alpwiz

Ah yes, I did get most of them from the rankings. My assumption all this time has been that their labs have a slightly higher possibility of being better (a very broad generalization). I do know the most important things in the end will be my lab and my PI. The thing is, I'm a little bit lost here. How do I know a certain lower-tier University has a better, reputable lab (approachable colleagues, more supportive PI, good publications)? Furthermore, not counting my SoP and Reccomendations, what part of my application would you say is the weakest? Thanks!

Hello, A brief introduction before I get into my point: I am a fresh graduate from a private University in Indonesia (used to be in national top 10 but now it's just top 30 and I believe top 5000 worldwide). I took biotechnology as my subject and I graduated with final GPA 3.8. During my 4 years as an undergrad, I managed to work as a lab assistant in several labs (microbiology, biochemistry, animal cell culture) and do a little bit of extracurricular activites in my early semesters. I did my undergrad thesis (6 months) in a US-owned medical laboratory on a type of arbovirus and also managed to do a 6-month internship in a stem cell laboratory in Singapore (still doing it, my last month). I've been thinking of applying to grad school for a long time; but it's only during my internship here I realize that I want to do a PhD in Developmental Biology. The thing is, I never attend a DevBio class because there's no such class in my faculty. All this time I've been learning by reading textbooks on my own without any exams. I've done the general GRE (V: 580, Q:800, still waiting on AW but anticipating it to be 4.5 tops), and I'm thinking of taking the subject GRE. My question is: do I have a good chance of being accepted in a good university for PhD in DevBio (with funding)? I don't have any publications. One might be coming out in a few months, but it's still uncertain and only as 3rd, 4th, or maybe 5th author. Here are several schools that I'm thinking of applying to: -Rockefeller University -University of Pennsylvania -MIT or UC Berkeley (incredibly long shot, but I'm somehow curious) -UIUC -UW Seattle -?? (still looking for more options) I'd really appreciate your advice and please do tell me if I'm thinking a bit unreasonable here. Thank you in advance!