Hello, I'm currently an MSc student (Biomed Sci Research) applying to a few graduate reasearch assistant posts at various Unis, so wanted a bit of advice!

Many of the job descriptions state that they're looking for people with "a good first degree" or suggest that applicants should generally have 2.1 but ... I have a 2.2. Can I put down my "self-predicted" grades for my MSc on my CV or not, as I think this will definitely boost my applications. I've already got half my grades back and am on course for a high Merit. If I really pull it out of the bag on my dissertation and get 70%+, I'd get a distinction - I'm currently working really hard on it and received good feedback so far, so fingers crossed! Should I be more conservative in pedicting my grades and just put down that I'm expecting a Merit? I'm not going to know my degree outcome for certain until mid-September time, but don't want to wait until then to start applying for jobs!

Any advice appreciated, thanks!

Thanks again people. Yes, I'm looking for PhDs in the biomedical/biochemical field so I would need funding really. I think I might just try to apply for as many as I'm interested in this year and see how far I get with them. I guess I was just a bit scared of rejection and feeling even worse about my future chances.

If anyone has any more advice on RAs though, it would be really useful please! I still think this might be my best option!!

Thanks KB - all advice is much appreciated! And when I say a "good university", I definitely mean it in the sense of Unis which have the strongest/most reputable depts for the PhDs I'm interested in! Unfortunately I always seem to be much more excited in the PhD programs of the most competitive ones too!

Originally, I was going to start applying for PhDs at the end of this year for 2011 entry, but now I'm not sure whether it's worth me trying at this point or waiting a few years to get the experience under my belt and improve my chances. This may be the wrong attitude but at the moment I'm not really willing to apply to "less-good" departments which I'm not as interested/excited in just for the sake of getting a PhD place...

======= Date Modified 10 21 2010 19:21:41 =======
I'm currently a master's student doing biomedical sciences and I think I'm on course for a good merit. Over the past year, I've realised that I actually really enjoy being in the lab and probably want to do a PhD... but the main problem is I got a 2.2 in my undergrad (Biochemistry). My undergrad was from a good Uni and I'm fairly sure that this mark doesn't reflect my ability, just my pure lazyness at revising for exams ...and this year I've actually been doing work and have consequently been doing well! I had a little talk with my tutor last week about my chances of getting PhDs and he told me realistically, even with a good MSc, it's going to be difficult to get a good one. How true is this? Would I have any chance at all of getting a place at a good Uni like UCL or is this completely out of the question?

Feeling a bit disheartened/at a loss at the moment but I think my current plan is to get a few more years of experience as a research assistant to strengthen my app and make sure that research is really for me and then perhaps apply. But I don't know how to! I've looked around the internet and on a few university websites but to no avail. Where are graduate RA posts advertised?? I'd be pretty willing to go abroad as well ... maybe America or Europe, so that's not an issue. Would also appreciate if anyone's who is/was a RA to give me a few inside tips please!