boulderboi

Probably snagging the super students early... Us plebs have to wait a while

Congrats! Crazy that people are already receiving acceptances.

I don't think the C's are the kiss of death at all, especially since they aren't necessarily directly related to your major. I got straight C's in the calculus series but A/A- in all organic and upper division chemistry courses. I am hoping the top schools will realize that I will never use calculus ever again as a synthetic organic chemist and put a lot more weight on my good grades in other courses. The rest of your specs look great to me. Basically what I am saying is that it might hurt your application a bit but just keep doing well in the courses most directly related to your intended field and keep on performing research. I think you should have a decent chance at some top 10 and good chance at top 25. That's all assuming you do pretty well on the GREs and keep your grades up for the next year and a half.

Darn. Well maybe some international students can weigh in on how much that will effect your chances at those specific schools. I’m domestic so I can’t help much.

I don’t know too much about the schools you are applying to because I am mostly applying on the west coast. However, your credentials look pretty strong IMO (aside from the 2.5 on AW, which probably doesn’t matter too much). One thing that strikes me as a bit odd is your lack of a subject test score. Did you take it? Aren’t those scores pretty heavily weighted for international students?

I let him know back in October and he said he was willing to. I think I will give him until Friday to respond then change to my current manager. It's a little unfortunate because I have only been working with my current manager for 3 months and I worked with him for a year.

Thanks! Unfortunately it is a pretty important letter. It is from my manager in industry who oversaw all of my research projects. He has since left the company though so it is not as easy as just finding him in person.

I have been trying to get in touch with one of my letter writers for the past week and a half now. He didn't submit the letters on the application due date and he hasn't responded since I started trying to reach him. I have tried calling texting and emailing to no avail. Question for all of you. How late will most schools accept LORs? Do you think it will have any effect on my chances with his late LOR (assuming I am able to contact him)?

Undergrad Institution: Liberal ArtsMajor(s): BiochemistryMinor(s): JapaneseGPA in Major: 3.41Overall GPA: 3.43Position in Class: N/AType of Student: Domestic MaleGRE Scores (revised/old version):Q: 159V: 156W: 4S: Let's not talk about thatResearch Experience: full time summer research student in homogeneous catalysis. Two semesters part time (10 hours a week) research on the same project. 1.5 years industry experience in medicinal chemistry (heavily research focused)Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Chemistry department scholarship. Deans list. Pertinent Activities or Jobs: TA for one semester. Currently a research associate in industry.Any Miscellaneous Accomplishments that Might Help: Two poster presentations at undergrad institution. One at the drug discovery chemistry conferenceSpecial Bonus Points: Company started by professor at one of my top school choices. Recommender went to one of my top school choices. Neither of these probably matter too much.Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter:Applying to Where: University of Colorado - Organic Univerisity of Minnesota - Organic Stanford - Organic Scripps - Organic Berkeley - Organic

I am in a similar position. I got a 650 (36%) which is a little confusing because I scored an average of 60% on the 4 practice tests I took. I am only planning on submitting to the schools that require (Stanford). I wont send to the rest of the schools. Seeing as it is optional at a good number of schools, I am guessing it is the least important aspect of the application. I have also heard this from others.

I took several courses at a university other than the one from which I graduated that were for my major. The courses counted towards my major but did not count towards my GPA at my undergraduate insitution. When calculating major GPA should I include these courses or not?

I have seen on here people mentioning that there are 4 practice tests available but the posts were very old. Because of this none of the links worked. i have taken the 3 I was able to get my hands on (2000, 2006 and 2007). My scores were all over the place (30-70 percentile) and I would like to take at least one more to reassure myself I am at the upper end of that range. Does anyone know if there are more available? thanks in advanced!

Oh.... forgot to answer your question. PhD

Thanks for the reply. The main reason I decided on two industry letters is because the VP of chemistry and my direct manager (both PhD organic chemists) have seen about a year and a half of my research at the company. My undergraduate research advisor is really the only academic letter I could get from a professor who has seen my research first hand. I suppose I could reach out to another professor from my undergrad but most of them were just that... professors. Never saw me in a lab any thoughts?

Thanks mastrofran! That puts me at ease quite a bit.

I am in the middle of my application process (taking the GRE on monday) and will be focusing on really digging into schools come next week. My questions are around which schools, based on your experience, may except someone with my qualifications. I have been getting a lot of mixed messages from managers/professors and wanted some different points of view. My manager has been telling me he thinks I might be able to get into schools like stanford or Berekely while my undergraduate advisor suggested I focus on some of my other choices (CU boulder, Univeristy of washington) and that higher tier schools would be out of my reach. First, a little background on me. I graduated two years ago from a small liberal arts school (not top tier) with my BS in biochemistry. During my undergraduate program I did a summer and two semesters of research in organocatalysis. After graduating I got a job as a research associate at a small biotech company in the bay area. My current position is also very heavily research focussed and, by the time I start grad school, I will have been working there for two years. My manager and the VP of chemistry are going to be two of my letters of recomendation and they think very highly of me. My GRE score is most likely going to be somewhere around V:155 Q:162 based on the practice tests I have taken. My under graduate GPA was a 3.5 and slightly lower in my major (DAMN CALCULUS SERIES!). I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who applied to graduate school with a similar background as me. What schools did you apply to and which did you get accepted to? what should some of my reach schools be? How important are GRE general and chemistry subject scores?