armyofbieber

May I ask you what your career plans are?

You should be less worried about school rankings and more concerned with the type of research you'd like to be involved with. Grad school in biology is all about joining a particular lab and conducting research.

I'm hoping to get into M.Ed. or M.A. program (preferably with certification) and move to California or Texas, but I'd hate to pay out-of-state tuition or to wait a year until I get residency. Any programs in these 2 states that have reduced tuition or other incentives for people who wish to get into education? I'm interested in urban education, science education, policy and reform. I wouldn't have a problem working in a low-income district either.

What Master's programs are you considering and where? Very few schools offer neuro Masters. (Pitt is one that does.)

Hey timt99, what school did you do your Master's at? I, too, have a little low GPA and I'm hoping to get into a MA program before applying for PhD.

Are loans the only guaranteed way for people to afford private GSEs like , HGSE, UPenn or TC? What kind of grants or scholarships these schools offer? I'm mostly interested in the topic with regards to Master's degree. Do Master's students (usually) get funding? I don't think it's wise to get 40-80k in debt for M.Ed... Thanks.

3.44 is not low at all, especially with GRE score like that.

I'm not sure if some of the earlier threads would provide me some ideas, but anyway... I'm about to complete my bachelor's in biology next spring, and I've had the intention to get my master's in biology after that. However, I've also been thinking of M.Ed. for quite some time now. I still love biology, but, as things are now, I'm headed into a career of lab work without much social contacts. I'd like to have an impact on people's lives, especially in terms of education. I wouldn't necessarily want to teach K-12, but I'd love to work with others in revising curriculum, doing research on science education, especially in urban settings and so. So, is it realistic to apply to M.Ed. programs without teaching experience? I've seen other threads where people have asked about the necessity of having a bachelors in education, and I've understood that it is not mandatory. I haven't taken GREs yet, but my GPA is 3.2 and I have 2 years of research experience in 2 different molecular biology (DNA, systematics, biogeography) labs. I'm applying this fall for possible fall 2012 entry. All ideas would be most appreciated.

You gave me a lot of hope, too, UBCbiograd2009. Hope that I'll at least get into a Master's program. There are some big problems with my record, like C's from Gen Chem 2 and Calculus 1... So, I'm not off the hook by any means, and I'd hate to waste space on SOP to explain something that really isn't explainable, at least in my case. So, what to do about uninterested professors? I guess there's not much to do. My interests are rather narrow, and each ignore or reject from a possible advisor slims my chances even more.

Hey, I thought I'd lay down some of my feelings about the graduate school application process so far. At the moment, I'm still in the pre-application phase, with one more year left til my bachelor's. I go to a big public research university in the Midwest, and my GPA is 3.2 but I'm trying to get it to at least 3.3 before December. No GRE yet (I'll be taking it in August). I have a year (and counting) of research experience in a systematics lab, conducting DNA study, and I'm hoping to be a co-author in 2 papers this year. I have two recommendations pretty much set, and I'm trying to land a third one. I'm looking at botany and entomology programs, and I'm hoping to apply to both, but I'm not sure if my LOR writers would see this as a sign of indecisiveness. The problem is that it's not too easy to find potential advisers working on interesting research. In entomology my main research interests are systematics and evolution, in botany they are ethnobotany and medicinal/hallucinogenic plants, and systematics to a degree. I've been trying to contact potential advisors, but I haven't had much luck. So far I've had 3 ignores, 3 people happen to be retiring shortly, 1 is moving to another school in an undesirable area, 1 replied quite some time ago and expressed interest in keeping touch, but I haven't heard from him since, and 2 knocked me out cold, saying that they won't accept any new students. I'll probably apply to a couple of Ph.D. programs, but I'd expect to go the Master's route first because of my crappy GPA. Right now, I'm looking at U of New Mexico (MS, entomology), Tulane U (PhD, eeb-botany), CUNY Grad Center (PhD, plant sciences), U of Kansas (MA, botany), U of Georgia (MA, entomology) and UC Davis (MS, botany). Any thoughts, ideas, tips, recommendations? All would be appreciated. Thanks.