amino1990

Do you know if UC Davis chemistry department still sends out their offer? I am an international student who applied for theoretical organic chem and I'm really worried that they've already finished their selection.

Thanks, I hope you could explore your interest at your dream school, too. I read some papers of McMahon's group before, but it's really hard to make a logical connection between his interest and my prior work, at least in my sop (how can my work on drugs synthesis and development of synthetic methodology urge me to study reactive intermediates and unusual molecules?). Of course, Tantillo's lab would be an ideal place for me, since he applies computational methods to tackle various problems in organic chemistry. However, when I looked at the list of his graduate students and alumni, I couldn't find any M.S. and PhD student finishing their undergraduate study outside US, so I'm a bit worried about my chance.

That's right, UC Davis is my dream school. However, I didn't have enough time to prepare for the chem GRE test, and my speaking score is mediocre, so I didn't apply for UCLA. I could only find few people using computational methods to study organic reactions mechanism. Besides Dean Tantillo, I also want to work with Alabugin (FSU), Weist (Notre Dame), and Paul Ha-Yeon Cheong (OSU). I already got an offer from FSU, but I still hope to be accepted to UC Davis. Given the fact that all graduate students in Tantillo's lab have been always domestic, my hope is really low.

You have an interesting idea. I also apply for grad school this time, and I want to switch from organic synthesis to theoretical organic chemistry. You stated that you want to do organic synthesis and explain experimental results by computational methods, but have you found any group which does both the synthetic work and computational work? I think that organic synthesis is very time-consuming, and I am not sure if one person could do both at the same time. If you could match your interest with your POI, I think you will be fine.

I'm not sure if I understand your ideas. I could write about my interaction with foreigners in Korea, what I learned from them. These experiences, somehow influenced my view about my academic career. Nonetheless, I still don't know what I could contribute to the diversity of the school I apply. Everything I learned is what I received, but what could I give or offer other people?

Thank you for your suggestion. However, I think I have to make a connection between my background and my decision to apply for graduate school. Thus, my political or social view is not related well to my intention, especially I apply for natural science major. I still feel that my hardship in education is the most persuasive reason for me to continue my graduate study, however, it's hard not to mention it in the sop.

I know this has been discussed a lot before, but I still couldn't figure out how to write it. This is a description of this essay from UC Davis: The purpose of this essay is to get know you as an individual and potential graduate student. Please describe how your personal background informs your decision to pursue a graduate degree. You may include any educational, familial, cultural, economic, or social experiences, challenges, community service, outreach activities, residency and citizenship, first-generation college status, or opportunities relevant to your academic journey; how your life experiences contribute to the social, intellectual, or cultural diversity within a campus community and your chosen field; or how you might serve educationally underrepresented and underserved segments of society with your graduate education. I need to say that I am Vietnamese and I will apply to chemistry department. I finished my undergraduate degree in my country and MS in Korea. I don't think I have unusual or unique stories about my family, culture or community engagement that motivate me to pursue graduate degree. The only unusual thing I could talk about is that it will be almost impossible to survive if I continue my research career with a bachelor degree in my country (low income, no funding, very poor research quality). How can this situation contribute to "the social, intellectual, or cultural diversity" of my filed? Besides, in the statement of purpose, they also require applicants to " highlight your academic preparation and motivation". Certainly, if I write about my motivation, I need the content about my background from personal history, thus, how to avoid duplication? Could anyone give me some suggestions?