Hey guys, it’s me again, with a new assortment of questions about grad school. I graduated this year with a math degree, and I want to go to grad school within the next couple of years, and I want to study computational biology in grad school. However, my GPA wasn’t stellar (2.76/4), so what would I need to do to overcome that? And aside from that, how hard would the switch between fields be? I know I could knock out the math requirements, and I think (and hope) I could get out of some low-level chem and CS classes, but what else would I need to take?
Well, you’d probably need to take a range of biology classes - probably a year of introductory/general biology, probably biochemistry, probably some core biology classes with a computational emphasis to them. I’d imagine you’d need at least 5-7 biology courses to be minimally prepared for a PhD program in computational biology; you’d probably need some more to be competitive with other applicants for programs. (Probably fewer for MS programs). If you haven’t already taken chemistry and physics (a year of each, likely) you’d probably have to take those, and you’d also have to take some computer science coursework.
The best thing you can do is do really well in this prerequisite coursework, but also taking some time between now and graduate school is a good idea as well.
Also, do you have any biological research experience? Because you’ll need that, too.
Ok, thank you for the help. I’ve had three semesters of computer science, both semesters of general physics and both semesters of general chemistry, and I took a microbiology class, but other than that, no biology classes. Because of that, I have no biological research experience, but that shouldn’t be too hard to get. I only want to do a Master’s for now. I have no immediate plans to pursue a PhD.
So I could take all the courses that you mentioned in a year right? Because I don’t want to spend any more money on classes than necessary.