In hope of pursuing Computational Neuroscience as a PhD...
I'm currently a 3rd year undergraduate student studying Data Science with interdisciplinary minors in Business and Humanities. I want to pursue a PhD right after I graduate from undergrad, specifically in Computational Neuroscience. I would really appreciate how viable this track would be for me, given my current focus in academia as an undergrad student. My background is largely Data Science, as mentioned, and I'm currently involved in a project pertaining to Digital Humanities. I am actively on the lookout for research projects that relate to Computational Neuroscience. I'm very interested in this sector of research because of how interdisciplinary it is, and I would love to further immerse myself in simulating neural networks and experimenting with the workings of the brain.
My main worry as of now is that my academic background doesn't have a heavy biology emphasis. I've only taken a limited amount of Behavioral Neuroscience courses, and they were rather surface-level. I was thinking of doing another minor in Biology, but that would delay my graduation time.
To those who are already in Computational Neuroscience or are involved in something of an adjacent, I would really appreciate it if you could answer some of my questions:
- How hefty of a portfolio do you need to have in order to get accepted into a Computational Neuroscience PhD program? What kind of requirements do I need to fulfill?
- Which schools within California are best suited to pursuing Computational Neuroscience as a PhD? (I'm familiar with UCI's cognitive science program, but I would like to stack more schools on my list to ensure I'm not putting all eggs in one basket))
- What should I start doing now in order to increase my chances of getting into this PhD track?
- Would mentorship/additional research projects buff my chances, given that my academic background doesn't have much of a biology focus?
I would appreciate your insight!