bctnln1059

If a student chose to take a Pass rather than a letter grade for a math class this semester due to classes being moved online because of COVID, do you think biomedical PhD programs would consider that a red flag?

Great, you all have set my mind at ease about this!

Good info, thank you both.

My daughter is currently doing biological research at a university where she is dual enrolled as a high school junior, and at this point is interested in translational biomedical research as a career, possibly in industry. One of the colleges she is most interested in offers a Biomedical Science degree as well as a Biology degree. From the lists of professors and their research interests, it looks like she may have more possibilities for undergraduate research in a more translational lab in the Biomedical Science department. However, we were just told that 90% of the Biomedical Science majors at this college are pre-professional. If she pursued the Biomedical Science degree, do you think grad schools would assume she started out intending to do pre-med and was unsuccessful? If she explained in an SOP about choosing that degree because of the translational research opportunities, would that overcome the potential negative perception? Thanks for any advice.

Thank you for all the helpful input, everyone. I appreciate it.

My 11th grade daughter is dual enrolled at a local university and has been doing research in a genetics/genomics lab . She is thoroughly enjoying it and the experience is confirming her interest in biological research as a career. She says that long-term, she is interested in translational/applied biomedical research. I realize she is young and could certainly change her mind, but when considering potential colleges (undergrad), I was wondering how much we should target colleges that look like they could provide undergraduate research opportunities that are more biomedical/translational. Opinions?

This is the primary reason as far as I'm concerned! I'll PM you.

Thanks! Now that you mention it, I remember him telling her that if she wasn't there and he needed to know what she had been doing, he should be able to know by looking at her lab notebook.

Next week my daughter (grade 11) will be starting work in the research lab of a biology professor at the university where she is dual enrolled. If all goes well, she will be able to continue through the next two years until she graduates high school. It sounds like in the beginning she will be working more with the PI, who wants her to start this summer because he is more available; I expect that later she may be working more with his grad students. Does anyone have advice for her on interacting with the PI and PhD students, what to do/not do in order to integrate well into the lab, etc.? When she asked the professor, he said "communication and responsibility--be there when you say you will, and if you're not sure about something, always ask, don't guess." I thought that was great, but wanted to see if any of you had anything to add. She has taken two semesters of biology for science majors at the university, but this will be her first time in a research lab. We are excited for the opportunity, as she is interested in pursuing a career in biological or biomedical research. Research in the lab involves evolutionary genetics and genomics of flour beetles and horned beetles.