Choosing a Neuroscience PhD Program

I am struggling with deciding on a graduate school to attend after weeks of deliberating. I have been accepted to the neuroscience PhD programs at University of Virginia, UNC Chapel Hill, and Brown University. I like and dislike each of the schools for different reasons.

For example, UVa has many opportunities to be a TA (and I plan to work in academia so this is good) and it has a department with research I am really interested in. The faculty seemed to truly care about their small group of graduate students from what I could tell at the interview. I loved the Charlottesville area too.

UNC Chapel Hill I know has a well respected program. Additionally, the school had several professors I would be interested doing my dissertation with. The only thing I didn’t love about UNC was that there was a lack of emphasis on teaching - TAships are not built into the curriculum - and most students going to work in industry so they instead focus on those experiences. UNC seems extremely affordable and incredibly beautiful as well!

Brown University had a small program (which I really liked), however the research seemed a little lack luster. There didn’t seem to be many young professors who had energy - although there are plenty of publications going out. Also, the department and people there were not as welcoming or nice as UVa or UNC (southern thing maybe?). Brown focuses heavily on teaching, it is a core component of the program which is also a positive. Also, it has the whole IVY prestige thing…but I don’t want to base my decision off something as shallow as that.

Overall, the pros and cons for the programs are equalling out for me. I am curious what some informed people would think about which school would offer me the best opportunities (due to the name/credentials/opportunities) for post docs and future jobs. My PI did her post doc at UVa and is all for that school, but I was curious of some outside perspective here. Either way, I know this is a great problem to have and I am so grateful to have gotten any offers at all since I came from such a small undergraduate university. I would appreciate any feedback, thanks!

So the number one thing is that teaching probably doesn’t matter as much as you think it does for securing academic positions. If you want to teach at a research university (like UNC or Brown or UVa), your teaching experience matters very, very little. It’s all about your publications and research and grants. If you want to teach at an elite small liberal arts college, your teaching does matter somewhat, but I am certain that any of these three universities offer adequate opportunities for you to TA and potentially adjunct or guest lecture as long as you look for them. (Some of them won’t be formally built into the program, but that’s okay.) If you want to teach at a regional public or a small LAC that’s not elite - something more along the lines of a 3/3 load or higher - your teaching does matter more, but I still wouldn’t choose a university on the basis of its TA opportunities because your research will STILL matter more than your teaching.

Secondly, outside perspectives really aren’t as useful here, particularly since you plan to work in academia. You WANT the perspectives of people inside neuroscience, because they can comment on the comparisons across universities and which programs are well-regarded. I can only give you a lay perspective or a perspective of a person from psychology, which is related but not the same. (In psych, UVa and UNC would be about equal in terms of reputation; Brown maybe a notch below, but not enough to make a big difference.) According to the National Research Council’s rankings, the three programs seem to be on par with each other in other neuroscientists’ estimations. So I’d go with preferences.

TAships not being built into the curriculum may actually be a good thing even if you want academia. It’s mostly for the reasons I discussed above - your research is really going to be what gets you a job. But the other thing is that you’ll be able to choose which teaching obligations you want to take on, and you may have less competition for positions if it’s not required. Most people going to work in industry is something to consider if your goal is academia, but check to make sure that’s actually the case and what placement looks like into academic jobs.

I wouldn’t go anywhere you describe the research as “lackluster,” especially if the program ALSO focuses heavily on teaching. That’s a bad combination for an aspiring academic. And Ivy doesn’t really mean as much within academia as it does outside - not in the sciences, particularly. It’s all about program reputation and UVa and UNC, in many fields, have better “prestige” than Brown.

Honestly based on only what you said, it sounds like UVa is the best fit for you.

Thanks so much for you input @juillet ! You’re right, by “outside perspective” I meant neuroscientists or scientists outside of my institution since they all went to UVa.

First off, I would like to teach at a LAC in the future, so teaching opportunities that won’t set me back in my progress would be ideal. I completely understand what you’re saying about research and publications, and I agree. UNC spoke a lot about their students getting papers into top notch journals. UVa did not, so I will need to investigate that a bit more!

According to the statistics of UNC they presented to us during interview weekend, only about a quarter of graduates go into academia. This would only be alarming if some graduates wanted to get into academia and could not (which is entirely possible with the current funding climate). However, this is a problem everywhere, and UNC was the only school to lay out statistics like that - which was fantastic.

UNC is in the “research triangle” which grad students utilize by inviting faculty from Duke and the NIH in Durham to be on their panel for their dissertation and often share technology/knowledge despite not being officially affiliated with the institution. I am wondering if this is enough of an advantage that should sway me toward UNC. They REALLY had collaboration there. Most schools claim they do, but every single professor I interviewed with had several papers out in the past couple years with at least one other prof listed as an author. UVa seemed to have minimal collaboration, but had very good research.

Additionally, the neuroscience students in the biomedical science umbrella program at UNC seemed extremely close. While at UVa I got into the Biology PhD program with a concentration in neurobiology - an extremely small group of incoming students with all different career paths and interests who despite being in a small group, barely knew eachother. Unfortunately, UNC’s neuroscience labs are in a very old building and they are currently building a new one. Which means in about 2 years I will have to help the lab I am in move into a new building, possibly loosing six months or more of valuable research time. UVa has a beautiful brand new building with student office space and open concept labs that all blend together on each floor between different labs.

I have been going back and forth between UVa and UNC due to the grad student atmosphere, collaboration, lab facility situation, and teaching opportunities. Which unfortunately leaves me struggling between UNC and UVa. I was wondering if there is a tie-breaker out there that hadn’t occurred to me (or perhaps wisdom on the importance of each factor I mentioned), in which someone already in the field would know.

Thanks again!