Navigating the UCLA Neuroscience PhD Program: A Comprehensive Guide
The Interdepartmental PhD Program in Neuroscience (NSIDP) at UCLA, one of eighteen Graduate Programs in Biosciences, offers a dynamic and collaborative environment for aspiring neuroscientists. Neuroscience research at UCLA transcends departmental boundaries, fostering collaborations across the School of Medicine, the College, and the School of Engineering. This guide provides a detailed overview of the program's requirements, application process, curriculum, and unique opportunities.
Applying to the NSIDP: A Step-by-Step Approach
The application process for the UCLA Neuroscience PhD program is comprehensive, requiring careful attention to detail. Here's a breakdown of the key steps:
Home Area Selection: Graduate Programs in Bioscience are organized into Home Areas, which represent shared research interests. These Home Areas serve as the primary units for application review, admission, and training.
Online Application: The application is submitted online and requires detailed information about your academic background, including Bachelor’s and other degrees.
Transcripts:
Read also: Navigating the UCLA Neuroscience Major
- Scanned or digitized copies of your transcript(s) should be uploaded to the online application.
- Official transcript(s) must also be sent from your university’s Registrar to the address of the Home Area that is reviewing your application. Some Home Areas require both official and unofficial transcripts before the December 1st deadline. Please view below to see if your Home Area requires official transcripts upon application or upon admission. 611 Charles E. 611 Charles E. 611 Charles E. 611 Charles E. 695 Charles E. 611 Charles E. 611 Charles E. 612 Charles E. 695 Charles E.
Test Scores: When taking standardized tests, ensure that your name and identifying information (date of birth, SSN) match the information provided in the UCLA Application for Graduate Admission exactly. The institution code for UCLA is 4837.
English Language Proficiency: Admitted applicants who haven't met UCLA’s English language requirement must take the UCLA English as a Second Language Placement Examination (ESLPE) upon arrival. Depending on the results, you may be required to complete English as a Second Language courses.
Statement of Purpose: This is a crucial component of your application. Your Statement of Purpose should be about 2 pages, single spaced (1000 words) describing your motivation for graduate training, academic preparation, research experience, career goals, and other important experiences that have shaped your academic career and prepared you for graduate school. You should describe your research interests in the context of the Home Area to which you are applying and other Home Areas relevant to your interests. The Statement of Purpose is an important way for you to convince members of the admissions committee that you are qualified and likely to succeed in a Ph.D. program. What is your purpose in applying for graduate study in your specified degree program? What experiences have prepared you for advanced study or research in this degree program? What relevant skills have you gained from these experiences? What additional information about your past experience may aid the selection committee in evaluating your preparation and aptitude for graduate study at UCLA? Why is the UCLA graduate program to which you are applying is the best place for you to pursue your academic goals?
Personal Statement: This 500 word (1-page, single spaced) statement is separate from the Statement of Purpose and serves to provide additional information about your background, accomplishments and life experience. You will be asked to describe how your background, accomplishments, and life experiences led to your decision to pursue the graduate degree in the Home Area for which you are applying. Include any educational, personal, cultural, economic, or social experiences, challenges or opportunities relevant to your academic journey. In addition, please describe any aspects of your personal background, accomplishments, or achievements that will allow the department to evaluate your contributions to the University’s diversity mission. Are there educational, personal, cultural, economic, or social experiences, not described in your Statement of Purpose, that have shaped your academic journey? If so, how? Describe challenge(s) or barriers that you have faced in your pursuit of higher education. What motivated you to persist, and how did you overcome them? If you would like to provide additional information related to the experiences and challenges you have encountered in your pathway to graduate school you can type an essay up to 500 words in length. The admissions committee is particularly interested in those experiences that offer insights into your resilience, passion for research, and commitment to a career in science.
Letters of Recommendation: Three letters of recommendation must be submitted through the online application by the application deadline. The system will contact recommenders with instructions for uploading letters. Discuss your request with each recommender beforehand.
Read also: Neuroscience Advancements at UCLA
Supplemental Documentation: Do not upload additional supplemental documentation, such as publications, awards, and certificates.
Home Area Interests: If you have a strong interest in a Home Area other than the one to which you are applying, you have the option of entering it here. It is not necessary to enter a secondary Home Area. You should only do so if your graduate research interests are broader than the Home Area you are applying to. This information will be used to better understand your background and interests. It does not imply or guarantee a secondary review of your application.
Application Fee: The application fee is $135.00 for U.S. citizens and Permanent Residents and $155.00 for all other applicants. Fee waivers are granted for students who participated in certain scholastic and research programs or who demonstrate financial need.
Funding and Fellowships
UCLA offers various funding opportunities to support graduate students. The Graduate Division provides a number of special fellowships listed on the fellowship application screens of the online application.
- Eugene V. Cota-Robles Fellowship: This fellowship aims to support students who may face difficulties in pursuing graduate study. U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and undocumented students who qualify for nonresident supplemental tuition exemptions under AB 540 and who are interested in a career in college or university teaching and research are eligible to apply. To apply, select the fellowship in the online application and complete supplemental application for diversity fellowships, including submission of a diversity statement.
The NSIDP Curriculum: Building a Foundation for Neuroscience Research
The NSIDP curriculum is designed to provide students with a strong foundation for specialization in any area of neuroscience. All students are expected to gain familiarity with different levels of analysis, from molecular to behavioral. The program emphasizes the development of critical skills necessary to identify experimental questions, acquire the tools to address them, and effectively communicate findings. Rather than vocational training, the NSIDP aims to equip students with the intellectual skills to identify, frame, and solve problems.
Read also: Neuroscience Research Overview
Key components of the curriculum include:
Core Courses: During the first year, students take a sequence of core courses, three literature-based seminars, and perform lab rotations. MSTP students are not required to complete the entire core curriculum since they already completed extensive course training during medical school.
Laboratory Rotations: Each student completes two quarter-long rotations before committing to a lab (three rotations are strongly encouraged for most). During the rotations you can find out whether the ‘style’ of the lab suits your preferences. To set up a rotation, you should familiarize yourself with pertinent publications from the labs you are interested in. You might also want to consider getting in touch with people who have left the lab to get a less biased outside opinion. While the process of choosing a lab can sometimes be long, 100% of studentsin the NSIDP will find a lab to complete their dissertation in. Given the vast number of faculty in the program in proportion to the number of students, each student will be able to find a lab where they are happy.
Advanced Elective Courses and Biostatistics: Students complete at least 8 units of advanced elective courses relevant to their specialization area in neuroscience, along with graduate biostatistics and ethics courses from a pre-approved list. Of note, one of the biostatistics course prefered by students is based on bootstrap statistics, involving a practical introduction to coding.
Computational Competence: The NSIDP strongly suggests that students strive to obtain computational competences independent of the field of study. Being able to analyse and interpret data using computational methods is a crucial part of being a scientist. We note that computational competance can be mastered at many levels . As part of the first week of orientation, all students will be introduced to the basics of coding through a tutorial given by the "Insitute for Quantitative and Computational Biology." The same resource provides many courses in coding in different languages and also offers collaborative help for projects through the 'Collaboratory.' A new course "Introduction to Signal Processing for Neuroscientists" will be offered by the NSIDP as an elective for the first time this year by NSIDP faculty Drs. Masmanidis and Suthana. NSIDP faculty Dr. Kao offers advanced courses such as "Neural Networks & Deep Learning." NSIDP Faculty Dr. Mehta offers "Neurophysics of the Brain and Mind problem". For students who need refreshers in linear algebra or matrices, we recommend many of the highly acclaimed courses offered at the undergraduate level.
Dissertation Research: The most important component is hands-on experience in neuroscience research, culminating in the Ph.D. Dissertation.
Individual Development Plan: All students are strongly urged to actively plan their career and to make sure that they are obtaining the necessary training to succeed. For this we require that students maintain an active Individual Development Plan.
Qualifying Examinations and Dissertation Defense
The NSIDP has two qualifying exams that each student must pass to continue in the program.
Written Qualifying Examination: The Written Qualifying Examination is completed at the beginning of the second year and students then focus mainly on laboratory work.
Oral Qualifying Examination (OQE): The Oral Qualifying Examination (OQE) is taken no later than the end of the third year. This tests their ability to present and defend a research proposal. The OQE serves as unwritten agreement between students and their thesis committee on what constitutes a successful thesis. Students must meet at least yearly with their thesis committee.
Final Oral Examination: Students defend the completed dissertation in the Final Oral Examination, which consists of a student presentation (open to the general public) followed by an examination of the candidate by the thesis committee.
Collaborative Environment and Extracurricular Opportunities
UCLA fosters a collaborative environment where interactions extend beyond the NSIDP. Collaborations with groups in the humanities, cancer biology, and structural biology are common, and partnerships exist with laboratories across the US and the globe.
UCLA is home to 17 additional graduate programs in Biosciences. Laboratories associated with these programs frequently have students from more than one program. Furthermore, many laboratories at UCLA are formally collaborating with many other labs at UCLA. Contacts with e.g. humanities or law are a bit looser but interactions and collaborations also exist with them. Through initiatives such as the Business of Science Center, opportunities in business and entrepreneurship are readily available, including networking for post-graduate careers in industry.
- Teaching Experience: Each student is required to TA at least one quarter. Some students will TA more than one quarter, due to interest in teaching experience or for funding reasons.
Life as a Neuroscience Graduate Student at UCLA
Housing: Usually, a few of our students each year will opt to live in graduate housing (Weyburn Terrace), which is a short walk from the neuroscience buildings on campus. Other students live in Westwood, West LA, Brentwood, Santa Monica, Culver City or West Hollywood.
Transportation: Yes, the majority of students in the NSIDP have a car. It is feasible to live in Westwood Village without a car since the campus is in walking distance, as are supermarkets, restaurants, and shopping. However, most of the students live relatively spread out from one another in LA, and so most will end up getting a car by their second year. Public transportation in LA is better than its reputation and rapidly expanding.
Career Paths for NSIDP Graduates
Many of our graduates go onto obtain post-doctoral fellowships in academia, others go on to pursue careers in consulting, public policy, law, entrepreneurship etc both in the private sector and in government. The program does not require, but strongly encourages, all students to make their own career planning an active part of their life.
Important Note
The UCLA General Catalog is published annually in PDF and HTML formats. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of the information presented in the UCLA General Catalog. However, all courses, course descriptions, instructor designations, curricular degree requirements, and fees described herein are subject to change or deletion without notice. Consult this Catalog for the most current, officially approved courses and curricula. Other information about UCLA may be found in materials produced by the schools of Arts and Architecture; Dentistry; Education and Information Studies; Engineering and Applied Science; Law; Management; Medicine; Music; Nursing; Public Affairs; Public Health; and Theater, Film, and Television.
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