does this give me more of a chance?

[chaos]

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I think I had another account here at one point but of course I forgot the username and password...anyway, I just won a student research and essay contest on schizophrenia and the brain run by a reputable neuroscience research center at a hospital. The divisions were high school, college, and graduate, and I won the college section (for a meta-analytical essay, not original research, unfortunately I didn't have time or resources for that). My question is, how much does this raise my standing above other students with similar grades? (I have a 4.0, but by the time I take all the chemistry and physics classes I need for my B.S., probably a 3.6 or so, lol). I'm basically your average decent candidate: good grades, I expect to do fairly well on the GRE, I'm in some honor societies, and by the time I apply to grad school I expect I'll have a semester or two of research experience, though probably not related to schizophrenia since no one at my college researches that. So my question is, do a lot of grad student applicants have similar credentials, and since the contest is directly related to my area of intended study, would it be more of an 'oh, that's nice' thing for admissions people, or a 'we must have her!' thing? I'm just so nervous that I'm going to come across as an 'average' candidate.

 

[Psyclops]

What year are you? I only ask because that will give us a better idea of how to give you advice. The award thingy sounds good and it should go on your CV, expecailly if you plan on trying to do Schiz research. But as always, more research, even more than two semesters if you can, and see if you can get authorship on a poster or paper.

 

[chaos]

I'm a first semester junior, but I'm probably going to wait until I graduate to apply, since I won't have enough research experience til then. I was just shipped in from a community college so I don't have much of an idea how real research works.

 

[psypsypsy]

Hmm, the award-thing sounds great, and definitely put in on your CV (and personal statement, if you're interested in schizophrenia research) but on its own, it probably won't make or break you.

I'm not sure what year you are now, but I would try to have more than a semester or two of experience. I'd try to find a lab now and start working....if you have time, I would say a goal would be 2 years of experience. Also, posters etc. are terrific and look amazing, but if it seems impossible, don't stress too much being national. A lot of schools have poster-days, etc, and that looks good too.

 

[perfektspace]

I'm a first semester junior, but I'm probably going to wait until I graduate to apply, since I won't have enough research experience til then. I was just shipped in from a community college so I don't have much of an idea how real research works.

I can identify. I tranfered from community college as a junior and it does present some challenges. Within a month I joined a research lab, ended up loving it and stayed until I graduated and then worked at the same lab as staff a year after graduating while applying. Taking that year off will allow you to put together a better application, afford extra GRE study time, and hopefully produce some more posters/publications.

The award you won sounds great and no doubt shows maturity beyond the vast majority of undergrads. I bet you know how research works to a greater extent than most in your position given what you have already accomplished. If you haven't already approached a professor about an RA position do it ASAP and see if he or she needs help over the summer and tell them that you want to produce posters and work on a publication once you learn the ropes. Good luck.

 

[chaos]

thanks, I'm hoping it'll give me a small edge...the problem is that no one at my college is researching anything related to schizophrenia...is it really important that my research is in that area? everyone at my school seems to research developmental psychology or the effects of various drugs on rats, lol. Should I just take whatever RA position I can get?

 

[perfektspace]

Because the type of research you want to pursue is so specialized maybe you could contact physicians at local hospitals/mental health centers and relay your interest in working with patients who have schizophrenia, using your previous research as a springboard. In the process you may gain some experience that could broaden your scope of experience giving you a little more flexibility in applying to programs (e.g., looking at psychiatric disorders from a public health perspective). The only downside to this is that your success in producing research would be largely predicated on finding someone who was willing to help you outside the university. Perhaps someone else on the forum could tell you how feasible this course would be.

You may want to give an RA position on campus a shot. It is certainly a lot easier to access and you may end up liking it.

 

[splendid]

My undergrad also did not have any researchers in the specific field I wanted to pursue. Thus, I worked with someone doing something pretty different (still clinical psychology) at a really early age. I ended up doing an independent study through another guy in his lab who had a little interest in my field (this second guy did his phd dissertation on stuff I was interested in so I asked him to supervise me for an independent study with the head lab guy as the official supervisor). Also, I did most of my volunteer work in my area of interest. Then, over a summer I found a faculty member at another school whose research interests were similar to mine - I was an RA with her. When it came time for me to do my personal statement, it was easier for me to "prove" my interest. You could do the same with schizophrenic research/volunteer work.....