I’m a senior at Wash U which has a pretty competitive chemistry program. I am graduating with a 3.03 with a math and chemistry major. I have been working in research sine my sophomore year and have 3 pretty strong LoR. I got a 162(verbal),165(quant), 5.5(analytical) on my GRE. I also have been published. Is my GPA going to eliminate my chances of getting into a top tier chem PhD program?
3.03 overall, or 3.03 in your major?
If you did great in Chem and Math, but bombed comp lit and sociology, your GPA won’t eliminate your chances. If the 3.03 was in your chem and math classes, then - depending on how you define “top tier” programs - yeah, you’re probably out of luck.
^Yeah, this. If you had a 3.03 overall GPA but a 3.67 major GPA, for example, your chances aren’t necessarily tanked. If your major GPA is about the same…you might have more of an uphill battle.
You might consider targeting some top tier MS programs, especially if you can find funded ones.
I applied for a master’s degree in Operations Research (basically a branch of mathematics) with a C and a D in two art classes. These two classes had done bad things to my overall GPA. I am pretty sure that graduate school admissions did not care at all about my inability to do well in art classes.
You might want to recompute your GPA considering only your grades in courses that are academically relevant to your major.
Washington University is a great school. Your research experience should help. Strong LoR’s will help. It is hard to gauge your chances.
I do agree that you might need to get a master’s first and then apply for PhD programs with the benefit of your grades during your master’s program.
What do your professors say? The ones who are willing to write those LORs are the ones best positioned to advise you.