TexasGuy Posted December 27, 2013 Share Posted December 27, 2013 also that GA tech essay section is pretty strange right? they weren't really essays, more like short answers. lol yeah that really threw me off coz I was just ready to copy and paste my SOP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VNSBKS Posted January 4, 2014 Share Posted January 4, 2014 (edited) Hello all ! I am not trying to hijack this thread but to get you guys' advice because in three years I will be on your shoe, Please accept my apology however, if it appears being hijacked. I thought this is an appropriate thread to post my anxiety. I am a freshman Chem Eng, just finished the first semester with a 4.0/4.0 GPA from a top 10 chem eng program in the US. I am being offered a 5 hr/week lab work with a strong potential of obtaining a 20hr/week lab work during the summer. If I do well in the research work and maintain my GPA, I believe I will have continuation of this research work for the remaining semesters and summers because the department apparently has a fund, Additionally, the research project is also in my area of interest. I guess all the above sounds great and that I am in the right track for the graduate studies but I am worried about maintaining 4.0 GPA all the way through the remaining three and half years. Also, I don't know what graduate schools look for in selecting students. I have a great desire of going to one of these colleges - MIT, Caltech, Stanford, UC Berkeley and Princeton. Because, despite my 4.0 HS GPA and close to perfect ACT and SAT including subject test scores, I was waitlisted or rejected. I felt vindicated ! I am wondering what should I focus for the next three years besides maintaining GPA and research work so I could get an admission to at least one of these schools. Would appreciate any advices.. Edited January 4, 2014 by VNSBKS yangshennannan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yushish Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I am wondering what should I focus for the next three years besides maintaining GPA and research work so I could get an admission to at least one of these schools. Would appreciate any advices.. I would try to increase your lab hours if you can - 5 hours/week during the school year and 20 hours/week during the summer are not enough to make a significant impact, in my opinion. It would be nice if you could get up to 15-20 hours/week during the school year and 40 hours/week over the summer. It is not necessary to be paid for all of these hours, just spending a lot of time in lab is a really good experience. Try to make sure that your role in the lab grows over time. If you feel at any point that you're not progressing as a researcher, try to switch labs. I would also recommend spending at least one summer doing research at another university, such as through an REU program. It's a really nice experience (you'll make a lot of friends) and it'll be helpful to have a letter of recommendation from someone outside of your current school. If you can somehow do summer research at one of the five universities you mentioned then you would be at an advantage when you apply for graduate school there. Make sure you keep your grades up - it's very important. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasGuy Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 im starting to feel like i will get rejected by all schools. seems like almost all applicants have 167+ Q 160+ V and 3.9+ GPA from top chemE programs lol so discouraging...im going crazy waiting on these decisions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gus_fring Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 @VNSBKS - Pick what you want to pursue in grad school research-wise. Try to work with reputed profs in your field of interest and try to get a first author paper out of it in a major journal in your field. Then pick schools according to research interest. Surefire strategy from what I know but it's not easy, primarily because you haven't been exposed to enough curriculum as an undergraduate to finalize let alone pursue your area of interest. Good luck! @yushish - Congratulations on your stats - you definitely have a great chance of getting into most of the top schools you're applying to @TexasGuy - Things just keep getting more and more competitive as the years go by. So to be honest, I am not feeling too positive either . All the same, hope things work out for us all in the end. From what I've read around, these things can kind of be a crapshoot since there are just too many good candidates. Makes the long wait even more painful than it already is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasGuy Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 (edited) great stats gus. I hope you get in somewhere. I see you're also shooting for insanely competitive schools. I hope school (which starts next week) will distract me from this stressful process. Edited January 5, 2014 by TexasGuy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VNSBKS Posted January 6, 2014 Share Posted January 6, 2014 To yushis and gus_fring: Many thanks to you both for the great advices, I appreciate it indeed. I will try to discuss with the graduate student and his professor if they can increase the lab hours and also keep in mind in publishing papers and doing summer research in one those listed colleges where my research matches with their interests. To others: While I will welcome further advices, I will not disturb to this thread anymore. Sorry for my jumping into it, but I got good advices though and I appreciate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lasserith Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 I just heard back from UChicagos Institute for Macromolecular Engineering and got in. Anyone else apply there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjb3112 Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 @TexasGuy and @gus_fring, I'm pretty sure the acceptances that are going out now are just the first wave. It's just not possible for a such big engineering program to be populated by people with only 3.9+ GPAs. Don't fret, we're not even at the deadline for a bunch of schools! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sjb3112 Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 (edited) Also, @VNSBKS in case you read this- applying to graduate school is very different from applying to college. The admissions committee will spend more time on your application, and they will judge you based on merit rather than how "unique" you are. Don't stress too much- enjoy college! You will be successful if you continue to perform well. Edited January 8, 2014 by sjb3112 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasGuy Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 sjb, congrats on your early acceptances. That's amazing...all the schools really like you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teerav42 Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 Where else have people heard from? So far I'm in at UT Austin and Northwestern, and waitlisted at Princeton. Still waiting on MIT, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Carnegie Mellon. Has anyone heard from those 4? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yushish Posted January 15, 2014 Share Posted January 15, 2014 Where else have people heard from? So far I'm in at UT Austin and Northwestern, and waitlisted at Princeton. Still waiting on MIT, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Carnegie Mellon. Has anyone heard from those 4? Two of my friends were accepted at Wisconsin, and one at MIT. I have not heard from either of those. Will you be visiting Northwestern? I think I'll be there for the Feb. 6-9 visit weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
teerav42 Posted January 15, 2014 Author Share Posted January 15, 2014 Two of my friends were accepted at Wisconsin, and one at MIT. I have not heard from either of those. Will you be visiting Northwestern? I think I'll be there for the Feb. 6-9 visit weekend. I think I will be visiting Northwestern, and probably that same weekend. I'm not too disappointed by Princeton, but I definitely will be disappointed if I don't get into Wisconsin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasGuy Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 rejected at Princeton... 4 more to go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gus_fring Posted January 16, 2014 Share Posted January 16, 2014 Rejected from Princeton too...sobs... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DgDeBx Posted January 17, 2014 Share Posted January 17, 2014 I just heard back from UChicagos Institute for Macromolecular Engineering and got in. Anyone else apply there? I was accepted there also. I'm strongly considering attending but I'm a bit nervous since its the first year of the program. Anybody else have thoughts on the UChicago IME program? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chemeng24 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Just letting you guys know that UT Austin has given out all of their acceptances. Though some of you might find this information useful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasGuy Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 NO NO NOOOO!!!!!! im gonna fucking losing it if i get rejected everywhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gus_fring Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 Omg, I think I am not getting in anywhere! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chemeng24 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 (edited) I may be wrong and circumstances may change, but that is what I know from a source that is affiliated with recruiting. Good luck to all. Edited January 18, 2014 by chemeng24 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chemeng24 Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 @Gus_Fring Why did you not apply to some lesser competitive schools but still in the top 20? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TexasGuy Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 im going to start emailing profs on Monday. Thats something that people advise against but at this point I have to Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gus_fring Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 @chemeng24- I was fairly confident I could make it to Princeton and UTAustin based on what my profs told me about their contacts and took took their word for it. The fact that I'm rejected from Princeton came as a surprise. But if I can't make it there then why would I make it to any other top programs? I shouldn't have been so overconfident in applying to only top programs. I really hope i get in somewhere or else I shall become an emotional mess. One things for sure, I underestimated the number of stellar applicants who I would be competing with, which has significantly gone up a notch from previous years. If I had known this perhaps I would've been more careful about not applying to all top programs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gus_fring Posted January 18, 2014 Share Posted January 18, 2014 @TexasGuy - good luck. Make sure you write a long and detailed email or else you shall get ignored like I was ! rkvance 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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