nipwe

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 

Could I get copies of your chemistry exams as well?

Could you upload those practice exams?

You GRE subject score is excellent, but I would still worry that you have less research experience than most of the other applicants. You should have look up the regulations regarding F-2 visa, that "an F2 visa holder may not accept employment. He or she must obtain a work visa." Without spending any money to enroll in Arizona / its extension, your status (and VISA) would still be F-2 and you are not allow to work. This page (http://forums.immigration.com/entry.php?77-Can-H-4-F-2-holders-perform-volunteer-work) explains the definition of "employment". There isn't much to say given that your numbers will not improve based on your financial situation (other than the fact that you are not doing any research.) If I were you, I would start crafting my SOP / PS, looking for LORs, tailoring my CV/resume, and go back to my home country and started volunteering in a lab. (Which I did when I was an "exchange student" in Hong Kong.)

I just want to toe in and say software problems like Spyware are not the fault of the specific laptop brand or the hardware. It's just poor software setup. In any case it's very hard to find a laptop free from bloatware on purchase so a good first step when buying any laptop is to google what bloatware comes with it and how to remove it. That usually includes removing all those "trial" software that keep popping out ads and other random stuff.
 
I too got a Samsung series 7 chronos and I'm very happy with it (especially after I tinkered with it and replaced the HDD with an SSD). Windows 8 is fine. It has a learning curve and I had to google a bunch of stuff the first couple of weeks, but now that I've had it for almost a month I'm fine with it.
Side warnings about Windows 8: It comes with a ton of bloatware. Aside from the usual Samsung related stuff, there are 2 kinds of software in W8. The first are regular programs that you can remove via the control panel and the others are apps, like you would have on a smartphone. What's annoying is that out of the box all the stuff like pictures and music are linked to the apps instead of the regular windows programs and you'll suddenly find the screen shifted to a full screen music player. To get rid of the inconvenience, I had to re-choose the default program for a lot of file types, figure out how to uninstall apps and pretty much got rid of almost all of them down to the bare bones. I don't need an amazon app, I can the visit the website thank you very much.
 
Regarding the actual laptop and considering your needs, I suggest Ultrabooks. For brands I can recommend Acer (my 5 year old acer still works great and friends have had good experiences with it), Samsung, and Lenovo seems pretty good. I have not had good experiences with hp laptops (my sister's HP battery died less than 2 years in).
With regards to hardware, SSD is nice but not necessary, especially if you want a lot of storage space, and an i5 core with 4GB of RAM would probably be more than enough.

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.

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.

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.

Hi,
 
I have one from Princeton. Trade perhaps? Email me at hydrocrakerman [at] yahoo.com

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 

Well, I partially agree with this. Certainly prestige should not be your only consideration in choosing a school for the reasons stated. Faraday is also right on the money about a school's overall ranking being very different from their chemistry ranking. For what rankings are worth, anyway. That said, any mentor worth their salt will acknowledge that there is value in doing a PhD at a more prestigious institution (especially if you want to work in academia). Sad to say, but even if you have a great mentor and do a lot of great work, you'll have a harder time of it than a mediocre student from a top school who worked for a famous PI, even if they're a terrible mentor (and fame should not be taken as an indicator of quality as a mentor). While the faculty who ultimately do the hiring will know the difference, random non-technical bureaucrat  #301245 who is screening applications doesn't know the difference between good science and crap science, but they do recognize a big name school on a resume.
 
Overall, neither the crap student from the good school nor the good student from the crap school will be very likely to be getting the job. I don't mean to be an asshole about this, but this is what all the professors I've worked for have told me when I expressed interest in being a PI. The calculus is a bit different if you want a job in industry, but if anything it favors the graduates of prestigious schools more (there are just more jobs to go around in industry). The prestige value of the school shouldn't be the ONLY factor you look at, as if you go to a school where you're a terrible fit you're wasting a slot someone else could have taken and you're likely to be mediocre (or even drop out) because you just don't care about the research and don't like your boss. Still, if you want to be competitive in the job market, prestige should be considered when looking at schools. It's all well and good to console ourselves because we didn't get into Caltech or Berkeley, but the fact is that the people who did are at a competitive advantage in both academia and industry and denying it does no one any good.
 
I don't mean to be all doom and gloom here. The best students from smaller schools tend to get good postdoc positions, which can go a long way to closing the competitive gap. Since you apply directly to PI's for those positions, the name on your degree isn't such a big deal. It probably won't fix all your problems, but you can occasionally see profs at R1 schools who got their PhD's from lower-ranked schools who postdoc'd with famous people. It's a harder path to walk, though.

nipwe, If your only motivation for going to a school is its "prestige" then I think you'll have a hard time getting in to these places. You can't flatter your way onto a PhD program. The Admissions Committee KNOW their university is in the World Top 100 Rankings, they KNOW that people want to get onto their programs just because of that fact. Admissions Committees are looking for hard-working scholars who will make significant contributions to the school's research program/Department & research group life, who will go on to do Great Things and generally prove to be a good investment. They almost certainly AREN'T looking for somebody hitching a free ride and intending to coast through their PhD for the sake of "prestige" just to go back to their home country to better land themselves a job. 
Be very careful about reputation snobbery.

Have you heard from Univ of Arizona yet?
I was accepted there with a 3.35 GPA from a small state school, however I had at least 2 excellent letters of recommendation, close to 4 years research experience (about equally split between academic lab and industry setting) and what I assume was a decent SOP.
Additionally, my GPA was uptrending in my final years taking near overload scheduling w/ P Chem, upper div. math courses and 400/500 level chem courses.
 
I suppose my point is that GPA doesnt seem to be an issue as long as you have a pretty compelling background that suggests you will be a good researcher. That said, some folks have mentioned the prestige issue above, and it is a valid observation. If you can't discuss your goals/ideas as a researcher well in your SOP, mention some professors whose work you feel you would allign with and make a clear, honest and unique case as to why you should be researching at their university your application is likely to fade into the noise. Simply saying you want a better job or feeding an adcom lines about bettering humankind makes no case for admission, you need to make a solid case for your admission.
 
Another topic in regards to the prestige issue: your advisor is paramount. There are bad advisors at prestigious schools, and their are excellent advisors at unknown schools. I had the pleasure of working with some excellent chemists in my undergrad who were employed at a small state university with no reputation for chemistry.

To me, herein lies your problem. You want to go to a "prestigious school" for the sake of it being prestigious, but the real reason someone goes to a prestigious school is to have a good mentoring and research experience (you want your PI to shape you into a brilliant scientist). A "prestigious" institution has that reputation because more often than not the people working there are pretty good at doing just that (the best professors in the world like to hire the best fellow faculty members...). Furthermore, a university ranked "Top 100" in the world isn't necessarily going to have a great chemistry program. For example, Duke, Brown, and NYU are hardly known for their chemistry prowess... I find it hard to believe people are this narrow-minded. The point is that a "lesser ranked" university with a PI who you can connect with, have strong mutual research interests, and someone with a strong track record for bringing up good students (see the alumni page) in the way of research technique, publishing ability, grant writing, etc. should surely give more value to your graduate studies than a PI at a more "prestigious university" who really doesn't care much about your scientific development. The kicker is that as a lesser ranked school you could have a better shot of getting in there as well...

You may want to talk to the admission office / graduate admission / whoever has the knowledge of the historical statistics in this regard.
 
My former PI would tell me the same thing, but the truth is even though this PI was (and still is) on the admission committee, this PI may / may not know the competitiveness for the application pool (international students in particular).
 
I agreed that your scores are good, yet I think it can be great if you can boost your GRE AW score and TOEFL iBT (your GRE verbal is excellent, and your GRE quant is fine.) If money is an issue for you, then perhaps you don't want to waste your money just to boost your scores a little bit. You do need to find a way to do more research while you're waiting for grad school application though.... 

1. Have you checked the deadlines for those schools?
2. A downward trend for your GPA is not good at all..
3. do you have any publications? or the professor you worked with has connections?
4. why don't you want to go to a mediocre PhD program? Are you willing to apply for MS programs?

This is my perspective (as an former international applicant, who was out of school for 2 years and research and etc.) assuming you have strong SOP/PS and LOR, just like everybody else.
 
1. GRE AW score doesn't mean much, but it can be detrimental to your application if you have a low score. Therefore you should retake it and get at least a 3.5 (ps. it's less about english grammar but more about critical thinking and reasoning).
2. I would say you need at least a 105 in IBT in order to be considered by Cal and Stanford
3. 1 year research experience is minimal if it was a full-time research. You should consider working in a lab now and accumulate more (hopepfully independent) research experience. What kind of seminar presentation? Who are the audience? The department from your school? A regional meeting? Doesn't mean much unless you can put it in your CV and consider it as a professional activity.
4. If your "volunteering , extracurricular experience" are not related to chemistry, they may not be helpful.
5. While I sympathize your situation, I don't think it's a legit justification for having a downward trend of your GPA (as Quantum Buckyball mentioned.) You might have hope to get into any school by compensating with a almost-perfect GRE subject score; or else, I won't be optimistic about your chance to get into top-tier schools with your stats -- being an international applicant.
6. You may have a better shot for these schools if they offer a MS program and if you go to their MS program first. What you should also realize is that who you will work with means more than where do you go to school. Therefore, you should consider schools that are not "top-tier" (labeled by some subjective rankings) that do good research with good/great researchers.

And that's just my 2 cents.