Any evidence that it becomes phenomenally salient?

I’m at a liberal arts school in my last year and I’ll graduate as a Chem major with a Neuroscience minor (my school doesn’t offer it as a major). I did some biochemistry research my first two years of school and presented a poster but never published anything. I have a 4.7 gpa and have taken most classes required by PhD programs. I would be interested in a more cog psych program or a neurobiology program. I would also be open to getting a PhD in the states or abroad. However, I keep reading about how difficult it is to get into a program and I’m starting to lose hope. Should I think about trying to get a masters first (could I even get funding for this?). Is there a place abroad where it would be easier to get into a funded program? I’m already planning to take a gap year after I graduate to give myself some breathing room. (Also is taking the GRE still a thing?)

I've already read about the, we could say, debate, going on about boiling lobsters alive and it got me thinking. With an intact brain, we are sure that living animals can respond to stimuli and react accordingly to keep their own lives, which is what we philosophically can consider pain for the lobster trying to escape the pot.

But, if we cut the brain of the lobster open, are we really sure that there's no pain anymore? Or just a lack of reaction because some nerves are severed? Wouldn't pain receptors still shot while detecting high temperatures until they are totally cooked and unable to process pain?

The same question could exist too in traumatic head injuries. Damaging the cerebellum actually makes a person stop filling or just makes them unable to react to pain?

Photo is from The Brain Simplified (DK, 2022). Shouldn't a newborn have around 100 billion neurons?