<p>I'd like to apply to a PhD program dealing with algae biofuels, but I would start with a masters if I am not admitted into a PhD program directly.</p>
<p>So here's where I'm at. I am a molecular biology major with a gpa around 3.15 from UCSD. It will likely be a bit higher by the end of the year. </p>
<p>GRE:
Analytical:790 91%
Verbal:510 65%
Writing:5.5 94%</p>
<p>Bio GRE scheduled for November.</p>
<p>I do not have any on campus lab experience, but I have interned for 2 summers at Genentech, a large biopharmaceutical. Both summers were in a cell culture lab one in process research and one in manufacturing science. I was responsible for designing and running experiments with specific goals in mind and for analyzing the data. In short it was very hands on, very project based, and probably 6 of my 8 hours a day were in the lab. So thats 30 hours a week roughly 10 weeks per summer, 600 hours in the lab.</p>
<p>I have 2 letters of rec coming from my managers for those summers. I expect them to be very positive and I hope that they convey enough about the lab work that I did to deflect attention from my lack of on campus lab work. My last letter of recommendation though is giving me problems. I don't have great relations with really any professor. I emailed a professor that I felt I knew a little and had done well in her class, but she basically said that she would write a letter, but that I should really think about who I have write my letters....doesn't sound positive. So I'm still looking for the third.</p>
<p>My questions are
1) do I have a chance to get into a phd program (looking at Arizona state, colorado state, washington state, oregon state, etc)
2) how badly will a luke warm (he did well in my class...) type letter hurt me and is there anything I can do to improve it</p>
<p>Thanks in advance</p>
<p>DWIC is nearly useless in a rec letter because they can already see the grades on your transcripts and know what classes you did well in or not. And DWIC doesn’t address your potential to do research at all. So rack your brain to think if there was a class where you did work that the prof could address your research capabilities, much more valuable. Also, that prof seems to be signaling you that you’d do better with a stronger recomender. It does seem regretable you can’t produce one strong letter from your school faculty.</p>
<p>Maybe someone familiar with grad schools in your field can address your other questions.</p>
<p>Lab experience at a biotech will count as lab experience, though I would shy away from quantifying how many hours were spent, if you worked full time during the summers, say so. Your GPA is low but still within the ballpark, particularly for the universities that you mentioned. If the other two letters are good, a mediocre letter will just be ignored- it won’t hurt you but it won’t help.</p>
<p>I can’t help but notice that you picked state university system flagship schools for the states neighboring California. If you have a good reason for why this is, then all the best. However, if you did that under the impressions that Phd admissions at “State” universities will be different than those at “University of” universities, you are wrong. Also, I can understand the desire to remain within the region, fortunately your region contains some excellent choices. Grad school will be five or six years in just one lab, you should be looking for a lab (or couple of labs in one place), not a department or university. The idiosyncrasies of each lab can only be found out by communicating with people, best are current grad students or former grad students, next best are postdocs and for judging the environment of the lab, worst would be PI. It is certainly important that you like the PI and the subject matter and approaches, but a good lab is one that will afford you training opportunities and a supportive environment. Since you have a geographic region narrowed down and a general topic, algae fuels, picked out (and boy I hope you know what youre doing with that choice) it should be easy to pick out labs that we be good fits.</p>
<p>You are correct in being worried about your lack of a third letter. Although a weaker third letter is often the norm, the fact that none of strong letters come from academia may be an issue. Still, as Belevitt says, your Genentech experience will indeed count as research, and that’s a critical portion of your application. Make sure you supply specific details about what you researched and the techniques you learned in your research statement; that may make the difference in the outcome.</p>
<p>I can understand that your not-so-strong GPA has limited your ability to get LORs from your professors. If you really can’t come up with a better person, go with it, and hope that the results are good. I suggest applying to both PhD and master’s programs, the last because, if you don’t get into a PhD program, you’ll have another chance to develop ties with professors for future LORs, giving you a better chance at another round of PhD applications.</p>