velox

Thanks for the input so far! I will definitely be applying to more places this next time around. That was a mistake on my part. To answer your questions, while I have been aiding in other people's projects, I am actually currently doing my own. It's not done yet, but I did submit an abstract to a conference so hopefully I'll get another poster presentation. I may try to publish it too, depending on how it goes. As for the GRE, I did well on verbal reasoning and writing (92nd and 80th percentile), and "eh" on quantitative reasoning. I do think that helps, but one of the comments on my GRFP review was about my GPA and the reviewer "questioned how well she will preform outside of her streamlined research interests". But there's nothing I can do about that now, I assume. Except maybe think of an excuse as to why it was low.

Hey guys. Just signed up, looking for advice. I applied to four schools this year. Three were outright rejections, and one didn't have the funding to take me this year. So it looks like I've got another year to go before grad school, and I was wondering how that year would be best spent? And what I should do differently when applying? For reference, I'm looking for a program in animal behavior or ecology. I did undergraduate research for all four years of undergrad (including an original research project), and I'm now a lab tech. I have a poster presentation and a second-author publication. Graduated with high distinction, but only a 3.26 GPA. My main thing is, one of the two labs I'm lab tech for is the one I did undergrad research in. I like it there, but I'm not sure if staying another year (six total) is gonna help or hurt me at this point? On the one hand, I'm working on experiments there that I'm promised co-authorship on when they're published, plus I'm allowed to use the animals to do my own experiments. But is my lack of diversified experience hurting my chances? I'm scared of job hunting, especially since preliminary searches have turned up nothing. Are there other ways of getting more experience? I don't know, this got kinda rambley. Point is, I didn't get in anywhere and now I'm doubting the crap out of myself so what should I do?