WenChun

Sorry @raul.carmo, but if you don't mind me asking, why do you only have until March 15th to make your decision? SUNY Buffalo is on the CGS list so you should have until April 15th to decide where you want to go. It just seems weird...

Still haven't heard anything, no change on the application portal.

Yeah, there's one two weeks from Friday (Feb 23-24) and early next month (Mar 9-10)

All good, got the email to check the application portal yesterday!

Yes... I grew up in the heartland, St. Louis is dismal. Anyways, go to the interview, you might like it. I've got a few high school friends who ended up at WUSTL and didn't find it so bad. Something about trash being someone's treasure.

So this morning, I'm checking my email and I find an invitation to the UNC chemistry's visit weekends (Mar 9-10 and 23-24) with details about how to schedule meetings with PIs, arrange travel, etc... This would be great news, but I haven't actually received an acceptance letter from UNC yet... So I figure, maybe they've put it on the application portal and I've just missed it (I'm overseas and we have issues with our IP getting flagged so I haven't been able to log on to check for a while), but no change so I'm not sure what to make of it. As a bit of a brain teaser, the email's addressed to me, but the UNC PID that I'm supposed to log in to their travel website with doesn't work. I know the obvious answer is "email them back and ask about your application," but I was just wondering if this has happened before to anyone?

This is what I got from them last night: "Thank you for your application to the Chemistry Ph.D. Program through the Graduate School at Northwestern University. Our applicant pool was extraordinarily strong this year and we regret that we are unable to extend an offer of admission to you. Our Admissions Committee carefully reviews each application to evaluate each candidate’s qualifications for our program. Since so many of our applicants have exemplary chemistry research and academic backgrounds, our admissions process must be highly selective. Unfortunately, many strong applicants must be turned away. Our Admissions Committee has completed its final application review and all decisions are now final. Please accept my best wishes in your future pursuits. Thank you again for considering Northwestern University." But there might still be hope if they haven't sent you anything yet. Best of luck!

Time to give up hope for Northwestern and U Chicago?

Depends on the school, I have some where flights are billed to directly to the uni, some where the department is billed for part of the flights and I pay the rest on my card, and some where I pay upfront and get reimbursed. Don't worry, they'll explain how they want it for you in the email. Hotels are usually arranged by the department, but again, it'll be in the email. I hate the weekends too; best of luck!

So i'm a bit late to the party, but here's my stats Undergrad Institution: Small international campus of a well known private US university Majors: Chemistry (w/ specialization in Biochemistry)Minors: Applied Mathematics and UrbanizationGPA in Major: 3.44 (chemistry)Overall GPA: 3.4 Position in Class: unknownType of Student: US citizen, male GRE Scores (revised/old version):Q: 164 (87%)V: 163 (93%)W: 4.0 (60%)S: 770 (Chemistry)Research Experience: Started research after sophomore year (was undecided through freshman year) so 2 groups/projects at home university, 1 REU at a public US university. Focused on a range of topics from materials, organic, and biochemistry. 2 papers in review, 1 manuscript in preparation. Awards/Honors/Recognitions: (Within your school or outside?) ACS International Student Travel Grant REU gave me a travel grant for the Top 3 presentation Honors Research Grant Finalist, National Undergrad Research Competition Summer research fellowships Named scholarship for undergrad Pertinent Activities or Jobs: (Such as tutor, TA, etc...) Miscellaneous Accomplishments or Special Bonus Points that Might Help: Presented at 8 poster sessions (both smaller local events and international/national meetings) President of the International ACS Student Chapter Any Other Info That Shows Up On Your App and Might Matter: Founded a startup incubator Lead community initiatives based around connecting our new uni with the local community (education based) Managed charitable fund (on committee) ACS and ISBC membership Applying to Where: All applications are for chemistry PhD with focus on chemical biology and synthetic chemistry unless otherwise specified. Georgia Tech Tri-institutional PhD Program in Chemical Biology University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne Duke Northwestern University of Chicago Cornell University of Wisconsin-Madison (IPiB and Chemistry) Stanford University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill University of California - San Diego University of Michigan