717 replies to this topic

[mcstev13]

I just got my first admittance: University of Illinois UC. I'm very surprised that any decisions were made this early, but I'm very happy to know that I've been accepted by at least one school!

[twb]

Congratulations that's awesome!

mcstev13 do you mind posting your stats?

[mcstev13]

Congratulations that's awesome!

mcstev13 do you mind posting your stats?

I'd rather not share all my GRE scores, but my GPA is 3.87. I have 5 years of research experience, both in industry and academia, and including two international REUs in Germany. No publications.

[contretemps]

I just got my first admittance: University of Illinois UC. I'm very surprised that any decisions were made this early, but I'm very happy to know that I've been accepted by at least one school!

Nice! yeah, like you I'm just happy to know I'm going somewhere next year.

[Amirhossein B]

I am an international applicant, applying for PhD in Organic/Bio-organic Chem. My stats:

B.Sc. in Chemistry
GPA: 18.5 /20.0 (on the 4.00 scale: 3.96) -- ranked 1st in my class
GRE Chemistry: 920 (98th percentile rank)
GRE General: Verbal 157, Quantitative 166, A/W: 4.0
TOEFL iBT: 107 /120
Strong LORs
No Papers

How do you think about my chances? I am applying to MIT, Michigan Ann Arbor, GTech, and UC Irvine.

[muhammadaffawn]

I am an international applicant, applying for PhD in Organic/Bio-organic Chem. My stats: B.Sc. in Chemistry GPA: 18.5 /20.0 (on the 4.00 scale: 3.96) -- ranked 1st in my class GRE Chemistry: 920 (98th percentile rank) GRE General: Verbal 157, Quantitative 166, A/W: 4.0 TOEFL iBT: 107 /120 Strong LORs No Papers How do you think about my chances? I am applying to MIT, Michigan Ann Arbor, GTech, and UC Irvine.

I think your chances of getting into MIT and all other that you are applying in are very strong. Considering you exceptional GPA and GRE Chemistry.

Best of Luck!

[muhammadaffawn]

I am an international applicant, applying for PhD in Organic/Bio-organic Chem. My stats: B.Sc. in Chemistry GPA: 18.5 /20.0 (on the 4.00 scale: 3.96) -- ranked 1st in my class GRE Chemistry: 920 (98th percentile rank) GRE General: Verbal 157, Quantitative 166, A/W: 4.0 TOEFL iBT: 107 /120 Strong LORs No Papers How do you think about my chances? I am applying to MIT, Michigan Ann Arbor, GTech, and UC Irvine.

BTW, I'd like to ask when did you take your GRE. In october or in November?

[Amirhossein B]

BTW, I'd like to ask when did you take your GRE. In october or in November?

I took the Subject test on April 9th 2011 and the General test on October 22nd 2011.

[clemson448]

Hey guys,

I wanted to get some opinions on a problem I really wish I wasn't having right now. My profile for applications (fall 2012) looks like this:

at a top 25 public university
GPA: 3.8/4.0
GPA (chem): 3.9/4.0
GRE (gen): V: 152 (56%), Q: 160 *84%), AW: 4.5 (76%)
Research experience since end of sophomore year, along with REU at Colorado State

The problem: I just got back my Chem GRE scores by calling ETS, and they are FAR below what I would like (<40%)
Obviously by my GPA you can see that this is not my normal performance. I did not have the time I would have liked to prepare for this test and had other circumstances preventing me from doing well on test day.

My question is whether I should try to address this in my SoP (with out making excuses, somehow) or just leave it out. And also is there a way to stop the ETS from sending it to school who do not request it? I was applying to Yale, Princeton, and Columbia who all at least RECOMMEND it, so I just threw it on my non-stretch schools that I was already sending my general scores to as well (Colorado State, NC State, Vanderbilt).

Any information you can provide is greatly appreciated

[mcstev13]

Hey guys,

I wanted to get some opinions on a problem I really wish I wasn't having right now. My profile for applications (fall 2012) looks like this:

at a top 25 public university
GPA: 3.8/4.0
GPA (chem): 3.9/4.0
GRE (gen): V: 152 (56%), Q: 160 *84%), AW: 4.5 (76%)
Research experience since end of sophomore year, along with REU at Colorado State

The problem: I just got back my Chem GRE scores by calling ETS, and they are FAR below what I would like (<40%)
Obviously by my GPA you can see that this is not my normal performance. I did not have the time I would have liked to prepare for this test and had other circumstances preventing me from doing well on test day.

My question is whether I should try to address this in my SoP (with out making excuses, somehow) or just leave it out. And also is there a way to stop the ETS from sending it to school who do not request it? I was applying to Yale, Princeton, and Columbia who all at least RECOMMEND it, so I just threw it on my non-stretch schools that I was already sending my general scores to as well (Colorado State, NC State, Vanderbilt).

Any information you can provide is greatly appreciated

I've heard, direct from professors, that it's best not to call attention to poor performance on the GRE unless there's a specific place in the application to address the issue. The SOP should focus on your strengths and experience.

[zainyousaf]

Hi
I am an international student from Pakistan. My stats are cgpa 3.62/4.0 scgpa 3.95/4.0, gre general 170/155/4.0 and subject score is 870 (92%). Good LOR and 1.5 years research experience no papers yet. Do i have a shot at top ten or should i focus between 10-30.

[liveoak]

Hey guys,

I wanted to get some opinions on a problem I really wish I wasn't having right now. My profile for applications (fall 2012) looks like this:

at a top 25 public university
GPA: 3.8/4.0
GPA (chem): 3.9/4.0
GRE (gen): V: 152 (56%), Q: 160 *84%), AW: 4.5 (76%)
Research experience since end of sophomore year, along with REU at Colorado State

The problem: I just got back my Chem GRE scores by calling ETS, and they are FAR below what I would like (<40%)
Obviously by my GPA you can see that this is not my normal performance. I did not have the time I would have liked to prepare for this test and had other circumstances preventing me from doing well on test day.

My question is whether I should try to address this in my SoP (with out making excuses, somehow) or just leave it out. And also is there a way to stop the ETS from sending it to school who do not request it? I was applying to Yale, Princeton, and Columbia who all at least RECOMMEND it, so I just threw it on my non-stretch schools that I was already sending my general scores to as well (Colorado State, NC State, Vanderbilt).

Any information you can provide is greatly appreciated

Don't sweat it! My undergrad research advisor went to Stanford with a GRE subject score in that range. And no, I don't think you recall score reports. They shouldn't use those against you though it they aren't required.

[Eigen]

I'll add: go ahead and get your applications in. Lots of schools in Chem do rolling admissions, and it never hurts to get in the stack early. I know our adcom really prefers to look at people as they send them in!

I got all of my applications out various times in October, and I had all my admits by November- it worked out really well, as I was able to schedule visits to the schools over Winter Break.

You don't necessarily have a handicap if you submit late in the season, but I think at a lot of programs, it's really helpful to get them in as early as possible.

[clemson448]

Eigen and LiveOak, Thanks for the encouragement and advice.

Another quick question. I am submitting my SoP's and noticed most of mine are about 60 words over the normal 1000 word limit. Do you know how strick they are about this? I feel that I am already leaving things out to cut it down to this and cutting another paragraph would be very difficult.

[Pnictides]

Eigen and LiveOak, Thanks for the encouragement and advice.

Another quick question. I am submitting my SoP's and noticed most of mine are about 60 words over the normal 1000 word limit. Do you know how strick they are about this? I feel that I am already leaving things out to cut it down to this and cutting another paragraph would be very difficult.

Don't you mean "strict"?

[clemson448]

haha yes I do... It's finals week on top of all these apps. Needless to say I'm not getting as much sleep as I should be.

[Eigen]

+/- 100 words is what I've heard as a "rough" feeling.... Here's a thread on the CHE forums you might find useful, basically all the prof's are pleading for shorter rather than longer- but it's for a 3000 word writing sample. YMMV.

I'd say you're probably fine at 1060, but you could always e-mail and ask.

[veele]

I am an international applicant. Applying to Harvard, Stanford, Caltech, and Berkeley in Theoretical Chemistry.



GRE: 800Q, 540V, 3.5A. Chemistry: 810
Toefl: 115 (30L, 29W, 29R, 27S)
GPA: 4.6/5.0 (~4.8/5.0 major), already graduated with First Class Honors.
Some awards.
4 years of research experience since sophomore: 3 summers, 2 UROPS, final-year project, and 1.5 years as RA.
3 first-authored publications in ACS journals and another first-authored paper under review (accepted recently).

What do you guys think of my chance? When I applied I thought these schools are the only places I wanted to go to, and my supervisor told me to apply to only top schools. Now I'm thinking I am mad, but it's too late...

Do you think I'm out of my mind? I am on fire waiting for the results now...

[nechalo]

I'll add: go ahead and get your applications in. Lots of schools in Chem do rolling admissions, and it never hurts to get in the stack early. I know our adcom really prefers to look at people as they send them in!

I got all of my applications out various times in October, and I had all my admits by November- it worked out really well, as I was able to schedule visits to the schools over Winter Break.

You don't necessarily have a handicap if you submit late in the season, but I think at a lot of programs, it's really helpful to get them in as early as possible.

You should post your results to the database; I personally had no idea any chem departments made decisions that early. The earliest I've seen in the database has been beginning of December (someone at U Florida just this year)

I started submitting apps mid-to-later November and finished my last one today. No admits for me yet though.

[Eigen]

You can't post past year results, or I would. My admissions all I came in 2008 and I didn't join or find the Cafe until 2009 after my first semester.