<p>Female CA resident applying to:
UC Berkeley-MCB program
UCSF- BMS program
UC Davis-pharmacology and toxicology program
UCSD-biomedical sciences program
Stanford- chemical and systems biology, as well as cancer biology
Scripps Research Institute</p>
<p>Here are my stats:
-GPA 3.43 from UC Santa Cruz (had some poor grades my first year, however mostly A's after that)
-GRE scores 730Q 640V
-did undergraduate research for 7 months at UC Santa Cruz
-was a TA for an upper division biology lab course at UC Santa Cruz
-was offered a job as a lab manager and researcher at UC Berkeley right out of college and have spent the last 2.5 years in the same lab. I've worked on a variety of very different projects and have developed a broad skill set
-was chosen for a competitive veterinary medicine internship where I developed skills that I currently use in my research involving animals
-have two 3rd author papers, and am currently writing up two 1st author papers, but they probably won't be submitted before I send in my applications : (
-have three (supposedly) very strong letters of recommendation (from my undergraduate lab's PI, my current PI, and a fairly famous howard hughes investigator here at Berkeley whom I do a collaboration with). All of my recommenders will be able to demonstrate that I am capable of doing graduate level research.</p>
<p>Despite the less than stellar GPA and GRE scores I am thinking I have a decent chance at getting in SOMEWHERE due to my extensive research experience. What do you think?</p>
<p>If anyone reads this who is currently in one of the programs mentioned above and wants to give me some advice or a personal account of their experiences at these schools please tell me! Thanks!</p>
<p>HHMI rec will way a lot, as will your papers and research experience. But, your GPA is kinda weak -hopefully that won’t hurt you. Unless there are other negatives that you aren’t mentioning and you can write a decent SOP and you are a fairly normal person at interviews, I am pretty sure you will get into one of those schools. Besides the GPA, you look strong. I would encourage you to apply to other non-CA schools - even if you want to go to school in CA now, it’s good to see what’s out there (potential postdoc, collaborations, see the competition, or you never know, you could love somewhere you never expected)</p>
<p>To me, you sound very strong. Your GPA is lower than many applying to those schools only because of first-year grades – and programs tend to overlook the freshman adjustment period if an applicant is otherwise strong. Your 2.5 years of research at Berkeley will be the most important part of your application, so make sure you detail it properly in your SOP.</p>
<p>Yes it is too bad that my overall science GPA is just a 3.43 from a couple mediocre grades my first year. However my upper division major courses give me a GPA of 3.8 so I am fairly certain that will be taken into consideration :)</p>
<p>Hey, another UCSC alum! I graduated in 2008. I had a slightly higher overall GPA, but I still got into two top-15 schools (I only applied to 4). I had slightly lower GRE scores and 2.5 years of research as well.</p>
<p>Your research is great, your GPA will probably ding you at UCSF and Stanford, but you should definitely still apply. Also, any bio program worth its salt will fund you and give you a stipend, so state residency is not an issue (you will have to become a resident of the state though). I’m at UW, still a CA resident for this first year, but I get free tuition plus a salary. I recommend applying to some schools outside of California. If its the lifestyle you want, Portland and Seattle are very similar to the Bay Area.</p>