PHD program chances

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I currently have a 3.4 GPA. My goal is to end college with a 3.5 GPA, but I really don’t know how well that is going to go. I still have to pass this semester of physics, and I am taking organic chemistry this summer which I nearly failed the first time around and had to drop out of.

Worst case scenario I end college with a 3.3 GPA. I am currently majoring in Cell Biology and Neuroscience, but I would like to go into neuropsychology research, so I would probably be applying to a psychology Ph.D. program. I am minoring in psychology and have received almost perfect grades in all of my psych classes, with only one B+ and all other A’s. The lower GPA comes from my math grades and math based science grades. (Chemistry, pre-calc, physics, organic chemistry bombed me. I am mostly an A student with an occasional B in all other non-math based science electives)

With that in mind, my other credentials…

  1. I have been working in a research lab since summer of my freshman year. I will have 100+ hours of lab experience. I currently have my own project which is related to autism research. (Not really my field of interest, but they don't have research in my area of interest at my school). With luck, I just may be published. (Not as a first author or anything, I'd be pretty low on the list I think, but still, it would be better than nothing.)
  2. I've already taken one scientific writing course and gotten an A in it and was actually invited to submit my paper to present on it at a conference. If that happens I feel that would look good as it shows I have skills in writing scientific papers? Furthermore I am taking a course on writing grant proposals which I am currently earning all A's in, so I will hopefully end with an A in that as well, demonstrating I will be able to successfully write grants, I hope? (I know pHD programs want to see you would be good at research, so I'm trying to think of related things) I am a skilled writer and my application essay will likely be good.
  3. I have not yet taken the GRE's but am confident I will get a decently high score. Nothing outrageous, but high. I've been working through practice study guides and get very high marks on the practice tests. I got a 1980 on my SAT's back when they still had a full writing portion, so I feel my GRE score will be in that same area comparatively.

An issue I have is professor recommendations. I will be able to get one from my PI, but I attend a very large university with huge class sizes and do not know how many more recommendations I will be able to get and am not even sure how I’m going to go about doing so. He’s also an animal science professor, so that may look strange…but he is running neuroscience research in his lab.

Also I don’t know if this helps but I have a clear idea of what I want to research and study and will be able to give specific details on what I am looking to work on to whatever programs I apply to. (I’m actually not even sure if you’re meant to do that? I don’t know much about the application process, I am trying to figure it out as I go along.)

Anyhow that’s everything. Thank you very much for feedback!

2

Also I’m sorry if I have posted anything similar to this before, my situation is always changing and I have pretty constant anxiety over this.

3

First…relax. You didn’t say what year you are in, but I am assuming you are a junior? If you are a junior, my recommendation is this summer to do research with a different professor or apply for an internship. You should be actively meeting with your professors during office hours to get acquainted with them. It’s okay to have a reference from a professor that is in a different field as long as your work with them is in the area of interest. My daughter is a senior (Chemistry Major) at a small school (Williams College) and even she had struggles with recommendations. She was able to get a bio professor and a chemistry professor to write recommendations. Her overall GPA is 3.4 and chemistry GPA is probably around 3.7. She has applied to 5 schools and have heard from 3. She has been accepted into 2 PHD programs thus far. So keep working hard, it will pay off. There are lots of opportunities and one will be a perfect fit for you. Hope this helps. Oh and she only took the GRE (not subject Chemistry GRE).