<p>Hi all!</p>
<p>I am entering my senior year at the University of Arizona where I am double majoring in Applied Mathematics and in Molecular and Cellular Biology. I transferred to the UA from the local community college.</p>
<p>I have spent a semester abroad in Japan at a prestigious university where I worked in a biomedical engineering laboratory, I’ve held the NASA/Arizona Space Grant internship, have worked in a heat transfer/engineering lab, a genetics lab, and have participated in numerous state-wide and NASA sponsored weather balloon projects. I have also participated in NASA’s microgravity program, and while at community college I was a NASA National Community College Aerospace Scholar. I will also be joining a computational biology laboratory in conjunction with continuing my genetics lab research for my remaining year. </p>
<p>By graduation I will have taken four additional senior levels courses in neuroscience and mathematics not required by my majors. I spend upwards of 16 hours a day studying, 7 days a week, and it’s been this way the past 3 years since I started community college.</p>
<p>My concern is that I am really hoping to get into a graduate program in either bioengineering or neuroscience at MIT, Harvard, Tufts, etc, but I am not sure what my chances are given my community college background - I did exceptionally well there, but just the fact that I went to a community college concerns me.</p>
<p>The second issue is that I took biology 181 and 182 at community college, and since my major program that would apply to my desired graduate studies is biology, I’m not sure how poorly this will reflect.</p>
<p>I will be taking the GRE this summer so I can’t comment on what my GRE score is as of yet. My GPA is around 3.8. Lastly, I also do not yet have any papers published, but I will have great letters of recommendation from my neurogenetics and mathematics professors, and from my research professors.</p>
<p>Does anyone have any insight into the possibility of someone like me with the community college background I have getting into one of these prestigious universities? I’ve spoken with only a couple advisors about this lately, and they seem to have mixed feelings. Some believe that coming from community college and doing so well will actually benefit me greatly, others think that regardless of my success the community college will only detriment me. I’m starting to really stress out about it.</p>
<p>I greatly appreciate any advice or insight that anyone could provide. Much thanks in advance!</p>