catharole

Hi everyone, I'm currently looking into graduate schools for bioinformatics and leaning towards masters because I feel like I'm not competitive enough for a top PhD Program yet and was wondering how competitive am I for masters/PhD. Would it be considered a better choice to complete another masters and gain more research-orientated experience before I apply for PhD Programs again? Undergrad Institution: New Zealand (81 overall in QS ranking) Major(s): Biomedical Sciences Overall GPA: ~3.7 Graduate Institution: Australia (45 overall in QS ranking) Major(s): Software Engineering Overall GPA: ~3.8 Research Experience Research assistant at a lab focused on stem cells, not much publications etc. made mainly just contributing to the project as a technician Research project for half a year related to bioinformatics and using machine learning to map out genes related to kidney cancer (likely to be published by the end of the year) Universities for Masters Standford Cornell UCLA Brown Harvard Penn State University for PhD Programs Harvard - BIG Program Duke - CBB Program University of Pennsylvania - GCB Program Yale - CBB Program I know some of these programs especially for my PhD choices are particularly competitive however I found that a lot of them seemed to particularly align with my interests in genetics and software and some labs have professors who I know are doing research in the area I have a particular interest in. I would also appreciate any recommendation for schools which may be more suited for me currently.