Hello. I'll be applying to umbrella Biosciences program (preference: cancer biology) this fall.
Applicant: International, South Asia
University: Among top 5 of my country
Subject: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
GPA: 3.81/4.00 Undergrad. 3.92/4.00 MS (4th in class)
Research experience:
Over 4 years in Bioinformatics
3 years in Plant genomics and proteomics expression analysis
3 years in Biodiversity (Developed and maintaining an online database on country-wide existing odonates)
1 year - Histopathology analysis of hepatotoxicity induced rats
Publication: 3 (1 on Immunoinformatics, 2 on plant science - 1 PubMed indexed; First author in 2, Second in 1). Ongoing 2 but won't be published by the time of application.
Awards: Govt merit scholarship, Honors with distinction, Award for poster presentation at an international conference
Grants: The explorers' club USA, Govt fellowship for MS thesis
GRE: V161(88%), Q163(83%), AWA4.0(59%), Didn't retake as GRE is becoming optional
LOR: Should be very good, but not from famous scientists.
I couldn't work on cancer related areas as my country doesn't have that much research opportunities.
Current selection of Universities: All biosciences programs - MIT, Princeton, UChicago, UCDavis, Duke, NYU, McGill, Michigan state, Purdue, Penn state.
These are my stats including the drawbacks of my profile. I am having second thoughts regarding my choices of universities and am in need of assistance. Am I aiming too high? Should I include/exclude any university? Any kind of help or suggestions would be highly appreciated. Thank you.