I’m a sophomore who is interested in applying to relatively top ranked grad schools for a PhD (MIT, Caltech) because particular research groups there greatly align with my interests. However, I’m worried that I started research too late (beginning of sophomore year) to have a good chance at admission. I’m a double major in chem and biochem and I have a 4.0 gpa but I know research is weighted heavily. I can graduate in three years so I plan to use my final year for full time research, in hopes of gaining authorship on my current project. Would this compensate for starting research a little late? Also, is getting a masters/doing a post-bacc program any good to boost my application?
At this stage, you should focus getting in MIT or Caltech REU programs coming summer (here is summary list from NSF, Search REU Sites | NSF - National Science Foundation) If not, try to get highly ranked graduate program’s REU.
Meanwhile, your UG faculty will need to be your biggest supporter. I assume you have shared your thoughts about your ambition to MIT or Caltech?
Don’t graduate early - take more math, CS, foreign languages, or something to make it 4 years. For chemistry, you won’t need master degree for PhD. It won’t help much.
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Beginning of sophomore year is definitely not to late to get into top ranked grad schools in Chem if you keep going and have at least one (ideally two) summers of research. The critical piece that will come from this (aside from getting experience and making sure you really really like research) is really going to be the letter you get from your research advisor.
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Our college sophomore is currently applying for her first REUs for this summer in a STEM field- so very much in the same place as you, and her (excellent) advisor says it is totally fine. (BTW she is targeting 10-12 summer programs so don’t just turn in a few applications- they are super competitive).
She’s also looking at top programs for her field. In addition to research experience, be sure to go through all of the graduate admissions pages of the schools you are interested in - she has had to pick up extra courses to meet pre-reqs for some of the institutions she’s targeting. And I second the recommendation to not graduate early - she could as well, but will not…get in as much coursework and research as you can in 4 years to strengthen your application.
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Sophomore year of university is not too late to start getting involved in research.
It is relatively common for graduate students in general (whether master’s degree students, PhD students, or something else) to have some work experience after getting their bachelor’s degree and before applying to graduate programs. If you are interested in research, this is likely to be research related work.
One daughter is currently getting a PhD (in a biomedical field, a subfield of biology). She started doing research as a sophomore in university. After graduation she got a research job that was similar to what she was doing her last 2 years of undergrad. All of this research work, both while an undergraduate student and after getting her bachelor’s, were an important part of what helped her get accepted to a good PhD program. Related letters of reference are important. She could have graduated at least one semester early, but intentionally did not do this because the research that she was involved in was sufficiently interesting that she wanted to take the time to continue the research.
Definitely think about what sorts of research are interesting to you. Getting research experience should help in this area. Then look for graduate programs where specific research is being done that is interesting to you. I got to tour some of the research efforts at MIT recently due to visiting for a reunion (I got my bachelor’s degree there a long time ago) and there is indeed a huge amount of research of many different types being done at MIT. However, there is also a lot being done at a very long list of other universities. Look for a good fit and keep an open mind.
Admissions to PhD programs can be very, very competitive, with many very strong applicants and very low acceptance rates (low single percentage).
I remember a researcher at MIT defining research as “You might fail”. Since you are trying to do something that no one has ever done, it is of course very likely that your results will not be, at least at first, quite what you expected. I also remember many years ago when I was working at a research facility and we were getting low readings on our sensors. We had to figure out where the apparently missing electrons were going. This took some effort but we did eventually figure it out. This sort of “track down problems” of one kind or another will of course be common, and can be interesting.
In terms of getting a master’s degree I think that it can go either way but more often it is not needed. Personally I was not accepted to PhD programs before I got my master’s degree, but was accepted after I got my master’s. I decided to get a job rather than a PhD, but apparently in my case the master’s degree would have helped (my GPA was quite a bit better in the master’s program than it had been when I was an undergraduate). My daughter got accepted to a PhD program that was a good fit for her without getting a master’s degree, and most of the other students in the same program similarly do not have a master’s degree. As far as I know they all had research experience before getting accepted to the PhD program, and also all had a good idea of what research they wanted to do and why.
To me it sounds like you are doing very well.
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So, my kid is applying to grad schools this cycle.
First, no you didn’t start too late. You have a couple of years. Most applicants have two years of experience by the end of their undergrad.
However, a good piece of advice that my kid got and followed: do not apply to PhD programs right out of undergrad. Take a couple of years to work in an academic lab as a lab tech. A very high percent of students who start a PhD immediately after their undergrad burn out. That will also allow you to add more years of experience, and allow you to work on publications. That is more conducive for mental health for most students than starting to apply to PhD programs during your senior year on top of all the rest.
Also, do NOT try to finish your undergrad in three years. It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon, to use an already overused metaphor. You want to have have a good transcript - not only by way of grades, but by way of the depth of the material that you studied. You cannot do that in three years.
You should know that the competition for entry to the top programs in Biochem is very fierce. They are receiving 600+ applications from which they will accept no more than 20. At least 1/2 of those are applicants with outstanding credentials from top programs. You may have to go through more than one cycle before you get a graduate position.
That being said, credentials are not everything - fit is critical. The programs are looking for the applicants who have the right mix of experience, understanding of the field, and interest in the particular areas of the faculty who are looking for grad students for their lab. If the faculty members studying ion channels in neurons are not accepting grad students to their lab that year, and applicant who is interested in studying ion channels in neurons will likely not be invited for an interview, no matter how great their profile is.
Rather than try and explain what a “good profile” requires, here is a blog which I recommend that you read. She is in Neuroscience, but it is relevant for Biochem as well: All About PhD Applications | lucy lai
Good Luck!
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I’ll provide the contrarian view here. My kid is also applying for a STEM PhD this cycle, but in Earth Sciences. He is graduating early, in 2025 at 3 years of undergrad. He started in a research lab during second semester of freshman year, so will have 2.5 years of research in by the time he graduates. He is also an undergrad Teaching Assistant and teaches lab sections on his own. His letters of rec are excellent.
He researched and then reached out to several PIs, and had ongoing conversations with 2 of them since last summer. He ended up applying to 4 programs. He worked with a PI at one of the schools he is applying to (which is a top one in his field)on a proposal for an NSF graduate research fellowship. Another of the schools he applied to is flying him out this month for an early meet and greet in advance of the weekend later in the spring, and he’s already had conversations with the other grad students in that lab.
His advisors have no qualms about him doing this now with 3 years undergrad, nor about him only applying to 4 programs (all of which are prestigious). The specific sub-field he is studying is small. I’m now a little nervous for him with reading the other posts in this topic, but he’s confident so I’m going to trust he will end up where he is meant to be.
Good luck to everyone!
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