<p>Thanks to everyone for helping me out- I sincerely appreciate this. I’ve read and reread your posts, and I think this is a fantastic starting point to work out what I’m going to do with my situation. I went through and took every point from this thread and posted it in this list in case anyone in a similar situation wants a reference.</p>
<p>Thanks again for all the suggestions - having such a great resource available makes dealing with this situation much less stressful.</p>
<p>The plan before application-time</p>
<p>-cool the frat, wear earplugs, go to bed early
-work really really really really hard next semester & the next (to up that in-major GPA i signed up for 5 major classes)</p>
<p>Plan A - apply to grad school directly</p>
<p>-will probably get rejected globally, be ready for it
-package myself well (show but not state that i was a lab rat who was more interested in research than reading textbooks, but realized classes were still important after being inspired by the lab)
-no upward trend in the grades</p>
<p>answering the bad grades question
-bad grades in school might help me be a better candidate since i’m more motivated/focused now and have more to lose
-working in a lab gave me the motivation necessary to raise the grades
-I used to party and meet girls, but now I’ve seen the light and I’m ready to work, i grew up</p>
<p>Plan B - apply to masters programs & jobs</p>
<p>-apply to masters programs also (applied math & comp bio - jessiehl has me pegged)
-post undergrad job for a few years (lab tech, hospital, research institute, etc)</p>
<p>Afterthoughts</p>
<p>-isn’t the fraternity’s fault, and the frat was fun
-networking gets you places, sometimes farther than those who did the work
-boring professors shouldn’t stop me from enjoying a subject i plan to specialize in
-Randy pausch pulled some strings (for different reasons: he was a jerk), get allstar PI to make some calls
-should i really go to grad school?
-need to see a scantily clad girl and a partial differential equation and feel similarly :)</p>