Neuroscience Fall 2013 Applicants

[mousecop]

Hi everyone! Brand new to the site, but I'm glad I found it. I was hoping those of you who are considering multiple programs between now and April 15th would be willing to share the specific factors (in order of priority) that ultimately lead to your final decision to join a particular program. I'm still waiting on news from one more school, but I'm already pretty certain it's gonna be a tough call (will post later when I know!).  Would love to hear other people's thought processes.

 

Anyways, yeah. ?

[neuroendocrinology]

Hi everyone! Brand new to the site, but I'm glad I found it. I was hoping those of you who are considering multiple programs between now and April 15th would be willing to share the specific factors (in order of priority) that ultimately lead to your final decision to join a particular program. I'm still waiting on news from one more school, but I'm already pretty certain it's gonna be a tough call (will post later when I know!).  Would love to hear other people's thought processes.

 

Anyways, yeah. ?

 

I'm almost decided, but still sitting on it and hoping to talk to more PIs and students. 

Mainly, I'm drawn to a program because of several PIs that I feel strongly about, but unsure of the social atmosphere of students.

[neuronaut]

Accepted: UCSD, Berkeley, UW Seattle, UT Austin, Pitt, NYU (Sackler),  Still waiting to hear back from MIT (interviewed friday)...   Pretty sure it's going to come down to UCSD and MIT (if I get in).  But I loved every program I saw.  how does anyone ever choose??

 

has anyone heard from MIT?   

[Deviation]

Accepted: UCSD, Berkeley, UW Seattle, UT Austin, Pitt, NYU (Sackler),  Still waiting to hear back from MIT (interviewed friday)...   Pretty sure it's going to come down to UCSD and MIT (if I get in).  But I loved every program I saw.  how does anyone ever choose??

 

has anyone heard from MIT?   

 

My PI is on one of the admission committees. They met Monday (yesterday) so you guys will hear by the end of the week

[neuroneuro]

there are different admissions committees for each track. Do you happen to know if they all met yesterday? thanks!

[Deviation]

there are different admissions committees for each track. Do you happen to know if they all met yesterday? thanks!

 

I don't know if they all met yesterday (there are 3-5 of them I think) but I think the goal is to get the invites out by the end of this week or early next week. And FYI being admitted by a certain track doesn't bind you to that track.

[netenfaispas]

Hi everyone! Brand new to the site, but I'm glad I found it. I was hoping those of you who are considering multiple programs between now and April 15th would be willing to share the specific factors (in order of priority) that ultimately lead to your final decision to join a particular program. I'm still waiting on news from one more school, but I'm already pretty certain it's gonna be a tough call (will post later when I know!).  Would love to hear other people's thought processes.

 

Anyways, yeah. ?

 

I'm having a hard time deciding between UCSD, UCSF and Johns Hopkins. I'd love to hear any and all advice you guys might have! I'm interested in doing research on psychiatric illnesses, which all of them have to some extent. Here are my thoughts:

 

Hopkins: The faculty I met with were incrediby friendly and approachable. I could see myself rotating with a few of them and the grad students there and the other candidates were nice. However not a fan of Baltimore...I want to feel safe and be able to walk around at night (I'm sure I'll have some late nights at lab) at least from lab to my car/method of transportation. I also found it surprisingly expensive.

 

UCSF: I like the city (don't have to drive! diverse!) and I love that it's a small program and I felt like the community was close-knit. I'm worried that it might be a tough setting academically/not very nurturing, though. Also the faculty I interviewed with were aloof/professional, which really bummed me out. However the grad students seemed nice, as did the other candidates.

 

UCSD: So spread out!! I'm worried I'll not have a sense of community and rarely see my classmates because there are so many buildings we could be working in that are not exactly nearby. I also didn't meet anyone I would really want to work with, though I'm pretty sure I could find someone since there are so many faculty members. The grad students seemed happy and were friendly, as were the other candidates. And I did like La Jolla/San Diego. But such a big program...

 

Thoughts? Comments? Anyone else with a similar decision to make?

[epsilon]

I'm having a hard time deciding between UCSD, UCSF and Johns Hopkins. I'd love to hear any and all advice you guys might have! I'm interested in doing research on psychiatric illnesses, which all of them have to some extent. Here are my thoughts:

 

Hopkins: The faculty I met with were incrediby friendly and approachable. I could see myself rotating with a few of them and the grad students there and the other candidates were nice. However not a fan of Baltimore...I want to feel safe and be able to walk around at night (I'm sure I'll have some late nights at lab) at least from lab to my car/method of transportation. I also found it surprisingly expensive.

 

UCSF: I like the city (don't have to drive! diverse!) and I love that it's a small program and I felt like the community was close-knit. I'm worried that it might be a tough setting academically/not very nurturing, though. Also the faculty I interviewed with were aloof/professional, which really bummed me out. However the grad students seemed nice, as did the other candidates.

 

UCSD: So spread out!! I'm worried I'll not have a sense of community and rarely see my classmates because there are so many buildings we could be working in that are not exactly nearby. I also didn't meet anyone I would really want to work with, though I'm pretty sure I could find someone since there are so many faculty members. The grad students seemed happy and were friendly, as were the other candidates. And I did like La Jolla/San Diego. But such a big program...

 

Thoughts? Comments? Anyone else with a similar decision to make?

Grad students at UCSD said that although stuff is spread out, since it's always so nice outside it's actually pretty nice to get out of lab if just to go ask someone a question. I felt like they had a pretty good community going on. I would email profs with your interest though. From your description it seems you like JHU, and I think Baltimore is getting safer.

[neuronaut]

there are different admissions committees for each track. Do you happen to know if they all met yesterday? thanks!

I got a call this afternoon !! !! and the prof I spoke with said the committee met this morning.  I applied to the systems track...   

 

So relieved to be done with the waiting game!! 

[netenfaispas]

Grad students at UCSD said that although stuff is spread out, since it's always so nice outside it's actually pretty nice to get out of lab if just to go ask someone a question. I felt like they had a pretty good community going on. I would email profs with your interest though. From your description it seems you like JHU, and I think Baltimore is getting safer.

 

Thanks for your advice! I'm just worried that that's not the case for grad students who are further away from main campus and have to take a shuttle to get from place to place (one of the labs I'm interested in is a 30 minute shuttle ride from main campus).

 

I'm also wondering how happy the grad students are at these different programs and how supportive/nurturing the different programs are. I'm not sure how to find that out. Did you get a chance to talk to any older graduate students at these schools? Any graduate students out there who could answer this too?

 

 

Congrats neuronaut!!

Edited March 14, 2013 by netenfaispas