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Applying for Neuroscience/Neurobiology Ph.D. programs for Fall 2015


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Posted

I just got a missed call from Brown but they did not leave a message! I called back the number and it says it was a Brown number for informational purposes (?) Is anyone else getting calls? 

Posted

Undergrad Institution: Large private university - notorious for grade deflation

Major(s): BA - Neuroscience
Minor(s): 
GPA in Major: 3.0
Overall GPA: 2.65
Position in Class: N/A
Type of Student: Domestic male

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 156 - 64%
V: 159 - 81%
W: 4.5 - 80% 
B:

Research Experience:

2 years (undergrad) in neuroimaging lab at an ivy league medical school

1.5 years in neuroimaging lab (post-grad) - managing the lab and overseeing all projects

9 publications (8 co-authors, 1 first author in a high impact journal)

11 scientific abstracts presented at international conferences

 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions:

Deans List - Final semester (hahaha i guess i really pulled it up at the end)

Top Poster finalist, co-author - Society of Biological Psychiatry 2013

Top Poster finalist, first-author - Society of Biological Psychiatry 2014

 

Applying to Where:

Harvard, MIT, Yale, Stanford, UCLA, UCSF, Princeton, NYU, Columbia, Brown, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Mount Sinai, Rockefeller, UPenn, UCSD

 

Yeah, so i have a remarkably abysmal GPA and as I look at the list I feel like i should have applied to less selective programs. I wrote about it in my statement of purpose trying to explain some of the shame away. My main concern is that the admissions committee will triage my application before looking at my CV. Have not heard back from anywhere yet =/.

 

Anyways, best of luck to everyone here!

Posted

imathew: If I may ask, how on earth did you get so many publications/abstracts after only 3.5 years of research experience?

Posted

Its a pretty long story that ended up working out in my favor but i was responsible for  reprocessing a lot of our lab's neuroimaging data after a few key people left. The former lab manager's departure for medical school lined up with my graduation so i ended up taking over as the lab manager. This allowed me to contribute to a lot of the publications and abstracts that had left the lab. I also put in a LOT of hours during undergrad which prepared me well and combined with a very supportive PI, I was pretty productive in a short amount of time. 

Posted

Hi, everyone! I have been obsessively refreshing the results page as a distraction from obsessively refreshing my inbox. I got my first interview (NUIN) yesterday (woooo!), and thought the obsessive refreshing might stop....

 

Thankfully I just realized there is a whole forum to distract myself with. Yay!

 

I am wondering - to those who got Penn interviews (Congrats!) - when is/are the interview weekend(s)?

Posted

It is still pretty early in the game everyone. I have been looking at when California schools send out their invites for interviews, and some don't even start until a few days from now and even into January. UCLA, UC Irvine, and Riverside all do theirs in late December earliest and most into mid January. I decided to start picking up shifts at my work to keep myself busy, because now that finals are over I have way too much time to read these forums and refresh my email inbox. If I am going to spend time worrying about where I will be going, I might as well as get paid for it! The moral of the story is...do something to keep yourself occupied or distracted, patience is a virtue. I definitely recommend this to the people that haven't received any invites yet.

Posted

I am wondering - to those who got Penn interviews (Congrats!) - when is/are the interview weekend(s)?

 

January 23rd and February 13th. Nominally one day, but with social events and such the days before and after.

Posted (edited)

About UW-

I actually inquired about their program this time last year. They told me they get about 900 applications every year, and they are lucky if they can even get through half of them. They were pretty curt with me, telling me they know of students who have published in Neuron and been rejected from their program. The additional response I got was "Seattle is a desirable place to live, attracting many people form all over the world, therefore we have to be incredibly selective and can't possibly get through all the applications".

 

My Spouse and I considered moving there for postdoctoral opportunities and the students I met hated the program and were very unhappy with their projects/mentorship. They LOVED the area but hated going to work. We knew faculty members who had gone there for postdoctoral opportunities and felt the same.

 

BTW- not sure if you know this but University of Wisconsin poached a lot of UW's faculty, 4 of them have moved there in the past 4 years and they just keep poaching. So you can always apply to UW. 

 

PM me about your Utah interviews, I was there for 5 -6years and my spouse graduated from that program.

Good luck!

Edited by lab ratta-tat-tat
Posted

Interview invite for Harvard Neuro! Weekend is Jan 22-25. Already committed to attending UTSW's recruitment weekend (Jan.22-24) so I really hope that I can make some alternative arrangements. Congrats to the other person that also got the invite!

Posted

Harvard interviews!!!!!  I'm shaking!

Interview invite for Harvard Neuro! Weekend is Jan 22-25. Already committed to attending UTSW's recruitment weekend (Jan.22-24) so I really hope that I can make some alternative arrangements. Congrats to the other person that also got the invite!

 

You guys are superstars! Congrats!!! ^_^

Posted

You guys are superstars! Congrats!!! ^_^

Thanks! Best of luck to everyone else and who knows, they might not be done sending out invites. 

Posted

Harvard interviews!!!!!  I'm shaking!

 

Me too! First interview, finally I can relax a little...

 

I'm in McGill Neuroscience too, but I didn't bother to make an account before today. I guess I'll see you there - maybe I know you already?

Posted

I had to take a break from this site because it was stressing me out, but at this point if I don't get anymore interviews I'll still be happy. Congrats to everyone on the interview invites. I think this has been a busy week for all of us. For anyone who is curious I received a call from UVA on the 12th, and one from Emory on the 16th, and then today I received an email invite from the Brown-NIH graduate partnership program and Baylor IBMS. What's weird is I don't think Baylor has my last LOR (the deadline is Jan. 1st), but I guess it didn't matter. Unfortunately both weekends conflict with UPenn or Brown-NIH, so unless I'm able to arrange something, I don't think I'll be able to go. 

 

At this point I'm really only waiting to hear from Columbia, Weill Cornell, and maybe UNC-Chapel Hill or Georgetown, but Chapel Hill has already sent out some, so I'm not terribly optimistic for them. Any idea when I might hear from the other three? I'm nervous about confirming interviews before I hear from them. 

Posted

Does anyone know if all the Michigan invites have been sent yet? I know a few people here have received them. 

Posted

I saw that 2 people were already invited for UC Davis Neuroscience on the results page. I don't really want to bother them over the phone or email, but I am curious if they are done with invites. Hope they are still coming.

Posted (edited)

Congrats to those who got Harvard interviews. Very very envious!

I see some Hopkins interviews as well. Had a frustrating situation over the past few days when I found out that my application was not complete although all documents were in, I think I was silly deciding to give it some time. It only got rectified today after an email so it says that my application was complete only today. Arghhh, I don't know what to feel about that.

Edited by thindust
Posted

Congrats to those who got Harvard interviews. Very very envious!

I see some Hopkins interviews as well. Had a frustrating situation over the past few days when I found out that my application was not complete although all documents were in, I think I was silly deciding to give it some time. It only got rectified today after an email so it says that my application was complete only today. Arghhh, I don't know what to feel about that.

Exactly same thing happened to me!! :(  I really hope it doesn't affect us negatively! I'm just hoping that they were busy and only sent a few at the end of the day and will send more tomorrow morning? maybe?

Posted

Exactly same thing happened to me!! :(  I really hope it doesn't affect us negatively! I'm just hoping that they were busy and only sent a few at the end of the day and will send more tomorrow morning? maybe?

 

Fingers crossed, it looks like a common problem (someone on the Biology thread too). I replied thanking them for updating the file, and asked if it has been holding back the review of my application especially having seen the interview invites, will let you know when I get a reply!

Posted

Fingers crossed, it looks like a common problem (someone on the Biology thread too). I replied thanking them for updating the file, and asked if it has been holding back the review of my application especially having seen the interview invites, will let you know when I get a reply!

Yes, please!!! You are much more polite than I am! I did not reply at all  :mellow:

Posted

I see that UC Berkeley sent out some invites, does anyone want to claim those interviews? Does anyone know if they are done with sending out invites?

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