Biophysics grad program

[IndoleIndictment]

I'm a senior biochemistry major and math minor at a mid-sized research school. I'm looking into programs for biophysics or biophysical chemistry. My GRE scores are 154 quant, 150 verbal, and I have a 3.2 GPA. I have ~8 months of experience in a research lab which I won an award in, however that's outside of my field now. I have about 6 months of experience in a biophysical lab, and I'm working on submitting a publication. I've taken 5 graduate level classes, am the president of an academic club, am TAing for a biophysical chemistry class, and have previously held workshops for quantitative chemistry classes. I'm taking the chemistry GRE soon.

Aside from my low GPA and GRE scores, I think this makes for a good application. What could I do in my remaining semesters to improve my chances of getting into a good (tier 1 or 2) grad school?

[GeoDUDE!]

You will most likely have to do a masters first. The best thing you can do is make a VERY focused SOP. That means reading journals, knowing the type of problems you want to solve, and the methods in which they are currently solved, and their implications for your field.  your quant GRE is super low, for chemistry or biophysics. I think 154 is barely above the 50%. I would retake the GRE.

[IndoleIndictment]

Thanks for the quick reply. According to the ETS, 154 is around 57%, and I am scheduled to retake the GREs. What is an SOP?

[GeoDUDE!]

Statement of Purpose; Ie the statement of what you want to do during and with your graduate education. This includes the problems you want to solve, how you want to solve them, and the evidence that you are capable of doing this. A well written SOP with supporting Letters of Recommendation can make up for poor grades or poor GRE, but I think you will find it difficult to get past a poor GRE and poor grades. Many programs just cut off the bottom 50-60% of scores in GRE/GPA. So you really need to find a way to get past the automatic rejections.

[ion_exchanger]

For what it's worth, my math score was comparable to yours, and I was accepted into a pretty good biophysics program :-)

[Kerena Kim]

I am little new in this... I want to wait a little to get all this.