Biomath Grad School Advice - low gpa, lots of research

[bksmith3]

I have been reading these forums for advice given to people in a similar situation... but would love advice for my specific situation from anyone who may have an opinion.

I am concerned about my grad school app because my gpa is currently a 3.3 and my major gpa is around a 3.0. The reason that my math gpa is so low is because of two classes, both under the same professor. I did poorly in both of her classes as did everyone else who took them. The rest of my math grades are great, including a couple of grad classes that I got A- or higher. I plan to discuss this in my SOP

GRE: 770 math/570 verbal/4.5

Research:

One year bioengineering lab assistant

one year biomath research (conference paper and second author paper and 1 presentation)

REU at top 10 school for applied math (second author paper)

5 years biology lab assistant (not research exactly, just helping take care of animals etc)

planned project for this coming semester with past biomath research instructor

The biomath research instructor is top in her field and will write one of my recommendations.

Teaching assistant for 1.5 years

My two favorite schools are between 20 and 35 in math rankings and I have spoken to both admission directors and will be meeting with them.

My question is whether these are around the rankings that I could be considered for or wether I should consider higher or lower ranked? I do plan on applying for a variety of schools from top 10 to 100 +. Any thoughts about what rank would be appropriate to try for would be helpful! I plan on applying only to schools who match my interests very well. Also, I am a US citizen (although sad, I hear it does make a difference) Thanks!

[bksmith3]

Also, I will be applying to math PhD programs, but looking to research with professors who are interested in biomath