Advice for getting into graduate school coming from a "Great Books" college

[Quercus]

Hi, everyone! This is my first time posting here. I came to this website to ask the advice of people who might be able to help me figure out how I can proceed in obtaining a higher education.

I am currently a senior at St. John's College in Annapolis, Maryland. It is a wonderful college and I feel I have gotten a great education, but since it is a college that does not have majors and provides an all-required curriculum, I do not have most of the academic requirements I would need to attend a Graduate program in Plant Biology right away. In order to get to that point, what should I do? My main questions are thus:

Should I attempt to get a second bachelor's in Plant Biology?

Is there some way for me to attend undergrad classes at a University without getting a full degree before heading to Graduate school?

What are some good programs (Undergraduate and Graduate) for Plant Biology?

When I interned at the Smithsonian Botany department, the botanists there felt that I should immediately attempt to go to Graduate and find an established botanist (not too famous, they said, so I would not be overshadowed by them) to do research with, but I do not know if that is practical advice right now in my situation.

Thank you to anyone who is able to help me out!

[dc82]

Most schools have ways to take undergraduate and graduate classes without matriculating. You should search for "non-matriculating" or "non-degree" and the college you're interested in. For non-degree students, some schools will have restrictions on when you can register, so it might be hard to get into the classes you want.

[jgnova]

I attended another Great Books school (Shimer), have been a technology manager for the past few decades, and am now working at a large university. I would suggest that you first research schools and degree programs to find those that interest you. Having done that, contact the professor(s) in those departments, explaining your background (both academic and your intern experience) and your interest in their graduate program. Try to arrange an on-campus interview which will not only allow your great communication skills to be noticed but also demonstrate the strength of your interest. My feeling is that you will find at least one program for which the director will recognize the strengths you can bring and be flexible enough to help you get past their normal requirements. That may mean taking some undergrad courses until you are actually accepted into the program. My hunch is that your St. Johns education will be sufficient preparation if supplemented with some core coursed in the field. I also suspect that you would be frustrated in a program or working with a program director without the flexibility to work around your missing academics - a brain that can succeed at a place like St. Johns would likely feel too constrained by those not demonstrating that flexibility.

[aberrant]

I would weight related (in your case, plant biology) research experience over plant biology coursework any day. For many science programs, it is okay if you do not have sufficient relevant courses under your belt as long as you have significant amount of relevant research experience by the time you apply for grad school. Obviously, the more "prepared" you are, the more competitive you will be (relatively speaking). If you are not working in a lab, then I would quickly find a lab to join and work as a research assistant -- whether if the PI is an established botanist or not, the question of being overshadowed should not be your concern in situations like yours.

Just my 2 cents.

[virion]

I agree, just get started in a lab, do some research. If you can't find a job in a plant bio lab, join another bio lab. Match it as well as you can to your interests, even if that means molecular biology of humans/animals/bacteria rather than plants. What's important is that you'll be exposed to a similar type of academic setting, similar kinds of research questions and dealing with the experimental approaches to answering those questions.

As far as working for a "not too famous" PI: if you're getting research experience before grad school, you want a PI that will be able to write you an excellent, personal letter. A famous PI would be great, unless maybe the lab is so large you only interact with the PI once or twice a year, resulting in an impersonal sort of recommendation. On the other hands, I've had friends who were told to write their own letters and the PI simply signed them. When you get to graduate school, work for whoever you want. A huge lab with a famous PI may or may not be the best work environment for you, but you shouldn't worry about being overshadowed by them. When it comes to applying for post doc positions your work should speak for itself.