Help/Advice for Undergraduate.
Hello everyone, this is another one of those help/advice posts.
Right now I have around a 3.17 GPA as a Biology BS major with a Chemistry minor. I have 1 more fall semester left and only need a few more classes, immunology being one of them.
Most of my upper division biology classes are Bs with some As. My weaker grades were mainly my early chemistry classes that I had to retake. Right now the main CLS classes are:
- B in Medical Microbiology
- B in Hematology
- probably at least a B in Immunology
- A in Quantitative Analysis
I also have about 2 years working as a lab assistant in my schools chemistry department and about 1 year of research experience under a professor. I think I can also get pretty good letters of recommendation.
I already know I probably won’t get accepted into a CLS program right after graduating, especially in California since everyone says it’s extremely competitive.
My current plan was to try getting experience in a medical/clinical lab setting first, maybe as a lab assistant, specimen processor, medical technician, etc for a year before applying. I also thought about phlebotomy but the classes are expensive in my area.
Does this sound realistic or am I being overly optimistic? Also do local CLS programs favor local's at all? And for anyone who ended up pivoting away from CLS, what career did you switch into instead?