Sophomore Yalie with Concerns

Graduate School
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<p>I am sophomore at Yale pursuing a MB&B major (Molecular biophysics and biochemistry).
My gpa is only a 3.48, and after this semester, I imagine it will hover around 3.48, or slightly below. However, this summer I will be doing research full-time and will be taking classes to increase my gpa. I will also be preparing for the GREs. </p>

<p>I want to go to graduate school for my PhD and afterward possibly pursue an MBA.
I hope to work for a biotech/pharmaceutical company or in government. </p>

<p>After my junior year, I will take a year off in China to master the language (hopefully, fully funded by Yale). After graduation, if I don't head off to grad school immediately, I am considering working in a lab for a year. </p>

<p>I would like to go to a top grad program, but more and more, being surrounded by stellar friends (with gpas close to 3.8) in my science courses that are not premed, I don't know what my chances will be. Would Harvard or Stanford be completely out of reach for me? What should I do? How can I stand out from the 3.8 gpa students that will most likely have the same research experience as me?</p>

<p>Thank you in advance</p>

2

<p>If you wanted to go into a phd/mba grad program, with an endgame of gov/business relations in the health field, than a few years in a government agency that deals with pharm/hmo/bio corporations.
Maybe a year or two working for health & human services and a year at a pharm corporation would give you some solid references, and some good work experience. (World Health Organization or a UN program would work wonder as well!)
Government/Business relations is the field I hope to eventually get into, and I have done a lot of research into it. You have to have practical experience and connections on both sides of the ball to excel. Massive amounts of education are only a component to success… but do not believe for a minute that an undergrad/grad degree from an ivy league school won’t propel you in the right direction. (Government agencies love the ivy league!)</p>

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No, not as long as you have strong research experience. Science PhD programs give some leeway in terms of GPA for people with solid research, especially for people who come from top schools.</p>

<p>I had a 3.3 applying from MIT and I had no problem getting into all of the top biology PhD programs.</p>

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<p>Your major includes biology, chemistry, and physics in the title! I apologize for my ignorance, but is this a biology major? Each field is different.</p>

<p>I disagree with molliebatmit about the sciences in general. Physics is highly score dependent, and for very good reason. Physics majors must be proficient in the basics as well as have solid research in order to be considered for graduate school. I think UCSB has a “requirement” of a 800+ on the Physics GRE (on their website), which indicates that they take scores very seriously. I’ve seen these sorts of requirements for most top physics schools. Chemistry is more lax, but it’s very hard to overcome a mediocre GPA. However, since the OP comes from a difficult school, that works in the OPs favor.</p>

<p>If this is indeed a biology major, then I agree completely with molliebatmit. I’d like to point out that different departments put different weights on the application, so the OP should definitely apply to more than just Harvard and Stanford. </p>

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<p>What matters most is what you have contributed and how you have contributed to the research. Hypothetically, if you’ve contributed the same amount as someone with a 3.8 GPA who has spent three times as much time doing research, I’d argue that you have more potential. 6 years of undergraduate research isn’t always a good thing; there’s a point of diminishing returns, and I’ve seen it. Graduate schools are admitting people based off research potential.</p>

<p>With that said, you surely have contributed to research in different ways than your peers. You can stand out by having a different research experience than them. If your peers put in 10 hours a week, you can put in 20 hours a week. If you take independent control over your project, my experience leads me to believe that some PIs will allow you to have more input into the research direction, which works in your favor. There are many ways to contribute to a lab; you should be able to identify what more you can do.</p>

<p>I read somewhere on here that Harvard BBS has a 25% admittance rate.</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/604009-how-hard-mit-harvard-health-sciences-technology.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/graduate-school/604009-how-hard-mit-harvard-health-sciences-technology.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>This statistic is definitely in your favor if it’s true. I don’t necessarily believe it, though, given that physics and chemistry admittance rates are more than 1/2 that percentage (closer to 1/3 of that percentage in general from what I’ve seen). I know Yale’s entire graduate school admitted ~5% (~500/9500) this year, so I have a hard time believing that Harvard number.</p>

<p>As far as I have researched the topic, the government/industry/etc. recognizes all top programs in the specific field. It’s not like the government favors Brown Biology over MIT/Johns Hopkins/Rockefeller/SRI/Stanford/Berkeley/Caltech etc. Biology (Top 10 programs) - that just doesn’t make sense.</p>

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<p>I think applicant self-selection (in determining which programs to apply to) is a very significant factor in biological sciences Ph.D. program admissions.</p>

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<p>Did the OP not state that his/her intent was to go into business/government relations in the bio-health field?
In this case, would a phd/mba (in, say, biomedial science) with a couple years at a major health organization be the best route? Obviously not for a academic or research career, but for a government related application… getting lost in 4 to 8 years of research is unnecessary for a government/business relations career.
I am simply going by resumes and bio’s of top officials in h&h services, who, and hmo execs…</p>