GingSci

Apologies for the re-post but I never received any feedback! Undergrad Institution: Large State School (Research Institution). Major(s): Biochemistry Minor(s): Peace Studies GPA in Major: 3.13 Overall GPA: 3.12 Position in Class: Average Type of Student: Domestic Female; First Generation College Student GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 162 V: 158 W: 5 Research Experience: 3 (will be 4) Full years at home institute: 1 year in a Freshman Research In plant sciences program. 1 year without a program. 1 summer training visiting undergrads. 1 year as a McNair Scholar. And participating in a HHMI Fellowship for my senior year. I have been working in the same lab for all of those programs and I have a project that I have presented on multiple times. 1 Summer at a large state School in a summer research opportunities program at a CIC school. Personally designed and executed the research proposal. Being used for rotation students in the lab I was working with currently. Recognition/ Presentations : Paper "published" in our Regional McNair Journal. 3 poster presentations and 1 oral presentation at my home university. 1 poster presentation at the State Capitol 1 oral presentation at the MKN Regional Conference-McNair 1 poster presentation and 1 oral presentation at the Mid-SURE conference in Michigan (Undergraduate specific) 1 poster presentation at the American Society of Plant Biologists Annual Meeting At least one more poster presentation next year. 1 Travel Grant to Attend a Wheat summit in Mexico 2 Travel Grants to attend the ASPB Meeting Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Summer intern/ Educator at a Nature Center Responsible for training new undergraduates in the lab every year. Special Bonus Points: Connections at 3 schools of interest. 3 VERY strong letters of recommendation and 1 good. All from faculty. 2 from faculty I have conducted research under. BIGGEST CONCERN: My GPA. Applying to Where: Penn State: Plant Biology and BMMB University of Missouri- Biochemistry UC Davis- PBGG Michigan State University- BMS and Pant Biology Cornell- Pant Biology UC Riverside- Botany and Plant Sciences Oregon State- Botany ad Plant Pathology UMass Amherst- Plant Biology

Undergrad Institution: Large State School (Research Institution). Major(s): Biochemistry Minor(s): Peace Studies GPA in Major: 3.13 Overall GPA: 3.12 Position in Class: Average Type of Student: Domestic Female; First Generation College Student GRE Scores (revised/old version): Q: 165 V: 160 W: 6 Research Experience: 3 (will be 4) Full years at home institute: 1 year in a Freshman Research In plant sciences program. 1 year without a program. 1 summer training visiting undergrads. 1 year as a McNair Scholar. And (hopefully) will participate in a HHMI Fellowship for my senior year. I have been working in the same lab for all of those programs and I have a project that I have presented on multiple times. 1 Summer at a large state School in a summer research opportunities program at a CIC school. Recognition/ Presentations : Paper "published" in our Regional McNair Journal. 2 poster presentations and 1 oral presentation at my home university. 1 poster presentation and 1 oral presentation at the Mid-SURE conference in Michigan (Undergraduate specific) 1 poster presentation at the American Society of Plant Biologists Annual Meeting At least one more poster presentation next year. 1 Travel Grant to Attend a Wheat summit in Mexico 2 Travel Grants to attend the ASPB Meeting Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Summer intern/ Educator at a Nature Center Special Bonus Points: Connections at 3 schools of interest. 2 VERY strong letters of recommendation and 1 good. All from faculty. 2 from faculty I have conducted research under. Applying to Where: Penn State: Plant Biology and BMMB University of Missouri- Biochemistry UC Davis- PBGG Michigan State University- BMS and Pant Biology Cornell- Genetics, Genomics and Development UC Riverside- Botany and Plant Sciences

Thanks all for the replies. I have created my finalized list (after reviewing specific faculty members of interest) and it is as follows: University of Maryland- College Park, Penn State, Duke, Michigan State (I have a summer research program here this summer funded by the NSF) University of Michigan, University of Missouri, Colorado Boulder, University of New Hampshire, and UC Davis. I'm excited and terrified for my grad school application season to be closely approaching. thank ypu all for previous advice and if you have any additional input regarding the schools that I listed please share!

Thank you! And @Vene:I have briefly spoken to him but I sort of want a bit of a better idea of what to expect before entering that conversation. And one of those is my undergrad institution but I will not apply to the REU site.

Hello all, I am currently a Junior undergraduate student studying biochemistry at a large state university. Similar to others, I am beginning to freak out a little about graduate school applications. It's not necessarily that I'm worried that NO school will accept but I am mostly wanting to research schools that are within my reach to find a good fit. So I'll provide some information. GPA (both): 3.2. With an upward trend for the most part. No failed courses. GRE: I took a proctored practice exam and ended up with Q: 167 V:150. I plan on studying to increase my V score as well as take the biochem subject test. Research: at time of application, I will have 7 semesters, one summer and one REU. The 7 semester and the summer have been in the same lab. In this lab, I started in a University program and then stayed. Additionally, I am currently a McNair scholar. During my time, I have trained 4 other undergraduates as well as performed individual research and I am in the process of paper writing and my mentor has plans to submit with me as first author. I will also have 4 poster presentations, including two at National conferences. LORs: 1 strong letter from mentor mentioned above. 1 strong from teaching professor in biochem. 1 strong from a post doc in the lab that I have been working. Relevant experience: Summer internship doing science education. Travel grant to the Borlaug 100 Summit on Wheat for food security focusing on science communication and agriculture. Research interests: as of now I have a string interest in plant research and my previous research has been on a set of knocked down genes in arabidopsis. I'm still exploring a number of options to see what is out there. The schools that I am currently interested in are Brandeis, Penn State, University of Washington, University of Missouri, U of Colorado Boulder, Vanderbilt, Colorado state univ, and Washington state university. I am financially disadvantaged and plan on applying to 5 schools. I am hoping for some input as to what tier of schools are within a reasonable level for me as an applicant so I am not wasting money on all reach schools and preferably just one. Thank you!