Hi everyone,
I graduated at the end of 2013 with a BS in molecular biology and a 3.76 GPA. My transcript shows a lot of improvement over my 4 years as well, as I had a lot of B's in my first two years, but maintained straight A's for my junior and senior years when I began to focus more on taking more upper level biology and chemistry courses.
That's the good news, the bad news is I was pretty naïve when I was in college, I falsely assumed that as long as I focused on earning a good GPA I'll have endless potential. I didn't do any undergraduate research, and I didn't get involved with extracurricular activities. I thought I wanted to go to medical school and I took the MCAT and did pretty well on it (35) but before I was going to apply in the fall of 2013 I decided that it wasn't what I wanted to do. I spent the next years being extremely indecisive bouncing between wanting to go to pharmacy school or getting into research. In that time I tried to get a job as a research tech, but all I could get was a job as a lab services technician in a research lab where I'm responsible for washing glassware, disposing of biohazard waste, and stocking lab supplies. I've been there for almost 2.5 years now. I grew complacent and let a lot of time go to waste but I've decided I want to purse a career in molecular biology research.
So...
I have a 3.76 GPA but it's from 3 years ago, I have a lot of lab experience but no undergraduate research experience, I am confident I can get good letters of recommendation because I was a standout student in most of my biology and chemistry courses, I have not taken the GREs yet but based on my performance on practice tests I expect to score around the 90th percentile on all of the sections. I certainly have some things going for me, but I am greatly concerned about the 3 year gap and my lack of relevant research experience.
I'm planning to apply to a masters program at Umass Boston. I recently looked at the stats, and I found that around 20% of applicants for the biology masters program were accepted. Are my chances of getting accepted high, or should I be concerned? (This is assuming that I perform very well on the GRE) If I should be concerned, what else should I do? I would be willing to apply to other schools, but that's my most convenient option.
Thanks in advance for any advice!