Masters in Biology before Neuroscience Phd?

physio6
Sat, 10 May 2014 17:50:06 +0000

Hi everyone, so in about a year I’ll be graduating from my undergraduate school with a major in psychology and a minor in cognitive neuroscience. My current GPA is a 3.7 and I expect about the same when I graduate. I’ll have about 1 and half years of research experience in a cognitive neuroscience lab at my university and I’ll graduate with honors in psychology (assuming all goes as planned). I plan to pursue a Phd at a top 10 school in neuroscience. In terms of neuroscience related coursework before I graduate I’ll have my senior thesis, research in psychology (cognitive neuroscience), intro to cognitive neuroscience, principles of neurobiology, and introduction to neurophysiology completed. I’m not too concerned about SOP,LOR, and GRE scores in regards to my application. I’m more so concerned about my research experience. I want to work with professors studying neuropsychiatric disorders, specifically I want to study schizophrenia.

Anyways, I’m wondering if it’s a good idea to complete a graduate program(masters) in biology before applying to a top 10 graduate program leading to a PhD in neuroscience?

As far as expenses, I’m fairly certain the cost for the masters will either be entirely covered or mostly covered so I’ll either get into minimal debt or none at all ( currently have no college debt).

Advice please?