Ziegler1988

Yep; Brookline and Cambridge Port are probably my top choices since I'd like to be within biking distance.

Here's the Graduate Housing Guide the Chemistry department sent us.

If the second school is BC and the superstar is Hoveyda then I wouldn't go to BC just for him. The grad students outside of his group said he's the hardest one there and you need to get along with his personality to work well with him. That being said, I still think BC is a good place for synthetic organic outside of him: Snapper and Morken were both really nice and publish a good amount. The facilities there are really good and there is a lot of collaboration between professors which creates a good atmosphere with everyone working together.

In natural products total synthesis? Overall in synthetic organic BC is probably stronger since they have more professors but the only group that does a good amount of total synthesis is Snapper's group. I just wasn't really interested in making my own transition metal catalysts which seemed to be the major thrust there.

I'll be attending BU in the fall for a PhD in Organic Chemistry; I really liked the campus/area when I visited and I'm looking forward to living in Boston.

Decided on Boston University since it is the strongest in the area that I'm most interested in (natural products total synthesis).

Scripps and Columbia will let you know your decision if you email them. I finally have all my decisions now: went 4 for 12 but I applied to way too many reach schools.

Personally I don't put much stock in the overall US News Rankings (which I'm assuming you're talking about); for example BC is around 50 in the overall but that's probably because they are focused mostly on Organic. I also wouldn't base my decision solely on location though, but it would play a factor in my decision. Good luck deciding.

I haven't visited BU yet, but out of my other two I'm leaning towards BC over Chicago. I feel that BC has a stronger Synthetic Organic department (5 professors and looking to hire 2 more vs. 3 at Chicago) and I liked that the professors collaborate with each other on certain projects. BC is also closer to my home in CT and I prefer the weather there. Not sure what I would do if I got into Scripps or Columbia, but at this point I'm going on the assumption that I'll be rejected.

I got my acceptance from BC the middle of last month by postal mail; their visit weekend is at the end of this month so I would imagine they'll be making the rest of their decisions soon.

I'm still waiting on them as well; looking at last year's some people got their rejections at the end of March.

For anyone waiting on Columbia, I just e-mailed them and they said that all offers of admission have been made and they are in the process of making a waiting list, although it is unlikely they will need it.

Yeah, everyone at Chicago had a host as well which was useful. They'll be honest about how much time their adviser expects them to put in the lab per week and whether they are a slavedriver or not (first years might not have a good feel for that yet though); there was a panel discussion at Chicago with just current grad students and the prospectives which gave a good insight into where to live in the city and what the requirements are really like for the students. Our faculty interviews were informal with a group of 3-5 prospectives which took the pressure off having to ask questions; it was pretty much just the professor talking about what their research was and then being available to answer any questions.

I'd say if you want to be a professor at a high powered research institute then Scripps would probably be better since it's higher ranked and all about research. UCSD would probably be better if you want to be a professor at a smaller university that's focused on teaching since you'll get TA experience there. I haven't visited either, but from what I hear Scripps has no campus and you have to drive to go anywhere else.