Bad GPA; Discouraged But Still Determined

[itzbobbeh]

tl;dr at the bottom.

Hey guys, I'm new here and I will do my best to keep my post brief, but I still would love for some advice from you guys.

 

So I'm a recent college graduate (with my BS in biochemistry) and my undergraduate final GPA is a 2.9, which I am aware that it is pretty low. I am applying to one or two biochem PhD programs and like three or four MS programs. 

I applied to 2 biochem PhD programs and 2 MS programs during my senior year, and didn't get accepted anywhere. 

 

Here are some basic things about my grad school application that you can take into account:
 

GRE: V/Q/A --> 153/154/3.5.... Planning on retaking it before applying to Fall 2015 programs.

 

Experience:

UNDERGRAD: 1 year and 3 months of independent research. 1 summer semester as a lab TA. 1 semester as a lab assistant. 5 months as a lab technician. 5 total months at a government internship. 

POST-GRAD: 2 months (and currently employed) as a medical school research technician. Recently appointed as project manager in the lab and will be managing/running 1 to 2 projects soon. 

 

Letters of Rec:

1 from undergrad research P.I. (who can attest for my research experience), 1 from post-grad technician job (should be pretty good, doing really well at work), and 1 from a senior seminar course professor (can attest for my academic motivation despite my GPA)

 

 

With all this said, is it advisable to apply for 2 PhD programs? My "reach" school is not very highly ranked, and my other PhD school is the same university as the one I'm currently employed at now. Not applying to any top-tier programs. 

Another big hurdle that I have is that if I get accepted into a masters program, I don't know how (or if at all) I will afford to pay for it without a TA'ship or big bad loans.

 

Also, I am looking for any advice on how to boost my application. I thought about doing an online masters but my job is too demanding to have the extra free time to do that. I don't mind working as a research technician for another year or two until I get accepted into programs because I love my job and luckily it's in the field that I am interested in. If I do work for an extra year or two, I can expect to have 5-7 independent projects and maybe 1 poster presentation under my belt. 

 

 

tl;dr: I have a 2.9 undergrad GPA (got my BS in biochem) and slightly-above-50th-percentile GRE scores, but I have a (relatively) lot of work/research experience. Applying to 2 biochem PhD programs and 3-4 masters programs (none are top-tier). Would love to have some advice on my situation, any advice is welcome. 

Edited September 8, 2014 by itzbobbeh

[TakeruK]

In my opinion, one surefire way to increase your chances of a PhD program or a funded Masters is to apply to more schools. You have 6 total, which is a decent number, but you can probably apply to about 12-14 schools and greatly increase your chances for one acceptance. This is assuming that there are 12-14 programs that you are interested in. 

 

Retaking the GRE is a good plan. Normally slightly over 50th percentile may not be a terrible thing but you might want to aim higher if you are not confident in your GPA. Also, is there a subject GRE that your field uses?

 

Good luck!

[Vene]

Also, is there a subject GRE that your field uses?

There is a subject test both in biology and in biochemistry. Some programs may prefer one over the other, but I would imagine both would be valuable, assuming OP scores decently. I do agree that doing well on it would help the application a lot.

[bsharpe269]

Definitely retake the GRE. If you do really well then you can prove that you have the intelligence to do well in grad classes despite the bad grades. I advice you to apply to more masters programs. I am in the 2nd year of an MS degree after finishing college with 3.3 GPA. I have loved every minute of the MS degree, have been able to narrow in my research interests, gained tons of research experience, made great conenctions with professors for letters, and my MS GPA is 4.0. It has been an amazing experience and has prepared me for PhD programs very well.

[Crucial BBQ]

In my opinion the best things you can do now are to hammer out some seriously well crafted SOPs.  And, retake the GRE for higher scores. 

 

Taking a subject test is a great idea, too.  There is a good amount of discussion from "students" over the relevancy of taking a subject test to "boost" low GPA; some say it is a good idea, others, a waste of time.  "Professionals" seem to think it is a good idea in general while some programs specifically say not to do it. 

[itzbobbeh]

Thanks for the tips everyone!

 

I have a specific question about studying for the GRE: For someone who works a full-time job, how does one find the time in the day to study for a big test like the GRE? I studied for it just fine last year when I was in college, but now I'm either exhausted after work or completely occupied at work. 

I'm thinking of studying in short pieces but it doesn't bode well when I want to take practice tests..