Neuro PhD - How competitive am I?

nanotechnology
Tue, 07 Jul 2015 20:59:56 +0000

It seems like you’ve got a shot, but I have to ask: if your grades were suffering, why did overload every semester with everything else you were doing on top of it? The non-science-related ECs will play basically no role in PhD admissions, so it’s a matter of whether your research and letters can make up for the GPA. Your GRE is OK, but it’s not going to compensate for anything. But another big factor in PhD admissions is fit with the programs. Unless I missed it, you didn’t mention what kind of neuroscience research you want to do in grad school. If your interests don’t align with the research going on at the schools you listed, that’s going to hurt you more than GPA.

Have you talked to any of the professors you’re working with about your qualifications and where they think might be good programs? They’re one of your best resources. You can also apply for PhD programs with backup plans like applying for masters programs as well (where you could improve your GPA) or working for a year and then re-applying in a year or two. Only apply to programs you’d actually want to go to. Don’t apply just to get into a neuro PhD program at any costs.