KingGeedorah

Applying for Chem Ph.D. programs. One of the most common pieces of advice I hear about picking schools to apply to is that you should pick schools where there are at least three advisers you would be willing to work with. My problem is, I feel like I have figured out what I want to do and defined it pretty well, and so most every school I look at I am lucky if there are two advisers I would be willing to work for. To put it in perspective, I want to do computational research, more specifically in the quantum chem branch, and something with energy applications (batteries, solar cells, etc.). Most schools tend to have a smaller group of theorists than other branches, let alone about half of them do molecular mechanics, and then typically somewhere around half of the QM researchers do something bio related. By the time this is all factored in, nearly every school I am looking at typically only has one faculty I want to work with, and maybe one or two others I can force myself into thinking would be okay, so really I most likely wouldn't really want to work with them at all. Am I being too particular? Should I open myself up to the possibility of more? I know most graduate students' interests evolve through graduate school anyway. Is this really such a bad thing or could it also be a good thing in that I have a really good idea of what I want to do already? Given that there tend to be fewer computational faculty, is this a common issue for prospective grad students interested in computational and theoretical? Any advice, comments, anecdotes, etc. welcome.

I'm not exactly real proud of my chemistry subjects GRE. To be fair I had health issues that lasted a year when I took it (never diagnosed but blood tests showed something was off and my doctor could never find what it was) and I wasn't able to study for it. I scored in the 33rd percentile (650 was my score). So should I submit my scores to schools that don't require but still recommend the subjects test? Is this score bad enough that I should be concerned about submitting it? My general GRE score was significantly better (156 verbal, 160 quantitative, 4.0 analytical writing) if that helps.

Thanks for the reply to both of you. These two responses are basically the two options I have been weighing and I don't know which route to go. Cup 'o Joe, yes you are correct. The request I got from the group at the NL was perhaps not as insistent on getting LoR from my research advisers as you make it sound, but they explicitly asked for LoR from my research advisers, and I did not want to raise any red flags by telling them that I did not want to ask most recent adviser, especially because I gave a presentation of my research with this adviser to their group, and that research is more relevant to what they do. Yesterday I tried steering them towards getting LoR from my other recommenders, and while they said one of them would be good to have sent, they then asked if there was a phone number to reach the other adviser. This seems like they are fairly insistent on getting a LoR from this adviser. I probably should have asked if the LoR must be from my research advisers in the first place. I guess my decision comes down to, would it raise a bigger red flag to have a generic LoR from my former adviser, or to tell the new group I am applying for that my former adviser does not want to write a LoR for me?

So this isn't about grad school, but I am not sure where else to turn for advice on this. I am taking a year off before graduate school, so in the next year I have been working on a short term appointment at a national lab. After presenting my research, giving them my CV, etc. they asked for letters of recommendation from my research advisers (I had two during my undergraduate). One of them sent a LoR without an issue. The other I knew would be a bad idea to ask, as they had previously mentioned to me that they were glad I hadn't asked them for one yet, but the group I am corresponding with at the national lab specifically asked for LoR from my research advisers so I felt compelled to ask the second adviser anyway. After three weeks and a follow up email after two weeks, I emailed the group I am trying to work with and mentioned I have another recommender who I can have send a letter. They said to have my other recommender send a letter but also asked if there was a phone number where they could reach the research adviser who has not yet sent a letter. Then within hours of their response I finally got a response from the research adviser. In so many words they basically told me they would only want to write the letter if it was a glowing recommendation. I will obviously ask the other recommender to send a letter but what do I do about the letter from the research adviser now? Do I tell the group that they do not want to write a letter? Do I tell the adviser to write it anyway? Should I mention to the adviser that the group specifically asked for LoR from my research advisers? Should I just start looking for another job haha? Any advice is appreciated. If I need to clarify or add any info just let me know.

Definitely some good options to explore I hadn't thought of. I'm not sure if there I have an advisor who knows enough about it to truly speak on my behalf that it caused me so many problems. It might be possible though by the time I go to apply. Talking with the admissions counselors is a really good idea though. (Probably should have thought of that myself, damn brain fog) Thanks for the help.

So I'll try to keep this as short as possible but I have a tendency to ramble. Started undergrad at a community college, no future major in mind. First semester had a B and an F. Took a year off school, then went back, started doing much better, retook the course I had the F in and got a B. In the first full year probably withdrew from 2-3 courses but did well otherwise. Graduated with an AA and a GPA of ~3.5. Started at a university and continued about ~3.5 GPA the first year. Second year meant the grad application process was started but being a transfer I had to take the courses in an untypical sequence, and ended up with two upper level labs and three other courses in the Fall. I'm used to heavy work loads so this wasn't a huge issue, but the issue was I started getting constantly sick. Ended up withdrawing from two courses that semester, switched from a BS to a BA, and then took an incomplete in one of the courses I was still in. Now I think I sent transcripts out after the incomplete went on there, so I'm telling myself that's why I didn't get in anywhere. That and I applied late or right at the deadline. Anyway now that I'm not going to grad school next year I'm coming back for another year to finish the BS that I had switch, and get a Math BS as well (it's actually not a strict math degree, but has a focus into my field, basically a few courses more than a minor, a few less than a pure math degree) so that's all good, but my health has still been terrible this semester too and in fact my doctor still doesn't know what is causing my blood test results as all of the usual suspects have been ruled out. I've gotten so far behind and struggled to stay caught up, my GPA suffered quite a bit this semester I'm sure. I've pretty consistently gotten about a 3.5 every semester of college (save that first semester where I had an F) up until now. This semester, I'll be happy if I end up above a 2.5 but not shocked if I don't. So my question is, what is the best way I can explain that it wasn't a case of senioritis or me getting lazy towards the end of my degree? Outside of that my application will be pretty strong. I'll have about 2.5 years of research, GRE scores I'm pretty satisfied with (81st percentile Q, can't quite remember verbal at the moment, somewhere around 60th percentile or above, AW I think was a 4) Subjects GRE could have been better, but I was also sick all throughout when I should have studies for these GRE's and when I actually took them too. I'm not asking what my chances are, because obviously it's hard to guage anyone's chances (if you want to give me your opinion I won't mind reading it though, my top Schools are Northwestern, U Chicago, and U Illinois U-C) but how and where I should try to explain this poor academic year. I felt like I had a weak start in school but ended up coming on pretty strong after that and was pretty proud of the turn around I had made. Now it seems like they might think I just got lazy again. Also, I likely won't have any more grades after this semester before I apply to show that I still have the motivation since I'm applying in the Fall and plan to be the first application turned in to each school I'm applying to this year. Opinions? Similar experiences? Advice?