<p>Hi, I'm a studnet at UCSD majoring in human bio, gpa being 3.6+ and I want to goto grad school, but I really don't know anything about it. I want to do bio or chem. I noticed lots of majors offered are Ph.D programs. Can I go directly from B.S to Ph.D? And what kind of gpa do you need to get into top graduate schools (MIT, Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley, etc)? I noticed science grad schools are lot easier than Medical school which requires around 3.8+. Do you think 3.7 is good enough for top-notch bio/chem graduate schools? Please help!</p>
<p>If you don’t know anything about graduate school, how do you know you want to do it?</p>
<p>Graduate school is not “two more years of college,” it is intensive training in research. Your GPA is a factor in admissions, but not the only one - or even the most important, necessarily. Do you have any research experience? Do you have any idea what graduate studies are about? Do you have any idea of what you want to research? Do you have any idea of what you want to do with a graduate degree?</p>
<p>You need to answer those questions before you decide to apply.</p>
<p>And no, that GPA alone will not get you admitted to those schools if you have no research experience.</p>
<p>I know what i want to do and also know that i need research and GRE all i said was i dont know around what gpa i need. because yes grad school consider all aspects but it is undeniable that i probably need certain gpa to be very competitive. that is what I’m asking.</p>
<p>I’d say a 3.6 GPA is a respectable GPA. At UC Davis (at least in the engineering school, not sure of the bio school) you need a 3.5 to qualify for a PhD program, and yes, you can apply directly into a PhD program straight out of undergrad. I would encourage that too, because PhD students are much more likely to get financial assistance in the form of assistantships and fellowships.</p>
<p>That said, in addition to top-tier schools you may want to apply to mid-tier schools as well. UC Davis has a well renown biology department, and it is worth considering. The University of Oregon is good as well. You may want to choose schools you apply to based on what the professors are researching, rather than just school ranking. You will be doing a lot of research, and you have to be interested in what you are researching.</p>
<p>You can go directly from undergrad to phd without a masters. A 3.7 would be a competitive GPA.</p>