hanmelisa

Hi everyone - this is my first post, so please le tme know if I'm breaking any rules and I'll try to fix this post asap. I'm an undergrad (finishing sophomore yr) at a top 20 school and doing econ & earth science. I'm interested in environmental stuff so was thinking of doing a phD in earth science. A few questions: -I got involved in research early (freshman year), but the lab treated its students really poorly and also didn't relate at all to what I've realized my goals are. I spent two "semesters" (one during freshman yr, one doing intensive work during the summer) in that lab. I know I really should've done research during sophomore year, but I TA'd a class and it ate up all of my time (and the pay was better than lab work). I'm emailing profs right now to figure out research during the summer. How bad is it to only have ~2 yrs total of undergrad research? (If I get into a lab and work until the end of sr. yr). I can stick it out in a research lab; worked in one for 3 yrs straight (10ish hrs/week) in high school - just this first lab wasn't a good fit at all. (if it helps, I'm pretty sure I'll be able to work more closely with a prof in the earth science dept. since our earth science dept is very small: approx 20 students in each "grade", compared to bio, where it's ~400 kids each). How bad is it that I probably won't have any publications to my name? -my GPA's gonna fall this semester. I'm sorry if this comes across as over the top bc of course I know it certainly isn't the end of the world, but I think it'll drop to a 3.6-3.7 and I probably will be able to pull it up to a 3.85-ish by the end of junior year if I work my behind off. I have a decent amount of extra math classes (compared to the other earth science kids I know) because of econ, but nothing significant (like not enough for a math minor) Would it still be possible for me to get into a top school for my phD (I'm really interested in Stanford or UC Berkeley)? Would it be better to try for a master's first? Thanks a lot!