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Most that I see get around 70% but obviously, every program will give different results.

I got 880 (95%) at the same time. Definitely gives a confidence boost since I'd be an international. It's really weird how the US students do poorly on the chem GRE - when I went on exchange there, their chemistry program seemed tough (UW-Madison vs Sydney).

I guess I'll be applying there.

Summary: don't be a dick. But yeah, based on my experience (undergrad research), make sure you turn up when you're supposed to turn up.

So I'm starting research soon but need some literature review but I find it pretty hard to understand the papers that I'm reading. Any advice? It's in chiral pi-conjugated polymers.

Yes, that's what I meant by looking at professors - if I cannot find a suitable professor, I won't apply to those schools. They are just the current preference and will change accordingly. I will also be applying to some Australian universities (ANU/UniMelb). Personally, I'd like to find reputable universities as well as a suitable professor to make going over there worth it.

Yeah, considering I have at least another two and a half years to go (one of those years is full time research for honours and is effectively compulsory), I should have a decent amount of experience when I graduate (I might also take a year off to work in industry), and there's still a lot to learn (almost half of the units in my degree are chemistry units). How high should my GRE be if I'm aiming for a top program? Stanford is the dream but I understand that it is quite a stretch - I'm also considering Princeton, UChicago, and Duke (that is, if I can find a couple of professors at these universities which I will do later - they could change anyway).

I'm by no means a writing superstar but "Yet I believe" turns this into a subjective piece and it's rather pointless to say "I believe" because it's a bit obvious - you wouldn't be justifying a stance if you didn't believe it.

I did one of the GRE chemistry practice exams to try it out and I can see why grad schools don't put much weight into it...lol...lots of questions seem very random. Got 96/130 correct (no preparation) - there was quite a lot of stuff that I havent covered at uni but I think I'm still on track. Though, based on that exam, I should take a course in quantum chemistry lol.

Well, Australian universities don't use the same letter grades (not A/B/C/D/F), we use High Distinction, Distinction, Credit, Pass and Fail. My conversions were based on this: http://www.wes.org/gradeconversionguide/index.asp (Australia, of course!) I think when applying, I just include the Australian transcript - the universities should know how they rate compared to their own degrees (hopefully). But yeah, when I start getting the applications together, I'll get that done. I still have 2.5 years of undergrad left to go so I have a fair bit of time but it's always good to prepare. Cheers for the advice

Ah of course lol. Yeah, Australia has a pretty different system. In particular, we have absolutely no grade inflation so at most universities, the mark you get in the exam and assessments (weighted) is your final mark - no adjustments made. The low marks I got were from courses called "Introduction to History of Science: The Birth of Modern Science" (58) and "Earth, Environment and Society" (64). Quite irrelevant to my major, lol. But yeah, hopefully those marks won't adversely affect my applications, I'd be quite disappointed if they did.

Yeah, that's interesting. Out of curiosity, where is this? The thing about Australia and that essays are marked pretty hard - average is typically around 65%. In fact, that average is what it is for every subject (or at least, what it's supposed to be). Basically, in Australia, you get High Distinction (Best), Distinction, Credit, and Pass (worst excluding Fail) and only ~3% get HD, ~15% get D, 35% get C and the rest get P or F so it's pretty competitive.

Hmm...I would imagine so. The only reason I ask is that my overall GPA went down a bit, for this semester, I did poorly in one subject ("History of Science", C, 58%), got A+ in two chemistry units (86%, 87%), and a B in a geoscience unit. There's no grade inflation at this university - so those are basically raw marks.

Which is more important, overall GPA or major GPA?

Hmmm, not sure what mine counts as - it wasn't a class thing, it was a research program for "high achievers" and my talk was a part of 20 or so others from mine and other years. It was university level though.