Jump to content

Steph<3Chem

Members
  • Posts

    8
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Steph<3Chem

  1. I'm chemistry with a biological emphasis - it came down to Berkeley, Stanford, or CalTech. All three are AMAZING in terms of science, and all three had at least 1 person who I wanted to quit undergrad and stay at my visit weekend to work for and a couple others who were very interesting. For me, the deciding factors were how urban the setting was and where the school sat on the university to institute spectrum. Also, there were some differences in the financial offers, although I see that more as an added bonus than a deciding factor. We're going for the science not the $ :-) Based on my visit experience, I think the graduate student's description posted above is fairly accurate, and which one it makes you want to pick is fairly personal.
  2. In response to earlier requests that posts be more detailed/specific and recent news from schools, here is my updated "heard back" list with the school, program, date & method I heard back, and when I plan to visit (too much info, I know, but people were asking...): UT Austin (Biochemistry), heard by email 12/15, visiting 1/28 UNC Chapel Hill (BBSP), heard by email 12/29, visiting 2/11 UW Madison (IPiBiochemistry), heard by phone 1/4, visiting 2/18 UIUC (Chemistry), heard by email 1/5, visiting 3/19 Stanford (Chemistry), heard by phone 1/13, will select visit date from 2/25, 3/4, or 3/11 UC Berkeley (Chemistry), heard by email 1/15, will select from same weekends as Stanford MIT (Chemistry) waiting Caltech (Chemistry) waiting
  3. I'm visiting 2/18-2/21, but through the IPiB (biochem) program. you?
  4. Mine are interview/recruitment weekends - I'm not sure how much the interviews have to do with admissions. Seems like they might have more to do with selecting fellowship recipients or even just giving us a chance to meet faculty and find out more about the research. Also, not all of my departments are straight chemistry - I'm biological chemistry, so some are Chemistry departments, some are biochem departments, and some are integrated programs in biosciences.
  5. They were invitations to interview weekends, all by email except Madison.
  6. Hi, So far (Jan. 7, 2010) I've heard back from UT Austin, UNC, UW Madison, and UIUC. I'm waiting on MIT, CalTech, Berkeley, and Stanford. What about everyone else?
  7. Several of my schools have no length specified for the SOP. The past prompts have been specific about how much they want you to describe past research experience, so I've kept my statements to 1.5-2 pages without the detailed research descriptions and 2-3 pages with detailed descriptions. However, it seems that the higher ranked the school the less detail they give you in the prompt - feels like some kind of test. The current one in question is CalTech: Please provide a brief statement of your scientific and professional interests and objectives. Include a description of your past accomplishments that are not evident from the examination of other documents submitted. Report, if applicable, on any research in progress. Please provide a brief statement...that reads 1-2 pages to me. But then that short killer sentence: report on any research in progress. Well, I'm currently working on two separate research projects, one of which is an 11-person student-driven team project tackling a multidisciplinary question. How to keep it brief and report? What's a good guideline for length when there's no specification (especially in physical/life sciences)?
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. See our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use