<p>First, an aside.</p>
<p>Let me tell you, as someone who has been in pursuit of a PhD for 5 years and has the rest of another one to go before reaching it: you do not ever do this ish just for “a trophy degree.” There is a big difference between getting an MD because you actually want to be a doctor, even if you only want to be a doctor for the prestige and salary it confers, and getting a PhD that you don’t plan to use just to have a diploma on the wall.</p>
<p>Let me be the first to tell you that it is simply not worth it.</p>
<p>I love research, I like academia and I do want a career in this field - and sometimes the PhD experience has been inspiring and enriching - but a PhD is a miserable experience at times, and the lows are WAY worse than the highs. My 3rd and 4th years (TWO WHOLE YEARS!!) were the lowest points in my life. Nearly 60% of PhD students report feeling depression so crushing that they felt unable to function for an extended period of time at least once in their graduate career. The summer between year 4 and year 5, I literally did not want to get out of bed at all and thought that being dead was probably better than being a doctoral student. And my entire cohort has been in psychological counseling at one period or another. If you already have mental health issues, PhD work will exacerbate them.</p>
<p>When you do it because you really need and want the credential to teach and do research in your field, then it’s kind of worth slogging through all of the crap. The reward you get, hopefully, is the chance at 30-40 years in the career of your dreams. But just to put a piece of paper on the wall? Not. Worth. It.</p>
<p>That’s why people keep saying here that a PhD should not be a “lifelong dream.” It’s a means to an end. It’s like purchasing a car or studying for the bar. You get it because you need it to do something specific (be a researcher and/or teacher in higher education). If you don’t need it, you don’t get it. Even if it doesn’t cost you a dime, you are losing out on all of the earnings (including retirement savings) in the 5, 6, 7+ years it takes you to earn the degree. You are paying an enormous price just for a piece of paper to put on the wall and a vague sense of accomplishment (that may end up getting crushed beneath the depression and anxiety you feel).</p>
<p>But…assuming that you will ignore that advice and do it anyway…</p>
<p>-You’re a sophomore - you have time to raise your GPA, at least a little. Buckle down and study hard, aim for As from here on out and try to raise your GPA as much as possible. Then dedicate the rest of your time to making the rest of your record look as good as possible:</p>
<p>-Get into research with a professor. It doesn’t matter if it’s directly related to your own interests yet, you just need the experience. Research experiences is a <em>requirement</em> for good science PhD programs, and you stand little chance of admission without some. When you do do research with someone, look for any and all opportunities to publish with this person or present at national or regional research conferences. </p>
<p>-Look around for summer research internships. These are also things that help you get admitted. The NSF sponsors some (called REUs) and also if you do a Google search for “summer undergraduate research in geology” you should find more. They usually accept rising juniors and seniors (and occasionally rising sophomores). Applications are usually due between January and March, although some are due as early as December. These are usually very competitive, so apply to a LOT and make sure your applications are as perfect as possible. Some will have minimum GPA requirements, but a few will not.</p>
<p>-Next year, you need to spend a lot of time thinking about your research interests and what you want to pursue for the next 6ish years of your life. This is so that you can 1) craft a list of programs that is perfectly tailored towards your interests, and 2) write a statement of purpose that articulately explains your own interests and preparation for graduate school.</p>
<p>-Study study study for the GRE. You are aiming to score in the 80th percentile or higher so you can take a little of the heat off your GPA. It won’t make up for it, but it can help.</p>
<p>When you get to senior year, if you have an otherwise outstanding application (2+ years of research, 1-2 summers of research, high GRE scores, glowing letters of recommendation, clearly delineated research goals and a set of programs that are tailored to your interests) and a GPA of above - I would say - 2.8, then go ahead and apply widely to BOTH PhD and MS programs. It’s unlikely that you’ll get into a PhD program, but hey, if that’s you’re only goal then invest and take a shot. Normally I tell people to shoot high, to only apply to mid-ranked programs if they are strong in your subfield or have an excellent advisor, and to ignore low-ranked PhD programs completely. But since your goal is simply to get a PhD and not to actually get an academic job after that, then you can apply to a range of programs and may even want to strategically add some mid-ranked and low-ranked programs so you can get in somewhere.</p>
<p>Also apply to some high- and mid-ranked MS programs.</p>
<p>If you get into a PhD program, congrats, you can embark on your journey.</p>
<p>If not, then often an MS program can be the road to a PhD. That’s two more years of research experience, a thesis, and more recommendation letters, plus a chance to redeem your GPA.</p>
<p>If you don’t have higher than 2.8, I wouldn’t even bother applying to PhDs - just apply directly to MS programs and use that experience to leverage yourself into a PhD program.</p>