haven't taken organic it will be a hurdle. (not impossible, but challenging)

Look at the IBS class requirements at UK- they suggest bio, chem, and organic chem. I would use that as a benchmark for which classes will help you succeed.

Not having background coursework won't rule you out for acceptances- one of my peers was a math major with no science coursework- but once you're in you might have a more difficult time with the grad coursework.

Yeah the more I look into programs and talk to the professors the more I'm feeling like I'll need organic, and probably biochemistry. I'm thinking about becoming a lab tech here at my University for a year after I graduate so that I can take the classes for free while also getting more experience for my CV.

Currently, my lab does not involve any wet lab stuff. There are two other labs here on campus I'm going to try and get into in the next few semesters. They're also psychopharmacology. If you suggest that would be a good idea to get into a wet lab then I'll definitely attempt to get into the one here.

[risingsun11801]

I think getting some wet lab experience will help a lot if you plan to apply to programs that aren't psychology based. Organic chemistry will help a lot, but if biochemistry doesn't fit into your schedule before grad school I wouldn't worry about it too much. I took 2 quarters of biochem in undergrad and it didn't really help. In my graduate biochem course we spent 2-3 weeks reviewing the highlights from an entire year of organic chem and then moved on to biochem topics. Undergrad organic chem was extremely helpful, but any background past that was not necessary.

I also took some time off to work as a tech before grad school and it helped immensely. During my interviews I didn't have anyone question my time off and many professors made favorable comments about my research/ real world experience.

[UKxJosh]

I think getting some wet lab experience will help a lot if you plan to apply to programs that aren't psychology based. Organic chemistry will help a lot, but if biochemistry doesn't fit into your schedule before grad school I wouldn't worry about it too much. I took 2 quarters of biochem in undergrad and it didn't really help. In my graduate biochem course we spent 2-3 weeks reviewing the highlights from an entire year of organic chem and then moved on to biochem topics. Undergrad organic chem was extremely helpful, but any background past that was not necessary.

I also took some time off to work as a tech before grad school and it helped immensely. During my interviews I didn't have anyone question my time off and many professors made favorable comments about my research/ real world experience.

I think I've decided to wait till next summer to start sending out applications. By that time I'll have retaken calculus, have gen chem 2 done, and also have a more solid research background in neuroscience. Then I'll spend that coming year taking organic 1, maybe organic 2, and some graduate level classes.

It's also ironic that our lab tech in my neuroscience lab just quit and my advisor is thinking about asking me to work there for this summer (a graduate student informed me of this). So that would also be a great benefit for me.

[mrmolecularbiology]

Yeah the more I look into programs and talk to the professors the more I'm feeling like I'll need organic, and probably biochemistry. I'm thinking about becoming a lab tech here at my University for a year after I graduate so that I can take the classes for free while also getting more experience for my CV.

Currently, my lab does not involve any wet lab stuff. There are two other labs here on campus I'm going to try and get into in the next few semesters. They're also psychopharmacology. If you suggest that would be a good idea to get into a wet lab then I'll definitely attempt to get into the one here.

Psych based pharmacology labs and neuropharmacology are very different. If that is really what you want to move into, are there any non-psychology labs you can look into?

Edited March 20, 2013 by mrmolecularbiology

[Eigen]

You should definitely start preparing for your GRE now.  Take it once during the summer to get an idea of how well you'll do because you will be super nervous the first time you take it, and you need to get that out of the way.  You should use Magoosh to prep for it: they have sales, and it is $100 during the sale, which is incredibly cheaper than the Kaplan or Princeton Review online preparations courses (about $400 apiece).  You WILL NOT be adequately prepared for the GRE if you just use a prep book.    Magoosh has multiple schedules for preparation, so you can use a two-month schedule, week long, or  a month.  It's really important to start preparing now though, just to make sure that you will have the scores you need, and this will prevent you from freaking out about them during the application season.  Most schools would probably overlook your GPA if you have a great GRE score and great letters of recommendation.

 

Lots of other good advice here, but I wanted to comment on this. 

 

You don't *need* a prep course to do well on the GRE. It's meant to be able to do reasonably well on with little to no prep, depending on your background. I may be in an aberrant cohort, but no one I started with studied at all, and all I did was take a practice test to see what the format was like. 

 

You may indeed need more prep than this, and that's fine- but I wouldn't generalize that "You WILL NOT be adequately prepared just by a prep book". 

 

And I wouldn't spend $100-$400 on prep materials unless you've taken a practice test and do indeed need them. Most public libraries, and a lot of school libraries, will have prep books you can borrow or use in the library as well.