I’m an undergraduate at Emory with 3.0 gpa. I am just getting started on research and am third year. I’m majoring in Neuroscience. Will I be able to get into any grad school (even “lower ranking” ones)? I will also be considered an international student even though I have lived here for 7 years. So I would need a scholarship as well. I plan to apply for Masters, instead of Ph.D…
If grad school is very unlikely, what are some other programs that I could do after undergrad?
I am wondering the same thing…I am applying to Cognitive Psychology PhD. programs…For most good schools the acceptance rate is between 2-7%…For lesser schools the acceptance rate is still almost always below 15%…For Master’s Programs you’ll get in somewhere I am sure as long as your scores are relatively high…I assume Neuroscience has about the same profile…That G.P.A is kind of low…I started research late too so I know how that feels…if your GRE scores V>160 Q>158 (for masters programs) you might have a chance…UC-Berkeley already rejected me for their Cognitive Neuroscience program and my GRE was V:164 Q:168 AWA:6.0(99th) and G.P.A. is 3.59 and my essay was exceptional…not sure about the other schools yet…
@AzaleaZ - There are some MS programs in neuroscience that provide funding, but very few, and you won’t be competitive for the funding with a 3.0. You may be able to get into an MS program in neuroscience without funding if you can finance it yourself.
If you are interested in a research career, you could work as a research assistant, coordinator, or lab technician for 2-3 years and then try to apply to graduate school. That will make your application more competitive.
@j6ma9l - I think those acceptance rates are a bit low - I think the acceptance rate even to top cognitive psychology PhD programs is probably somewhere around 10-15%. But the acceptance rate is misleading. Unlike undergrad, many top programs are self-selecting: only the top students apply to PhD programs to begin with, and students have a better sense of where they might get in by graduate school, meaning that only really competitive students apply to top schools. So they are still quite selective and competitive.
I know students can pay for grad school with jobs like TA or RA. Would that be possible with my GPA?
Also, can I work as an RA on a F-1 visa if I’m not studying? How much would that help my application? Would that make it easier for me to pay for school? I have already taken loans for undergrad since they don’t give money to international students so more loans is out of the question.
It depends on the program. Some programs don’t have enough TA or RA positions for everyone, so they are awarded competitively. That means students with higher GPAs usually get them. This is typically the case with MS programs - usually the TA and RA positions go to doctoral students first and the MS students get what’s left.
I am not an expert on immigration but I don’t think you can work full time as a lab manager on an F-1 visa in the U.S. Some labs might be willing to process visa work so you could work legally in the U.S., but the problem is so many lab manager positions are grant funded and require the recipients to be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. On an F-1 visa I’m pretty sure you’d have to enroll in some sort of academic program to stay in the country. You might try to find a post-baccalaureate program that counts - something like the Hot Metal Bridge program at University of Pittsburgh for neuroscience. Both that and working as an RA in between (if you could) would improve your application and make it easier for you to get funding.
Another option is to go to your home country and work for a few years before applying for MS programs, or to apply to work full-time in the U.S. in some science-related jobs on a regular work visa, and then apply to graduate programs.
I found out that I could work under F1 OPT but I am not sure what kind of jobs would be available. Would Lab technician training be easier to get into? And would they be able to fund me?
Also the program you mentioned doesn’t take international students.
OPT is your only opportunity for working at this time. As for your question about getting into a program with funding, your GPA is probably too low to get into a Ph.D. program at this time. You need to start with a MS and show that oyu can get good (>3.5 GPA) grades at the graduate level. If the program you are admitted to has Ph.D. and M.S. students it is unlikely that there will be assistantships for you so you might want to find a program that has only MS, where your chances of being considered for an assistantship is somewhat better. Examples of such programs are the California State Universities. Finally, yes you can be a TA or RA on an F-1 but you wil have to exchange your current F-1 for one with your graduate school.
Will a gap year with research experience help me get into a PhD program? I understand that there is funding for MS-PhD so I would prefer that option if it could become available after more research experience.