<p>Hi Folks, haven't been here in ages. Can you tell me good grad schools for biology major, @ 3.2 undergrad GPA, medium tier private college. Son thinking research as career, possibly phd in diagnostic lab but pie in the sky thoughts about that now. Grad school must be collegetown atmosphere (no car). Thank you for your help, people!</p>
<p>UW (either one). UM. UNC/Duke. Wash U. UT Southwestern, Baylor. Oregon Health Sciences. etc.</p>
<p>Almost any flagship state U/med school from a populous state has a solid grad program in biomedical sciences.</p>
<p>Geographical preferences?</p>
<p>What area of biology? At the grad level, that makes a huge difference in what school you want to attend.</p>
<p>If OP's Son wants to work in a diagnostics company, then I assume molecular biology, cell biology, biochemistry, genetics, microbiology are some of the fields of interest to him. He will not go wrong with either of UWs (the "salmon" division or the "cheese" division, as defined by one of the posters on this board).</p>
<p>How much research has he done? And what kind of upper division classes has he taken? Those matter much more than his GPA.</p>
<p>What are his particular interests? Some schools while good may be lacking in some areas (ie Columbia in genomics) or be fantastic in some areas while merely good in others (UWashington in genomics). I use genomics because that is what I am applying for this year, so I know more about the genetics/genomics programs than about say microbiology or structural biology.</p>
<p>He may want to work in the field for a while before he jumps into grad school.
D received her BA in bio, but decided that after doing field and lab work, it wasn't for her.
A roommate recieved his degree in biochem & molecular bio and has been working on chemical research at OSHU ( in Portland)</p>
<p>Another friend with a BA bio degree is doing research at Fred Hutch in Seattle-( cancer center).
For grad school he should find who he wants to work with, & apply there.</p>
<p>Good point, Ek! Especially if the kid has not had any research experience. It will boost his chances for grad school acceptance.</p>
<p>if your son is interested in doing research for a year or two while figuring out what he wants to do, I would recommend the NIH post-bacc program. It's a pretty well defined program with a livable stipend. I think that its hard to apply to the place that you're working, because if you don't get accepted it will be quite awkward. But the NIH will give him access to world class research and hopefully a good recommendation or two, from quality and well known scientists. The NIH is on the redline of the metro, so you can live in DC and not need a car to get around.</p>
<p>Just out of interest, how hard/easy is it to get into a Biology PhD program with a 3.2 GPA from a "medium tier private college"? No agenda, just curious. (Well, maybe a little agenda, since this is one direction freshman son could want to go, and I know very little about it.)</p>
<p>I realize that a single GPA number doesn't really give a lot of information. It probably matters which courses a student does well in and which not. (I imagine a B- in 19th Century Feminist Lyric doesn't sink an application.) I'm sure a student's research experience and the quality of his recommendations/recommenders also matters. But what's the market here? Can a competent, hardworking, midrange student at someplace other than HYP or its equivalents compete for a slot at the kinds of universities people are talking about here?</p>
<p>It depends on the research experience, the research interests, and the letters of recommendation. I think that the top tier schools would be a reach, and that it is better to focus on slightly less top tier schools (NYU, Columbia, Vanderbilt, Duke, and Emory come to mind) as well as more safeties if he is sure that he wants to go to grad school.</p>
<p>As a point of reference, at my set of interviews for a small program at harvard, there were 5 people from princeton, 2 from harvard, 2 from MIT, one from some small college who was spending a year at harvard, one from Penn, one from Spelman College in Atlanta, and a couple of other people. I don't know what the grades of the people not from top schools was. </p>
<p>If he wants to go into academia as a career, assuming no stellar research experiences already, it would make sense to work for a year or two in a prestigious lab to get more experience and better recommendations. Science is a very small world, and a lot depends on prestige of the graduate school. Not so much for the actual prestige, but rather for who your advisor is and how well he or she is known. However, in industry I would imagine that it matters less.</p>
<p>The best grad program is the one who has the tenured professor he wants to work with, and who will support him into a fulfilling career. The rest is just a bunch of names. Virtually all the better flagship universities have excellent, well-funded departments, with plenty of opportunities to be a lab rat.</p>
<p>If he doesn't know who he wants to work with, he has a lot more homework to do.</p>
<p>Thats what I said ;)</p>
<p>OH BTW mini- I am coming down to Olympia to see John Jeavons speak at Evergreen this week( Im also hoping to get some material to interest D)</p>
<p>How is your D doing at Smith- or is she doing study abroad- is your other D still in school?</p>
<p>Thank you for all the interesting comments . Just starting to develop a feel for what is to come. Son is college Soph. but did well in Orgo, is taking all sciences and has his head above water , you know how that goes! Yes, he is doing the lab research. Last year he had the opportunity but had a miserable prof. who was too busy and wanted to take the summer off. He has another prof now and is doing the research. I can't say exactly what it is.
Also, thank you Emeraldkitty, and nice to see you again. Thank you for all information.</p>
<p>If he wants to go to a good graduate school it would look really good if he got accepted for an REU or SURF program this summer, preferably at a prestigious university. Almost every university offers one, and preference is given to students not at the top universities. The programs usually offer housing and a small stipend (~3000 for the summer) and have science talks and usually end with a poster session. They are quite competitive and the deadlines are probably pretty soon, so I would start applying. Harvard offers a program at the bauer <a href="http://www.sysbio.harvard.edu/csb/jobs/undergraduate.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.sysbio.harvard.edu/csb/jobs/undergraduate.html</a> that seems to be well run. NIH also runs a summer undergrad research program, but many of those jobs are gotten through contacts because the NIH is such a big place. Rockefeller and Sloan Kettering also offer programs, as do Princeton and Cold Spring Harbor, although CSH usually only accepts juniors.</p>
<p>He is going to need 3-4 letters of recommendation from professors that know him really well, so its good to have a couple of research experiences, not just one thing for your whole undergrad career. It is definitely helpful to have spent a summer at the place that you want to go to grad school. I was accepted very quickly at Rockefeller, in part because I worked there the summer after my sophomore year and did a decent job. I probably would have been accepted there anyway, but it was nice to have an acceptance only a week or so after the application was due.</p>
<p>Thanks very much ec1234. How did you work there? At Rockafeller? How did you apply? </p>
<p>Time passes so fast. Son is kind of involved in his college varsity tennis program and he is so tired after matches and practice. He just wants to do his college research job this year.</p>
<p>Second all the above information. GPA and GRE scores are important for grad school application, research experience and letters of rec are also very important. D did a summer REU at UPenn last summer that was a great experience and turning into a huge plus for her. And the stipend was greatly appreciated. ec1234 is correct though, many of the deadlines are between feb. 1-15. So if your son is interested he should get up to speed in applying quickly. Many of the summer REU's are supported by the national science foundation and searching the NSF homepage should get you to a list of potential summer placements.</p>
<p>
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If he doesn't know who he wants to work with, he has a lot more homework to do.
[/quote]
In theory correct but not quite so simple. Most faculty can't/won't commit to accepting prospective students directly to their lab. And the experience in the lab cannot be readily assessed from outside - which is why students usually "rotate" in several labs before choosing a thesis lab. So the homework involved is finding a place that has multiple investigators that seem appealing, and that have grad students who are generally happy (although "happy" and "grad student" usually do not go together).</p>
<p>I actually missed all of the deadlines for applying to the SURF programs my sophomore year, but I wanted to be in NYC because thats where my parents were spending the summer. So I asked my professor (who is a really big name, and has been aroudn for ever) if he knew of anyone I should work with in NY-- he had sent me to people at NIH the year earlier after I asked for a letter of recommendation from him for the program. He set me up with someone he knew at Rockefeller. So I wasn't in the official SURF program, but I knew people there that were. </p>
<p>At my school it was expected that you spend the summer between junior and senior years at school doing research, but its perfectly okay to do it the other way around. I Just think its helpful to experience some other places to get a feel for what kind of lab you want to work in, as there are very different dynamics. Also if his school doesnt have a large grad student presence, its useful to go to a lab where there are grad students so you can get opinions on grad school and the application process.</p>
<p>Most of the deadlines are February, so its good to keep in mind for next year, so that some time can be spent thinking about where he'd like to apply to.</p>
<p>backhandgrip, also wanted to say it's good that your son is beginning the exploration process now, giving himself the benefit of time. I've seen plenty of students get halfway through their first semester senior year, decide they want grad school and then realize they don't have enough time to get the applications done by deadline. Over on the graduate forum, there is a sticky thread titled: Graduate Schools Admissions 101. It has lots and lots of solid experiential advice for the grad school application process. My D has learned a great deal there (she who laughed at me for my love of this site, is now a covert!) Best of luck to your son.</p>
<p>He should just keep doing research, find out his interests, gain experience, show future schools that he has a reason to think he would like and be good at research. It will be especially useful for developing a relationship with a professor or several. They will hopefully be in the area he's interested in pursuing, and they can point you to where to apply (as well as write recs on his behalf).</p>
<p>It doesn't matter what USNWR rank his ug school is. Those rankings are for parents and highschool kids. Academics couldn't care less about it and the subfield of biology will have it's own ranking (as each discipline does). </p>
<p>Getting research experience and conveying he knows what he's getting into, great recs from his profs, great GRE scores, and he'll be fine.</p>