Changes of getting into these schools?

[MariePham]

Hi everyone

I'm an international student and I go to a high ranked state school and I'm applying to biology PhD programs at the end of this year (i'm a junior)

I really need honest opinion about my chances so I don't waste money applying to places I'm not a good fit for!

Major: BS Biology, BA PolSci, minors in international relations and chem. 

cGPA: 3.51 sGPA: 3.31 (upward trend, all As in upper level bio classes, couple Cs in chemistry first year)

Research: 2.5 years including summers on a fellowship. 1 first author peer-reviewed pub, 2 co-authors. 

Extracurriculars: tons of research stuff, TAing, mentoring, advising, clubs, jobs etc

LOR: My PI is kind of a big deal so I'm counting on that one. Other letter will be from my neurobio and neurolab prof (got As in both) and third one from the director of undergraduate research on campus

GRE: Have not taken yet but I'm scoring 160-162 on Verbal and 165+ on math on practice tests. Also planning on taking subject in Biochem.

Classes taken: Orgo chem, 2 semesters of physics, 2 semesters of calc, biostats, neurobio, neuro lab, cell bio, cell lab, developmental bio, genomics, biological basis of disease, ecology, evolution, genetics + tons of research seminars

Schools I'm applying to

 

Yale

Princeton 

MIT

University of Rochester

University of Wisconsin-Madison

University of Colorado-Boulder

University of Washington

UCLA

UCSD 

UCI

Rice

 

Thoughts? 

 

[Bioenchilada]

Hi everyone

I'm an international student and I go to a high ranked state school and I'm applying to biology PhD programs at the end of this year (i'm a junior)

I really need honest opinion about my chances so I don't waste money applying to places I'm not a good fit for!

Major: BS Biology, BA PolSci, minors in international relations and chem. 

cGPA: 3.51 sGPA: 3.31 (upward trend, all As in upper level bio classes, couple Cs in chemistry first year)

Research: 2.5 years including summers on a fellowship. 1 first author peer-reviewed pub, 2 co-authors. 

Extracurriculars: tons of research stuff, TAing, mentoring, advising, clubs, jobs etc

LOR: My PI is kind of a big deal so I'm counting on that one. Other letter will be from my neurobio and neurolab prof (got As in both) and third one from the director of undergraduate research on campus

GRE: Have not taken yet but I'm scoring 160-162 on Verbal and 165+ on math on practice tests. Also planning on taking subject in Biochem.

Classes taken: Orgo chem, 2 semesters of physics, 2 semesters of calc, biostats, neurobio, neuro lab, cell bio, cell lab, developmental bio, genomics, biological basis of disease, ecology, evolution, genetics + tons of research seminars

Schools I'm applying to

 

Yale

Princeton 

MIT

University of Rochester

University of Wisconsin-Madison

University of Colorado-Boulder

University of Washington

UCLA

UCSD 

UCI

Rice

 

Thoughts? 

 

You seem to have a fair amount of research experience, so that's good^^

Your science GPA is on the low side for the schools you're applying to. Is there some reason that explains not doing well at first that is worth mentioning in your SOP? Regardless, the research might compensate for that (I guess?) A low GPA also means that more weight might be put on your GREs, so doing well on that will most likely be very beneficial. Is there someone else that can write a rec letter for you besides your professor? Those letters tend to not be super helpful unless:

a) The class was very small

b ) You interacted with the professor a lot and he can say more than" X student got an A"

Finally, what kind of journals were your pubs published in? 

 

That's all I have to say for now. Hopefully, that helps. :)

[MariePham]

@Bioenchilada

Thanks for your feedback!

PloS One and Cancer Research (impact factors ~4 and ~10)

Yes. I'm an international student and I had a language barrier. I also had to live in a stressful situation off campus and move around 2-3 times during my freshman year. I couldn't find a job so I was struggling financially. I don't know how to make sure they know all those things. 

My GPA is like 

freshman fall 2.9

freshman spring 3.25

sophomore fall 3.6 

sophomore spring 3.8

junior fall (currently have all As so hopefully 4.0 and same about next semester)

so GPA is approximate it can range anywhere from 3.5 to 3.6

So I said I'm getting a letter from your PI who oversees my research project 

letter from a professor who taught cell bio which is class of ~50 and I was in top 3 students and he also taught cell lab which was like 14 people. 

Do you think I should get another academic or research letter and don't get letter from the director of undergraduate research who gave me fellowships? 

 

[Bioenchilada]

@Bioenchilada

Thanks for your feedback!

PloS One and Cancer Research (impact factors ~4 and ~10)

Yes. I'm an international student and I had a language barrier. I also had to live in a stressful situation off campus and move around 2-3 times during my freshman year. I couldn't find a job so I was struggling financially. I don't know how to make sure they know all those things. 

My GPA is like 

freshman fall 2.9

freshman spring 3.25

sophomore fall 3.6 

sophomore spring 3.8

junior fall (currently have all As so hopefully 4.0 and same about next semester)

so GPA is approximate it can range anywhere from 3.5 to 3.6

So I said I'm getting a letter from your PI who oversees my research project 

letter from a professor who taught cell bio which is class of ~50 and I was in top 3 students and he also taught cell lab which was like 14 people. 

Do you think I should get another academic or research letter and don't get letter from the director of undergraduate research who gave me fellowships? 

 

Is the letter from the other person you're considering going to be better than the one the research director can provide?

[MariePham]

It's probably going to be of the same quality I'm just wondering is academic letter better than research director letter?

I've gotten funding from the research person and presented at festivals and served as research coordinator on campus and stuff