<p>I'm an European student who is looking forward to start PhD studies in the US next fall. I'm a bit non-stereotypical applicant. I have a five-year Master's, which is the norm in my country, and my major is a very challenging and competitive one. My GPA is not great (about 50th percentile of my class), but it does have an extremely strong upwards curve during the last two years (approximately 90th %ile). I have done quite a bit of productive research and have three likely very good rec letters from my research coordinators, a poster at a big European conference, and a submitted international peer-reviewed journal article that, according to my advisor, will very likely be accepted. I haven't taken GRE's yet, but my practice scores are approximately 770Q and 400V. My TOEFL, however, should be good (~105-110 iBT), although the results are not out yet so I can not be sure.</p>
<p>Now to the actual point of the post. I know the GPA hurts my chances, but I will still apply to the top schools in Neuroscience, which will all be clearly reach. However, I have no idea what my match and safeties would be, and that's where I would very much welcome some help. I am thinking mostly of private universities, because most public universities state that the funding for international students is very limited.</p>
<p>So, my question basically is: how can I know how selective a department is? Most neuro departments do not seem to publish average GRE's or GPA's, and I believe my slightly uncommon profile makes it difficult to compare to previous years' applicants. I also am under the impression that ranking does not have much to do with either quality or selectivity of the program, so no help there. </p>
<p>My current crude guess about selectivity of some of my target schools would be as follows: Harvard > Stanford > Columbia > Chicago > NYU > USC > Brandeis. Does that have anything to do with reality?</p>
<p>Contact the authors of the journal articles you reference in the paper you submitted. If you have similar research experience and want to work with these individuals in their labs, they might take an interest in you</p>
<p>If you are researching in an area that contributes to neuroscience, that won’t be a hindrance. Since neuroscience is interdisciplinary, you will find grad students coming from bioengineering, molecular biology, psychology, computer science, and perhaps a few other areas in addition to straight neuroscience.</p>
<p>To answer your question, there’s no such thing as a “safety” graduate school, mostly because your profile and research interests must match a program’s, whether that program is a top ten or a top hundred. You can start at phds.org to enter your criteria to determine a “ranking” of neuroscience programs; however, that ranking is not hard and fast, especially since it changes if you change the weight or eliminate/add another component. Such a ranking does not address subfields, the area that should most concern you. For example, the best program in, say, computational neuroscience may be number 20 on the list, and that program may be tough to get into for those interested in it. Your equation of neuroscience programs makes little sense, since some students would rather go to NYU over Harvard, despite the brand name. It depends all on the research and the lab environments.</p>
<p>You’ll have to do a lot of research on your own, and it’s a time-consuming process. Start with a list of programs from phds.org, and then delve into their web pages to see their admissions requirements and areas of faculty research. Since you are an international student, check out their policies/funding levels. A well-funded program is more likely to accept international students since they cannot directly apply for US grants; a faculty member will support them through his/her grant.</p>
<p>What area of neuroscience interests you? Depending on your subfield, you may want to look at Emory, University of Rochester, University of Pittsburgh, Brown, Baylor College of Medicine, and Dartmouth.</p>
<p>The web page seems quite informative, although I completely agree that the lack of subfield information removes some usefulness.</p>
<p>Because I’m from hard science background, my interest is mostly with mathematical or computational modeling of brain with, if possible, emphasis on theoretical/fundamental rather than clinically relevant research. Thus, I have been trying to find a place which has both a strong neuroscience department and a strong engineering/CS/math/applied physics department, with at least some cooperation between the two. </p>
<p>So far I have located many programs I would be very thrilled to attend, but I guess the competition to get in them is huge and I’m therefore not quite confident on my admission. So, I’m trying to seek a program that would fit my interests well, but that would also be probable enough to offer me admission, in case I can’t get in my top choices. Although every program is unique, I would guess that there are some general trends with respect to the difficulty of being admitted (eg. if the research focii of their departments were relatively identical, on average the quality of students admitted to Rich Private Research University would probably be better than the ones admitted to Point Hope University).</p>
<p>Here’s where you need to look: Princeton and Pitt. Princeton is a new, therefore unranked, program, and it’s pretty small right now, making admission difficult, but they have a computational track. Look up Carlos Brody. Pittsburgh has a joint center/program with Carnegie Mellon called the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition (CNBC) which combines neuroscience, computer science, math, psychology, and bioengineering; you would apply to a PhD program either at Pitt or Carnegie-Mellon and also the CNBC, either in January or near the end of your first year. If you want a PhD in neuroscience, then you’ll want to apply to Pitt’s CNUP, not Carnegie Mellon. Neither Princeton nor Pitt would be considered a safety school, but if your interests and experience match up, you could get in. Stanford also takes students from a wide range of backgrounds, but that program is REALLY competitive. </p>
<p>Does Tufts do computational research?</p>
<p>The competition is indeed stiff for neuroscience programs. But you never know where you have a decent chance. Some students might get an interview at, say, Yale, but not at a lower ranked program. You just can’t tell.</p>
<p>Princeton and CNBC definitely look great and pretty much what I would love to attend, but then again, I am probably not the only one. Still, I would be stupid to not apply. </p>
<p>It seems to me that Tufts does not do any computational neuroscience research, or at least they hide it very well.</p>
<p>Does any one have opinion on Caltech/MIT? The fit is there, but how are the admissions, compared to, say, Princeton?</p>
<p>Momwaitingfornew gives good advice. Foremost, look for labs that you have an interest in. </p>
<p>I also stumbled across this world ranking of Neuroscience research at universities and research centers from Wuhan University in China. It is from 2007, but it should give you some idea of the universities with larger collections of productive neuroscience faculty. As was pointed out though, rankings for grad school are not nearly as important as finding a school with labs in your field of interest.</p>
<p>Momwaitingfornew does give excellent advice in identifying specific PIs with whom you would like to work. I would then suggest you contact them personally.</p>