Undergrad Institution: National University of Singapore (World 15th, Asia 1st)
Major(s): Life Sciences
Minor(s): Forensic Science
GPA in Major: 3.5
Overall GPA: 3.55
Position in Class: Near the top (Distinction class)
Type of Student: International female
I actually just graduated from Uni two months ago, so most of my experience comes from my undergraduate research, and I haven’t had any experience working in research formally.
GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 165 (88%)
V: 151 (52%)
W: 5.0 (92%)
I’m doing GRE Biology test in October, I hope it can help boost my application and bolster my poor verbal score if I manage to score well… should I consider retaking my GRE General? I don’t know, I for my life cannot score well with memorizing all those tough words for the verbal section… Is my 151 verbal score a rejection factor?
TOEFL Total: Not applicable, I’m a native English speaker
Research Experience:
Two years of experience in lab settings (biochem, microbio, immuno facilities):
- Spent one year during 3rdyear undergraduate to do a research project working on mostly bacterial work (Got an A). This was my first research experience, which really led me to think about graduate school after graduation… my mentor and supervisor were so kind to me and gave me a whole ton of advice. I was at first hesitant to give research a try but it was overall an awesome opportunity for me to learn
- Spent another year at the same laboratory as part of my final year project (FYP) (Got an A-)
- Many presentations of data at laboratory meetings
- Published a paper in FASEB Journal, although 7/11thwriter, middle authorship
- Another upcoming paper to include my work in FYP still in preparation, but I’m not 100% sure when publication will happen as I have already left the lab, publication might take awhile with some animal work
- One poster presentation as part of my FYP work
Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Outstanding Undergraduate Researcher Prize – Certificate of Merit, Honors Programme, bursary for tuition every semester, one travel grant for my summer in Thailand
Pertinent Activities or Jobs: I’ve worked as a tutor for close to five years, mostly teaching math and science to children and teens (up to high school), education facilitator in the zoo to guide children and visitors for camps. I’ve worked twice as a graduate student researcher under department of engineering for otitis media with effusion project, and another time for a device for elderlies. I also worked part time in a butterfly facility in the university to help feed and raise and keep butterfly lines for their research.
I’m considering applying for a RA position to gain some formal experience starting in December, but that is a big maybe. I might consider working full time as a relief teacher while waiting for applications too.
Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help:
Many volunteering work befriending elderly beneficiaries and terminally ill patients, Project director for a pretty large-scale volunteering programme in NUS (nominated for School Achievement Awards)
Fluent in Thai and a little bit of Vietnamese (if these even help)
Special Bonus Points:
- Both my undergrad supervisor and mentor know me quite well, I will be able to secure some pretty solid LORs from them. Supervisor is world learning researcher in her field, and my mentor has done some pretty solid research for close to 20 years. For my third LOR, I’m probably gonna get another supervisor who can also write a great LOR for me.
- Upward trend in GPA, tried to pull my grades up in my 3rdand 4thyears
- Completed a good number of my 4thyear courses (4000 Level) with As (Advanced Immunology, Drug Discovery and Clinical trials, Adv Cell Biology)
Applying to Where: Mostly microbiology/ immunology labs. Are there any other good schools out there besides the ones I have listed below that I should consider? Please let me know!
UCSD Biomedical Sciences
UCSB (Molecular Cellular & Developmental Bio)
Penn State BMMB
Boston Uni (Graduate Medical Sciences)
USC (PIBBS) Medical Biology
Uni of Rochester (Sch of Med & Den)
Cincinnati Children’s (Immunology Grad Prog)
UT Austin (Inst for Cell Mol Bio)
Uni of New Hampshire
Uni of Michigan (PIBS)
Uni of Pittsburgh (PMI)
Baylor College of Medicine
Uni at Buffalo SUNY
Could anybody let me know my odds? I know I'm not a particular strong applicant with my grades. Is my list of colleges too ambitious? Please let me know!