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Thank you for your help in advance.

I am considering PhD programs in the biology of aging. I am a 2020 college graduate with a Chemistry BA from a top 25 university in the US. During this time, I published 4 papers - 1 third-author publication in organic chemistry (JOC), and three clinical research papers (2nd author) in an area of applied medicine (think prosthetics, PT, etc. - I was also considering med school at the time).

I worked in the technology sector for two years after graduating and that is where I currently am right now. A lot of life experiences have sparked my interest in the biology of aging and I would like to contribute to the longevity field asap. I believe I can be a strong scientist in this area given my previous background in chemistry - where I also took biology courses, and performed lab research in both chem and bio. I have spent the last few months reading the literature in this field and have become more familiar with it.

My issue is I began an online master's program in computer science during these years, and I'm not doing very well in it. My GPA is around a 2.85 with two Withdrawals (Ws). This is a fully remote degree from a well-ranked institution, which allowed me to work my full-time software development job alongside the degree. There is no research or thesis involved in the degree - you can think of it as an accelerated bachelors with sprinklings of grad degree courses. I thought it was a good move at the time because I was unsure of what I wanted to do post-graduation, and I had the opportunity to work in tech, so I decided to get the degree because I did not have a formal background in CS. However, I realized now that while I love programming, it's more of a hobby and niche interest, and after working 8-9 hour days doing that as a software developer, the last thing I want to do is study more CS. Heck, I spend most of my free-time reading about stem cell biology and the like.

I would really like to attempt applications for PhD either starting fall 2023 or fall 2024 (although earlier is preferable). Do you have any advice on how to remedy this situation? Also, would a PhD program be willing to overlook those grades given that they are in an unrelated field (is CS distanced enough from biology?).

Flabbergaster5
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  • Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. – Community Jul 18 '22 at 14:17
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    To tailor the linked duplicate a bit to your specific circumstances: Grades further from your major will matter less than grades closer to your area of study. How much less depends entirely on the individual people making admissions decisions and the other applications they review. PhD admissions in the US are broad-based, so strength in any area can help outweigh weakness in another, but it's not about your application being sufficient to some standard, it's about your application being better than other applicants; your chances depend entirely on other applicants and the committee. – Bryan Krause Jul 18 '22 at 16:27
  • "Also, would a PhD program be willing to overlook those grades given that they are in an unrelated field (is CS distanced enough from biology)" I think you are missing one part of the meat-reading of the grade system, which is "how good you are at following certain topics". Even more, if I should judge "french" knowledge of a candidate, and the candidate has only exams in "computational linguistics", I would judge the mark more than the exams themselves ... because I have no idea about the content of "computational linguistics" and I rely on my peers'judgements (the peers giving you marks) – EarlGrey Jul 19 '22 at 15:56

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