So I talked to some of the directors, and they thought I would make a great graduate student but I was rejected because they thought I wasn't very enthusiastic about my research and/or the program. The director said I just seemed shy, so maybe that didn't come out so well to the other people who met me briefly. So it seems that they thought my entire paper application was great and that I would be a good student, just not at their respective programs due to lack of interest in them.
So it seems like a pretty easy thing to improve...
(At Mayo I fell asleep during the lunch lecture they gave...so I think that killed my chances. I did not realize how exhausting traveling and interviews were going to be. Tried so hard to stay awake too.)
My mentor is actually on sabatical right now, so I didn't have that much time to get some insight for the entire application process before he left. I had a few people look at my SOP, and I also felt that it was pretty solid. I honestly don't know what I'd do to improve that unless the ones that didn't offer me interviews reply.
I was also reassured by those that wrote my LOR that they wrote really great ones for me.
I've worked in the same lab since my sophomore year, so I thought that was pretty solid research experience. I've also done a SURF. Both were in x-ray crystallography for proteins which means papers don't come out that often. Especially since my research is purely structure right now. The director at one said my research was too narrow? Which confuses me since I would expect that for someone that had been in one lab for awhile.
What I was thinking was applying to masters where I would be interested in continuing to the Ph.D and trying to find some programs that have aid and/or scholarships.