Will not having geology classes/research hurt my chances?

[tgvarney]

Hello all. I have been reading this forum for a little while now, but I am currently worried about applying to grad school and I could use someone's objective opinion on my chances of getting into grad school. My interest is in geobiology, but I am worried about the fact that I haven't taken any classes in undergraduate geology and that my research has not been in geology. Here's what I am looking at:

*I have a BA in Mathematics and will have a BS in Biology. I don't have a GPA because my school is based on evaluations instead of grades.

*I have done research in astronomy that might end up getting published later this year or early next year.

*I scored fairly high on my practice GRE (680 Verbal, 780 Quantitative).

*I believe that at least 2 of my letters of recommendation will be strong, including the one from my research adviser.

*I founded and ran my schools astronomy club during my senior year.

As I say my only real concerns are that I don't have any geology undergraduate classes and that the research I have done is in an unrelated field. So does anyone have an opinion on my chances.

Thank you for any help.

[Kitkat]

Hello all. I have been reading this forum for a little while now, but I am currently worried about applying to grad school and I could use someone's objective opinion on my chances of getting into grad school. My interest is in geobiology, but I am worried about the fact that I haven't taken any classes in undergraduate geology and that my research has not been in geology. Here's what I am looking at:

*I have a BA in Mathematics and will have a BS in Biology. I don't have a GPA because my school is based on evaluations instead of grades.

*I have done research in astronomy that might end up getting published later this year or early next year.

*I scored fairly high on my practice GRE (680 Verbal, 780 Quantitative).

*I believe that at least 2 of my letters of recommendation will be strong, including the one from my research adviser.

*I founded and ran my schools astronomy club during my senior year.

As I say my only real concerns are that I don't have any geology undergraduate classes and that the research I have done is in an unrelated field. So does anyone have an opinion on my chances.

Thank you for any help.

There are several points that I want to cover here. First, I'm interested in geobiology just like you, and its great to see another one(come on over to the earth science forum, you'll be very welcome). Now getting into what you were asking, my first question is what part of geobiology do you want to go into? A lot of the programs that I have been looking at, they specifically say that depending on what you research you might want to focus on, having either a bio or geo degree would be fine. So, generally it should not matter that you don't have any geo classes, but it depends on the schoo. What I would say is go look at schools, see which interest you, see if they say anything about classes that they think that you should take if any, (I know that UChicago does), and if not, you can always email them. Getting in contact with schools early is good from what I heard. Basically, which ever way you go, you might have some course work to catch up on, and that you are at no real disadvantage there. Your GRE scores are really good, but not necessarily perfect, but I think that they are high enough for you to not have to worry about it.

I think that the biggest hurdle that you are going to have to get over is explaining why you would want to go into geobiology, mainly because of the research that you are doing is in astronomy. It is good that you have experience in research and will get is published, but they might wonder more about the subject, and how you ended up being interested in geobiology. But since I don't know why you did, you might have a very good reason, and have it covered in your statement of purpose and/or personal statement.

Edited March 2, 2011 by Kitkat

[tgvarney]

There are several points that I want to cover here. First, I'm interested in geobiology just like you, and its great to see another one(come on over to the earth science forum, you'll be very welcome). Now getting into what you were asking, my first question is what part of geobiology do you want to go into? A lot of the programs that I have been looking at, they specifically say that depending on what you research you might want to focus on, having either a bio or geo degree would be fine. So, generally it should not matter that you don't have any geo classes, but it depends on the schoo. What I would say is go look at schools, see which interest you, see if they say anything about classes that they think that you should take if any, (I know that UChicago does), and if not, you can always email them. Getting in contact with schools early is good from what I heard. Basically, which ever way you go, you might have some course work to catch up on, and that you are at no real disadvantage there. Your GRE scores are really good, but not necessarily perfect, but I think that they are high enough for you to not have to worry about it.

I think that the biggest hurdle that you are going to have to get over is explaining why you would want to go into geobiology, mainly because of the research that you are doing is in astronomy. It is good that you have experience in research and will get is published, but they might wonder more about the subject, and how you ended up being interested in geobiology. But since I don't know why you did, you might have a very good reason, and have it covered in your statement of purpose and/or personal statement.

Thank you for your reply. I will make sure to head over and spend some time on the earth science forum.

I am interested in geobiology because my interests are in astrobiology, specifically the connection of the evolution of life in relation to the evolution of Earth. I did research in astronomy because it was a faculty I really clicked with and my college doesn't have a lot of research that relates to my specific interests. I have been looking at the different programs and I know that they don't tend to say that you need geology classes, but so many of the graduate students have geology degrees so I have been a little worried the last couple of days.

Again, thank you for the reply. I will start thinking about how to draft my statements to cover my research and why I did that particular research.

[Kitkat]

Thank you for your reply. I will make sure to head over and spend some time on the earth science forum.

I am interested in geobiology because my interests are in astrobiology, specifically the connection of the evolution of life in relation to the evolution of Earth. I did research in astronomy because it was a faculty I really clicked with and my college doesn't have a lot of research that relates to my specific interests. I have been looking at the different programs and I know that they don't tend to say that you need geology classes, but so many of the graduate students have geology degrees so I have been a little worried the last couple of days.

Again, thank you for the reply. I will start thinking about how to draft my statements to cover my research and why I did that particular research.

Since your research is relevant to what you want to do, then thats a good thing, and I would emphasize that in your statements. It will help with your recommendation letters. As for geo classes, like I said, email the schools and see how important geo classes are in their consideration for this subfield. Is there any time for you to take some before you apply/ start? If so, then you can at least cover some bases before you start, and can let them know that when you apply, or let them know before they make final decisions.

[tgvarney]

Since your research is relevant to what you want to do, then thats a good thing, and I would emphasize that in your statements. It will help with your recommendation letters. As for geo classes, like I said, email the schools and see how important geo classes are in their consideration for this subfield. Is there any time for you to take some before you apply/ start? If so, then you can at least cover some bases before you start, and can let them know that when you apply, or let them know before they make final decisions.

I will be sure to email those schools. I will be applying for the Fall 2012 entry so I have a bit of time before I start applying.

Thank you again for helping put my mind at ease a bit. Now that I'm a member of the forums I'll be sure to get over to the Earth Science forums to hang out more.