Bioenchilada

In programs where you have to rotate, only having three could be a problem. Rotations are not always very straightforward to set up and professors might have their reasons to not let anyone rotate in a given year. You have to consider that if you choose a high-profile professor, odds are there will be competition. Interviewing also gets more complicated with only a short list of people because the probability that you'll talk with people you have zero familiarity with their researcbh skyrockets. Having gone through the process myself, I don't think three is enough. At most, it is the BARE minimum, but you should aim for more to be safe. Also, I think 5 is risky if the list is full of top schools. If the OP has the money and time to write good SOPs, they should go ahead and apply. Anything above 8 is probably too much, though you could always call and check what the interview dates are, or look it up online, sometimes it's publicly available.

Though your GPA and GRE math are a little bit on the low side, I think that your research experience speaks to your skills as a scientist and am confident that as long as your LOR writers can further vouch for this, you will be more than fine. You also have a pretty good mix of schools, so I'm confident that if you write a good SOP, you'll get a couple of interviews

I would not apply to more than 8 schools, it is very likely that you'll have a conflict when it comes down to interview. Also, your list seems very top-heavy. Make sure you are applying because there are at LEAST 5 faculty members that you would work with and because you are legitimately interested in the program and/or school. It is really easy to fish out when someone is just applying for the prestige, and it becomes more difficult to write a good SOP if that's the main reason. Who is the other person writing you a letter? PS. Alumni status does not really mean much from what I've seen. From personal experience, I had a letter from a Harvard alumnus and PI, and still got rejected.

I think that as long as you don't make it sound like you're going to grad school to do a technique, you should be fine. Remember, at the end of the day, NMR is still just a means to answer a question.

I don't you necessarily need to have experience in the actual field to get into a program as long as you can effectively connect your experiences to the field and explain why it makes sense for you to switch fields in your SOP. For example, I never did cancer biology research per se but I explained how each of my experiences helped me grow professionally and put me on track to want to study molecular mechanisms in the context of cancer. I don't know much about the general biology program here, but it's still probably competitive. If you are unsure about your competitiveness in a field specific program, try applying to umbrella programs.

Why do you have like 6 letters? I don't think you should have more than 3. After all, you want to get straight to the point as quickly as possible instead of having to convince the PI that you're a good candidate with all this extra information.

Drop the last person. You already have your current PI giving you a rec letter, no need to get another from the same lab. She'll also probably communicate with your PI about your abilities/personalty if help is needed when witing the letter. Also, adding more than 3 letters seldom helps, don't make the adcom read more than they have to in order to make a decision about an interview/offer.

Just posting this as a piece of advice for current applicants. In MY experience, the absence of publications will absolutely NOT have an impact on whether or not you get into a particular school. Don't think you're at a disadvantage if you don't have any because, in reality, most of your peers wont. Sure, it'll look cool and it'll show that you were heavily involved with a project, but it is not common for undergrads to have any meaningful authorship credits. I know plenty of people in top programs that did not have publications at the time of application. Just my two cents.

Did you only work in one lab? Who is writing your rec letters? I think that if those are strong, you chances are pretty good granted that you write a non-generic, strong SOP for the schools you apply to. I would make sure that your interests actually align with the research being conducted rather than basing it off of recognition. I would not apply if there are not more than 5 people you would be happy to work with. I would also not apply to more than 7 schools, interview logistics are likely to become complicated---and declining an interview is equivalent to wasting your money/canceling your app.

Is there a specific reason why the dream is NYC?

A school official will probably not tell you that you should not apply if your GRE is too low. I think Cornell's advice is very useful as a guideline though: "Admissions Committees generally look for a combined Verbal and Quantitative score of 308. If your scores are slightly lower, don’t panic; you still may be considered for admission based on strengths in other areas of your application" They also state that a 50th percentile should be the bare minimum for each part. What resources have you used to study? Have you taken a GRE prep course in the past?

I agree with @whybanana. Though your research experience is pretty decent, I would expand the list of schools you are applying to. As an international student, the competition might be more intense and your GPA will not go unnoticed--even though there are no actual minimums.

Would it be possible to take a subject test? That might alleviate the impact of your lower scores. I think you have a LOT of research experience and a good GPA, but I don't know the impact a GRE that low could have on your chances. Have you checked the websites to ensure that they don't have minimums? Not a lot of schools do, but it's always good to be safe.

Not really.

I would apply to some schools now to see how it goes, just make sure you write a solid and convincing SOP.

You should not mention being accepted into a program you did not attend. I think you will be fine when it comes to research experience and your numbers. Your PIs don't need to come from top schools for you to go to one, so don't worry about that. Finally, your experience does not necessarily have to be related to the kind of program you end up going to. For example, I did not do cancer research and ended up in a cancer bio program.

Do you have any schools in mind? A starting point would help people guide you in the right direction. Mentioning the research you'd like to do would also help.

I think you have a pretty diverse list of potential schools. Your stats, though your GPA is not that great, are pretty strong since you have a lot of experience, have publications, and will (hopefully) get really good letters from the PIs you have worked with. I would be surprised if you didn't get a couple of offers; however, I must warn you that Neurobiology programs, as opposed to umbrella programs, tend to be smaller and more competitive, so I would keep that in mind.

Your GRE scores will be fine, even for Harvard. Standardized tests are much less important than pretty much anything in your app, don't worry.

For Penn and UCSF the GPA average is greater than ~3.8 (especially for the Neurobiology Graduate Group at Penn) , but I think you're pretty close to the average to say that it won't hurt you. Doing well on the GRE (80%+ on the V and Q) will keep attention away from your numbers, scores can only break a deal not make it. You have a lot of research experience within the lab that you worked at, so make sure you're able to coherently and concisely explain your projects in a manner that connects to your growth as a scientist or your greater career or research interests in your SOP-- this is probably the second most important part of your app after LORs. Speaking of those, try to ask people that know you well as a person and can attest to your potential as a researcher, preferably people you have worked with. Do you think a prof that will only know you for ~3 months before writing you a letter will do you justice? How much time will you be putting into lab? Also, in terms of schools, I would probs apply to 4 more programs. Maybe two top and two safe/mid-tier schools?? That should balance things out. But, remember, only choose schools that you would be fully satisfied going to. A lack of interest will show in your SOP and you interview, and you don't want to be stuck somewhere you don't like for 5+ years.

How low are you talking and what schools are you aiming for?

In my experience, schools don't really look at your senior year grades much, if at all.

I think that in terms of marketability, the differences are marginal at best. Go where you fit in best.

Why are you ruling out programs that are within medical schools?

Slayyyy