raul.carmo

Got an e-mail from the University of Utah informing of my rejection. Although it was not my first choice I feel sad and worried since I haven't heard from other schools yet.

Has anyone heard from the University of Pittsburgh? No results in the admissions board for this term.

neuroscience is full of awkward people so you should feel like home (just kidding )

Don't freak out, you're reading the reply of someone who was rejected to 3 terrible MS programs (they didn't even make it to the rankings) and admitted to a world's top 50 MS program with a full scholarship. Sometimes backup schools (lower tier) end up being the hardest to get into since they usually have less funding and are not able to accept many students. Top schools have much more money to accept incoming students so they are able to pick up more people, so that's why it is quite common to see people with below average credentials (GREs, LOR, GPA etc) get into top schools (at least in chemistry it happens a lot).

I hate the fact that there are schools which do not accept unofficial copies of the GREs and TOEFL for an admission decision. You have to pay almost 50 dollars (for a foreign student paying in a lower currency it is sooo expensive) to send your scores to each institution just to know: ok you have not been admitted to our program...

Did anyone hear from University of Pittsburgh, Utah (after Dec.) and UI Chicago? Also, is it inappropriate to call departments to check how far they are in the admissions process? I want to check if they are still sending offers or if all the positions are filled.

Hey guys, anyone attending UofSC for Fall 2018?

Try looking for past terms to see until when people were accepted then you might have an idea. But don't freak out, most professors are just getting back on the track now after the holidays.

Did you check on the admissions board to see if there are any acceptances for these institutions? I know Dartmouth will start sending their first round of offers this week and I've seen some people receiving offers from UW, Vanderbilt probably will follow the same calendar of Dartmouth...

To which programs have you applied? Many programs only send acceptances after Jan. 15 (today).

Yes, there are many other factors other than scores and GPAs, I was talking about international students admitted with a similar background (at least from the information they posted there) and scores. Of course it is impossible to tell who's going to be admitted or not (I saw students being rejected with a 4.00 GPA and high GRE scores, publications etc). But at the same time I feel that going for a PhD in the US regardless of the institution is already a big accomplishment for me as a Brazilian student. Differently from other developing countries (China/India), Brazil doesn't have this mobility culture and you can see that by the small number of Brazilians in graduate programs abroad, even though Brazil is the 7th world economy people just stay here, so earning a PhD abroad will already be a huge plus to my CV.

I agree, I just feel bad because I could have applied to those as well since they have faculty members doing outstanding research in my field. Who knows right?

I feel bad now after looking the admissions board that many people with weaker CVs and scores than mine got into top programs like Berkeley and Chapel Hill. I didn't apply because I thought my chances would be essentially zero, now I feel like I could have been accepted to those as well if I tried.

Yes, right? Thank you

It's because I applied to other programs last year and got rejected to all haha. But they were MS programs and my GRE scores were much lower, and I found out later that my recommendation letters had like 3 lines because my professors were so lazy that they would write something like "he's a good student and I recommend him for a doctoral position at your institution" END. Now I even have a strong recommendation letter from a famous PI in the US (after years he still remembers me) but he is in the field of entomology (I was a biochem major then transferred to chemistry).

Just got the e-mail with an offer of admission, so happy! PhD in Chemistry here.

Just got an e-mail from the University of South Carolina with an admission offer!! I am so glad even though it is not my first option, at least I know that in August I will be in US again, just don't know where yet haha

Admitted to the University of South Carolina!!! I know it is not a top program but I was so worried I wouldn't get any acceptances at all I can't describe how happy I am

Hey guys, I was wondering if it's possible to live decently through a PhD in Chicago with ~2k USD per month, and if possible, how the condition will probably be like (sharing a room, sharing an apartment, living by yourself etc).

Nice! Are you a domestic or international applicant?

I get what you're saying, and I agree to some extent. However, it is only true when you are talking about international students from Europe/Australia/Japan (and some Chinese). Students coming from countries that are even underdeveloped or where english is not the first language are not as competitive as American/European students for many reasons. First there is the language barrier (which should not count if you took a proficiency exam and scored the acceptable grades), there is also the difficulty from the admissions committee to evaluate grading in less known institutions across the globe (my undergrad institution is the ranked #3 in Brazil and is ranked higher than many US institutions but most Americans, including professors, never heard of it). There is also the cost factor, since international students usually cost more than native ones (not sure if it applies to private schools but it is definitely true for state universities). Unfortunately, from people outside the N.America/Europe/Australia range are usually in disadvantage... I am confident that I will get in though

It is not part of the academic culture in Brazil to rely on letters of reference for graduate schools so my professors are not used to writing this kind of document, I even had to e-mail them with examples I took from the internet so that they could use them as a guide. Even though I lived in the US for 2 years and I feel confident that both my english and chemistry skills are more than sufficient for graduate work, I still feel that my application is not even going to be taken seriously by the committee.

Any international applicants from outside of North America and Europe here? How are you feeling about your chances? Sometimes I feel like I am good enough for the programs I chose but sometimes it just feels like my citizenship will ruin my chances (I am Brazilian).

It is comforting to see that I am not the only one checking e-mail and application status websites every 5 minutes. At least I haven't seen any offers for the institutions I applied to so I am trying to think they are a little bit late. By the way, I am applying to Inorganic Chemistry PhD

Hey all, As an international applicant with little experience in the American graduate admissions world, I would like to know what to expect from an skype interview with a POI. I would like to be more prepared but I am not sure whether they will talk about their research experience, my credentials, my goals as a grad student, my personal life, general chemistry (lol) or even a mix of everything. What are the topics professors are usually more interested in these interviews?