School List Help

[billowthehusky]

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Removed. Thank you everyone!

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[eteshoe]

WashU, Duke, UMichigan, BCM?

 

[Fencer]

See AAMC table B-8: https://www.aamc.org/download/321544/data/factstableb8.pdf

Divide applicants/matriculants to get you an idea of the # applicants per slot. Some programs are more competitive than others, and a lot of the differences are due to location & old boy club prestige. A more important indicator is whether the program has an attractive size with well rounded faculty in the area of your interest. For that (and despite the shortcomings such as the Harvard affiliates taking away the grants from the School), I suggest that you examine this resource:
http://www.brimr.org/NIH_Awards/2015/NIH_Awards_2015.htm

You are very likely to get in (if you don't have skeletons in the closet), thus, enjoy the interview ride. You will meet very interesting and passionate people over the next year.

 

[starfun21]

Agreed with the above. Your application appears extremely strong in all areas, even for top programs. Your story is compelling and sounds a lot like mine, which was something that schools brought up many times as something that interested them. There is no need for a publication to enter an MSTP (it can help, but is not counted against you if not from everything I was told). I'm not sure what you mean by your undergrad holding you back (maybe you can clarify if I misunderstand). But if you're talking in terms of prestige/name, myself and many of the people I interviewed with on the trail went to small liberal arts colleges. We generally all took advantage of research opportunities at bigger or more prestigious institutions when we could, but I never felt that we were faulted for our school. This type of thing may happen at the very top institutions, but still, a top 50 should not get you in any trouble to my knowledge. So I don't think either of the things you mentioned will hurt you at all.

As Fencer says, as long as your essays and letters of rec are good and you don't have any other red flags not mentioned on here, I think you can apply just about anywhere. Your list is excellently broad, as it's true that you never know what will happen with MD/PhD admissions, so great job there. As eteshoe mentions, I think you could even add a few more top-tier schools. Congratulations on all of your success, and best of luck!

 

[Neuronix]

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Ok. Did you read the sticky?

 

[billowthehusky]

Ok. Did you read the sticky?

Not sure what about this post makes you ask that. I did read the sticky, and I realize that I am a strong applicant. I know it's a somewhat arbitrary distinction, but I was looking more for advice about the range of schools (e.g. if there are some that I shouldn't apply to due to OOS, high stats, low stats, weak neuro program, possible loss of funding, etc) rather than a typical wamc. Thank you everyone who has replied so far!

 

[Neuronix]

Not sure what about this post makes you ask that. I did read the sticky, and I realize that I am a strong applicant.

As far as I can tell, my undergrad and lack of publications might hold me back.

"3) Do I need to publish to get into a program or into a top program?

NO. For the one millionth time. NO. It may help, but it is certainly not required."

"6) Does my undergrad institution, major, or course load matter?

For undergrad institution, this is a hard thing to judge. In general, if at all it doesn't matter much."

Also, in point 8 I discuss the question about "to which schools should I apply" broadly, though I will do it again later in this post.

if there are some that I shouldn't apply to due to OOS

MSTPs don't care about state of residency. Fully funded MD/PhD programs don't typically either. You shouldn't be considering outside of these.

high stats, low stats

You should already know that you have high stats. You have a chance anywhere. You still apply broadly because that's how this game works.

weak neuro program

Fencer's info is excellent, as always. Pretty much any MSTP has a strong neuro program. It's just a question of what specific area you want. You've posted a pretty broad range of interests.

possible loss of funding

We haven't heard any rumors along these lines.

I try not to provide advice about what schools you should or should not apply to. Nobody on this forum knows all of these schools very well. The last thing SDN needs to do is start skewing applicants towards or away from specific programs unless there's some objective reason.

( My thoughts on this in the past as well: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/best-md-phd-programs-for-heart-research.609192/#post-7840418 )

At some point you have to just pick somewhere on the order of a dozen to twenty places based on your limited information. This includes info gathered from websites, funding rankings/info, advice from faculty you work with now, where you want to live, etc.

 

[phonyreal98]

What area of neuroscience are you interested in? More cognitive/behavioral or more cellular/molecular?

 

[billowthehusky]

What area of neuroscience are you interested in? More cognitive/behavioral or more cellular/molecular?

Animal models of mental illness / neurological disease is my background and probably what I am most interested in. For example, just did a search of recent nature / neuron papers and picked out ones very in line with my interests:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27322420
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27279213
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27294511
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27239940
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27238864

Also thank you @Neuronix for your last post!