Chances?

[Themistocles]

Hey everyone,

I posted this in the applications forum as well but I'd appreciate anyone taking a look at my resume and giving me some guesses as to what my chances are at the programs I've listed!

I'll be applying to various fish biology programs soon and I was wondering if anyone could chance me or suggest new programs. At this point, I'm only solidly interested in a few doctoral programs, and I'll most likely be applying to CUNY, American Museum of Natural History, Columbia, and Scripps Institute of Oceanography. I'm considering UW - School of Aquatic and Fisheries Sciences as well. I have no idea how I would fare applying to these programs, so any idea would be a lot of help. In addition, I definitely feel that I should apply to more programs, so any help there would be great as well.

My GPA is pretty low; 3.36 overall and 3.5 in major. This is mainly due to the standard story (I played a little much as a freshman/sophomore), however I'm also at a relatively well-known college with hard grading policies. I haven't yet taken the GRE or GRE Biology, but practice tests suggest something around ~650 verbal and ~720 quantitative. I have 1 yr of paid work as a research tech in ecology/ichthyology, won a research grant for a few thousand dollars, am currently working on an honors thesis, and I've started working on study that won't be submitted/published by the time I apply. I also did some manual writing on field methods that might be published by a federal/state agency and I have some experience working in a museum collection. I'll have very solid recs from well-known researchers in their fields, although one will only be from a professor that taught me a class (the others from researchers/professors I've worked under). Outside of these, I'm very solidly bilingual (I've heard this can be a bit of a boost) and I've volunteered ~200 hours as a tech at an aquarium, dealing with the fish in about every aspect you can imagine. I'm also a member of a professional organization dealing with scientific work in diving.

If you guys could help me out, I'd really appreciate it!

Thanks.

[ryanmor]

I'm still early in the application process as well, so I can't really offer that much insight in to your chances. However, program-wise, check out the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology grad programs at some of the bigger name schools. Through my search for prospective PIs, I've encountered several faculty members doing fish related research in areas of ecology and then a few systematics type projects as well.

[UBCbiograd2009]

I think your app looks good. Better than mine and I got into a really good program. I think Columbia might be a long-shot but the other schools are definitely in your ballpark.

If you have the paper published, even submitted, the by the time you apply, your chances will shoot up.

Have you also considered the programs at UC Santa Barbara or UMiami's Rosenstiel School?