nipwe

Thanks for all the replies. I finaly accpeted the offer from Arizona.

It's mean regitration start on July. Actually u have to wait till they post new subject test dates for 2013/2014(2013 September/2013 November/2014 April). I did subject test last April and it's the last available test date for 2012/2013 year.

send ur e-mail address plz

ok I will send u what I got three GRE past papers and scanned copiy of a book.

Thanks aberrant for your answer, but I also finally got a good news. Most probably I will be able to go to a school I applied this semester. I think going back to my home country won't help me that much (there arte almost no research options available). Anyway thank you all for the advice.

Hi all, Again I need little advice. I got my GRE subject test result last Sunday (880/93%). This is bit lower than I expected. Anyway now I have to face a new dilemma. As most of u suggested, I tried to accumulate more research experience lately. So I talked to a professor from the university in which my wife is studying and able to obtained a volunteer research position. Professor also want me to have university ID, lab keys and safety training before starting the volunteering, but university denied my request to an ID stating that lab work cannot be consider as volunteering(I m a F-2). I even presented an e-mail I received from the state department stating that any lab works without payment is fine. But university won’t give me a chance. So I ended up having only exam results to make my application competitive. So can you guys give me any suggestions to improve my chances at universities mentioned in my first post? (UGPA 3.2, TOEFL 104, GRE subject 880/93%, GRE general Q161/ V157).taking any of the exam may be???

Hi I took GRE chemistry subject test to compensate the lower GPA this April (UGPA: 3.2 after converting in to American grading system: used WES). My GRE chemistry subject score is 880 (93%). which is lower than I expected but hope not too low (being an international student). I am planning to apply for CU-Davis, Irvine, Berkeley, Arizona, and Stanford (not sure). I am wondering whether this score is ok!

Hi I am interested in opinions of people who visited/ have knowledge about chemistry departments of University of California -Davis, University of California - Irvine, University of Arizona, and UCLA. I am especially interested about facilities available and PIs in the area of nano scale biosensor development (in analytical /biological chemistry divisions) so can you give me a small assessment based on you knowledge .what are the cons pros each department have?

Nop , they are not asking return ticket at port of entry (from my experience). Your intention of return to your country will be checked at visa interview.

I agree that there are very small numbers of fellowships available to international students, but this is not going to explain the lower number of international students at US universities in comparison to UK. So as far as financial aids are concern US universities give more assisianceshipes and recruit more international student than UK universities.

Hi, I am from a former British colony and currently living in US, so I think I also have little bit of understanding about this phenomenon. I think most of u overlooked some other important factors. 1. Education system. Most of the former British colonies(Most of Africa , Indian subcontinent , Southeast Asia ) have British style of Education system which is far different than American education system(Especially true for Professional Education ).e.g American dont have MBBS instead they have BS+MD system. So a student who sit for O/L(age 16 ) +A/L (age 18/19) may choose UK over US due to time factor and unfamiliarity of system. This is true for most of the professional fields except Engineering and few others and on top of this most of the time American universities dont even directly recognizes most of these British style of qualifications. 2. Familiarity and reputation of Universities If you look carefully,you will find that most of the student at UK universities are from British Commonwealth nations and Europe and they are much familiar with the names of UK universities in compare to US unis . so with reason 1 described above , they tend to choose UK unis over US.In contrast student from countries like Japan South Korea and China who are more familiar with US system prefer US over UK.ref:http://www.iie.org/en/Services/Project-Atlas/United-States/International-Students-In-US and http://www.ukcisa.org.uk/about/statistics_he.php 3. student population and number of universities to choose. Except Cambridge , Oxford ,Edinburgh , London,Manchester and few others, actual student population of UK unis are far smaller than big stat or private universities in US and number of universities in US are far greater(UK~100uni against US ~4000unis ). so this may explain the reason for low percentage of international students in most of the US universities. In reality US received more international students than UK(US ~700000 UK ~400000). 4 UK universities have more visibility in overseas Most of the UK unis have far greater oversea presence through overseas campuses and distance, flexible or distributed learning centers . until recently big US university not that much interested about this options. This may be due to fact that US universities have much bigger domestic market and big ones are well funded in comparison to UK universities( you can just look at Endowment and research funding of US and UK universities to realize this: e.g even the big UK universits like Edinburgh , London,Manchester have very small endowments which are even far smaller than in comparison to a big state university in US ). So these UK universities try to recruit more international students to get money. " Graduate Schools cost. A LOT. And international students almost never get any funding so they have to put all the money in all by themselves. So, for me, it's all about money" I think this statement is wrong . In reality US provide more assistantship and fellowship to graduate students (Basically US unis have more funding than UK ). but due to relative higher number of domestic students and higher number of universities resulting the low international student percentage.

yap there were questions from quantum mechanics (several of them) and metal coordination chemistry. I struggled with inorganic chemistry part. especially the properties of main block elements. There were questions that asked about structure of most common allotrope of Boron , stability order of hydride of groups 15 elements like that and there were repeating of same questions from past papers. e.g it has questions about raoult law and IR active Vibration mode of CO2

Hi cornerstone, I have scanned copies for three past papers, but only have hard copies of the books mentioned above. I am really sorry if I disappointed you.

Hi hydrocrackerman Thank u very much for your offer. I already got that book and also the one I requested in this post (Chemistry Test (Practicing to Take the GRE) by ETS). anyway I would like to give scanned copies of what I got , so plz msg me if u need those.

Hi, I am planning to take GRE chemistry subject test on this April. I have 2006, 2000, and 96 papers but like to have more preparation materials. Specially the Chemistry Test (Practicing to Take the GRE) by ETS would be really helpful. Even though book is out of print , some ppl still have this one. I don't have enough money to buy a one and local library also do not have any copies. So I will be grateful if some one can send me a scan copy of it.Thanks

Hi I am planning to take GRE subject on April and I have just started preparation(general chem)

Actually not U of A, but prof I contacted

Thanks for all the responses, Actually I got a positive reply from Arizona, they are like to give a position based on my GRE subject score. so I have to wait till May(have to take April one).I think this is the best way forward to me

Thanks Faraday and Aberrant, I got a good idea of what I need to do from your posts, I agree with you Faraday,

Hi Quantum Buckyball and aberrant Thank you very much for the reply I have already applied to University of Arizona and California-Davis. Without a good Chemistry subject test score, others are beyond my reach (even these two are). So I am planning to apply for others in spring after taking Chem GRE and after saving some money. I am sure I can get more than 85% but hoping to go beyond 95% in this test. I think this is very much possible. Most of my friends were able to score above 90%, and most of the questions on GRE subject test is from GCE A/L level, not even undergraduate level in my county). I don't like to go in to so called medicore ones (I am sure some of these have really good chemistry graduate programs) becoz I won't be able to find a good academic or research position in my home country without my degree from a well reputed university (otherwise I will need some political connection). So I concentrated on unis which are not only good in their chemistry program but also listed in top 100 in most of the world ranking sites (not US ranking). I know that good mentoring and research experience worth more, but it value very little to people in my home country. they rather show off with their Harvard or Cambridge degrees I am willing to apply for Ms program and then peruse a PhD, but most of the MS program are not well funded as PhD,or I won't be able to secure a TA or RA position. Our only income is from my wife's TA salary, and I don't have money to fund my education.with My current F-2 visa, I am not allowed to work. I personalty talked to a professor at University Arizona and explained my situation, my GRE and TOEFL scores are ok for them but ???

Hi Ayankgp, Can you send me those Chemistry GRE past papers if you don't mind ? My e-mail is nipuna_2004@yahoo.com

Hi All, I am an international student, planning to apply for PhD program in Chemistry GRE (Q 161/V 159/ 3.0) taken on 12/2012 TOEFL iBT 104(30/30/23/21) taken on 12/2012 I am planning to take both these tests again as my scores are not good enough. also planning for GRE subject GPA~3.2 but final year this is ~2 as I zeroed most of my exam papers sake of finishing my degree. I do have an 1 year of research experience, 1 seminar presentation I also have lots of volunteering , extracurricular experience My main research interests are in field of bioanalytical chemistry (bio mimetic senser development/molecular self-assemblies/supra-molecular ) I am planing to apply following uni's University of Arizona, University of California- Berkeley ,Stanford ,University of California- Davis ,University of California- Irvine I know all these are top rank ones for Analytical chemistry but I don't want to go to a medicore one. I did poorly in my undergrad (specially in last few semester) as I was out of my studies for 2 year and then returned for my studies while working as a clinical research coordinator for four clinical studies and also as a chemistry tutor. All these due to fact that I am from a poor family in a rather under developed country, I received government scholarship to study but that was not enough. At the moment I am in US with my wife who is a PhD student . I have very limited amount of money to spend on applications or any examinations as I am not allowed to work in US(F2 dependant). So I won't able to apply several time or lots of universities . I am really grateful if you can give me any suggestions to improve my chance of acceptance and whether universities i am planning apply are too high to reach(Dream and reality ). Thank you very much for your help in advanced

Thanks PhDreams

Hi All, I am international student, applying for graduate studies (PhD in Chemistry). I am bit confused at one of the question in graduate application form. It is what to include in honors and honorary society section. Where to put volunteering Do Position held on national regional and school clubs e.g president etc ​Are considered as achievement? Do I need to list scholarship I received on high school in honors section Thank you very much in advanced for your help