What are my chances? - Graduate school

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hey all,

I’m in my senior year of my undergrad at a large state university that is pretty average (think top 100-150 in the nation). I’m pretty set on graduate school but sort of curious about my chances of getting into top-ish good programs. I understand that grad admissions are highly dependent on what is actually in your letter of recs and personal statement but you all might provide some valuable insights.

Intended grad programs: Biophysics (Top-25 ranked schools), a not-awesome-ranked physics program at a large state U as a backup, maybe a chem program as another backup

Major: Biochemistry and Biophysics (BB), Minor: Physics
- The BB major basically has you do through Gen chem (1st year), Ochem (2nd year), Biochem and Pchem (3rd year), and biophysics (4th year) as as well as gen physics, genetics, cell bio, biochem labs, and experimental chem labs.
- My physics minor is almost good enough for a major (I think I’m about 5 classes short and my school is on a quarter system)…my adviser described it as ‘the most well deserved minor I’ve ever seen’… by the time I graduate I’ll have the ‘core’ of E&M, Thermo, Quantum, Classical Mech, Electronics, Computational physics, and possibly optics if there are no course conflicts.

Scores and Grades:
- GRE general: 162 V (91st %-ile), 169 Q (96th %-ile), and 4.0 Writing (60th %-ile)
- GPA: 3.88 overall
- 3.82 in major, my only Bs were in Cell Bio and genetic biochem,
- 4.00 in classroom-based chemistry courses, Probably 3.7-3.8 in chem labs
- 4.00 in my physics ‘minor’

Research/Other experience:
- I’ve worked in a biochem lab for about 2 years, presented 2 posters, and will be on a paper that will probably be published around spring
- I’ve become proficient and knowledgeable in pretty much every basic biochem technique - westerns, qPCR, ELIZA, DNA/RNA sequence analysis, protein/dna/rna isolation, as well as some microbiome work.
- The lab I’ve worked in does not do biophysics, which I’m thinking may work against me in admissions…but on the other hand I will be more familiar with biochem techniques than other applicants…anyone care to let me know what they think?
- I TA’d calc based General physics for a year.

Letters of rec will be from:
-the professor I’ve been working for these past 2 years
-the head undergrad physics adviser (who I TA’d for)

  • a physics professor who I’ve taken 3 classes from and have gotten to know a little bit

Let me know what you think about my chances for top-25 biophysics programs or anything you think might be important for me to address in a personal statement!!

2

Both physics and chem have their own subject specific GRE, and most good programs either require or ‘strongly encourage’ them. The physics GRE Is famously challenging.

Remember that the stronger you are as an applicant the better your package will be (which matters, unless you are prepared to fund yourself).

Spend some time researching universities that are doing research in areas that are interesting to you: the fit and your ability to articulate why you want to spend 5 years doing research in their lab is a big part of the process.

If your underlying question is ‘can I get into a top program from a middling uni’ the answer is yes- in principle. Finding programs that are a good fit will be the key.