<p>Hi,
I need some advice on applying to Grad school for a Masters program in Microbiology or Biotechnology/Biomedical Engineering.</p>
<p>I am a current undergrad at a University and I am about to receive my B.S. In Biotechnology/Biomedical Engineering.<br>
Some background on me first.</p>
<p>I started school in 2003 and I was a solid A-B Student. I then met my wife and we got married at the end of 2004. In turn, I had to stop going to school full time and drop down to part time status in order to support the two of us. The entire time I was working about 60 hours a week and taking an average of 8-10 credit hours per semester. During the next three years following my marriage my grades had suffered tremendously, because I was in a very stressful relationship and it was hard to cope with that as well as study for the classes that I had (it takes a lot of time to study in the sciences, especially chemistry). After the three years of "He!!" we finally got a divorce because she was cheating on me with her boss at work.<br>
After this, my grades seemed to miraculously improve and I have been able to maintain a solid 4.0 GPA ever since. I will be graduating in the Fall of this year (2010) and I recently took the GRE and made a 1550. I was able to bring my GPA up from a 1.98 to a 2.85 in the course of 2 years. What I want to know is what my chances are for getting into a Graduate program in either Microbiology/Biotechnology/Biomedical Engineering. Any information at all would be very helpful. </p>
<p>How about research experience? Having a prof or two to back up your ability may be the key.</p>
<p>Another option is to do post-bach and raise your GPA to 3.0 because many graduate divisions are very strict about this sort of requirement; talk to the person in charge of admission in the department to check if the department can waive the GPA requirement.</p>
<p>How about opting for a course-based master at your current school, and acing several graduate level bio-related courses to demonstrate your knowledge?
This, along with some explanation on your poor performance before, might seem legitimate to grad school adcoms.</p>
<p>You should set up meetings with your advisor, and with one or two of the professors whose classes you have done exceptionally well in to discuss your specific situation. They know what you have done in your classes, have a sense of your potential, and can compare you to other students that they have known through the years. Your situation may not be as grim as you think right now, or it may be more grim. Until you ask one of the experts, you really won’t know.</p>
<p>Hi,
Thanks for the response. I was thinking about going into the Air Force for at least 4 years in their Scientist program as an Officer. Do you think that would help my odds out in being accepted to graduate school due the fact that I would be receiving 4 years of high tech training in a related field?</p>
<p>You’re just going for a masters, so I don’t think taking four years to “get experience” is a very good idea (unless you wanted to do the Air Force gig anyways). If you don’t have any research experience, taking one or at most two years of being a full-time lab assistant or tech would do wonders for you. </p>
<p>You’ll really want to look at the program websites that you’re interested in, though. Depending on what programs interest you, you could be plenty qualified as is. Especially in biomedical sciences, I get the impression that MS programs are for people who want a PhD but don’t have research experience, or people who don’t know whether they want to do a PhD for sure yet. If this is the case, you really really don’t want to spend four years doing something else before you even try applying.</p>
<p>Hi,
I would much rather go to grad school then the Air Force. I just thought that some work experience would help me out for getting accepted somewhere. However if you think that I look good enough now, I would like to try for Grad School instead. Also my school has a program where I can participate in an internship with a local Biomedical/Biotechnology company for a year as part of my degree program. Do you think that would help out my situation? We also have another program that I was going to look into that allows for us to do a 3 month internship at the Pasteur institute in France on a major Biomedical Research project. I was contemplating participating in that as well to try and help my odds for acceptance into a program somewhere. Thank you very much for your information and responses.</p>
<p>Do the local internship. What a great opportunity! It will help you figure out your professional goals, and will give you good contacts in the industry. The Pasteur Institute option is nice as well, and I’m sure it would look good on your resume, but the local internship is more likely to give you the contacts that will help you get a job in your field.</p>
<p>Here is my recommendation:
Take an extra year off.
In this year, do lab work somewhere (research), probably at your university. Get a really solid letter of recommendation.</p>
<p>Take a few more classes in the meantime until you reach 3.0 gpa. This is really the magic number. I’m confident you’ll be able to do this if you’re getting 4.0’s. </p>
<p>At that point, you will be set to get into some decent masters programs. Apply to many, just to be safe.</p>