What is York university like?

What is it like to be a ph.d student of Neuroscience at Columbia University in New York?

• I would like to know what is like to be a ph.D student of neuroscience at Columbia university. I have heard they have a really good graduate program.

• Answer:

  The specifics will depend a lot on your research interests. A school has a good PhD program insofar as it has good labs. And Columbia does have good labs, but I don't think I could describe any experience that is common to all of them. In my estimation, they can vary quite a lot. However there are some general aspects worth discussing: There are a lot of people doing some form of neuroscience here, which means you'll have plenty of options for advisers and collaborators. We also get a lot of guest speakers coming through. I usually find there is at least one lecture a week I want to go, many times there are several. With the new Zuckerman institute there will likely be even more events, including some designed to bridge neuroscience and other disciplines (if you're into that kinda thing...). Also a variety of short conferences are hosted here and at NYU, Rockefeller, and other NYC places that Columbia students can easily get to. At present most Neuroscience is done at the medical school campus and so not much interaction with undergrads occurs, though you can TA if you want to. Also, Neuro will be moving to a new campus, closer to the undergrad campus soon anyways. In terms of the program itself, there aren't that many strict requirements. The first year has a handful of mandatory but light-weight classes and you'll do 3 rotations before picking your adviser by the start of your second year. After that there are a few more mandatory classes but most of the heavy-lifting is done in your electives and there is a decently wide-range of options for those, so you can make of them what you will. Overall I would say coursework is not as much of a focus here as I've heard it is in other programs.   The Graduate School where the program is housed offers all the standard things you'd expect: social events, newsletters, career panels, student committees, etc. But as I said, your day-to-day experience, the type of research you do, what you'll learn and how you are expected to work will vary dramatically based on what lab you're in.