Whisky-with-a-Y

Yes. I knew someone who went to Brown, not a good school for chemistry, really didnt like it. It's the same thing with other ivy's like Dartmouth. Those are two outstanding schools but really lack in the chemistry department. Michigan is a great school, very difficult to get into but you have a pretty good chance. I personally think Purdue is better than Washington, but West Lafayette isnt ideal for a lot of students that want to have a huge social life. There isn't much to do there. Colorado is a decent school but very expensive cost of living and in my personal opinion not worth it. I think Purdue is the better of your choices with the exception of Michigan.

I think the issue lies in what you are planning to study in grad school. If you are interested in analytical chemistry, there is no better school than Purdue so why wait for anything else. However, I am a little unsure of the other chemistry disciplines there. I do not think you were accepted there because they have a high acceptance rate, something I have never heard of; your application seems pretty qualified with the pubs, double major and strong LOR's; sounds to me like you earned it. I would only wait a year if I were able to get some sort of job in industry. For example, a friend of mine received a fellowship working with the government for a year, something that would make you very competative come next application cycle. I think a year off without any related work experience will definitley hurt you. Also, if there is a professor at Purdue who you really want to work with, I would absolutley choose the school. At the end of the day it is about enjoying what you are doing and having fun. If you wanted to go the professor route for your future, a better school might offer better opportunitys for post-docs, but Purude has an excellent reputation of job placement outside of academia, something that is incredibly important for a lot of students. Side note- they have difficult cumulative exams that must be passed in order to continue work towards your PhD, something a lot of schools have done away with (not sure why).What other schools would you be looking at if you waited a year?

Hello All, I keep reading more and more requests about the old GRE subject exams with students wanting the past exams emailed to them. I cannot find out if anyone has actually responded to these requests, and I might as well throw my two cents in for those that do not have any of the old tests. First, they are not very difficult to find; when I took the test I spent about 10 minutes on google and found all three, which I believe is all that is available on the internet. Second, I hate to break the bad news for those that have recently, or will be signing up in the future, and have not received the practice exam they supply you with. The practice test you will recieve is the exact same one you can access on their website, so dont get your hopes up like I did thinking that you will receive another study guide. Lastly, just from my own experience, dont purely focus on the old exams. They are good practice, but after I completed each test, I almost remembered each question on it, and it wasnt a good test of my knowledge later on because I knew the answers. I recommend using them as an initial "See where I am at" and then at the very end of the your studying to see how far you have come. Also, they are great for practing time management, something I really struggled with on the test. I just really wanted to stress that all these exams can be found online; so if you have been waiting for an email from someone, it might be easier to look.