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How strong is my application?

Posted: Mon May 05, 2014 8:48 pm
by Mediocre
Hello, I know the process can be quite subjective, but I was wondering if anyone could give me a ballpark idea of what schools I should be looking to apply to this fall? Which schools should I consider reach, safety, etc...

School - Top 10 Public US University
Overall GPA - 3.25
Physics GPA - 3.37 ( 3.75 Upper Divison...Really screwed up Freshman Year)

General GRE
Q: 168 (96%)
V: 164 (93%)
W: 5.0 (93%)

PGRE: 810 (73%) - Planning on taking again in September.

Come applications this December, I'll have a little over a year of experience in a low temperature/condensed matter experiment lab, but with no publication to show for it most likely. I also worked in a genetics lab and did biophysics-ish research for about half a year, back before I switched my major from Biophysics to Physics.

I was hoping to be able to get into a Top 25 School (without being unreasonable about expectations). Is that reasonable? Is there any possibility whatsoever of getting into a top 10 school (with my relatively poor Grades and somewhat lackluster research experience)?

If it helps I'll be expressing general interest in Low Temperature research.

Thank you sincerely in advance for any responses!