Hi all,
Apologies for the long post in advance!
My question is less about what my chances of acceptance are and more about which Universities will be realistic to apply into as an international student. I don’t mind the location at all. I do realise that choosing an university depends on labs, professors, research interests, etc., however I am struggling to get my university search started. I will be applying both in UK and the USA (preferably the latter as I prefer the general structure of the PhD programmes) and while I am very well familiar with the UK universities and application process, I have gaps in my knowledge about the US system. I am interested in any suggestion about suitable US universities, where you think I have best chances of success, as I feel the very best well known such as Harvard, MIT, Stanford, UCLA, and Hopkins may be out of reach for me, so please do share your opinions. Just a little bit of background:
BSc (Hons) in Psychology - 1st class honours (top 5 in the class) from UK
I will be starting an MSc this year part time, and thus it will take 2 years for completion. The MSc is in Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience with a concentration in research methods and my aim is to obtain a distinction.
I have a vocation certification and Management and Economics (secondary school), and thus my background in sciences such as biology and chemistry is not very strong, which I am trying to catch up on with self-study… However, I have strong background in statistics (not maths) and have taken advanced statistics classes during my BSc.
Have not taken the GRE, starting to prepare now. In fact I was wondering would taking a GRE in Psychology benefit me in any way? If not, would you recommend any GRE subject exam and which one?
Work Experience:
Research related:
Will have an MSc thesis if I complete my masters (hopefully) and get it published!
BSc Research Project in Cognitive neuroscience - working on a draft expect to have first author publication.
Research Assistant (5 months) -psychology - second author publication
Clinical Trials Research Assistant - administering cognitive assessments - 7 months
Few short volunteer research intern-ships
I have also peer-tutored and led workshops for first and second year university students, so I have experience in actually working within a higher education institution alongside programme leaders and I am an ad-hoc reviewer for one undergraduate neuroscience journal and for one graduate clinical psychology journal… I have been volunteering at conferences as well…
Clinical
Support Assistant - learning disabilities and mental health 2 years;
Carer - elderly - intergeneration - 6 months
I also have some other working experience not directly related to my studying such as retail and while I realise a lot of the experience I have so far may not be directly research all of the above helped me to develop valuable transferable skills and establish a variety of contacts in different fields and professions.
Publication wise, apart from the expected couple mention above, I have a couple of other that are not peer-reviewed publication but found in secondary sources, e.g. book/national organisation’s newsletter.
My research main research interests are in the area of cognitive neuroscience but I am also fascinated by molecular and cellular neuroscience. More specifically, neurodegeneration, memory and attentional systems, perception, neuroplasticity, and neuropharmacology.Also, it is very important to me that the PhD programme offers an opportunity to teach - the more varied the better… My secondary academic interests are in transpersonal and anomalous psychology from a cognitive perspective…
Any advice will be appreciated, Apologies for the long post again and thank you for the help!
Do you have any suggestion for a forum?