So I’m a molecular and cellular biology major and a junior at a pretty decent state school. I’ve got a 3.38 overall GPA and a 3.45 major GPA. I only started researching last semester and I feel like it’s a pretty cool lab but I’m definitely not going to be publishing anything anytime soon. My goal is to get into a molecular or developmental biology PhD program (ideally Northwestern or University of Chicago) but I’m afraid my resume is a little lacking. I did however just get a 12 week paid internship at a large pharmaceutical company working with muscular dystrophy and stem cells. I feel like this is an amazing opportunity but I’m unsure of how good this will actually look on an application. Will grad programs care about research done outside of academia? Will a company be able to write a good letter of rec for grad programs?
Thanks in advance
any research is good. Research that leads to pubs are better.
But you will need to step up your grades for Northwestern or Chicago. I’d guess the mean GPA of matriculants at those two schools is ~3.6+, with a GRE of 16x.
Companies don’t write letters - people do. But if you will be doing research at the pharma company, chances are good you will be working under the supervision of a PhD. Your recommenders for PhD programs should have PhDs, so if you are working with a PhD-holding scientist make sure to cultivate that relationship for - well, a variety of reasons, but a letter of recommendation is one of them.