<p>I have pretty good stats for cog neuro except for my GRE (1100 but retaking soon)</p>
<p>Apart from my mediocre GRE killing my chances there is only one faculty member that I really want to work with. I’m not even sure if she is taking students though. </p>
<p>Seems pretty risky to apply without even knowing if the only lab I would be a good fit is accepting students or not…</p>
<p>thoughts?? would graduate students know if the prof is taking students? dumb to ask them though??</p>
<p>First of all, that GRE makes you a long shot. Normally I would not put too much of an emphasis on GRE, but at top programs they are looking for small differences between highly-qualified candidates so that GRE might really hurt you.</p>
<p>Second of all, email or call the professor! I did, and some will ignore you but it doesn’t hurt. I had several contact me and tell whether or not they were accepting new students. If they don’t answer, go ahead and try the grad students.</p>
<p>Finally, I would be wary of attending a program where there is only a single professor you like. I found out a few months in that I was not a good match for my advisor, and would have been screwed if I had not had a couple of backups.</p>
<p>thank you for your reply.</p>
<p>i know the GRE really hurts me, if i don’t bring it up significantly on my retake i’m not sure if i’ll apply. </p>
<p>i emailed the professor and then emailed again. the second time i got an auto-reply saying she had a family emergency and would not be responding to email for awhile. so i probably won’t find out from the professor. </p>
<p>i know its bad to only have a single professor at a school. i’m not sure if i’m blinded by how good of a program MIT is so i need some objective feedback 
i’m starting to think if the school just had a different name i never would have considered it</p>
<p>A school’s reputation is definitely the wrong reason to apply, but of course, a degree from a well-regarded school can’t hurt. If there’s really not a single other PI you’re interested in working with, maybe pass it up, but keep in mind that a lot of people end up changing fields or finding new interests in grad school; that’s what rotations are for!</p>
<p>Ultimately, aside from the application fee, it can’t hurt to apply. And maybe at the interview, you’ll chat with a couple other PIs that spark your interest…you never know.</p>