Master's Programs

[abcdelemoneater]

Hi Everyone! I am considering to enroll into a Master's program prior to applying for PhD programs. In your own experience, which Master's program was helpful for getting your foot in the door at a top 20 neuroscience PhD program? My thoughts on this is to pursue a Master's at an institution where I would like to pursue a PhD as well. Ideally, I would stay in the same lab and continue my PhD on the pre-existing work that I had for my Master's. I think this would significantly increase my chances for at least getting an interview for a particular school in the top 20. What are your thoughts?

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[PipetteDreams]

I have seen this strategy successfully implemented.

Why not apply straight to PhD programs or do a stint at the NIH/working in a lab to have an income while you gain experience? As a few other options to consider.

 

[abcdelemoneater]

I have seen this strategy successfully implemented.

Why not apply straight to PhD programs or do a stint at the NIH/working in a lab to have an income while you gain experience? As a few other options to consider.

I have about one year experience at the NIH/NIMH currently. I come from a R1 State School and had a 3.6 cGPA and around a 3.52 sGPA. I feel as if this would be way too low for admission to top 20 neuroscience programs. I do know that they do not pay TOO much attention to GPA and GRE (as long as its above a certain cutoff), but they much more attention to LORs, research experiences, and any connections that you may have established prior to even interviewing.

I just know that neuroscience PhD programs at top 20 schools is notoriously difficult, especially now (vs 5 years ago). I just do not want to take any risks with not being able to matriculate to a top program. One last thing, this is very important, but my background has not involved too much CS, engineering, physics, and math. It has been pure genetics, cellular/molecular biology, etc. I would like to transition more towards computational neuroscience and BME/BioE (which are all very inter-disciplinary obviously), but this would be tough to do without having a formal background in these areas. I know that it is still possible but it would be a very steep learning curve and would require a ton of persuading if I intend on doing this work for my PhD.