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coolpopat

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  • Location
    Singapore
  • Application Season
    2017 Spring
  • Program
    Biology, life sciences

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  1. Hi! New to this forum but I'm glad to have read some encouraging stories in this thread. Having performed poorly in my undergraduate studies, I'd like to get some advice. I graduated in 2012 with a 2nd class lower honors (in Singapore) in biological sciences. My GPA is 3.64 out of 5, or roughly 2.9 out of 4. Not a good result for sure. I was burned out from junior college (aka high school) and lost my motivation to study. Coupled with the fact that I was never one for route memorization and test taking. I took many research internships BEFORE entering university, but none during my undergraduate days. You could say that I wasted my four years in University away... Almost. I did score an A- in my honors thesis, and my work was presented by the post-doc I worked for at a conference (he presented it, I was not there but my name is on the conference proceedings), though I'm not sure how much that counts. I was broadly interested in life sciences, and since my results won't get me into local PhD programs, I decided to find work instead. I've been a research assistant at my current workplace for the 3rd year, and am now thinking about my next step. I've seen many people come away with stellar results after 3 years of work - tons of papers, first author papers even... Not so for me. I'm not even working in a place in my field (life sciences). This place has a lot of focus on engineering.... (My results couldn't get me a more relevant position then.) I did manage to get myself working in some microbiology, and if all goes well I would have a second authorship on a single paper. The rest of my work would just be listed as acknowledgements, if at all. I did learn as much as I can about microbiology and molecular biology skills, and learned to operate a lot of instruments - e.g. Confocal microscopy, TEM, GC. At least, I do know that research is what I really enjoy. Perhaps because I want it so much, all the more I'm afraid of failing. As if I've not failed enough with my undergrad degree. I really regret ruining my grades. I actually did really well in the internships I got before university - I interned with the same group over a period of 2 years and my experimental data was used in two of their papers - I was named in the acknowledgements - but all that seems like ancient history and would not be helpful in my applications I presume (the papers were published around 2008/09). So... At this stage in my life I'm filled with a growing sense of dread and fear, knowing that I'm stuck in a 'dead end' job, yet having no confidence about getting accepted anywhere. Should I consider a masters? Is there any hope for me in terms of PhD applications? Or should I look for a job more relevant to my field, and get some papers out? Of course, I would like to go straight into a PhD, since money is a concern for me. But looking at all the stellar GPAs and dean listers I'd be competing with frightens me. Also unsure of who to ask my recommendation letters from. Is it ok if all three letters come from my supervisors/superiors from the same job? I never had any sort of personal relationship with a prof in my undergrad days (yeah, another big screw up), and for my final year thesis I worked with the post doc because the Prof was too busy flying around, I didn't even get a chance to see her. Oh yes GRE. None. I've not taken it yet. And since I just missed the application period, at least I have some time to prepare for it.
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