PLEASE READ: Leadership Alliance for Summer Neuroscience Reseach?? HELP

Graduate School
1

Hi! I am a junior at a top 15 university, studying Neuroscience with the intent of getting an M.D./Ph.D. after undergrad. I am Hispanic-American, so I have been looking into Leadership Alliance and the programs offered through that consortium of schools. However, I am completely clueless as to how competitive the program is, and whether I should even get my hopes up. I will post stats below, but if anybody has ANY advice/tips/information in general about Leadership Alliance or SR-EIP, please let me know!! Also, if you know of other programs that might be beneficial to check out, tell me about them as well!

School: Northwestern
Major/Minor: Neuroscience/Classics
GPA: 3.3 (will probably be 3.4 after Fall Quarter!)
My GPA is so low because I was an engineering student for my first year at Northwestern. I took many difficult engineering classes (which no longer count towards my degree requirements) and these unnecessary, high-level math/physics courses made my GPA plummet. I have an upward trend in grades since then, and expect straight As in my classes this quarter.

Research:
I have been a Research Assistant in a neuroscience laboratory for over a year now. In that time, I have risen to become the “top”/most senior RA (out of 20 undergraduate RAs), and am responsible for training all new RAs as well as leading research projects.
I have been awarded two grants from Northwestern to pursue independent research, and my PI has told me that I will be allowed to carry out more independent research in my senior year while I write a thesis in neuroscience.
From the projects I have completed in my laboratory, I have presented a poster on relevant findings at a national scientific conference.

I am also heavily involved in extracurricular activities outside of class and research, and am glad to elaborate on them, but I believe that is not as important to grad schools as research and coursework.

My ideal career path would be to complete an SR-EIP this summer, and then work at the NIH in the IRTA program for two years after undergrad. Three RAs from my lab got into IRTA last year alone, so I think that if I maintain my high level of involvement in the lab, that should not be too hard. But experience in a Leadership Alliance program certainly would not hurt anything :slight_smile:

Thanks, everybody; I hope to get some great advice out of you all!

2

I also forgot to mention that I have experience as a TA for a biology laboratory course! Not sure if that helps but I’m sure it doesn’t hurt to include it.

Teaching Assistant:
I am and will be a Teaching Assistant for a sequence of biology laboratory courses in Genetics and Molecular Biology, Cellular Biology, and Physiology. I help the undergraduates with their lab techniques and generally assist with ensuring labs run smoothly.

3

Well, my thoughts are the only way to find out is to apply for the program, so go for it. A 3.3-3.4 GPA is pretty decent, especially if your grades in your neuroscience classes are higher (what’s your neuroscience GPA?) You also have a year of research experience, leadership there (which your PI can speak to), and a poster. That’s pretty good for a junior, so I think you have a good shot.

Look on the NSF website at REU programs too and apply widely for summer programs, so you can have your pick.

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bump!

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bump!

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bump! please help!

7

I’d suggest posting this on gradcafe, you might get more help there. Also, what other kind of help are you looking for?