Advice to an undergraduate sophomore

[Killinger]

Hello world,

 

I am an undergraduate sophomore psychology major at a state school in Pennsylvania.  I have a 3.5 GPA and a 4.0 major GPA. I started doing research this semester and have everything set up to do an independent research project next year.  I am currently working on starting a neuroscience club at our school as well.  I know I either want to apply to a cognitive or behavioral neuroscience program or just a straight neuroscience program but I am not entirely aware of the difference.  

 

So the question to all of the wonderful people that got into phd programs is what suggestions do you have for me to best increase my chances of getting into a graduate program.

 

Also I know I want to go to school in the state of California 

 

Thanks for any advice

[sackofcrap]

Sounds like you are doing everything right.

 

Maybe try to start connecting with some professors so that you will have someone to write your letters of recommendation.

 

Also, you may want to really hone in on exactly what you want to do as far as research goes once you are in graduate school. It may be a little early for that, but it is just a precaution, because I know students who have had great stats, but have been rejected from a program because their research interests were not a good fit for the research interests at that particular graduate school. So, you may just want to think about it.

[Jay's Brain]

Hey,

 

Fellow neuroscience undergraduate student turned graduate student here. I agree with previous poster on trying to hone out what your research interests are. For example, do your research project in the coming year and decide if that's the type of things you're interested in pursuing in higher education. You may, for example, work a lot with rodents and animals in the behavioural stream, conducting research on motivational consequences of drugs (just an elaborate example). Cognitive neuroscience may encompass neuroimaging and understanding visual and perceptual processes. Cognitive and Behavioural neuroscience may overlap, but the idea and content is vastly different.

 

Other than that, continue looking into adding to your CV/portfolio that shows your interest in what you do. Start finding 2-3 sure-fire referees (professors, outside project researchers) that can say positive things about who you are. Finally, verify whether your programs of interest will need to do the GRE or any other standardized test. If so, start preparing for it, and consider doing it this coming summer or the next.

[lxwllms]

I agree with everything the above posters said. I'm a biology undergrad moving into behavioral neuroscience for graduate school.

As they've already said, the biggest thing is honing in on your interests, you want those to be relatively clear when you actually go to apply/interview. I was someone who started out in cognitive labs because I was attracted to the material. But I realized that what I was doing (neuroimaging, working with human subjects) wasn't really for me, and I moved into heavy molecular stuff. I've found somewhat of a balance in behavior (I'm interested in molecular mechanisms underlying stress and anxiety).

I would also recommend connecting with your research mentor(s) and professors. You want them to know who you are so you have great LORs, which play a pretty important role in the application process I've been told.

Also, as far as applying to programs: don't let prestige/rankings be your end all be all. That's not to say rank isn't important, it is in some contexts, but you should base your search (and ultimately your decision) on things like research interests, potential faculty you can work with, liveable funding (I'd bold "liberal" if I wasn't replying through my phone), overall program fit, etc. When you're choosing schools ask yourself, what do I want to do, and how can this program help me accomplish that? A good fit is very important and certainly something that will increase your chances.

Tl;dr: figure out your interests, get to know your professors, be smart when choosing programs, have an idea of your career goals (this is getting a bit ahead of myself, but...)

[FinallyAccepted]

If outside of California is a deal breaker, so be it, but you might also consider looking outside California if it's a possibility. PhD programs with 1) professors who have your same interests who are 2) also accepting students at the time you apply at 3) institutions that will offer you the funding package that you want may not be all that abundant. If your interests don't line up well with the professors teaching in California schools, it might not be a great fit for you or them.

 

Otherwise what everyone else has said has been right on. Research. Letter writers (who are also connections to professors at other schools). Earn high GPA and GRE scores, although it seems as though fit with the school is going to be most important.

[mb712]

I would suggest that on top of making sure you get as much research experience as possible, developing relationships with faculty might be one of the most important things you can be doing. Not only because they'll be your letter writers, but they've also been in your spot. Whether it's intentional or not, they will help you figure out your research interests (e.g. I had a "ugh that looks miserable..." experience when being around the research of a specific professor who was doing what I thought I wanted to do at the time, which ended up being very helpful). I'm not sure if I just got lucky or if this is the norm, but faculty I ended up getting close to were extremely helpful and, more importantly, honest during my entire application cycle. There were some things I hadn't even thought of (like the kind of program at the school I accepted an offer from!!) that were pointed out to me by faculty members when we were just talking about my future plans and narrowing down my application prospects. They were also very open about graduate school and had no reservations about being very honest when laying out pros and cons of both graduate school and academia. I feel more confident now that I have a better idea of what I am getting myself into. I could rant and rave about my letter writers for pages, but I'll just leave it at that.

 

If you would prefer to go to graduate school in California, start looking at research areas and specific research by faculty at schools in CA now. Like somebody said above, research fit is important so make sure that is realistic with somebody at a CA school (and preferably more than one because getting into graduate school is such a weird process that is anything but guaranteed).

 

Good luck, and I hope you'll be joining me as a graduate student in the state of CA in a couple years.

[Killinger]

Thanks for all the great advice Ladies and gents! I have one professor that I am already extremely close with, She has already been the greatest aid to my young career.  I think I am leaning more towards a sensory and perception interest which I believe falls under cognitive psyche.  I try to read papers and see who publish them and find professors and programs like that. On another note my school does not have a neuroscience major so I have been trying to create the closest thing to one through a smart selection of classes.  I've gone out of my way to take Bio, Chem and Anatomy and physiology, of course on top of various biopsych classes.  Are there any classes that you would consider must takes for this field.

[tha1ne]

I'm in a phd program for social psych at a major university. My advice is......................DON'T DO IT D:! There's too many of us, and too few jobs to go around. Unless you are dead set, I would recommend pursuing something more marketable, like CS or engineering. My friend just graduated with a B.A. in CS from Rutgers, and got a job right out of graduating that pays 120,000 in NY. He works 50-70 hrs a week, but enjoys every minute of it.

[mb712]

Thanks for all the great advice Ladies and gents! I have one professor that I am already extremely close with, She has already been the greatest aid to my young career.  I think I am leaning more towards a sensory and perception interest which I believe falls under cognitive psyche.  I try to read papers and see who publish them and find professors and programs like that. On another note my school does not have a neuroscience major so I have been trying to create the closest thing to one through a smart selection of classes.  I've gone out of my way to take Bio, Chem and Anatomy and physiology, of course on top of various biopsych classes.  Are there any classes that you would consider must takes for this field.

 

Maybe physics? If you're leaning cognitive neuroscience, physics could be important or at least helpful in analyses. I would also suggest taking as many math classes as possible, more specifically statistics and calculus. 

 

Also, the above poster is right about psychology being an overly saturated field but I think this is more the case for social and clinical, less so for neuroscience. In a general sense though, academic jobs are not easy to come by these days. Just another thing for you to consider during this process.

[Jay's Brain]

Thanks for all the great advice Ladies and gents! I have one professor that I am already extremely close with, She has already been the greatest aid to my young career.  I think I am leaning more towards a sensory and perception interest which I believe falls under cognitive psyche.  I try to read papers and see who publish them and find professors and programs like that. On another note my school does not have a neuroscience major so I have been trying to create the closest thing to one through a smart selection of classes.  I've gone out of my way to take Bio, Chem and Anatomy and physiology, of course on top of various biopsych classes.  Are there any classes that you would consider must takes for this field.

 

I would say programming and fundamentals in computer science will be a great asset. I'm currently working in a Cognitive Neuroscience lab prior to grad school, and have been affiliated with several in the past year or so, and there isn't a time where creating behavioural experiments hasn't used some form of programming application (E-Prime, Matlab, Presentation, etc). It's a good asset to have some basic knowledge, especially in this field. If you're unsure about taking actual Comp Sci courses, try doing self-learning on Coursera.

[lxwllms]

Seconding computer science and programming. I worked in a visual perception lab for about two years and we did almost everything with Matlab and psych toolbox. Even if your school doesn't offer a matlab course (mine did, but I've heard this is strange..) take a course in programming or CS. Definitely a great skill to have, regardless of whether or not you ultimately move into cognitive psych.

As far as other classes go, I'm not sure. Neuropsych classes if your uni offers it. Maybe cognitive science courses. You might be able to take grad courses in these topics and count them towards your degree (something I did).

Also, I agree that this oversaturation seems like more of a clinical/social thing.

Edited April 25, 2015 by lxwllms

[tha1ne]

Also, I agree that this oversaturation seems like more of a clinical/social thing.

 

Whoops, I did not see that the OP was planning on neuropsych. I did more so mean fields like social or clinical, ones where you have something like 500 applicants to one tenure-track position. Ridiculous.

[mb712]

I would say programming and fundamentals in computer science will be a great asset. I'm currently working in a Cognitive Neuroscience lab prior to grad school, and have been affiliated with several in the past year or so, and there isn't a time where creating behavioural experiments hasn't used some form of programming application (E-Prime, Matlab, Presentation, etc). It's a good asset to have some basic knowledge, especially in this field. If you're unsure about taking actual Comp Sci courses, try doing self-learning on Coursera.

Great suggestion. E-Prime, Matlab and Medialab are the three that first come to mind for me. Knowing Qualtrics and NetStation might come in handy. R would be extremely helpful. I know there is a good R course on Coursera.

[EdNeuroGrl]

One thing that was news to me, that I learned just two weeks ago in a frank discussion with a Cognitive Neuroscientist at a top program, is that to get into one of the top labs you will need at least 2 years of experience doing work specifically in the area that aligns with the lab and you will need to show evidence in your application that you will be able to hit the ground running once they bring you on.

 

For me, coming from an Education paradigm this is a bit ridiculous, but you should talk to a few people in the field who you would like to work with. See if you can find out exactly what they will be looking for in applicants. Personally, had I known that already being experienced in performing fMRI techniques would be something that I was EXPECTED to walk into a program knowing how to do already, I would have gotten my master's in engineering with a focus on imaging techniques rather than education... I want to do educational neuroscience, so it seemed to me that learning about education would be really important (hahaha). 

 

In any case, the expectation may be different for the area and labs you want to get into but my big piece of advice is to get into a lab doing the work you want to do NOW, or you will be looking at a Master's plus a couple years work-experience, before your application will be considered competitive. :-/

 

If I had known this when I was a sophomore undergraduate this would have saved me 4 - 6 years between my bachelor's degree and getting into a PhD program.

 

Good luck :-)

[_kita]

Hello world,

 

I am an undergraduate sophomore psychology major at a state school in Pennsylvania.  I have a 3.5 GPA and a 4.0 major GPA. I started doing research this semester and have everything set up to do an independent research project next year.  I am currently working on starting a neuroscience club at our school as well.  I know I either want to apply to a cognitive or behavioral neuroscience program or just a straight neuroscience program but I am not entirely aware of the difference.  

 

So the question to all of the wonderful people that got into phd programs is what suggestions do you have for me to best increase my chances of getting into a graduate program.

 

Also I know I want to go to school in the state of California 

 

Thanks for any advice

 

 

You are well on your way to being a strong candidate. There's also certain summer research experiences you can do listed here: http://www.apa.org/education/undergrad/research-opps.aspx

 

If you can get involved in extra experiences, you have an even stronger application. Start networking in the field by going to conferences, connecting to research/workshops you see and like there, and pick up summer jobs/volunteer opportunities in what you want career-wise. That way, going out of undergrad, your lined up as the triple threat: number credentials (grades/GRE/etc), experience, and network. You'll have strong LOR, scores, and will be able to demonstrate a clear professional goal in your SOP. 

 

If your program offers it, take the graduate level courses. Mine offered a neuropsychology and behavioral modification grad level class. I was also able to get into an honors level evolutionary psych. Save your elective space for those more difficult courses. 

 

Also, for some extra practice, visit your career center for practicing mock interviews and vitae/resume building. 

Edited April 27, 2015 by psychkita