<p>Hi everyone,</p>
<p>I'm an undergraduate senior looking to pursue a Ph.D. in Immunology. After doing a bit of research, I think my dream school is UCSF, although obviously I'd be very pleased to get into any school of that caliber.</p>
<p>I came into this major half way through my college career, and I had a pretty rough Freshman year. Right now my GPA is out of my hands, as is my undergraduate research experience. I'm wondering what I can do until that point to improve my chances of getting into a top-tier school.</p>
<p>Stats:
School: Small Liberal arts, mid-20s USNWR ranking
Major: Biology, and Political Science (BA)
GPA: 3.5 (if I'm lucky this semester, 3.55)
GRE: Have not taken, but I'm scoring in the 95% on practice tests
Research experience: 1 semester, plus a summer. No papers.</p>
<p>My current plan is to start working at a lab as a junior scientist this semester. By the time I apply, I will have been working there for a year. Is a year and a half to two years of experience, plus 2 strong, 1 moderate LoR enough to overcome a 3.5 GPA? Or would I need to wait another year or two, and continue to work at this lab?</p>
<p>Two more questions: How does the double major affect my application? And I'm currently in San Francisco on vacation. Would it be worthwhile to get in touch with a faculty member at UCSF to talk about their research/this process, even though I won't be applying until October?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>Have you done any community service? colleges usually love to see this.</p>
<p>
For an Immunology PhD program? That’s not the impression that I get. Still, if you’ve got it you can include it in your CV or the appropriate field in some (maybe 3/10 of mine had such “other” fields) applications.</p>
<p>Postpone applying to grad school and work in a lab as a technician for at least 2 years. Best decision I’ve made! Just realize that UCSF is extremely competitive. I’m talking about over 700 applicants for 28 spots in BMS. Honestly, 1 semester and 1 summer of experience is not a lot. I have around 5 years (5 semesters, 1 summer internship, and 2.5 years working), good/great stats and a LOR from UCSF and I don’t have an interview (as of right now).</p>
<p>You might want to look through the 2012 Official Biosciences Interviews and Results thread or find the 2011 thread and read stats/find out who got in where. Realize that the people on these forums are most likely the top 10% or so of applicants. Most applicants do not have their stats, but you will be competing against them - especially at places like UCSF.</p>
<p>Also I heard something about large state schools requiring the subject GRE (they say “strongly recommended”). And I don’t know a ton on the topic of contacting profs, but personally I wouldn’t bother them now because they’re currently concerned with interviewing the current applicants. I think late spring or summer would be a better time to contact.</p>