My undergrad research focus does not fit my prospective graduate research focus

[bak3rme]

Hello all, 

 

I heard that a lot of times, graduate programs want to see if you are a "fit" for their program. 

 

During my undergraduate, I did 2 years of laboratory research focusing on plant cell wall, ultimately creating biomass into efficient bio-fuel. My undergraduate degree is Biochemistry. I enjoyed what I did, but in reality it wasn't my top choice of research, I rather took it on because it was an opportunity I did not want to pass up. 

 

However, when I apply to graduate schools, I really want to focus on pharmacology, immunology. I know that my previous research experience and what I actually want to pursue do not really relate. 

 

Would this be a bad thing?

[BeakerBreaker]

Not at all.

 

Hardly anyone studies the same topic in graduate school that they studied as an undergrad, just like hardly any graduate students do three rotations in the exact same field.  I've been all over the map without a problem.

 

What the schools mean by "research fit" is mostly that the school has faculty that line up with your interests, and that you mesh well with the community there (specifically, they want to make sure they have open positions in their labs to accommodate your interests).

 

Tell them that you want to research pharmacology and immunology, and why specifically that school will be able to provide the sort of educational experience and environment you desire.

[biotechie]

That isn't a bad thing at all. Many schools will actually look at it as a positive thing as you will have a little knowledge outside of the field.

 

As long as you emphasize that you're interested in Immunology/Pharmacology in your essay, I imagine you'll be fine. Immunology folks are a little finicky, sometimes about people without a ton of experience in the field, but usually they're happy with an undergrad immunology course.

 

Beaker Beaker said everything I would have said.

[obaka]

As long as you emphasize that you're interested in Immunology/Pharmacology in your essay, I imagine you'll be fine. Immunology folks are a little finicky, sometimes about people without a ton of experience in the field, but usually they're happy with an undergrad immunology course.

Just wondering if you could comment further on this. I have a strong (molecular) neurobiology background and am very interested in neuroimmunology so I'm applying to some immuno programs but I never did get the chance to take the one undergrad immuno course my school offered, and most of my interest developed after I graduated. I have 5+ years of neurobiology research experience, most of it with a neuroinflammatory slant. I was hoping my more "unique" background might make up for my deficiencies in the field but idk =/

[biotechie]

Just wondering if you could comment further on this. I have a strong (molecular) neurobiology background and am very interested in neuroimmunology so I'm applying to some immuno programs but I never did get the chance to take the one undergrad immuno course my school offered, and most of my interest developed after I graduated. I have 5+ years of neurobiology research experience, most of it with a neuroinflammatory slant. I was hoping my more "unique" background might make up for my deficiencies in the field but idk =/

 

I think it will more depend on the rest of your application profile. I had 6-ish years of research experience (all with a transcriptional regulation target with an immunology link) going into my application season with a GPA of around 3.7 and was nearly finished with my masters. The immunology programs I applied to rejected me. The reasoning that I got was that my research interests were not in line with the interests at the school and that they were looking for students with more applicable research experience, which led me to believe that the professors I was interested in weren't taking students and that my previous experience wasn't quite at the expected level. 

 

However, if you're applying to programs that are strong in neuroimmunology, I don't see why you would have to worry as long as you can demonstrate knowledge within that research area. My problem was probably that I was showing interest in autoimmune disorders and though I've researched them on my own, I have not worked with them directly. My previous comment was intended more to caution you guys about using buzz-words for the field as others have had them come back to haunt them in interviews when they had no idea how the mechanism they talked about in their research statement functioned.

[mysinia]

Based on my experience, I'm going to disagree some of these responses.

 

Last year when I applied to PhD programs, I had 2 years of research experience studying bacterial infection and mammalian innate immune responses, including a few solid publications in the field. I looked at a number of environmental microbiology programs which had labs that studied ecological systems of bacterial infection and immune responses in invertebrates, and since I'd done summer research internships in environmental science and ecology I figured this was a perfect integration of my 2 interests. I spoke with prospective advisors at each of my schools to see if they thought this was too much of a stretch, and they all gave me positive feedback about my research background serving as a good, unique viewpoint that they typically don't get from applicants who are usually trained as ecologists. 

 

I was rejected from every single environmental micro program I applied to, and it's not like my GPA, GRE, recommendations, or personal statements were prohibitively terrible. I figured that the jump from biomedical micro & immuno to environmental micro & immuno wouldn't be too drastic, but admissions committees at these programs did. After I received all of my rejections, I was informed that I'd been awarded an NSF-GRFP (apparently my profile was good enough for them), so I contacted schools and many of them were happy to re-evaluate my application. When I went to meet with department members at places that agreed to admit me given my fellowship, they all said the exact same thing: I had a strong applicant profile overall, but because I didn't have research experience in their specific field of study, they weren't fully convinced that I fit into their programs properly.

 

One big caveat to this is that I was trying to switch from a biomedical field to environmental programs, which are smaller, have less funding, etc. so they are typically pickier about finding applicants who will be directly admitted to specific labs. That's not exactly your case with switching from plant bio to immuno/pharmacology Biomedical programs allow for rotations, so there is some more flexibility there, which could help you out.

 

bak3rme - what have you done that makes you want to pursue pharmacology or immuno programs? Classes? Is there any way to relate your previous experiences to where you'd like to go? I think that if you have absolutely nothing relating to either of those disciplines in your background, you could have a difficult time making a case for why those programs are a proper fit for you, especially since your competing applicants will most likely have at least some exposure to those fields.

 

Anyways, that's just my two cents based on my story. Everyone's got their personal opinions based on what they've seen and experienced.