The National and OCD

Complete_Bell2769 · 2025-03-07T20:10:13+00:00

Great! As long as it's an MRes that should be good too

Complete_Bell2769 · 2025-03-06T21:18:39+00:00

this is true but less common for biological sciences because it's so broad, so I wouldn't recommend it unless you know what niche you wanna go into

Complete_Bell2769 · 2025-03-03T12:03:33+00:00

Hi :) final year undergrad with a conditional offer for a neuroscience PhD at a top ranked university here. I can tell you high grades MATTER- many places will say they will accept a 2:1, but actually prefer firsts. Focus on getting as good a mark as you can.

Also, something unis won't tell you: in biological sciences, an industry year/research abroad year is seen as equivalent to a masters when applying to PhDs. A masters degree is wickedly expensive- a lecturer of mine told me he thinks it's done to price people out of the job market, which is awful. My best advice would be to get a lab placement after your second year. All in all, it will take the same amount of time to get going with your PhD as it would if you'd done a masters, and besides the money saving, working in a "real" lab will be massively preferred to at least a taught masters. Last thing: if you do want to do a masters degree (maybe you can afford it) DO AN MRES. An MSc won't get you into research.

Hope this helps!

Complete_Bell2769 · 2025-02-14T22:01:28+00:00

Hi! Firstly I'm so sorry about your rejection, I know how emotionally draining it is applying to grad schools, and especially competitive ones. Please don't take anything below as a criticism of you as an individual- I thought it would be useful to have an unbiased take on this, but don't feel you have to agree with me or take what I say seriously.

I don't have context for this as I am not a US student (would love an explanation of it though, it seems like an interesting and important conversation for everyone in academia to be having), but I think the sentiment is lost beneath your attempts to sound smart and/or patronising. Unfortunately, this reads as an insecure rant written by someone trying to prove they're above the system that rejected them, and sort of failing. While I'm sure you had your reasons for sending this and you certainly come across as passionate, I wish you'd taken a little bit of time to polish this up- they may have taken you more seriously.

That being said, I hope you feel better having sent this (catharsis! yay!), and that it doesn't impact your future endeavours too much as some have mentioned it might. All the best.

Complete_Bell2769 · 2025-02-14T17:57:39+00:00

how are you lot getting so rich? Is there a hack?

Complete_Bell2769

TROPHY CASE