Neuroscience/Neurobiology PhD Applicants 2010!

[NsciApp]

Hey there, neuroscience PhD applicant...

Have you had a tough time sorting out the good, the bad, and the ugly programs? With so few rankings and explicit information about the caliber of neuroscience PhD programs, I'm finding it difficult to decide which ones to apply for, especially outside of the US News top 10. It's also a challenge for me to weigh my chances at any given school, since I don't know what the "average" neuroscience PhD applicant looks like.

I thought this would be a good place for us to compare credentials & potential schools.

Any information you want to share would be appreciated by all!

Here are mine specs:

Psychology & neuroscience (high honors) major from select liberal arts college, GPA 3.76, GRE 1300 (630V, 670Q, ?Writing), been doing psych/neuro research since my freshman year, and I've been working full time in a neurobiology lab for the last 9 months since graduation. 1 second-author journal article, 2 pending first author, several posters and talks. Departmental neuroscience award, McNair scholar, presented at 2 academic conferences. I expect fantastic LoRs, and I'm working on the SOP.

School's I'm interested in: UCSD, UCSF, Stanford, Yale, CalTech (Brain, Mind, and Society program), Wisconsin (Madison), Michigan (Ann Arbor), U Conn, WashU, U Oregon, U Iowa, and possibly NC Chapel Hill, MIT, etc...