<p>I am looking to go get my Masters in Evolutionary Biology/Ecology </p>
<p>But I am confused as to what to apply for. Some universities do not have an Evolutionary Biology department so should I apply for the more general Biology in those cases and do research with a professor in evolution? Or, should I just eliminate those schools that do not have a department in Evolution?</p>
<p>Also if anyone would like to suggest schools for me based on my stats below that would be great.</p>
<p>Stats:</p>
<p>Senior Minority B.S. Biology major at top tier LAC (Top 50 overall according to Forbes)
GPA: 3.0 currently (hopefully 3.1 by end of senior year). Had a 2.5 at end of freshman year so there has been slight improvement since then.
-2 years of Breast Cancer Research. Will end in a publication.
-Accepted into Scholar Research Program and will do research on the Evolution of Aging over winter break and into spring semester. Will hopeful conclude with a published paper
-Biophysics Research Group member
-Wrote a review paper on EPIgenetics which will hopefully get published (professor hasn't mentioned anything about it but the less he talks to his students about their work the more he likes it. His silence is one of the best compliments I have gotten from him.)
-TA for Evolutionary Biology lab
-Started a Biology Club (currently President)
-No GRE yet. Plan on also taking Biology GRE to try to offset my low gpa</p>
<p>My list so far:</p>
<p>University of Rhode Island
College of William and Mary
FSU
Uniersity of Montana
Royal Institute of Technology (Sweden)
Rutgers
Georgetown
Tufts
UVA
Ohio State
Vandy
Ann-Arbor
Yale
UChicago
Rice
UPenn
Carnegie Mellon
University of Georgia
Emory
Columbia
University of Rochester
UConn</p>
<p>I know I have a lot of "reaches", especially in the bottom half</p>
<p>Thanks a lot people!
gradschoo is online now</p>
<p>The problem with that it seems is that the schools with programs in a wide range of specialties such as cell biology, biophysics, or evolutionary biology are also the schools that appear to be the most competitive to get in. If I applied to only the schools with a program in evolutionary biology then I would be applying to all reach schools.</p>
<p>Thanks Loricg. You’re right. Rejection from a program that is a good fit is better than acceptance into a program that isn’t right for me and my interests. </p>
<p>Now that that is out of the way does anyone want to suggest schools that have good evolutionary biology programs?</p>
<p>In my opinion you should find the people you want to work with and use that to decide whether the department is an appropriate fit. As long as there are a few professors whose research interests match yours, who cares what the name of the department is?</p>
<p>You have 22 PhD programs on your list - that is too many, especially if you are just beginning now. Even if you did start earlier, though, 22 programs is too many. I would say that the max most PhD applicants apply to is about 12-15, and most applicants apply to 7-10 good-fit programs.</p>
<p>Application to grad school doesn’t fit into the reach/match/safety paradigm that undergrad applications do. All of the programs you’re applying to SHOULD be very competitive, well-ranked programs. You don’t want to get a PhD from a low-ranked program. So yes, I agree with Loricg - there shouldn’t be any “safety” or “backup” schools on your list.</p>
<p>So select the ~7-12 programs on your list that are the best fit for you, and apply. You may also want to apply to a few funded biology MS programs because of your low GPA. If you don’t get into a PhD program, do an MS in biology or work as a lab tech for a few years and try again.</p>
<p>juillet,
I am planning on earning a masters first because of my low gpa but I also want to look into a few PhD programs. I have been looking at schools that have a separate evolutionary biology program/department that grant degrees instead of just biology. Here is my updated list:</p>
<p>Granting MS
UKansas
UMichigan
FSU
UPitt
UOregon
Rice
UMissouri
Tufts
Tulane
Columbia </p>
<p>PhD
Emory
Ohio State
UChicago
UHouston
Yale</p>
<p>I will probably apply to all of the ones that grant masters degrees and 1 to 3 that only grant PhDs.</p>
<p>Also I am taking a gap year so that I could do research or something and then apply for Fall 2015. Forgot to mention. I’m only doing this now because I have been stuck at school during Thanksgiving break with not much to do.</p>
<p>Thats how I felt at first but I just think its kind of risky. Coming from a liberal arts school I have had my fair share of classes that don’t necessarily interest me fully (even within the biology department) but are needed to fill the requirements. I would like to go into EvoBio so that I can be fully engaged and not have to deal with topics that I am not really interested in. If I could major in Evolutionary Biology at my liberal arts school, I probably would.</p>