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dbo259

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About dbo259

  • Birthday 02/05/1994

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  • Gender
    Male
  • Location
    United States
  • Application Season
    2015 Fall
  • Program
    Forensic Science (Toxicology)

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  1. I will definitely look into that themmases. Thank you. I guess I'm just kind of bothered by the fact that the sheer importance of a high GPA is so looked upon nowadays that really nothing else doesn't or couldn't seem to matter as much, or bare as much weight. I think sometimes people forget to realize that GPA is just a number. My friend once told me that GPA is more or less a measure of how one regurgitates information back out accurately. You could still theoretically have a high GPA but never really retain anything that you've learned. Likewise, it seems like parents, friends, professors or admissions boards never take into account the many different variables of how grades might be affected otherwise, and when trying to explain why to someone, you just come off as another student making excuses, trying to rationalize why you couldn't obtain better grades. There is an infinite number of reasons. Family deaths, relationship problems, financial distress, mental health problems, professor accents, professors' methodology, exam format, etc. We've all been there. Why do you think such a great importance is put on GPA the way it is? For example, my Calc III class was downright horrible. The math department, the semester before I took the class, reassigned 3 of the best Calc III professors for whatever reason and replaced them with 2 new ones. One was a 23 year old with a phD from UChicago. and the other was a visiting Professor from Germany. I had the latter. I heard both were awful for their own particular reasons. With my case, my professor had fairly thick german accent, which was hard to understand. He held office hours once a week for one hour at a time when I had another class. Also, instead of using the 5 blackboard behind him to teach, and render examples for, he used Microsoft Powerpoint slides copied directly from the book. He said for us not to take any notes because the slides were in the book. And the only things we ever did right down were examples he put up in class. And Calc III is NOT an easy class for most people, especially with a professor like mine. He also made all of his exams multiple choice, which in math courses is about the worst thing they could do for their students because the exam does not warrant any partial credit. You could be doing a triple integral in spherical coordinates, make one mistake and you've got yourself 0 points for that problem. Horrible. My final exam was a 50Q M.C. nightmare. I had a hard time coping with Stokes' and Divergence Theorem, as well as Change of Variables. Needless to say I didn't do so well on my final. And that is why I ended up with the grade I did, and not solely because I didn't put the time and effort into it like many people would assume. Sorry to have gone on the long rant there, I just wanted to give an example. Also themmases, the last part about what you said. I would, but I doubt our school would have much of a record of any Chemistry/Biology/Anthropology students going off to any of the 30 or so F.S. schools like I've mentioned, but I guess it never hurts to check huh? It would just be a very small number of people I would assume, since their average class size is about 20-30/year. I think it would be most beneficial for me to pursue a gap year. I could also use that time to make a few extra bucks on the side, to save up for those first year expenses too. Thanks again.
  2. Thanks for the advice guys. I've never thought about taking a gap year up until now. It really does seem like a great idea. If I can get everything in order by then, I'll have 2 solid years (plus summers) of research experience, fairly solid relationships with my professors, and I know for a fact my GPA will be much higher than it is now. I would love to spend a summer interning at a forensics lab for a criminal justice department during that period as well. Sorry for not saying so earlier, but this will be my first year of research. My PI emailed me not too long ago and said he'd love to have me on the team. I was shocked to be honest given my grades, I guessed I must've wowed him with the interview. So I really happy about that. I'll also be tutoring in the Spring semester and throughout the summer, and hopefully by my senior year I'll be a full fledged TA for the introductory chemistry courses. Hopefully all goes well! As for my classes, I'll be in my school's only Forensic Science class, Physics: Mechanics, Intro. Biochemistry, and Statistics. So not the worst by any means, I would save that for last semester when I took Calc III, Organic Chemistry II, 4th level Spanish class, and I was also pledging the Chemistry Fraternity too. That was one rough semester, but I did get through it somehow. I think I'll do very well this semester. No lower than a 3.5 for sure.
  3. Hey guys, Just wanting to get your opinion on something. So my current situation is not so good. I'm an up and coming junior this year and I've definitely been looking forward towards graduate school. My interest is in forensic science, specifically in chemistry/toxicology. Statistical speaking, I don't think I'll be strong enough to apply to graduate school by the fall of my senior year. I have an overall GPA of 3.18, and my major GPA is around 2.8. During my Freshman/Sophomore years, Calculus killed me. I got 2 C's in Calc I and II, and a C- in Calc III. I have done well in my Chemistry classes though with only 1 C in Organic Chemistry II. This is what brought my major GPA down so much. I am nervous about trying to get everything else this year accomplished with LoR/S.O.P/GRE/Research/Extracurriculars/GPA. It just seems like too much at once to me and I'd feel like I'd be rushing myself if I did. I don't think my overall GPA will increase much within the year, probably up to a 3.3 or so. If I wait to apply until after my senior year, that'll give me more time to develop my skills within research, develop my relationships with my professors more, give me more time study adequately for the GRE, and give me more time to increase my GPA (especially my major) as needed. I just didn't know how common this was. So I'd like to know if I should try to go for it this year, or wait to apply the fall after my senior year. As far as graduate schools for forensic science go, they are all master's programs and there is only about 30 or so that are accredited by the FEPAC, which is absolutely necessary for a forensic science program to have. Most reqs include, min GPA of 3.0, but ask for around 3.2-3.5, GRE with a score of about 1000-1100, 2-3 LoR, a S.O.P, and to have app. turned in by the deadline (which is around Jan 15th-March 1st. for the schools that I want to go to). What do you think? Comments, concerns, questions, advice? Thanks.
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