<p>I would like to apply to a PhD program in Molecular and Cell Biology. The schools I am most interested in attending are Stanford, Yale, Chicago, Michigan, Emory, and Vanderbilt. Here is some information about me:</p>
<p>GPA: 3.678 at a top tier university
GRE: (V:580, Q: 670)</p>
<p>I have lots of leadership and service experience including teaching undergraduate chemistry labs, workshop leader in biology and chemistry, biology peer advising, as well as being the research coordinator (executive board) of my schools BBB honor society. I did research in inorganic chemistry for a year and a half and am currently doing a post-baccalaureate research education program at the university of Kansas in Developmental Neurobiology. I have attended several national conferences and research symposiums and am a member of several honor societies. I have only one poster presentation and I have not yet been published. But I also worked while in college. I have excellent LOR's and a very well-written SOP. HELP!! I want to get into a great program.</p>
<p>You’re GRE Q score is low (I normally wouldn’t say anything about that as the GRE is such a minor component of an bio. application, but being below 700 stands out - not in a good way). Your GPA is probably fine (I don’t know what kinds of classes you took or the rep your your schools grading). Your research in inorganic chem isn’t bio-related (right?), so that’s not worth as much as your post-grad dev bio research - how long are you doing that for? Research experience is what’s going to get you in (and your LORs (anyone name worthy?) and SOP – articulate well why you want to go to grad school and why <em>that</em> particular school). Tutoring/teaching/etc. is nice.</p>
<p>So I registered to take the GRE again in August since I was unhappy with my scores as well. My undergraduate degree is in Biology from the University of Miami. My research in Chemistry is only minimally related to Biology but the research program I am in now will be a year long and should last until the time I begin graduate school (assuming I am accepted, lol). I have one LOR from my Chemistry PI, one from my current PI in developmental neurobiology (who is well respected in the c.elegans world) and one from a previous teacher who is very involved in getting minorities into research…oh yeah, i’m a hispanic minority…so i’m hoping that will also help get me in? What should I be shooting for on this new GRE? Do you think they will be looking at it less since not much information will be known about the new GRE?</p>
<p>I can’t say that is necessarly a bad GRE (>1200 comp), which is used for cutoffs at most schools. For Univ. of Michigan’s PIBS program, the average Quant score was 720 last year, which is not blockbuster for one of the better schools in the country (they didn’t post the SD). I would just say apply to a broad range of schools. It sort of irritates me on this board somewhat because some make it seem as if you don’t get a 780+Q you are screwed in grad school application process. While your scores may not be good enough for Harvard, they are good enough for other places. That should not be a deal breaker. If you really want a PhD, then you will go to where you are a good fit, regardless of reputation. My supervisor is from Nigeria and he did his PhD at the Univ. of Western Ontario, because he liked the work being done there, not because of the reputation of the school. He left there and did a post-doc at Univ. of Tennessee-Knoxville, and was hired soon after by P&G as a scientist. He did it and had substantually less resources than many of us do. He wanted to be an Electrochemist, and he did it. Achieve your goal.</p>
<p>I think a good question to ask (if you haven’t already) is why you want to go to the schools you’ve chosen. While rank isn’t the most important (although many will argue it’s certainly a factor), it’s more important to make sure that there are professors there whose research you’re interested in.</p>
<p>Once you’ve gotten a good set of schools you’re interested in, I’d recommend applying. My scores/stats were worse than yours in most cases (3.3 GPA from unknown school, 1400 GRE, less than a year of research in undergrad), but I’m now entering my second year in the neuro program at UMich. Just make sure you’re able to articulate why you want to do research and why THAT school in particular is a great fit.</p>