<p>Hello, I'm going to apply for Ph.D in biomedical science field. I took my first GRE couple days ago, and the score was 560V,740Q. Many people told me that my score is still a bit above the average so it should be fine, but I'm still not sure if that is really fine. </p>
<p>major: Biology BA (class of 2009)
GPA: 3.81/4.00 (major 3.83)</p>
<p>Research: 1 year of undergrad research at the Pharmacology lab. Although I was an undergrad, I had my own projects from the beginning, and my name was listed on the abstract that my trainee presented at the International meeting this summer. (<-- how should I describe or elaborate this in my application by the way?)</p>
<p>LOR:
one from my research professor (he would definitely write me a good one), two from science major professors, and the problem is I don't seem to have any good science professors who know me well enough, so I'm just gonna have to find any professors who would write a good letter for me..</p>
<p>Schools to apply:
UT Southwestern Univ
Baylor Medical School
Emory Univ
U of Washington
UT Austin<br>
...and so on</p>
<p>Here are some questions I want to ask:
1. Do public grad schools admit more state residents, like public undergrad universities do? (I guess not, though.)</p>
<ol>
<li><p>What is your opinion about my chances for those schools I'm applying to?
(some of those schools are ranked among top schools.. do I even have a chance to get into a top phd program without more research experiences or master's??)</p></li>
<li><p>Should I retake GRE to improve scores?</p></li>
<li><p>I'm interested in biomedical science research. Would it be okay if I get one of LORs from my Chemistry professor who is a dean of my undegrad department? Like I mentioned above, I don't have any professors who particularly know me well, so im just wondering if a letter from a dean (Chem prof.) would be more effective than a letter from a biology professor from my freshmen year.</p></li>
<li><p>How competitive is it to get into biomedical grad programs? I mean.. each program selects only 20 people out of 1000 or more applicants, right? but am I competitive enough?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you guys in advance!!</p>