Hi guys!
I am re-applying to some grad schools with neuroscience PhD programs this year. I applied last year and got into Brown, UNC CH, and UVa. I accepted my offer at UVa, but deferred admission for a year because I got a Fulbright grant to do graduate research. I am now debating whether or not to apply to some of my “reach” schools since I have this extra year maybe making me a little more interesting to admissions?
I went to a relatively unknown public university, GPA = 4.0, 4 years of research experience, working on two papers (both first author), three very strong LOR from my undergrad (perk of going to a small school are researching in two labs for 3 years each), above average GRE scores, Fulbright student (in Northern Europe).
Do you think that it would be worth it to apply to University of Chicago, Harvard, and Columbia? I know these programs are very competitive, and I am not sure that this extra year (the name of Fulbright and the lab I am working in) would help too much. Any thoughts would be appreciated!