reactiontime

I got into Columbia chemistry last year with a 600 on the chem GRE and a 3.5 gpa. However, I am a US citizen. YMMV.

I had worked in four labs (two summers, a summer+school year and then full time during 2 year gap before grad school) when I applied with diverse aims (pharmacology, developmental genetics, bioinorganic chem, and pharmacology). At my Einstein interview (a biomedical sciences PhD program), one professor was very skeptical and concerned that I was flighty and not committed. When I explained how the diverse experiences tied together and lead me to a firm conclusion of what I will study for my thesis, he understood that the experiences were an asset. The other professors I spoke to were glad to see my diversity of experiences because they saw it gave me a deeper appreciation of academia. My passion and ability to adjust to new problems were also assets. So, you might encounter some haters, but just emphasize how much you have learned in the process. Also don't say anything negative about the experiences (like everyone quit the group, or I found the new project direction boring) as they can reflect poorly on you. The adcom doesn't know if you're telling them the whole story and might guess that problems follow you. Instead emphasize positive reasons for switching (like, I enjoyed the synthetic approaches, but found a great opportunity to explore computational chemistry so I decided to switch).

Ask your research advisers or former professors, like those writing your LORs.

Ok, now I got one. Glad to have that squared away.

I haven't gotten one yet, or a message on the website.

Word on the street (ok, on facebook...from a current UCLA grad student) is that their yield was something like twice as high as they planned for last year. As a result, they cut their offers way down this year to balance things out. So they clearly waitlisted or rejected people that would have gotten in another year. I haven't heard yet either, but expect they'd probably say more after the April 15th deadline.

Oh man, this was totally on the website when I checked at 1:26 pm CST: "FastLane will be unavailable from 10:00 PM ET Monday March 31st - 2:00 AM ET Tuesday April 1st for scheduled maintenance. We apologize for any inconvenience." I saw it and immediately gchatted a friend. And now it's gone! No one will believe me! EEP!

You might be able to TA grad classes--I don't know. I ruled out medical school/research institute programs because I wanted to TA undergrads. tbh, I would probably decide on based on where I clicked with more advisers. Maybe a pro/con list?

Great options. Is teaching experience important for your future career? Not sure you can get it at the medical school programs.

I got a C in E&M during my first year of college, and things have turned out just fine. I had a 3.5 overall and applied to chem PhDs with a biophysics focus. Is there a trend in your overall transcript? That's typically more of a concern than a single bad grade. I wouldn't even bring it up in the essay. No need to draw attention to it. It sounds like you're a strong applicant otherwise, so you shouldn't worry too much.

Interesting--thanks. I had essentially written that off as a reject by now.

Thanks for posting. Really makes you wonder about the motive of the previous poster...

I still need to visit Columbia and Caltech to firmly decide...but after this midwestern winter, Southern California looks pretty good...

Yeah, I've been officially accepted. There will be two visiting weekends in 2014, Feb 27 - March 1 and March 20-22.