u/First-Wrongdoer-1340

I’m an incoming senior trying to figure out what PhD program category I should realistically aim for in the future based on my research interests. My interests are mainly around programmable biology, synthetic biology, gene regulation. And my lab experience is mostly biochem related but in future I might try to involve in some sort of comp work and I am not a hater for dry lab （not a master as well.）
One thing my PI mentioned recently is that doing more advanced engineering biology still requires a very deep understanding of fundamentals, which made me start wondering whether I actually fit better in Chem, ChemBio, CBE, BioE, or traditional Biology programs.
For people in these fields, how different do these programs actually feel at the PhD application and research-training level?

Especially at top programs like MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Caltech, etc.

Is there a meaningful difference in selectivity via those programs?
I’m also curious how much undergraduate GPA matters differently across these fields.
And what kind of course they would like see ing me taking?
(My main major is Biochem but I will take 2-3 ML and comp bio classes in future)

I’m an incoming senior trying to figure out what PhD program category I should realistically aim for in the future based on my research interests. My interests are mainly around programmable biology, synthetic biology, gene regulation. And my lab experience is mostly biochem related but in future I might try to involve in some sort of comp work and I am not a heater for dry lab but not a master as well.
One thing my PI mentioned recently is that doing more advanced engineering like biology still requires a very deep understanding of fundamentals, which made me start wondering whether I actually fit better in Chem, ChemBio, CBE, BioE, or traditional Biology programs.
For people in these fields, how different do these programs actually feel at the PhD application and research-training level?

Especially at top programs like MIT, Stanford, Harvard, Caltech, etc.

Is there a meaningful difference in selectivity via those programs?
I’m also curious how much undergraduate GPA matters differently across these fields.
And what kind of course they would like to see me taking?
(My main major is Biochem but I will take 2-3 ML and comp bio classes in future)

I’ve been feeling really anxious lately and wanted to ask for some honest advice from people who’ve been through the PhD application process.
I genuinely love biology/biomedical science, and my dream has always been to apply to top tier PhD programs in fields like BioE, ChemBio, CBE, etc, my dream schools are like California Institute of Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and Stanford University.
But this semester I ended up getting a C+ in immunology, and honestly it’s been hitting me really hard. At the beginning of the semester I was dealing with some pretty bad physical health issues, and I completely bombed the first midterm (around 30%). After that I worked really hard and improved a lot on later exams, but mathematically I could only recover to a C+ overall.
What makes me anxious is that even if I keep mostly A/A- grades from now on, my final GPA will probably end up somewhere around ~3.80 instead of 3.9+ GPA that seems so common among applicants to these programs. And even though I may not ultimately specialize in immunology specifically, having a C+ in a core bio class feels like a huge stain on my application.
So I wanted to ask
For people who got into top BioE/ChemBio/CBE/biology PhD programs, how damaging is one grade like this realistically?
Is strong research experience enough to offset it? And how strong?
What matters most at that level:
I know there are many incredibly strong applicants out there, so I’ve honestly been feeling pretty discouraged lately. I’d really appreciate any honest advice or perspective from people who’ve gone through this process.