Westcoastchemist

Anyone still waiting on Stanford? I really want to book my flights for the Berkeley visit, but not if I can consolidate the two trips...

More news... got an email for acceptance into Berkeley today. Applied to Department of Chemistry (chemical biology specialization). The stipend for 2014-2015 is $29,250. So excited since this is my dream school!! 4 visiting weekends (Friday-Saturday, apparently they coordinate with Stanford which has their visits on Wednesday-Thursday in the same weeks): Feb. 28 - Mar. 1 (organic and pchem emphasis) Mar. 7-8 (inorganic and pchem emphasis) Mar. 14-15 (all emphases) Mar. 21-22 (chembio and pchem emphasis) Good luck everyone

Chemical biology undergrad at large Canadian university. 3 years research experience (took part in the co-op program here, which for me was 16 months full-time labwork in 3 different labs). 3 strong LORs from professors at my school: my thesis supervisor, co-op supervisor, and a professor for a course I did well in. No publications, but I presented at several undergraduate conferences, and won an award for one. A few extracurriculars and scholarships relevant to the field. GPA: 87% overall, 91% major (converted to 3.79 overall, 3.96 major) GRE: 169V 170Q 5.5AW GRE Chemistry: 890

Got invited to an interview at Scripps today! I applied for the Chemical Biology stream. 2 interview weekends: Feb 20-22 and Mar 6-8 at La Jolla campus.

Thanks for the advice! Yes, I'm currently at UBC, and I've heard from many people how difficult it is for Canadians/internationals to get accepted to UCs. In terms of private schools, I am applying for Stanford, Caltech and Scripps. However, I do know a bunch of Canadians from my school in my field who have been accepted to Berkeley which gives me some (tentative) hope!!

I have read a lot of advice about the SOP on this forum (among other places), which includes explaining a low GRE marks, a semester with poor marks, etc. However, my question is: what if I have poor marks in just 2 classes? I have an otherwise outstanding record - mostly A+'s, some A's and some A-'s with a challenging courseload. The 2 courses were technically "electives" - not required for my degree but still in my general field of study. I got a C in 2nd-year microbiology in summer school after first year, because I didn't pay attention in class and didn't study (huge regret....). This was such a long time ago though I don't think it's a huge deal. I also got a C in 3rd year in an "importance of chemistry in society" course, because I didn't hand in the final paper. This one was somewhat due to outside circumstances of a very personal nature (domestic abuse), so I'm not sure if it's appropriate to bring up anywhere on my application. A run-down of my courses if you need them (3 credits for a regular course): First year - 33 credits Summer school - 9 credits Second year - 30 credits Third year - 33 credits Fourth year (co-op year) - 3 credits Fifth year - 26 credits in progress I am applying to 7 top-ranked schools in California for PhD in chemical biology/chemistry programs. Has anyone else been faced with a situation like this? How have you dealt with it? Thank you in advance!!

I am half-Chinese and half-British. I always like to tick off both boxes. Being multiracial/mixed/hapa is an important part of my identity, and matters to me even on these silly forms. However, for the Scripps application, they have the following options and I can only select one! There is no "other" or "decline to answer" option, which is really bothering me because it's so close-minded... I'm not sure which one I should pick. Luckily they can't judge anything based on this! (it's a policy in California) American Indian or Alaskan Native Asian Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander Black or African American Hispanic or Latino White