<p>First of all, I'd like to thank you in advance for spending the time to read (and hopefully reply to) my post. This is my first one ever! :)</p>
<p>I am planning to apply to graduate school this year in neuroscience (cognitive/behavioral neuroscience) for fall 2007. I think the biggest "hole" in my application package is that my undergraduate degree was in psychology. Although I do have a minor in cognitive science, I am lacking the basic knowledge in biology, chemistry and physics that many applicants applying to neuroscience already possess. Another disadvantage has to do with the fact that I am an international student, I have noticed for some programs, they specifically stated on their website that they apply more stringent criteria when considering oversee applicants. Otherwise, everything else looks pretty good:</p>
<p>GPA: 3.8 Major: 3.9 (UCLA)
GRE: 1410
Research:
I worked for 2 years as a full-time staff research associate at UCLA department of psychiatry. Most of my knowledge in neuroscience was gained at work (eg. fMRI/MRI scanner operation; fMRI data analysis). I also have a paper that I am about to submit to a journal and a poster presentation at a major conference coming December (although these are not research in the neuroscience area, but I am the first author)</p>
<p>Since most neuroscience programs do not post their statistics online. I am not sure what my chances are; i.e., miracle vs. practical vs. safe schools. I would appreciate if anyone can let me know how competitive neuroscience admissions are and how much they weigh undergraduate coursework. Thank you so much.</p>
<p>Current list of schools on mind:
Miracle: Yale, Columbia, Berkerley, UCLA
Practical: Northwestern, USC, UCIrvine, U of Michigan
Safe: UCDavis, U of Illinois-Urbana Champaign </p>
<p>JoJo</p>
<p>Oh... one more thing, I just remembered that I graduated with college honors from UCLA. And I also forgot to ask for suggestions on how to strengthen my application. </p>
<p>Thanks again!</p>
<p>You'll get a more accurate assessment of your chances at various schools if you ask professors -- they'll be able to predict your results much better than anyone else.</p>
<p>Make sure you note on your application that you have a publication submitted and authorship on a poster. Your CV is a good place for this, and it's smart to submit a CV even if the application does not specifically ask for one.</p>
<p>Is neuroscience at UCLA under the ACCESS umbrella?</p>
<p>Thank you Mollie, I'll definitely start contacting the professors (after doing some research on them first, of course). </p>
<p>I am not sure what you meant by ACCESS umbrella, can you please clarify that for me please? Thank you.</p>
<p>At UCLA, there's a program called [url=<a href="http://www.uclaaccess.ucla.edu/UCLAACCESS/web/%5DACCESS%5B/url">http://www.uclaaccess.ucla.edu/UCLAACCESS/web/]ACCESS[/url</a>] which includes many of the biological sciences, but I don't remember which ones. :) I applied to that program last year, so I was going to give any insight I could into the admissions process, but I'm not sure if only the molecular/cellular neurobiology people were affiliated.</p>
<p>When I say to ask professors, I mean professors you already know -- the people who are writing your letters of recommendation are always a good choice. (I wasn't very clear about that. Sorry.)</p>
<p>It is a good idea to research and consider contacting specific faculty members at each school; I wrote in at the end of my statement of purpose, "...my specific research interests are [blah] and I am interested in the research being done by [Prof. Blah], [Prof. Foo], and [Prof. Bar]."</p>