2017 Neuroscience PhD Applicants and Admission Results

[seven27]

I sometimes wonder if schools immediately accept a group of outstanding applicants, then are stuck deciding between 30 students with more or less comparable records for 10 interview spots.  At this point, do schools offer interviews to those who will cost less?  If I lived in NYC, maybe I would be more likely to interview at NYU or another east coast institution, compared to someone with similar credentials in Billings, Montana or Tempe, Arizona.  I mean, this probably doesn't happen, but it's something I think about while refreshing my inbox.

Also, I noticed that a bunch of people received NYU Neural Science rejection e-mails yesterday.  My application is still labeled under review as of ~10AM today according to the NYU tracking system.  I wonder if that should be an encouraging sign.

[godspeed]

@seven27 I feel that proximity to the school definitely plays a factor when selecting students. I live on the east coast and feel that it would have been harder for me to receive interviews for west coast schools.

[Janiejoneswoah]

Just got a phone call (which i missed ) and then an email from a POI at Stanford neuro! I'm still waiting on a formal invitation, but am super excited anyway.

[RM17]

45 minutes ago, Janiejoneswoah said:

Just got a phone call (which i missed ) and then an email from a POI at Stanford neuro! I'm still waiting on a formal invitation, but am super excited anyway.

Ahhh congrats! Here's hoping there's good news on the horizon for more of us..

Sometimes it's almost better to miss the call, at least when they leave a message - last year I had some kinda awkward phone calls borne of the fact that I was not prepared. And also probably ~as a millennial~ I'm not good at talking on the phone anyway lol...

[Nomad1111]

9 hours ago, DrMeow said:

Thanks for your reply, and congratulations with your interviews. Can I ask which programs you are invited to? 

At least I can see it's the case with Upenn - they do skype interviews with internationals. It is sort of a shame. I would have enjoyed the whole tour with interviews and social events etc. 

Well right now, actually, even an interview on mail will suffice.

 

 

 

I hear you! It sounds like some programs still offer in-person, so fingers crossed for you to get a few of those

 

So far I have interviews with MIT BCS, Harvard BBS, Columbia, Dartmouth PEMM, Tufts Neuro. 

[nihchick2017]

freaking out about hearing from stanford neuro (top choice program)...it looks from the results search that invites go out over a few days so keeping my fingers crossed....

[localsciencedealer]

I've been on these forums for a long time on and off so I guess I'll be "on" right now. I just got an invitation to interview for Wake Forest's Neuroscience PhD program and am excited to finally get an interview! Who wants to provide some good interview insight? 

As far as whether schools accept outstanding students and then decide between 30, I think you nailed it. If you look at the results search, all of the first people to get invited have a Masters in a relevant field it seems. It seems like they pay attention to everyone else after this group. 

[RM17]

2 hours ago, localsciencedealer said:

I've been on these forums for a long time on and off so I guess I'll be "on" right now. I just got an invitation to interview for Wake Forest's Neuroscience PhD program and am excited to finally get an interview! Who wants to provide some good interview insight? 

As far as whether schools accept outstanding students and then decide between 30, I think you nailed it. If you look at the results search, all of the first people to get invited have a Masters in a relevant field it seems. It seems like they pay attention to everyone else after this group. 

Congrats! Here are a few threads from this year about prepping for and what to wear to interviews:

 

[localsciencedealer]

1 hour ago, RM17 said:

Congrats! Here are a few threads from this year about prepping for and what to wear to interviews:

 

 

Just what I needed. Thank you!

[Daphna_]

On 5.1.2017 at 9:25 PM, DrMeow said:

Hi all.

International lurker here.

I haven't heard a thing yet, and I am a bit surprised. Got good credentials and pretty good GRE scores.

Applied for NYU, Cornell, Columbia and JHU.

Has any internationals heard anything yet? I keep telling myself that internationals will be invited later cause they will not participate in the official interviews on campus, but on skype instead. Can someone please confirm this and calm my nerves?

Thanks. Congrats to all of you with interviews!

You're not alone... I am also an international student, with what I thought were very good credentials... but haven't heard back from NYU or Columbia (or any other university I've applied to, other than UCSD from which I was rejected....)

 

[guest2130]

Any other behavioral neuroscience applicants? I'm still waiting but I think that's still normal for the programs I applied too (only 3! yikes :/) ? I'm mainly worried because of my mediocre GRE scores (157 v, 150 q, 4.5 w)

 

Congrats to those who have interviews!

[Raptor Science Activate]

13 hours ago, guest2130 said:

Any other behavioral neuroscience applicants? I'm still waiting but I think that's still normal for the programs I applied too (only 3! yikes :/) ?

I am!  I'm especially interested in mood disorders, learning, pair bonding, and drug addiction/pharmacology.  I approach things through the lens of molecular biology, so I applied mostly to neurobiology programs as well as a couple psych programs.  In retrospect, I might have benefited from applying to a couple umbrella programs, as I have additional extensive research experience in fields other than neuroscience (cancer biology, inflammation, gastroenterology).

I'm not sure about the timelines for your programs, but I hope you hear back with exciting news soon!  

Edited January 9, 2017 by Raptor Science Activate

[cmykrgb]

I just got an interview invitation from USC NGP! This is my first invitation. I honestly was expecting to have zero interviews at this point. I would like to thank everyone on this forum who helped me remain positive!

Edit: feels weird and way too early to be thanking people but that's how excited I am!

Edited January 9, 2017 by cmykrgb

[pemmymiranda]

Congrats @cmykrgb!!!!!

[BendingRodriguez]

What do we think? Is Stanford done sending out invites?

[lildoc]

Has anyone heard back from Rockefeller yet?

[pipette_fever]

33 minutes ago, lildoc said:

Has anyone heard back from Rockefeller yet?

Yes, I got an interview invite yesterday, hope you hear back soon!

[lildoc]

41 minutes ago, pipette_fever said:

Yes, I got an interview invite yesterday, hope you hear back soon!

Thanks! Since they have two interview dates, hopefully I hear back for one of them. But congrats!

[lfp300]

Hi, everybody.

Have any of you heard from UMass-Amherst?

 

[levelground]

Interview from UCLA by email. I officially have no idea what's going on. Every expectation for this application cycle has been violated.

Anyone know when Stanford's interview dates are?

edit: never mind. March 1-5 is their interview session.

 

 

Edited January 10, 2017 by levelground

[Janiejoneswoah]

Hopkins and Stanford neuro have their interviews at the same time... Does anybody have any thoughts on the pros/cons of interviewing at each program?

[nihchick2017]

58 minutes ago, Janiejoneswoah said:

Hopkins and Stanford neuro have their interviews at the same time... Does anybody have any thoughts on the pros/cons of interviewing at each program?

I've worked in an NIH lab in Baltimore with 2-3 Hopkins grad students for 4 years, and I've also worked at Stanford. I'd say both programs are equal in terms of support and quality (Stanford might be a little bit better but not by much), I think it really depends on how many faculty at each program you're interested in and where you see yourself living. Baltimore and Palo Alto are drastically different places. Baltimore is smaller and more eclectic (plus way less expensive), but is definitely an acquired taste because of all the poverty/gun violence. Palo Alto is great but more expensive and feels like a suburb. All of the grad students I've interacted with at both schools are very happy with the programs.

[nihchick2017]

Also, has anyone heard from NYU's Neuroscience and Physiology program? I only see people with interview invites from the Sackler Neural Science one. Could it be that the programs send out invites separately? I also never received a rejection from NYU when everyone else did, but maybe it's because according to their portal they never got my "official" GRE scores? 

[Janiejoneswoah]

3 minutes ago, nihchick2017 said:

I've worked in an NIH lab in Baltimore with 2-3 Hopkins grad students for 4 years, and I've also worked at Stanford. I'd say both programs are equal in terms of support and quality (Stanford might be a little bit better but not by much), I think it really depends on how many faculty at each program you're interested in and where you see yourself living. Baltimore and Palo Alto are drastically different places. Baltimore is smaller and more eclectic (plus way less expensive), but is definitely an acquired taste because of all the poverty/gun violence. Palo Alto is great but more expensive and feels like a suburb. All of the grad students I've interacted with at both schools are very happy with the programs.

Wow, thank you -- this is exactly the kind of response I was hoping for. It is difficult to make a decision without visiting either school, so I appreciate your help a lot. One of my major concerns is the expense of living in Palo Alto as a graduate student - do you know if they mostly manage on their stipends, or do they have to take out loans or find other sources of income as well?

[nihchick2017]

10 minutes ago, Janiejoneswoah said:

Wow, thank you -- this is exactly the kind of response I was hoping for. It is difficult to make a decision without visiting either school, so I appreciate your help a lot. One of my major concerns is the expense of living in Palo Alto as a graduate student - do you know if they mostly manage on their stipends, or do they have to take out loans or find other sources of income as well?

I don't think anyone takes out loans, most people just live frugally. Also, Stanford has really good on campus housing that you can live in for your whole PhD. If you're willing to live in the less nice housing,  it's only like $750 a month, or if you want something higher end it's around 1100-1300. Most of the grad students seemed to live pretty comfortably (going out for dinner/drinks a lot, going into the city a lot). It's definitely a livable stipend. However, you'd probably live way more comfortably in Baltimore i.e. you could have a car, take more vacations, etc. But living near SF is also it's own factor since the city is unbelievable (my favorite in the US by far). Also I heard from the Stanford grad students that for each class you TA after you fufill the teaching requirement you get paid $1500. not sure if that is also the case at Hopkins.