BA in Psych, chances for Neuroscience PhD?

[fr0sting]

Hi there,

 

So I recently applied to a couple colleges for clinical psych programs, to later specialize in neuropsychology, but also recently realized that my true fit might be in a cognitive neuroscience phd program, if my primary interest is in neuroimaging research anyway. I'm guessing the competition of clinical psych is comparable to neuroscience phd programs but wanted to know how to fine tune my application for neuro programs. Here are my stats:

 

Overall GPA: 3.5 (took a bunch of premed courses, at least they satisfy neuro phd requirements?)

Major (Psych) GPA: 3.8

GRE: 154 V / 155 Q - need to retake definitely!

Research: 4 years in 2 neuroimaging labs, will be 1 year in anesthesia lab (is this ok? it deals with neuropsych work..)

Pubs: downer, none.. but 1 paper hopefully by the time I apply, also completed a psych honors thesis.

Other stuff: 2 years volunteering in Rec Therapy

 

 

These are some neuroscience programs I'm mainly interested in: UC Berkeley, UCSF, UCSD, UC Davis, UCLA, UC Riverside, USC, Stanford, etc..

 

How much of a chance do I have in getting into these programs? Any advice what I can do to improve my chances? How necessary are publications before I apply? Will a psych background hurt?

 

Thanks very much!

 

[neuropanic]

A psych background shouldn't hurt as long as you have a strong background in biology, chemistry (mainly organic and biochem), calculus, and physics. Those are competitive programs. Make sure you're applying based on research fit, not ranking.

[fr0sting]

Thanks, I forgot to mention that I've taken a few upperdiv science courses.. Did ok, not great. Will look more into research fit.

[neuropanic]

I know a lot of people go into cog. neuroscience from either a BA in Biology or Psych so I wouldn't worry too much about that. My PI has a BA in Psych and now does neuropharmacology research.

 

Neuro is obviously pretty science-based, so I'm sure those grades will be important to most programs. If you are lacking in that department, I know people sometimes recommend taking a GRE subject test. Maybe that would be worth a try?

 

I also forgot to mention that you have a lot of research experience compared to a lot of applicants. Impressive! I know that publications aren't necessary, but they look good if they aren't in pay-to-play journals.

Edited December 29, 2014 by neuropanic

[lab ratta-tat-tat]

@ original poster-

 I posted this on another thread but an undergrad degree in psychology does not hurt your chances in neuroscience graduate programs.

 

In my department/program, many neuroscience students were originally psychology students, zoology students (interested in animal behavior and molecular biology of those underlying behaviors).

 

Some of the students only had 1 or 2 biology classes, and it did not hurt their chances of getting into the program and did not hurt them in terms of succeeding in the program.

Any deficiencies in hard sciences can be remedied the first year in the core courses and the labs you rotate in and eventually join are all up to you- if you want a lab with more molecular biology, or less that is up to you. To be honest- I saw many students come into our program with a psychology degree, insist they wanted to do mostly cognitive psych research, and eventually ended up in a molecular biology lab and excelled in those labs.

 

Good luck!

[fr0sting]

Thanks neuropanic, it's reassuring to hear I've done at least 1 thing enough of (research), but you're right, those grades of upper div science courses will probably matter a lot.. not sure how much I can do about that now.

 

Do others suggest taking a subject GRE test as well? I've heard some institutions don't really look into it?

 

And thanks lab, I'm glad that being of a psych major thus taking fewer bio courses won't hurt me in getting into the program. I'm actually looking forward to taking those neurobio courses, to catch up with everyone else.

 

This is way in advance, but does reading neurobiology textbooks or neuroscience journal articles (which I'll do anyway) help this transition from working to attending a science phd program, or even help your confidence during interviews and writing the SOP? I was thinking of reading up on statistics while I was applying to psych programs, but now am wondering whether I need to touch up on neuro.. it's been a while since I've been in classes.

[gliaful]

Do others suggest taking a subject GRE test as well? I've heard some institutions don't really look into it?

 

 

 

This is way in advance, but does reading neurobiology textbooks or neuroscience journal articles (which I'll do anyway) help this transition from working to attending a science phd program, or even help your confidence during interviews and writing the SOP? I was thinking of reading up on statistics while I was applying to psych programs, but now am wondering whether I need to touch up on neuro.. it's been a while since I've been in classes.

Yes, I recommend it. I think it would be looked at if your science background had some deficiencies.

 

Touch up on neuro in any way you can, but especially the areas related to what you want to study. It'll help you in your interviews if you feel fluent-ish in your field.

[lab ratta-tat-tat]

Email the director or the program head directly if you are concerned about taking the subject test. 

 

A lot of the time the subject tests are not actually factored into the final decision making process, even a fantastic score will not matter if it is not a regularly scrutinized piece of application material.

 

The thing you truly need to focus on is program fit- not program pedigree. You need to find cognitive labs you really like because you will be spending 5+ years basically married tot that lab, program, geographical region, you better love everything about it and stop worrying about its ranking.

Consider applying to other schools that have your fit, thats my best advice. I have watched students enter top notch programs, for the pedigree and be incredibly unhappy, and I've watched students enter great programs without the prestige  but the best fit for them and they are incredibly happy and now are post docs at top notch places.

 

It's all about fit.

[fr0sting]

Thanks lab ratta-tat-tat! I'm not as worried about ranking to be honest, maybe more about geographical convenience than I should be.. You're right though, having fit is really important, and I have an idea of which neuroimaging labs I'd be more interested in, so that gives me preference for a couple of places.. but I do need to know which other programs have this fit.. it's just a bit more challenging for universities I've never visited, or met with the professors, so I'll definitely need to do more research on them before I apply.

Thanks for the heads-up!

[lab ratta-tat-tat]

Also look into how the funding is for the neuroimaging labs if that what your interested in. Our program had 2 faculty members who did neuroimaging who could not get funding the one person left the university to go to another with more "departmental funding" vs. RO1grants via the NIH and the other faculty member rewrote their NIH grant to include more collaborative efforts with faculty members on campus using mouse models and gene expression.

 

Always look at who has what funding, for how long, and how consistently they've been getting it, and what types of funding (private fellowships, vs gov. grants, vs. department funding).

It is the worse thing ever to watch a student join a lab with little funding and then the PI ends up leaving and the student has to either start over in another lab from scratch (if a new PI will even take them) or quit the program they worked so hard to get into.

 

And yes, it's normal to feel like a trophy wife, overly concerned over the $$$