ahimsa000

Understandable, and of course everyone has their own situations going in... I have about $170k in student loan debt from undergrad/grad combined and I know that the investment will be worth it because this industry is booming and is predicted to continue this way for several years to come. Of course, if you choose the academia route, the pay off won't be as nice, but I do think you have a shot at an amazing school that will help you get that well-paying consulting job.

Hi everyone, I'm applying to PhD programs in biotech/related fields for Fall 2018, and wanted to get some insight on how my new experiences will affect my application. Here's my compiled info: -UC Irvine, Biological Sciences; cGPA: 2.8 -Brown University, Biotechnology; cGPA: 3.6 -Research experience: 5 years of research experience total; 1 publication, 3 poster presentations, 1 master's thesis (archived at Brown - not published) -Work experience: Research assistant at UCI, ER tech for about 10 months, CURRENTLY: instructor at a math school for the past 3 years, teaching science and math full time at a high school (chem, physics, calculus) and also designed a new course for the school which I will teach in the next semester. I've also been working in the lab at Brown as a research assistant while working full time at the high school. It's a lot, but it pays the bills and gives me more experience in academia and research. -GRE (new): V160, Q165, W5.5 I'm applying to a few schools where I know I'd be able to fit in - I've had some tough health scares and I want to be closer to family which does limit my choices - and my backup plan is to apply to an industrial job in my field, with the intention of possibly applying again since some companies actually sponsor PhDs in the field. Here's my preliminary list: Stanford, UCSF, Berkeley, University of Washington, and Brown (this school has been amazing for my career and everything, I'd be grateful to be accepted here even though it's the one that's far!). Some feedback from this community would be much appreciated!! Thank you so much.

Apply to Brown's biotech program! I got in with a 2.8 uGPA and GRE: Q165, V160, W5.5. I also had one publication "in review" and a few poster presentations listed on my resume... It's worth it and I felt that the school cares more about experience than grades. Good luck!

This just keeps getting worse. My supervisor (who is a PhD student) was preparing for a conference since March of this year, and recently presented the poster. I had sent her all of my data throughout the year, and she even showed me the poster before she went to get it printed. My name was second on the authorship row. Then I went to the conference website and checked where all the abstracts were posted, my name was no where to be found - but her name and everyone else's names were listed. It was the same exact title as the poster she showed me, but my name was literally no where on the entire list of abstracts. Initially, I was livid, but now I am trying to see if this is even a big deal. Yes, those were my images that I took, and I optimized the protocols to everything, so being snubbed like this was a huge slap in the face. But is an abstract even that big of a deal? I have like 3 others from my undergrad career, and 1 actual paper that was recently published in August of last year (also from my undergrad school). I'm trying to beef up my resume within the next two months so when recruiters come to my campus, I will have something to show them. Now I'm worried that not having this will make them wonder what I've been doing for the past year in grad school. I'm beyond the point of complaining to authoritative figures, I feel like it'll just make the situation more tense and she'll be resentful towards me for the rest of my time at this school. What should I do? Is there any point in being upset? Does an abstract really matter in the big picture? I want to get a consulting job after graduation, and possibly go further into the business side of biotechnology, so I'm hoping that this one setback doesn't hurt my chances at a decent job. Thanks for reading! Sorry for venting -SR

Yeah, you're right. My PI just left the country and will be out for a month, so I'm going to have to talk to my direct supervisor about this. I'm going to be completely honest, I usually hesitate to confront people with these types of things and stay pretty quiet, but I'm really unhappy about this so it's about time. Ok so I think I phrased that incorrectly about the data thing. I have already worked on several different aspects of this project, and I believe that I deserve to put this in my thesis. She made it seem like I can only write about one little portion - which is really frustrating to me. It's not about the positive/negative data at all, it's just data in general that I worked really hard to generate so I feel like I need to include it. Ah, anyways, I think I'm just being too negative. Maybe this is just a mid-program crisis. I'll discuss my concerns as soon as I see my supervisor. He's pretty understanding about this kind of stuff. Thank you for letting me vent and for your advice! -SR

At the beginning, I chose to work on this project under a PhD student and I grew to like it after I started getting better at optimizing the protocols and stuff. Then around the end of the second semester, I started to think that it's a really dumb idea and there are several parts that don't even make sense. To top it off, my PhD student supervisor lost his main source of funding for this project, and the PI has told us that she'd make sure we would get the basic supplies we would need to finish my part of his project. I hate this project because it's just a bunch of qualitative analysis and I feel like I'm just making pretty pictures (I'm primarily doing IHC and histological work). I proposed a way to quantify the work, which would require some funding, but I'm in a position where that is impossible. Also, my PI thinks I have enough data, and I disagree with her. I'm worried because I can just imagine myself presenting this at the seminar and thesis presentation next year and I will be totally uninterested because I don't see the point anymore. I don't think I can keep asking my PI to help with this since she's in a tight spot and I'm also pretty sure she doesn't care a whole lot anyways. I'm not sure who I should talk to about this. I don't want to sound ungrateful, I just want to get the most out of this program and I don't think I'm being challenged enough. Does anyone have any ideas on how I can improve this situation? I understand that I most likely won't get any magical funding source within the next few months so I can pursue the idea I had. How do I handle this? Thanks guys! Sorry for the long post. -SR

Hello! I'm about to start my second and final year of my masters program in biotechnology at Brown. When I entered, I wasn't sure about doing a PhD or going to business school, but now I'm certain that I want to enter industry after graduating, and go into consulting. I reached out to two recruiters from different consulting firms, and we talked about the potential to grow in the company, etc. Both companies offer a sponsorship to select employees who show outstanding progress while working as an associate consultant. This all sounds great to me, and I know I still have yet to even get an interview with these companies, but let's say I do get a job at one of these companies...if I stand out to my superiors, they might even offer to sponsor me to an MBA program. Now, my question is, would it be considerably easier to get into a decent business school with a company sponsorship? My undergrad GPA is horrendous: 2.76. However, I'm doing really well in grad school, and my advisers are all very happy with my work so far. Does my GPA obliterate my chances at getting into a decent program? I know the GMAT is also an important criteria for this whole thing, but I'm really worried my GPA will automatically disqualify me from the schools I'm interested in. Any advice is appreciated! Thank you -SR

Hi all, I wasn't sure where to post this, so I hope it is ok that I have posted this thread in the "Research" folder... I just finished my first year in a Masters in Biotechnology program at Brown University, did alright: 2 As 2 Bs. But my research/lab work is really great, according to my thesis advisor. She is really happy with my work and results, and has been pushing for me to apply for funding towards a PhD in her lab. Today, I discussed this whole thing with a PhD student in my department who just transitioned from Masters to PhD and she received the NSF grant to fund her project! I was very inspired by what she had to say, but now I'm a little freaked out. My undergraduate transcript is TERRIBLE: cumulative GPA was 2.77 and major was biological sciences from UC Irvine. I was thoroughly shocked when I got in to Brown, but I think my work and internship experience was really the only thing that was decent in my application. Anyways, I'm really striving towards this NSF grant, and I have a few ideas for a PhD project proposal! I am really excited to start the project, but I obviously need funding before applying to the program. As an internal applicant, I have to still go through the formalities of applying and interviewing, but I need to score funding first. Now my question is, how am I going to make up for this horrible GPA from my undergrad years? I can provide my work/intern/volunteering experience in this thread, but I'm just very worried I will be rejected like most people who apply for this grant. I know there are other grants/foundations that award students with funding for projects, but I'm sure I still need to prove to them that my determination is not defined by my undergrad grades. If anyone has any advice or guidance on this subject, that would be greatly appreciated. I am also writing to some previous mentors who have probably been through this process themselves. I just wanted to get as much advice as possible. Thanks! SR

Hi all, I've posted in here many times in the past when I was applying to masters programs. I got accepted to Brown University for the Masters in biotech program, and I've been here for almost 2 full semesters now! I really love the research I'm doing here, and it's been a great experience overall. Something really great happened yesterday when I was in the lab...my PI/thesis advisor approached me after reading my most recent progress report, and she said we need to apply for funding ASAP because she wants me to do a PhD in her lab! It was all very exciting, but then I got to thinking seriously about it. I would love to do my PhD in this lab at Brown, I'm just not familiar with the logistics of it. My PI is the director of the biotech program at Brown, and she is very established in her field. Would they look at my undergrad GPA even if I'm applying as an internal applicant? I have some school-specific questions that I can ask other people, but my main concern is my undergrad GPA which was pretty bad (2.76). My graduate GPA is a 3.75 so far, and my thesis work is really extensive and I've gotten a lot of feedback saying it's like a mini-PhD already. I really would need to think it through, but I hope that since I'm already a part of the lab, and already have a project I'm actively working on, I would have an advantage in getting accepted to the PhD program. If anyone has experience in this matter, please let me know. Any advice is appreciated. Thanks. SR

Hey shadowclaw, I only had one interview and that was with Drexel. They asked me about my low grades and wanted to know if I'd be a good candidate for this program knowing that my grades were that low. I told them my grades at the time didn't reflect my true potential. After about a month, I was accepted into the program, but I had chosen Brown a few weeks before. I'm really happy to say that after my first semester at Brown, I got straight As in my classes!!! So I feel like I definitely didn't shine in my undergrad years due to immaturity and lack of direction and focus.

@GeoDude, I got into Brown for a Masters in Biotech with a sub-3.0 GPA. It's possible! Now I'm thinking about applying to their PhD program next year...

Hi all, I received an email from the program director telling us to find a thesis advisor AND research advisor...does that mean I'll be doing two separate projects while in my Masters program? I don't want to sound really dumb to my director so I'm going to ask this question on here first lol. I am interested in a few projects which is good, but I want to be focused on ONE so that I can put all my energy into that...

I definitely think your experiences make you a more competitive applicant...I don't know too much about your field, so I guess it's best to wait until someone else posts on here what they think. I'm sorry I can't be much help, I just thought I'd put in my 2 cents and say, it is possible to get into grad schools with less than perfect grades!

Well, I don't know much about the grading system in Venezuela. I have a 2.76 GPA from my undergrad (out of 4.0) which is very low for applying to grad schools, and I managed to get into Brown for a Masters program. I think a lot of the application depends on your extracurricular experiences and work experience. I was able to get plenty of research experience in my field, so I'm very lucky to have a decent background when I applied to programs. I had a 160Q, 148V, and 4.0 AW. Someone on this forum told me point blank that my chance was really low at getting in to any of the schools I had applied to, which was somewhat true, but I managed to get into an Ivy League program. So I think a lot of it goes beyond your grades and GRE scores. What other experience do you have?

180Q? I thought it was out of 170..