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materialsgirl

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  1. Upvote
    materialsgirl reacted to sky157 in Fall 2018 Cycle   
    Just found out that I got into Cornell!! This is my first acceptance, and I think I'm still in shock.
  2. Upvote
    materialsgirl got a reaction from Chai_latte in Chemistry Grad School Chances   
    I have similar stats to you (cumulative GPA is 2.66, cumulative chem 2.9 and last 60 units 3.01) but I graduated last year. I've been working for a diagnostics/medical devices company for the past year. I am doing the master's route (also applying to RIT!).
    As much as I want to show and prove to PhD committees that I am a hard worker, my grades ARE going to hold me back. I've talked to my old REU PI and he was honest with me and told me that with my stats I wouldn't even get into the program (and they're in the top 100...). It was a wake up call that no matter how hard I try to get my application reviewed, it wont really happen. 
    I know it isn't the most ideal situation, but if I want to have the chance to get into powerhouses (UWashington & Berkeley for example) I have to do a masters. It might not be what you want to hear but I suggest the masters. 
  3. Upvote
    materialsgirl reacted to rising_star in Choice Between UCLA and UCI for Physical/Theoretical Chemistry PhD   
    What do you mean when you say that UCI is "a worse school"? Why did you apply if it is indeed worse? 
  4. Like
    materialsgirl reacted to ThousandsHardships in Master's or PhD??   
    I don't think that your job will affect you negatively at all. Assay research and data analytics sound incredibly relevant to chemistry, and it's looked very favorably upon to have experience working professionally, even if it's unrelated to your intended research direction. As far as your manager is concerned, I wouldn't stress too much about it. If he's any sort of a decent person, he would not use your move as an excuse to hold a grudge. He should understand and respect your goals. If he doesn't, he needs to make that clear from the very beginning and urge you to choose a different recommender.
    The best tip that I can give you with regards to your application is to get into contact with any potential PI's you might want to work with for your master's/PhD. Stronger students can often get into great programs without being in touch with any faculty members beforehand, but your GPA would not make the cut if you didn't have someone in the program explicitly pulling for you. Many programs put applications with a sub-3.0 GPA on their automatic reject pile without even looking at the rest of the application. This is because most schools I know of require a 3.0 GPA minimum. This isn't set in stone, and certainly many students get in without it, but it makes things complicated for the department/program, and they need a really good reason to put in that extra effort to convince the university to let you in or to risk the university rejecting you after they've already invested time and resources on your behalf.
    Other than that, you may want to mention the sources of your difficulties in your statements. Don't give excuses and don't make them the entire focus, but you may want to explain your difficulties and show how you've managed to work through them to get to where you are today and how they've shaped your interests for your field. Getting a few publications out certainly couldn't hurt either, and make sure you have very strong letters of recommendation.
    If you have the financial resources and really want to start your program as soon as you can, it doesn't hurt to apply this year. If all else fails, just apply again the following year. The worst that could happen is that you get rejected and have to apply again the next application season, which you'd have to do anyway if you don't apply this season. I was asking myself the same question last year. I didn't have a good relationship with the faculty in my M.A. program and was debating whether to let things mellow out for a few years before expressing the desire to apply to PhD programs in their field. I decided to give it a go anyway, and I got in. Sure, interpersonal relationships might have cost me some very good schools I could have gotten into otherwise, but I do get to start my PhD at a school I'd be happy with, with a very responsible and involved mentor, and I'm no longer stressing over whether this road would be closed.
    As for your master's vs. PhD question, maybe you can apply to PhD programs and indicate on your application that you'd like to be considered for the master's program in the event that you were not deemed to be a good fit for the PhD? I know some schools that do that. Check with the programs. Good luck!! 
  5. Upvote
    materialsgirl reacted to samman1994 in Fall 2018 Applicants   
    Yeah I talked to my PI, and she personally knows the POIs that Id want to join, so she said I have a really good chance at that school. She also said the department I'm looking for is in their school of medicine department (and this is more of a biophysical lab), so she said most of the students there either have a very poor biophysical background, or don't even want to pursue that avenue, so they are definitely looking for people interested and proficient (relatively speaking in the field). So she told me I should be good in regards to those schools. 
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