Will any grad school want to take me?

[aina521]

I've got a slightly complicated story. Most of my life, I've wanted to pursue a career in research/academia, preferably in molecular biology or microbiology. My parents, on the other hand, would settle for nothing less than a medical degree, so once I graduated from high school, they shipped me off to India for medical school. It was a satellite campus for a Caribbean medical school and the program was 2 years of undergrad and 2 years of pre-clinical medical school, followed by 2 years of clinical medical school back in the States. After the first two years of medical school, I decided I really wasn't cut out to be a medical doctor, and I needed a break from all the stress it had caused me. I've taken a year off and stayed as far away from anything school-related during this time, but it's now time for me to go back to school and pursue my original dream.

Here's the problem. I know almost nothing about grad school. I don't know whether to pursue a Master's degree or a Ph.D. I went to a pass/fail type of school, so my GPA is well beneath a 3.0 most likely. I have no research experience, and I don't even know how to go about getting research experience. Many places I've applied to have said that they require someone with a few years of research experience, but how can I get that without someone giving me the opportunity to gain that experience in the first place? I would like to apply for grad school for Fall 2012, but I fear I will not get in. I've learned that a Master's degree is not necessary, but I think for my special circumstances, it would give me 2 years of research experience to make me a slightly more competitive candidate for a Ph.D. program. But now that I'm actually researching Master's programs, I'm starting to get the idea that I'm not even going to get accepted into any of those with the complete lack of research experience and not-so-stellar grades that I have.

Does anyone have any advice for me? Should I go ahead and apply anyway? Would it be a waste of money and time to do that, when I should be focusing on getting some more research experience? How can I get a research position with no prior experience? What do you guys think?

[tt503]

If I'm reading this right, you've completed two years out of a four year program? Do you have an undergraduate degree (that is accredited)? It doesn't sound rigorous if it was all pass/fail, and in that respect, I would look at applying to a post-bacc program in an area that interests you (if you have a four year degree). This would give you more experience in the United States to explore more areas of research, give you actual grades, and also better letters of recommendation. It might be more out-of-pocket expense, but then you can narrow your focus and give you an entry point for graduate schools (whether Masters or Ph.D).

[Agradatudent]

If you don't have a bachelors, get one! Do the research there.

[aina521]

No I have a undergraduate degree (accredited) and 2 years of medical school. There are lots of 6 years medical programs with 2 years of undergrad even here in the states. The program was rigorous, that's why it was pass/fail. In India, the tests are harder, and you're really just trying to pass. A high D or low C usually means honors, and I got that. I'm just not sure how those grades will translate to American grades. It is a completely different system.

[Tiglath-Pileser III]

No I have a undergraduate degree (accredited) and 2 years of medical school. There are lots of 6 years medical programs with 2 years of undergrad even here in the states. The program was rigorous, that's why it was pass/fail. In India, the tests are harder, and you're really just trying to pass. A high D or low C usually means honors, and I got that. I'm just not sure how those grades will translate to American grades. It is a completely different system.

You are in a bit of a tough spot. Even though in your system a C means honors, that letter will prejudice your application since grade inflation has been such a problem in the US over the last 5 years. Grade inflation has made A's the norm in high schools and undergraduate programs which has debased the value of more stringent programs. For example, those who took their bachelors degree 15 years ago were less likely to be in a school that used grade inflation and are today facing the nasty surprise of trying to compete with hard-earned B's against near-do-well A's. Regrettably, most admissions committees do not see (or look for) mitigating circumstances when it comes to GPAs. They see pat GPA formulas and letters etched in transcript stone. It is a sad truth that many people who are professors today would not make it into the programs that they supervise on the basis of their undergraduate grades. And while they are aware of the discrepancy between what they earned and what is being handed out today, they are generally unsympathetic to those who fought for high grades under a tough system because they have been slowly inculcated into a culture of transcript equivalency. In short it's just easier to cling to the myth that all GPAs are equal.

I hope you aren't dismayed by this, but that is the current state of the academy.

Good luck...

[juilletmercredi]

Well, not necessarily - you can do a grade conversion. You'd turn in your transcript with an explanation of how to read the grades written by an independent person. I'm not really sure who that independent person would be, but I have heard of people having this done when they apply to graduate school.

If you have a bachelor's degree already, you may be able to obtain employment at a university as a lab tech or a research assistant. This will give you the research experience you need. Professors with large labs need people to run the physical and technical aspects of their experiments. Another way to get experience, if you can't find employment in it, is to find a job to pay the bills and volunteer for a lab in your spare time. Some people have turned these kinds of experiences into paying jobs later, but even if you can't, the experience is still there. You can start by looking up nearby university labs that seem interesting and emailing the lab manager/research coordinator to ask if there are any positions open. You can also look at university job postings; many of these are posted there. If you live near a medical school that would be even better, as they tend to have a lot of these jobs.

Another way would be to get into a funded MS program and get some experience with research there. This would also be your chance to prove that you can handle graduate level work.

Whether you need an MS or a PhD depends on what you want to do in research. If you are content to be a part of a research team, assisting others in their research by performing routine tasks, you can do that with an MS. There are positions called "research associate" that are like this. However, there's not a lot of upward mobility in that. The highest you can get is managing the lab of a professor, which actually can pay quite well at a medical school. If you want to be a professor, or if you want to direct your own research and be the leader of that team - you'll need a PhD.