[NSF GRFP 2019-2020]

5 minutes ago, yayareaforever said:

If you weren't awarded, how are you dealing with it? I keep telling myself that my worth is not dependent on this fellowship, but I can't help but think that this is indicative of my scientific capabilities. I'm also reminding myself of everything I'm already grateful for, but part of me wants to just mope around and be sad for a week. 

Meh, the GRFP is kind of a crapshoot. A large part of it is who you have as your reviewers, who are just people with their own biases and flaws. The results aren’t a perfect reflection of your own abilities and shouldn’t really be treated as such.

[Choosing between a school with a perfect advisor with few other options or one with many advisor options but no perfect fit?]

I'm considering a school in which there is a potential advisor who matches my research interests perfectly and we got along well during my visit. He guaranteed I would be able to work in his lab this summer before graduate school starts, and I would be able to join his lab completely if I chose. My only worry is that there aren't really any other advisors at that school who are taking grad school students next year. What if my initial opinions of this PI are off and I end up not liking his lab? I have other schools to choose from who have a variety of good advisor options, but their research doesn't excite me quite as much. I suppose this would be a safer option in having more people to choose from. Does anyone have any opinions about how to handle this? 

[Fall 2018 Cycle]

On 2/5/2018 at 2:13 PM, supremethiophene said:

I just called UChicago and they said that decisions will be available by the 15th of February and that they pushed the date back. I have a very good feeling that they wouldn't just push the date back for no reason other than that they are still making acceptances

Did nothing become of this again? Still haven't heard back from them.

[Fall 2018 Cycle]

16 hours ago, supremethiophene said:

I'm not really sure why a lot of people are giving up hope. It's the beginning of February. Many people I've talked to have received acceptances in February. If the results page was anything to go off of then that would mean only like 10 people got into Yale this year, 8 to Harvard, etc etc. The results page is extremely biased. Most people don't even know this website exists. Yale acceptances are probably still coming out I would imagine and I'm assuming most schools are still making acceptances. I don't trust the results page and I don't really trust a lot of the information on this thread. Someone said that uchicago was gonna release all decisions by today and that hasn't happened. Someone said Yale was gonna release all decisions last Friday and that didn't happen. Don't give up hope!

I really did call UChicago and the lady said that they would release decisions yesterday. I didn’t receive anything though, so I guess I was lied to ?

[Fall 2018 Cycle]

I just called UChicago, and they said decisions will be emailed by February 2nd. I’m guessing they’ll all be rejections at this point.

[Fall 2018 Cycle]

Undergrad Institution: Small liberal arts college
Major(s): Chemistry
Minor(s): Math/Applied Physics
GPA in Major: 3.98
Overall GPA: 3.94
Position in Class: 
Type of Student: Domestic

GRE Scores (revised/old version):
Q: 160
V: 167
W: 4.5
S: 53%


Research Experience: One experience at my home institution, one ORISE Fellowship and 1 REU 

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?)

A few ACS awards, one Freshman Chemistry Award

Special Bonus Points: 

One research mentor is on the admissions board for one of the schools I'm applying to.


Applying to Where:

MIT, UChicago, UC Berkeley, Harvard, Stanford, GA Tech, Ohio State, NYU, Boston U, UT Austin, UC Davis

[Resume formatting issues]

It was unfortunately the PDF that was wrong. The photo is what I am talking about. Most of the apps that I sent are already due, but should I try and resend an improved PDF? I wanted it right justified and the start of the second set of numbers accidentally has a space between 2014 and the hyphen. Is this enough of an issue where I should let admissions know, or am I worrying too much?

[Resume formatting issues]

Hi everyone,

I just noticed that my resume that I sent to many of my schools had some improper formatting issues. Namely, some columns of dates are slightly misaligned. Is it worth it to try and send a neater looking copy?

Thanks in advance.

[A "are my GRE scores too low" thread]

1 hour ago, samman1994 said:

I'd say you have a good GRE score, combined with the GPA, you shouldn't have any problems 

Thanks for the input. Obviously there’s no guarantee that I’ll get into those top schools, but I didn’t want it to be because the Q score on my GRE was too low...

[A "are my GRE scores too low" thread]

Hi, I recently took the Chem GRE and scored a 167V and 160Q. Am I wasting my time applying to some of the higher end schools (UChicago, Berkeley, Stanford, MIT etc.) with that lower Quantitative score, or is there hope? I have a 3.938 GPA for another metric. I also have a REU experience and a positive letter of rec from someone who obtained a Ph.D. from one of those schools and was a postdoc at another one of them, although I'm not sure how much that will help...