I am currently a junior, have 1.5 years left at UW-Madison. I am thinking of applying to grad school for neuroscience, thinking of computational, systems, maybe cognitive. I am also interested in brain imaging. I am wondering about opinions on what my chances are of getting into programs, and if anyone was in a similar position as me, or has any advice.

 

My majors are psychology, neurobiology, and I am hoping to get a certificate(minor) in computer science. My GPA is 3.85, conservatively, it might go down when I take all the CS courses, but maybe not.

 

I've worked in 3 labs in the last 2 years, only one of them neurobiology. My current lab has nothing to do with neuroscience, but I do work with modeling software (no programming), and if I'm smart enough, maybe will get a paper or two published before graduation.

 

My math background is quite minimal though. I've taken first calc, stats, calc based physics, and will take discrete math, second calc, and 5 more comp-sci courses before graduation, which is still pretty minimal for computational programs it seems.

 

So what are my opinions? Should I take an extra year to take more math/comp sci courses? Do I have any chances of getting into programs with only what I described? Should I find a neuro lab instead, take a year off? I'm especially interested in computational neuro, since I have a feeling that it could help transitioning into industry if the whole PhD thing doesn't work out. Anyone know if that is a correct assumption?

 

Thank You for any feedback!

I have two suggestions for you:

 

Graduate School of Neural & Behavioural Sciences | International Max Planck Research School

Graduate School of Neural Information Processing

 

This two master programs from the University of Tuebingen could fit your interest. They are taught in English and offer some scholarships for international master students. The application deadline to start in Sept 2012 is already on January 15. For detailed information just follow this link: http://www.neuroschool-tuebingen.de/

 

Best wishes for your future career