Do I have a chance?

[Hopeful678]

Dear The Grad Cafe,

I have a question, Growing up I struggled a lot in school. I was diagnosed at an early age with a learning disability that affected my ability to read and write. I was tracked into lower educational classes, yet managed to graduate from high school. Upon graduating, I got kicked out of my dads house, which subsequently lead me to a low gpa at the start of my college career, at a community college. I then ended up transfering to a university with a 2.772 to study psychology after attaining my AA degree. During my first semester at university I met a professor who told me I was one of the best student's he had in his last 40 years of teaching, he invited me to do research with him for which I accompanied him on for 2 years. I fell in love, I loved being an inquisitive person, and answering wild questions I came up with. I became much more confidant and my grades improved, I ended up with a 3.78 in my last 60 credits, and ended with a 3.51 gpa in psychology and 3.19 cummulative.

 

With this new sense of purpose for my future career (which I hoped was a researcher), I decided that I wasn't ready for a PhD, so I applied to Columbia University in New York for a master's degree. I got in and ended up working in 2 labs for the 1 and 1/2 years I was there and ended up finishing with a 3.6; my masters thesis was on dyslexia. Shortly thereafter, I was given a scholarship to attend University of Pennsylvania for a masters of Science in Neuroscience, which I have maintained a 3.53. This season I decided that I had enough background experience to apply for a  phd in psychology & neuroscience, so I have decided to apply to many top schools : Harvard, Yale, Upenn GSAS, Oxford, CU Psychology, Stanford, Upenn GSE, UCF psychology, and CU Biomed. Throughout my life I have accumilated 5 years of research experience and have gotten 1 paper published, additionally, a project I worked on at my old university won the 2013 NTSA Governor’s Award for Excellence in Modeling and Simulation from the National Training and Simulation Association.I am currently working at the UPenn Hospital doing research in Glioblastoma, and have 3 additional papers i'm working on. However my GRE's worry me (154V 144Q 4.5W). I have never been a good test taker, but I am hoping my experience more than makes up for it.

 

So, now I ask you all, do you think I have a chance? If I don't, what can I do to prove myself? My research interests are in disabilities (dyslexia and autism), cognitive science, animal cognition, and computational neuroscience, specifically looking at neural networks and modeling the sensory guided development of mirror neuron systems in humans. I am also interested in the interconnection between mind, brain, and education, specifically in children's theory of mind and psychopathology.

Best

Edited February 16, 2014 by Hopeful678

[gingin6789]

What an amazing story!! Your interests are very specific to psych, so I don't know how "in demand" research in your areas of interest is (hello from sociology, by the way).

I can tell you your research experience is a huge deal and will really help you. Additionally, that second undergrad gpa is good, and someone told me that they take the more recent gpa into account when considering your application. With working under your prof for so long, you're guaranteed a pretty thorough, awesome LOR as well.

Make sure you explain your low quant score and back it up by saying how well you did in other quant-related classes in college. Have your recommenders explain it in their letters as well. Your writing score should be ok; 4.5 is good!!

[Hopeful678]

Thanks Gingin, I really appreciate the reply.

Best,

Hopeful