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

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!

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.

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! please help!

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