luce373

I'm in the same situation. I have a room but no roommate yet. On the website I think it says they process applications through mid-July, so I suppose I'm not surprised I haven't heard. I'm moving in August 1st so I'm hoping to know in the next few weeks so we can coordinate things.

Your stats are pretty similar to mine (maybe a little lower, but they are certainly reasonable), and I was successful with most of my applications. I think as long as you have a good research fit with the profs at the schools you're applying to, you've got a decent chance at the top tier.

The one from the Apple store has a rounded tip to allow for different writing angles, which is nice. From my (limited) experience, it seems to be the iPad/apps that determine the ease of writing more than the stylus. Despite my stylus being much slimmer than my finger, the writing looks the same in terms of line thickness, responsiveness, spacing, etc. Maybe I'm just not used to the stylus yet, but it seems to improve comfort more than it improves the actual writing.

I think it's pretty easy to mark up the pdf's, at least for the chemistry articles I read. And I prefer GoodReader over iAnnotate. I was having problems getting iAnnotate to send the changes to Dropbox and you can't scroll the page while you're writing on it like you can with GoodReader. As far as a stylus goes, I got mine from the Apple store. It was $15, I think, and works really well.

I just bought an iPad 2 this weekend as a graduation present to myself. It was a bit painful because even the cheapest model was the same price as my laptop, but that's working fine right now (knock on wood) so I shouldn't need to replace it before grad school. I'm really liking it so far, and I think it may prevent me from carrying my laptop to campus unless I'm working on a paper or something. Way lighter/smaller. It certainly couldn't replace a real computer, but it comes reasonably close for the things I use it for during the school day. I bought iAnnotate to mark up PDFs but I was having issues syncing the marked copies back to Dropbox. I ended up also buying GoodReader and that app's working a lot better for me. Anyway, I've read quite a few papers on it so far, much more than usual. Apparently all you need to do to get me to be more productive is put my work on a toy.

I had this problem really badly, but I graduated in the fall so all of my grades still mattered. I was only taking two classes, one pass/fail (a really awful requirement I'd put off) and it was like pulling teeth to do the work. I was also writing an honors thesis, preparing for a senior recital, and doing a musical, though, so it's not like I was slacking off. Luckily I was able to pull it together by doing the minimum work possible. Now I'm just working in my lab full time until I go to grad school. It is strange to know that I'm just doing it to do it and not to work towards my thesis, but I like being in lab so it's not as hard to stay motivated for that.

I still have Caltech to visit this weekend, but I'm probably going to Columbia. I was sick and missed the Berkeley visit, but I'm leaning enough towards Columbia I don't think I'll try to reschedule.

Honestly, I found going over my notes from my courses much more useful than going through textbooks. I would have been overwhelmed trying to read whole books in the weeks before the test, especially with classes going on. And theoretically, if you've been through the classes, you know the important points from the textbooks already and just need to refresh your memory. I was also only partway through inorganic chemistry when I took the test, and I missed some questions that I otherwise would have gotten. But the number of questions that was an issue for was very small, and I don't think it hurt my score.

Michigan was free because I am a domestic student. Also Minnesota and Madison were free because of an REU I did at Minnesota. If you've done an REU, you can check at that school and affiliated schools to see if they'll waive your fee.

I just got my rejection from MIT today. Not particularly surprised since I hadn't heard otherwise yet. Oh well, I'm not too bothered because I've already been focusing on the other programs I've been accepted to.

The only two schools I'm still waiting on are MIT and Michigan. I'm not as attached to Michigan, but I am curious about MIT. They're both applyweb and neither has a view decision link. Hmmm. At least I'm not rejected yet? I'll maybe give it one more week and then call.

You should e-mail the Canadian institution within a few weeks of the response deadline (maybe you'll have heard more from other schools by then) and explain the situation. If you say you are seriously considering them but want to be able to consider all your options, they may grant you an extension.

I do agree with you. One of the two I feel I'm less likely to end up at is the one I don't have to travel for so they'd only be paying for a meal or two, and I actually like the program very much, I'm just ready for a change of location. The other, I haven't committed to visiting yet because I'm being indecisive about it. I wish I could just visit my first choice now before making any other travel arrangements. Then if it went well I could just call it a day.

I'm leaning pretty heavily towards one school, but it's mostly personal reasons that put it in front. I'm hoping that visit goes well so it doesn't make my decision more complicated. Then I've got two more schools that are tied for my second choice, and another two that I think would be fun to visit but I probably won't end up at. Like you, SyntheticOrganiker, I'm looking forward to meeting and talking to some leading professors in my field even if I don't think I'll attend their schools. One of the schools is where I am right now and Caltech will be combined with ACS, so I'll at least only have to travel four times.

How many schools is everyone visiting? Right now I'm visiting 5 (I'm in at 7 so far) and, though I'm excited, I'm also worried about burning myself out. I'll be on visits five weekends in a row and then the ACS meeting. I'm thinking of cutting one more as I'm pretty confident I'll end up at one of the other 4 schools.

Have you tried asking your masters program if they will make an exception? Otherwise I would just e-mail Georgia Tech back and explain the situation. I'm sure they will try to work with you.

I've already gotten one rejection and a friend doing chemical biology/biochemistry has gotten a rejection or two as well. If you were definitively in the reject pile, you would have heard that by now. Until you hear otherwise, you're still in the running. Most schools make their decisions on a rolling basis so it is either taking them a while to get to your app or you will be admitted as others turn offers down. Hope is not yet lost.

They probably won't know that you've applied to so many schools but that is WAY overkill. I was stretched pretty thin submitting my 10 applications and in retrospect I wish I'd cut the list down more. It's better to choose <10 schools that are good fits and are a mix of higher and lower ranked than to apply to so many. If you're not a good fit you won't get in anyway. 1. Yes, but only if you legitimately have a question. It's not about tallying up office visits, it's about engaging in interesting conversations about chemistry. 3. It's definitely awkward to mention your GPA, it's really more about the chemistry you can do/discuss. The professor I work for at my school never asked about my GPA before he brought me into the lab (though I think at my school professors can look that up online if they want). I had never had him in class before, but I was really interested in his research so I e-mailed him telling him why his work intrigued me and asking if he had any space in his lab. You can certainly bring that up in conversation with this professor, and maybe even talk about grad school. Just phrase it so you're saying his research sounds exciting to you; if that's the case, it's natural you would consider pursuing it once you graduate. And if it doesn't work out, it certainly doesn't hurt to e-mail professors cold as long as you focus on why their research would be a good fit for you and not that you need something for your resume. It can't hurt.

I just got an e-mail from Columbia today (!!!) and my letter says they want people interested in chemical biology/biological chemistry/any interdisciplinary biology field to come that first weekend. They're having some sort of reception the 3rd that will include biology professors as well. For everyone else, the other visiting weekend is March 18th. I doubt that means they're admitting the biochem people first, but just fyi.

It's such a relief to know I'll have some good choices no matter what. Guess I was stressing out for nothing! And congrats to you too, sami!

I don't know if anyone else applied there, but I just heard back from Illinois-Urbana Champaign that I am in. They sent me an e-mail with the offer details. I turned in my app right on the deadline (Jan 7th) so I'm surprised to hear back so quickly! (Sorry for the double post, it was too late to edit my last one.)

Another call from Berkeley today! From John Arnold, someone who was mentioned in my statement. He apologized for it taking so long (again, not surprised because I think my application was completed late) and said more details were coming in the mail. He also said the inorganic visit day is March 4. Seems like people going for non-organic fields are just having to wait a little longer this year.

I just got a call from Caltech that I'm in! It was from Gray, an inorganic professor I hadn't mentioned in my statement. I missed the call because I was asleep, but he left a message and sent an email (wondering if he called too early, haha). It was 7 AM out in California, he's really on top of things. Anyway, it's such a relief to know I'm in somewhere!

I wish I'd applied a little earlier. It wasn't really feasible due to coursework and then illness, but all of my applications were submitted right at the deadlines and now I'm having to wait longer to hear back. Also, for personal reasons, location has become way more of a factor than it was when I applied. Now I'm stuck with half of the schools I applied in places I really don't want to live. I wish I'd looked at location a little more making up my original list.

I'm inorganic, but I haven't heard back from anywhere yet. So this thread has been making me a little nervous. I wonder if inorganic is just slower, though. The only school I applied to that you've heard back from, tso123d, is Berkeley, and I think all of my materials didn't make it there by the deadline so I'm not surprised about that one.