bioconfused

Good to see other people interested in SynBio. 
Here is a somewhat outdated list of synthetic biologists in the US: http://syntheticbiology.org/Labs.html I think only Rice has a graduate program that specifically mentions synthetic biology in the program name For other schools, professors working on synthetic biology are in bioengineering, biomedical science, chemical engineering departments. Usually, synbio professors represent multiple departments.  As FLAGtagSwag has mentioned, if you are interested definitely think about applying to UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco. I think Boston University has good reputation in synthetic biology (but James Collins left BU to MIT, so this might change)     
 

Lol, I'm sorry it came off that way. Meh. Yeah, some top schools do have grade inflation, but, the 25th percentile of students at schools like H.Y.P. are, statistically speaking, going to be at least the 75th percentile at most larger state schools. I'm not saying they're better future scientists, but merely that they're better at studying for and getting the grades that go into the GPA, and that a student at one of these schools with a 25th percentile GPA would have a 75th percentile GPA at a large state school. We simply know this from the SAT and high school GPA statistics of attendees to both types of schools.
This might even things out if like, Harvard has huge grade inflation and the average GPA is like a 3.6 and the ranked 50 school has an average GPA of 3.0, but that's not nearly always true. Seems like a shame that at a large extent, committees don't really consider the huge influence of context on GPA, and honestly, I feel like it's a topic that nobody ever addresses because they're afraid of seeming elitist. I'm not disparaging anybody or any schools (I reccommend to younger sibilings of friends to aim for a large state school with some top profs in whatever they're interested in), just saying that there's basic statistics which, officially speaking, admissions committees don't really take into account, pushing a lot of good people out of science. I know more people who simply aren't applying because of similar situations.

Hi everyone,
I worry a lot because my app is very different from most people's on here. I have multiple first author publications / other publications and perfect GREs. I'm also a domestic biochem major at small top 10 US university (~top 5 bio program) where there is significant grade deflation and competition. Because of this, my GPA is a 3.3, and in freshman year I failed a big intro science course and had to retake it. (So that F doesn't even factor into the GPA)
I often hear and/or see that a lot of graduate schools are "blind" to your institution's prestige. To be honest, it frustrates me to see how almost every other applicant has a 3.9 from a "big state school". I wish I had gone to a school where the average SAT score was like only 2000 or something and the students aren't as good at jumping through the academic hoops as they are at elite school, and just, statistically speaking, it would be a lot easier to get A's. (No offence to you guys, you did the smart thing) I feel as though going to an elite undergrad institution screws you over in science and ends up counting for nothing in graduate admissions. Is there any hope for me?