structuralBio

luckily, I have held to the strategy that you all seem to be expressing, focusing hard on research. I have 16 credit hours of research starting from my freshman year, an REU, and a summer research experience abroad funded by a grant. My only real concerns in regard to research are that I may not have my name on a published paper, since the nature of my PIs research can take many years to from start to finish, and also that my lab research at university, while biochemistry isnt in the subfield I'm looking at (though my REU was, which is what got me interested in structural biology). Thanks for your input, that makes me feel more secure that i'm on the right track.

defffinently finish the degree man. you can tough it out for one more year. no sense in giving up half-way through.

you sound like you've sort of already made up your mind for school A and are just asking for us to reafirm your opinion. Yes A sounds like the best choice to me. Secure funding carries a HUGE weight in decion making (or will for me).

Hi, I'm a biochemistry major at Clemson (yeah i know not the best program) finishing my junior year. My total GPA will be fairly decent by the time I graduate at probably around 3.7 based on realistic expectations, but my major GPA will be what i consider fairly low by the time I graduate (based on how I've been doing so far, extending that trend out) at 3.4 for a conservative estimate and 3.6 being optimistic. I want to go to graduate school for a Ph.D. in structural biology (a sub-field of biochemistry/biophysics) and would like to a top school (yale, stanford, Johns Hopkins would be my dream). No. 1, how much consideration is given to major vs total GPA vs major GPA from junior and senior years? secondly, What counts as a core class? would for instance, general chemistry, organic chem, and calculus count, or it just classes very specific to my major? do lab classes count (since they are basically free A's)? Finally, what kind of major GPA and total GPA is considered competitive for a top school, and do I have it? Thanks much