Not a grad student but want to be one some day

[Extremity]

Hello! I am going to be entering by last year of my bachelors in September and I'm pretty sure I have no chance to get into a grad program :c

I am doing a double major in neuroscience and psychology, with a cGPA of 2.92. I've tried to get some neuroscience related lab experience but couldn't manage to get a research assistant position. The only research related experience I have is basic data entry from when I volunteered at a nutritional science lab. I feel pretty depressed about my future options and don't really know if continuing trying to pursue grad school is even realistic at this point. I just don't really know what to do anymore. 

Any advice is appreciated. I'm lost 

 

 

[Leznver]

You don't have to go to grad school right away. Take a year to get some more experience under your belt. You have a year left? Do everything possible to get that GPA above a 3.0  

[palyndrone]

If you're sure grad school is your goal:

Start looking at programs now, and be realistic! Make a spreadsheet of admission requirements and application dates. Schedule your GRE early so you have time to retake it if you need to. For sure, use your final year and work hard to get your cumulative and major gpa past 3.0! For better or worse, scores matter, and you have to make the cutoff even if you don't apply right away. Because you probably won't be able to hit a 3.5 in time, which is the benchmark for a majority of big programs, you need to make up for it in the rest of your application.

Do your programs have a senior thesis? Not sure about psychology, but in fields like neuroscience the research experience and lab time are probably the most important part of an application. Look for opportunities, no matter how small. Data entry is better than nothing!

Talk to a career advisor or a professor you trust about wanting to go to grad school, and figure out a plan for how to get in shape academically. Get some real honest advice, and be real with yourself about how much work its going to take. Seriously consider other options: grad school is competitive, and you don't want to get caught out with nowhere to go if it doesn't work out. You might be in a better position to apply after a year or two of post-bacc research, lab teching, or industry work-- or you might be happier doing something else anyway.

Take a look around the forums for application tips! But do keep in mind that this board is full of ivy-gunning overachievers ?If you have any more questions on bio grad school apps or whatever I'm happy to help in this thread or on DMs.

[AnonNeuroGrad]

I had a 3.1 cGPA with a 2.8 in my math major and a 2.9 in my biochem major; I got four interviews (BU, Carnegie Mellon, UO, and Stony Brook) and into BU, UO, and Stony Brook. I'll be attending BU which is just about in the top-20 nationally and one of the stronger ones for computational neuroscience (which is my interest). I will say that, first of all, you can still not only go to grad school but also a good one but it won't be easy by any means. I took four years off and I had a bit higher GPA and did 3 years of research in undergrad so, for you, probably expect to take at least that long. One of my undergrad projects turned into a 3rd author publication and then I was able to secure an RA position after college in neuroscience research. I spent that time getting two more publications and an MS over the four years; although I didn't get interviewed for most top schools I applied to, the PI's I met were super enthusiastic about having me there because of my past experience and MS.

So I guess this is to say that it can still be done and hopefully neuro won't get significantly harder in a few years. PM me if you have any questions but I almost never am on here! I have Discord at the same screen-name so find me there if you have questions.