<p>Lets assume you have a nice cv with good research experience but its not in an area you want to go into for your phd…ie experience is in microbiology and you want to go into dev. bio. Will this factor weigh heavily against acceptance into a dev bio phd program?
Thanks.</p>
<p>I think I’m somewhat qualified to answer your question, since I majored in microbiology and recently got accepted into a developmental genetics PhD program. In my experience, it doesn’t really matter your background as long as: </p>
<p>1) you have some experience/insight into what you want to go into (ie. both requires basic knowledge of genetics/cell biology, both requires familiarity with molecular biology techniques); </p>
<p>2) demonstrate an interest in the field you want to switch into (ie. ask a lot of questions, read up on recent papers); and </p>
<p>3) sell yourself properly. This is probably the most important. You need to be able to explain why (both in your application and your interviews) you want to switch fields, and why you are so interested in the new field. For me, even though I did microbiology work as an undergrad, I emphasized how I was always interested in gene regulation aspects of my research and how that got me interested in developmental genetics. </p>
<p>Switching from microbiology to dev. bio is not really that big of a jump. I’ve had microbi classmates who’ve gone onto grad school in engineering and finance, or went into med or dental school. It’s not unusual that people want to do new things after undergrad.</p>