Graduate School Search

[reverdy]

Hi!

I'm currently a Junior at Caltech and I'm beginning to look for graduate programs (PhD).

I'll likely apply to graduate schools with a 3.4/3.5 GPA (3.3/3.4 in major). I'm a Chemistry major with a Biochemistry concentration (Caltech doesn't offer a Biochem major for undergrads). My GRE scores will likely be good but not stellar (probably ~80th percentile, but I'm just guessing). I've done one year of research in an immunology lab. We recently submitted a paper (I'm 5th author) to a journal, so I will hopefully have good news on that by the time I apply. I'm spending this summer working in the research department of a company in Tokyo, Japan. I've been a teaching assistant for the freshman chemistry lab for two terms. My recs should hopefully be good and at least one will likely be from a very well-known professor.

So... after all of that, do you have any recommendations for programs I should look at? I don't have a good idea of what I should be looking at, and I don't want to find myself with no options next year.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

[000]

Don't look at programs by name, look at them by who is working there. Think about what research you're interested in, and find the labs you want to work in.

[argos]

The good news is that there is probably no program that will trash your application immediatly with these stats. The bad news is that your stats alone don't give you an answer where you want to go, and neither won't they get you into a halfway decent grad school.

Find out what you want to do. You did immunology research, could you imagine staying in immunology? Do you know a paper/research group that fascinates you, or where you think they to solid work? This is probably a good starting point. Ask your famous prof. If he is willing to write you a LoR, he will probably also have time to recommend you some places he likes or collaborates with, giving your application an extra boost.

[reverdy]

The good news is that there is probably no program that will trash your application immediatly with these stats.

This is more what I'm worried about. Deciding I want to work in X lab at UCSD or Y lab at Scripps is all well and good, but if both throw out my application I'm in trouble. I'm perfectly capable of finding labs with interesting research, but I'm pretty worried about aiming too high with all of them and ending up with little to no options come next spring.

Thank you for your advice.

[000]

The best bet is to find your options first, without worrying about how competitive you are. You can narrow it down later, before you apply. You should be able to cut out a decent number of schools just based on who is there doing what, regardless of how well they are ranked.

I don't really know much about the competitiveness of chemistry programs, but those stats would likely keep you out of the best-of-the-best neuroscience programs. I think your faculty advisors will have a better idea of what other programs will be looking for.