I am a Junior in college at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee right now going for Cell and Molecular Biology. I have been having a bad year grade-wise and I’m not sure what to do about it. I currently have a 3.8 GPA due to my hard work freshman and sophomore year to help pad it. But recently I have been studying my absolute hardest and only pulling Bs. Last semester I got a B in Organic Chemistry 2 and a B+ in Genetics. This semester I anticipate getting a B in Microbiology. I have been going through some mental health problems as I have been recently diagnosed with bipolar disorder however I can’t exactly put that on my application for grad school. I also have quite a bit of research experience in two different labs and have been to national conferences to present and have published but I don’t know if my downward spiral is going to look bad when I apply. I want to get into a good grad school and I was on a great track but now after these semesters I’m starting to feel really down about getting into the research I want to do. I love biology and research and I would be devastated if I couldn’t get in. Let alone what I would be able to do for work with only a bachelors in Cell and Molecular Biology. Any advice on what to do to get out of my slump and get my application back on track would be greatly appreciated.
First things first - you need to get your mental health needs addressed ASAP. This needs to be your number one priority. See a therapist, work on getting your required levels of medication straightened out. Your health should always, always, always be your priority. For your graduate schools applications you simply need to state that junior year you had some health problems that have since been resolved. There will be no more need to go into further detail than that.
A 3.8 GPA is excellent, and a semester or two of getting B’s in upper level course work is not going to kill your application. If you get your mental health needs addressed, I am sure that everything will be much easier. Keep working hard - go to office hours, form study groups with friends, read your text book, ask your professor questions. Don’t get down on yourself - you are on the right track and doing very well! It is great to hear that you’ve done considerable research, presented at a scientific conference, and have been published - these will be extremely important aspects of your application and your CV.
If you hope to apply to graduate school right after undergrad, make sure you take the GRE. Applications for biological/biomedical science PhD programs typically open in late summer/early fall and close around January or so. Taking the GRE this summer will need to be a priority if you want to go to graduate school straight out of undergrad.
If you decide to work for a few years after undergrad, that is great too. (That is the route I took.) You can work as a laboratory technician/research assistant/research technologist. etc to build your research experience and maybe even get a few more publications under your belt. There are plenty of opportunities for this in the Milwaukee area and elsewhere.
Feel free to message me with any other questions you may have.
B grades are not the end of the world, and a 3.8 is going to be competitive just about anywhere, especially coupled with what sounds like a considerable amount of substantial research experience, though it is concerning if you’re getting more Bs than As in upper level courses since you’re looking at grad school.
As for getting out of your slump, do you think the bipolar disorder has played a role in it? If so, your number one priority right now should be figuring out how to manage it, which will probably entail getting advice from or regularly seeing some kind of mental health professional. Take care of yourself first, and it will make taking care of everything else easier.
Bs are fine. Don’t worry about Bs.