bhilaianupam

What I primarily learned is - GPA matters, and research experience (or good recommendations or amazing SOP or good GRE scores) cannot completely make up for the lack of a good GPA. My GPA was 7.15/10 with from a top undergraduate institution in India (well recognized in the US), which is not very bad but looks horrible if converted to a 4 point scale. I got through all my safe schools (UCI, Minnesota, Stony Brook) and got rejects from all the top schools (UChicago, UIUC, UWM) in my field. I had good research experience (internship in Europe), one first author publication and another paper submitted - both to good journals, strong recommendations from two famous people in my field, and good GRE scores, but that didn't help really. Another student from my batch had a good GPA (above 8.6/10), no publications (though a submitted paper I suppose), decent recommendations, good GRE scores, and she got through all top schools (Stanford, UCLA etc). I know there cannot be a direct objective comparison between two applications, but from what it looks like, my application probably got 'filtered out' from all top schools because of a low GPA.

Anyone who is planning to accept/has accepted UCI's offer for Chemistry Ph.D? Just accepted their offer today.

Thank you everyone! At this point of time, I am slanting slightly towards UC-Irvine. Better advisor options and an Orange County location are sort of tempting compared to UMinn, specially when rankings and reputation do not look like making much of a difference between the two. That is an important point related to finances. I will probably select graduate housing, at least for the first year of grad school, for obvious reasons. I just hope the stipend is enough to live off. :\

Thank you! I suppose for work and advisor related queries it ultimately has to be my call. But what about department and institute reputation overall? Would that be a factor to consider among the two schools, if it comes to that?

Hello fellow applicants! I am an international student (from India) and have got admits in UCI and UMinn (among others) in theoretical chemistry, and it looks like I have to decide between the two. I am very, very confused and any help will be highly appreciated. To make it simple, I will list a few salient points of comparison for the two univs, here: 1. Ranking: Doesn't look like there is much to differentiate between the two in chemistry. 2. Reputation: UMinn probably steals it here, albeit slightly. (or does it?) 3. Advisor: Three potential advisors in UCI. The one I prefer does work very related to what I have been doing in my undergrad, so that is a positive. But the one potential advisor in UMinn has a greater reputationa (H index of 44 v/s 20 for the guy in UCI), but his work is slightly different from what I have been doing till now. I know it ultimately boils down to my personal preference, but any comment on this aspect will be highly appreciated. 4. Stipend: 27.5k/year at UCI, 24.8k at UMinn. I will not want to have this as a huge factor in my decision, but considering that I have to live off my stipend, should I worry about this? (One of my seniors has commented that you have 'peanuts' left at UMinn after paying for your room and board. How far is that true? I don't know, but any help will be good). Overall, I am looking for people who have been/are in a similar situation to comment on this and also raise any other factor which I might have missed. What do you think? Help a confused soul! Thanks!