<p>I just completed my junior year at Cornell University. Im a biology major with a concentration in Neurobiology and Behavior and have a 4.0 GPA. Although I was initially leaning towards medical school, Im starting to rethink my options. Im currently looking into grad programs in Neuroscience. Harvard has a great program and I was wondering if you guys knew anything about it? I know that the Department of Neurobiology is located in the medical school do you think they would accept MCAT scores as a substitute for GRE scores? Im planning on talking to the program director later this summer but at this point, Im just trying to research different programs (possibly an MD/PhD track) </p>
<p>I’m a PhD student in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program at the medical school, but I’m in a neurobiology lab and know several students in the Neuro program.</p>
<p>As far as I know, if you’re applying for the PhD-only track, the program will require GRE scores rather than MCAT scores. But the GRE is incredibly easy, so if you have a good MCAT score, getting a good GRE score shouldn’t be a problem. MD/PhD applicants only need to take the MCAT.</p>
<p>If you’re competitive for the HMS MD programs, it shouldn’t be a problem to be accepted to the PhD program, but MD/PhD admissions at HMS are exceedingly competitive. For MD/PhD, you wouldn’t pick a PhD program until after your second year in medical school – you could do your PhD at any of the Harvard biological sciences programs (BBS, Neuro, Immunology, Virology, Mol/Cell Bio, etc.) or at MIT.</p>
<p>You don’t say what your research experience is like. For PhD admissions, the strength of your research experience will be a much more important factor than your GPA or GRE scores. And both the MD/PhD program and the Neuro program hold interview weekends, so it will be important for you to be able to talk about your research and why you’ve picked the track you have.</p>
<p>Please feel free to chat more with me about this – I’d be happy to put you in contact with a current Neuro PhD or MD/PhD student.</p>
<p>Hi,
I am currently an undergraduate student at UCSD and want to apply to the PHD program at Harvard in Cognitive Neuroscience. I was wondering how difficult it is to be admitted. I have a 3.4 gpa, but have a strong background in research. </p>
<p>How open is Harvard to this kind of a candidate?</p>
<p>As I said above, research experience and recommendations are more important for PhD admissions than factors like GPA and GRE scores, but outside that kind of general advice, it’s very difficult to predict. </p>
<p>You should speak with trusted professors in your field and see whether students like you have gone on to do their PhD work at programs to which you’re interested in applying. Your professors will have a good sense whether you’re competitive for particular programs based on their past experience.</p>