I graduated this past spring with a BS in pharmacology and I'll be applying for fall 2021. I want to pursue a career in R&D in the future. I'm especially interested in joining a PhD program for neuroscience tied to pharmaceutical sciences, but I don't actually have much background in neuroscience. It would be super helpful if I could get some insight into where I would be standing in regards to applying for graduate programs.
I was a transfer so I did 2 years at a community college (got a 3.83 GPA) and then graduated from a university with a 3.83 GPA. I did undergraduate research for almost 1.5 years where my project was involved in studying a chronic disease and its metabolic changes. There is a paper still in the works that I will be published in, but not as first author. It's also been delayed due to Covid-19, but I'm hoping that it will be out before I apply. Besides this, I don't have any publications. Since graduating, I've been working as a staff research associate at my current lab, so that's what I will be doing for the next year. I have two professors who I will be asking for a letter of recommendation from. One is my PI, who I know will give me a strong letter. The other is a professor who I have taken 5 classes with (both lecture and lab courses), but they do not know me nearly as well as my PI. They basically only know my name and face, and that I have had As in all of their classes. I'm not too sure where I will get my third letter of recommendation, but I'll likely ask another professor who I've taken classes with.
I go to school and live in California, so I'd prefer to stay here. I am thinking of applying to UCSF, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, and Scripps. I will probably also apply to some out-of-state places. These are just some schools that I've been thinking about, but definitely not the only ones I'm open to applying to. I know it's hard to gauge how PhD programs will choose their applicants, but I'd like to get a general idea of what sorts of schools would be my reach schools and my safety schools. Thanks in advance.
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vCoconut
I graduated this past spring with a BS in pharmacology and I'll be applying for fall 2021. I want to pursue a career in R&D in the future. I'm especially interested in joining a PhD program for neuroscience tied to pharmaceutical sciences, but I don't actually have much background in neuroscience. It would be super helpful if I could get some insight into where I would be standing in regards to applying for graduate programs.
I was a transfer so I did 2 years at a community college (got a 3.83 GPA) and then graduated from a university with a 3.83 GPA. I did undergraduate research for almost 1.5 years where my project was involved in studying a chronic disease and its metabolic changes. There is a paper still in the works that I will be published in, but not as first author. It's also been delayed due to Covid-19, but I'm hoping that it will be out before I apply. Besides this, I don't have any publications. Since graduating, I've been working as a staff research associate at my current lab, so that's what I will be doing for the next year. I have two professors who I will be asking for a letter of recommendation from. One is my PI, who I know will give me a strong letter. The other is a professor who I have taken 5 classes with (both lecture and lab courses), but they do not know me nearly as well as my PI. They basically only know my name and face, and that I have had As in all of their classes. I'm not too sure where I will get my third letter of recommendation, but I'll likely ask another professor who I've taken classes with.
I go to school and live in California, so I'd prefer to stay here. I am thinking of applying to UCSF, UC Berkeley, UCLA, UCSD, and Scripps. I will probably also apply to some out-of-state places. These are just some schools that I've been thinking about, but definitely not the only ones I'm open to applying to. I know it's hard to gauge how PhD programs will choose their applicants, but I'd like to get a general idea of what sorts of schools would be my reach schools and my safety schools. Thanks in advance.
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