Hi Russ,
I had a similar GPA but was very fortunate to have faculty who
believed in me took the time and effort to help me gain entry to
graduate school. I took some graduate courses at my undergraduate
institution (U. Nebraska Omaha) and transferred to U. Nebraska
Lincoln for my masters. I was accepted provisionally at Arizona
State University and successfully completed my doctoral research in
comparative physiology. It was years later that I was given grant
support to train in neurosciences and finally almost 30 years after
graduating from college, I am exactly where I hoped to be (well, I
never actually considered living in paradise).
The point?
It takes help from others and it takes perseverance, but a low GPA is
more of a motivating factor than a barrier.
rlh
>Russ Gibson wrote:
>> > Hi there.. I'm about to receive my B.S. in physics, and I have a strong
> > interest in pursuing a Ph.D. in cognitive neuroscience.
>Fortunately, my GREs
> > are excellent, and I have done research for several great
>professors who are
> > willing to give me stellar recommendations. Unfortunately, I have a 2.5 GPA
> > (it took me a while to get on-track in college, change of majors, major
> > death in family, etc, etc.).
> >
> > Do I have a snowball's chance in hell of getting into grad school?
> >
> > At this point, I have pretty much written off prestigious research
> > universities, and am hoping to get accepted to a state university somewhere
> > with a smaller department, less prestigious reputation, etc. Given the
> > extremely competitive nature of admission into neuroscience programs, I'm
> > also considering another discipline, something like biomedical engineering
> > or straight biology research. Would this help? Do I have a chance?
> >
> > Any and all feedback would be greatly appreciated.
> >
> > Russ Gibson
> > rgibson at netdoor.com>>don't assume that grade point averages are weighted heavily. some program
>weight them heavily, other's don't. place some calls to admissions offices or
>the actual departments you are interested in. Ask them how they weight GPA vs
>GRE vs recommendations and publications, etc. You might be
>surprised in finding
>that you still may have a chance with the "prestigious schools."
>>mark
>>>--
>**************
>We might well ask if anything which cannot be addressed in scientific terms is
>really worthy of our attention. Yet most of the things that give life its
>depth, meaning, and value are impervious to science.
> Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.
> Kitchen Table Wisdom
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Richard L. Hall, Ph.D.
Comparative Animal Physiologist
University of the Virgin Islands
2 John Brewers Bay
St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. 00802
340-693-1386
340-693-1385 FAX
rhall at uvi.edu
"Live life on the edge...the view is always better" rlh
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