I am a Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior (NPB) undergrad student at UC Davis. I am taking my last year and a half (with 5th year) of classes. I transferred to UC Davis from UC Santa Cruz for my junior year; I completed lower div bio, gen chem, ochem, physics, and calc at UCSC. These are my projected gpa breakdowns:
GPA:
Overall gpa: 3.312 (upward trend)
Overall major gpa: 3.200 (upward trend)
UC Davis major gpa: 3.705 (upward trend)
I am retaking two D+'s, one NPB related the other is not. They were within two quarters and I had a family medical emergency, so I had a rough time. Other than that I have never gotten a D, and got one C- that was also during those bad quarters.
EXPERIENCE:
I have worked in a cognitive neuroscience lab since summer after freshman year at UC Davis, total I will work there for 5 years upon completing my 5th year. I am the coauthor of a paper soon to be published, am in the process of creating an experiment I will be a first author on, and will be a coauthor of another paper my colleague and I are creating.
LETTERS OF REC:
I will have strong letters of rec from both UCSC and UCD. I spent two days a week going to graduate student discussions regarding Alzheimer’s at UCSC and was offered a lab position, so two professors there would be options for letters of rec. The doctor I work for at UCD will write me a letter of rec, and I transferred to UCD because of the lab position only, so I’m sure that would be a strong letter of rec.
I’m concerned, because my overall gpa is very low. It didn’t click in my head that lower div classes mattered freshman and sophomore year. I am working to get all A’s this year, but if I don’t, my major gpa will be around a 3.149. I am committed to getting all A’s though and made it possible to do so. Ultimate goal is PhD at a top school, but I think I need a master’s first to bump my gpa up.
What do you all think? Anything else I can do besides work on grades? Thanks for your help!