<p>I'm sure people are going to be telling me that it's too early to be worrying about graduate school and that I should be enjoying my college life...but I'll save that enjoying until tomorrow night :]</p>
<p>Anyways, I'm a sophomore at Indiana U pursuing a B.S in biology. I'm also pursuing a minor in political science (I want it to be a major, but IU has this stupid policy that you can't pursue two B.S degrees in the College of Arts and Sciences, and getting a B.A in poli sci would require me to take a bunch of extra culture studies and humanities classes, and who honestly has time for that?), which I know is not a traditional undergraduate path for someone interested in the sciences. I've currently got a 3.24 GPA, 3.0 in the sciences alone, after having taken Organic I and II, currently in organic lab, 3 100 and 200 level biology courses, and I'm also currently in a 300 level immunology course. I'm working on getting into a lab, however, undergraduate research positions can be hard to come by until seniors graduate.</p>
<p>But my question is this: I've been told by my advisor and several professors that having that political science stuff on my transcript is really a good thing, because it shows that I have a passion in something other than science. But yet I'm reading on some of the threads here that having a seperate passion is bad, because it doesn't allow you to delve into the sciences portion of my undergrad. Is this really true? Basically, are my grad school chances going to be hurt because I made the choice to take 300 level poli sci courses as a freshman instead of biology courses? </p>
<p>I'll be finishing my minor in poli sci after this semester, and will subsequently dive into the rest of my bio major and finish my language/physics/chem requirements. I want to do cancer based research, however, I also wish to make it a point that I would like to additionally pursue science based governmental policies as well, which is where my poli sci background comes in. I feel that having my poli sci background will help me navigate the lovely world of grant writing and funding, among other things, and that my science background gives me a different perspective on the world of politics.</p>
<p>What do you guys think? I'm open to any opinions and advice, thanks!</p>
<p>For starters, congrats on the maturity to be interested in research before you have a tons of relevant coursework. The research will put the advanced coursework in context and you can become an active participant in the learning process instead of an observer (eg wow, how did they discover this pathway or that isn't intuitive, how did they come up with that explanation).</p>
<p>I think having a related passion will be very advantageous for you. Less related double majors or minors aren't necessarily bad, as long as they don't take time away from your science training. Political science is very related in exactly the way you suggest- science and technology policy. I also think that it is some of the 'old guard' mentality that only people who want to become professors should go to grad school. At a time when one in five post docs ever gets a tenure track position, we need to adjust our thinking about what grad school is good for. Providing the appropriate training to think like a scientist and solve complex problems is important for a lot of things, like leading a company, advising business decision makers, forming public policy, crafting public health campaigns, discovering new therapeutics and on and on.</p>
<p>You're in your first semester of sophomore year. Get into a lab as soon as possible. The sooner the better, don't wait for an easier schedule semester or put it off. Also, once you are in a lab, take some iniative even if you don't know what you're doing. Best of luck.</p>
<p>I don;t think that it really matters one way or the other-- they will judge you on your bio coursework, letters of rec, and research. Some faculty will be interested-- john stam at UW asked me about what other academic interests I had, but most won't care. You probably want to do research this summer, if at all possible (summer positions can be easier to get, and don't need to be at your school-- but deadlines for most programs are coming up quickly)</p>
<p>I agree with ec1234 -- it's not going to hurt you, because they're not going to care. As long as the minor doesn't prevent you from taking a number of upper-level biology classes (which it sounds like it doesn't), it won't matter.</p>
<p>I majored in aerospace engineering with a minor in political science and had a similar cumulative GPA. I tied my interest in politics and government into the aerospace field (especially since defense contracts make up so much of the industry) in my statement of purpose. I don't know what the admissions committees thought but I got accepted to multiple top ten programs.</p>
<p>Hey, a fellow Hoosier! I'll be graduating with my Bio BS this May. I definitely wouldn't say having more than one passion is a "bad thing" as long as your grades stay up in your main discipline--over the past few years I've dallied with a Psych BS, German BA, and Biochem BS, plus I have a habit if taking random humanities courses that take up a ton of time for no degree credit >.> As for the taking a lot of poli sci in freshman year, it doesn't matter. As long as you fill the prereqs for your future grad program, you're good.</p>
<p>I'm not sure poli sci has much to do with grant writing--if you want practice in that you should take Lit in Biology with Prof. Winterman--but there's a ton of opportunities for biologists in government. Prof. Spencer Hall, who teaches the Invertebrate Zoology lecture, spent a year in Washington doing policy-type work (of course, he found out he hated it and decided to come here and devote his life to daphnids. Warning: if you get into a lab here, avoid the daphnids unless you want to spend a ton of time filtering lake water).</p>
<p>P.S. When I was a sophomore everyone told me to stop worrying and party too. Then my parents' retirement went <em>poof</em> and I'm graduating a year early--good thing I worried :D</p>
<p>Yeah, I just like to be on top of things. Plus I'm absolutely paranoid that my 3.24 cumulative GPA is too low to get into a decent grad school, although I've been told it's not. I'm working on getting into a lab and I'm finishing my poli sci minor this semester so I don't have to take any more of those classes (even though they keep me sane from organic!), and so I'll basically have about half my junior year and all my senior year to take the upper level bio classes I need and want to take. I mainly asked because I have a TON of friends who almost look down on the fact that I take and enjoy humanities classes...</p>
<p>PS--To my fellow Hoosier...I heard about the daphnid story from a different professor, and my main question was why you'd want to work with daphnids in the first place? Plus lake and pond water just stinks anyways. Personal preference, I guess. I myself had the pleasure of experiencing Malacinski's pipe cleaner lectures for molecular bio, but I loved the class and aced it...his teaching style was, interesting, to say the least</p>
<p>Don't fret about the 3.24. I had a 3.3 in undergrad and I have gotten interviews at 7 of the 8 places I applied to including the likes of Duke, Baylor, UNC, Vanderbilt and other highly regarded places. I too spent a lot of time worrying about average undergrad gpas and chances of admission. That really didn't help things.</p>
<p>Don't fret about investing time and effort in a poly sci minor. You should always pursue and develop your passions. Graduate school is really an apprenticeship (read vocational training). Your undergraduate time is when you get the broad base to develop your creativity (very important if you are to pursue science in grad school).</p>
<p>On a separate note, do try to find summer research experience in an academic or for profit industrial lab.</p>
<p>Daphnids themselves are awesome; taking care of them is horrible. They clone themselves quickly, their characteristics are easy to identify with the naked eye, their DNA/RNA is easy to harvest, they respond strongly to environmental cues, /and/ you can make them go sexual for spiffy crosses (unfortunately, they also tend to go sexual when you don't want them to if too many of them amass in a beaker--hence the need to switch them out every couple of weeks). You can do most of that with bacteria, but they don't look as cute :) Mostly they're just useful for measuring the health of a lake or messing with their heads (putting fish pheromones in the water, making them think night and day come every couple of hours....)</p>
<p>I'm glad to hear you got a good teacher for 211. I would probably be stoned by adoring fans for saying this out loud, but I got the professor who teaches by making videos of himself jumping into a pool to rock music and /hated/ it. Didn't learn a thing, besides the fact that grapes move slowly through highly concentrated jello. And he's really good at smashing glass with a huge hammer.</p>