<p>I'm currently a junior undergraduate, and I'm not sure what are good options for graduate programs for me to apply to. Some info:</p>
<p>Major: (Biological) Chemistry
Minor: Applied Math
University: SUNY Stony Brook
Research interests: Computational chemistry, physical biology, quantum chemistry, biotechnology, quantum/biological computers
GPA: About 2.7 right now, I have time to bring it to 3.0
GRE: Have not taken it yet
Research experience: I was in a lab my sophomore year in which I did molecular mechanics simulations of organic molecules. I'm currently in a lab which does molecular dynamics (and still sort of informally keeping up with what's going on in the old lab). I'll be doing a summer research program next summer as well. I'm last author on a paper in JACS.
Location: Northeastern US, but I'll consider traveling if there's a very good option elsewhere</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for your help!</p>
<p>The best thing you can do is to do a bit of leg work and identify the programs which are most interesting to you. Then speak to your faculty mentors about whether they would advise you to apply. With a 2.7 GPA as a junior, you will have to work hard to bring it up to a 3.0. If you can do that, you will have a good story to tell about how well you have done in your last two years of undergraduate work. This will improve your application but I would not pin your hopes on getting into the most selective graduate programs. Choose one or two of those and apply to several less selective programs which you would be happy to attend and which offer the kind of research that you are specifically interested in.</p>
<p>Yes, you’re unlikely to find good tailored recommendations here, because we simply don’t have the volume of people in your field and because we don’t know your specific research interests. The best way to get information on this is:</p>
<p>1) Ask your research supervisors/mentors about programs, especially ones that do the kind of research you want to do. They know where their top colleagues in the field are.</p>
<p>2) Read some recent journal articles in your field that appeal to you and excite you. Note who the authors are, and note which authors appear multiple times on a lot of papers that interest you. Then look up where those authors teach and do research.</p>
<p>3) Visit the webpages of top chemistry PhD programs and browse through the faculty pages to see what their research interests are. You can find a list of rough reputational rankings if you look for the NRC rankings (they are about 10 years old, and IMO they aren’t meant to be taken as an exact ordering of programs, but rather a rough indicator of the relatively quality of groups of programs).</p>
<p>There are no shortcuts to this process; it can be tedious, and it takes a lot of footwork. But it’s necessary.</p>
<p>I also agree with @xraymancs. If your goal is a PhD, with a 2.7, you should consider doing an MS in chemistry first to prove that you can handle graduate level work. Many very selective MS programs also may not consider you unless you are otherwise outstanding. So if your goal is an MS, I would apply to wide range of programs.</p>