singinglupines

I was accepted to NYU Chemistry (Inorganic) yesterday via e-mail. The director of grad studies mentioned that the department had completed its review process, so hopefully you will hear from them soon.  Best wishes.

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

UPDATE! I was accepted to my top choice! I only ended up applying to two schools. The other school I'm glad I didn't apply to after finding out they changed the deadline without letting students know and the POI I was interested in just got back in touch with me. I emailed him in November. Made the best decision and got offered a good amount! 

Usually they will tell you a little bit about their research and ask you about your research. They will want to know your past experience as well as what you hope to get out of your experience for grad school. If they are looking for students in their lab, they would use the chance to get to know you and decide if they would like you to join the lab. Some profs will also offer to answer questions about the program itself, such as coursework and degree milestones etc. I say "some" because some profs are very good at keeping up to date on what is required of students while others have no clue and you may even get wrong answers from them (most of the ones that have no clue will at least admit they don't know).
You're right that it's your chance to learn about them, their research and their lab. I think most of the time, the prof takes the lead on the conversation but prepare enough to take the lead if the prof expects you to. Even if you already have an offer to join the department, it's still kind of an evaluation, on both parties. They might want to know if they would have you join their lab and you might want to know if you would like to join theirs). Also, it's okay to ask similar/same questions to multiple profs because each person might have their own opinions/perspective. I wouldn't have too many questions and be smart about which questions to ask to whom (e.g. don't ask profs about living on the stipend, ask the students etc.)
Some good questions to ask, beyond the details of the research, are things about their advising style or how they run their lab, if you are interested in joining it. Ask about things like how often they meet with students in the lab, how often they hold group meetings, whether they send students to conferences / how often, etc. You can also ask things like, "what do you expect from your graduate students", or "what is one important piece of advice you would give to new students joining this department?"  or things in this vein.

Just got an email from Michigan State.
"On behalf of the Chemistry Department Admissions Committee, we are making contact to let you know that your file has moved beyond the preliminary stage. At this point we would like to invite you to visit the Chemistry Department to give us and you a chance to further explore possibility of admissions. We will arrange for your visit to campus and have you meet with faculty and arrange for tours of our facilities if desired. We hope you are able to take advantage of this opportunity. "
Looks like an interview, so that's nerve wracking. But we'll see how it goes?!

I just got my first interview request! I think now I am no longer worried about my prospects. I just had no clue if my application would be given much weight since my field is so oversaturated. A huge weight has been lifted. I really hope everyone gets that same feeling, because it definitely made me feel dramatically better. Good luck all!

Pokémon Academy Fossil Revival, PhD (F18) Rejected via E-mail on 24 Jan 2018   24 Jan 2018 I guess I'll just join Team Rocket :/ That's a great fall back plan hahaha
 

I just got my first acceptance and it is one of my favorites.   Now I can finally sleep at night and not stress over waiting because I have a funded offer at a program I like and what more can you ask for?

Accepted to Harvard today and Stanford on Friday! Both by email. 

El rechazo.

I was accepted to the program at MIT (:O) this past Friday through a phone call. I was not offered an interview and I'm interested in chemical biology. 

I'm dying. I had no idea this would be so awful. I thought I had an idea, but I didn't. Everytime I get an email, I damn near sh^t myself. AAAAAAAAAAAAA

So...  I may not get into grad school, but I JUST GOT PUBLISHED!

Just got my first acceptance (well, kind of, recommended for admission) from UNC Chapel Hill!!!

I just got through reading that thread. She definitely has a point, but I can echo the concerns others brought up about vague prompts and underprepared applicants who aren't lucky enough to receive instruction in how to write the essays.
This tickled me for its brevity.

Sounds interesting indeed.  My graduate degree was biotech in nature and I totally enjoyed working with LC-MS.  I guess we are working in the reverse of each other lol.  Me starting out in biotech and moving to forensic and you starting in forensic and moving into biotech.  Hahaha!  

Congrats! That's a program I looked at myself since my undergrad is in Forensic Chem, before I decided to go a different direction.

I got accepted to FIU for the PhD in Forensic Chemistry. 

I got accepted to FIU for the PhD in Chemistry, Forensic Science track.

Princeton looks like they're coming out - still don't have mine...shitting bricks haha

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... 

I am an international student and my major is English. I've applied to 11 PhD programs (all in the United States) and, so far, I haven't heard from any.
It means so much to me to get accepted and funded by at least one of these programs, because there is no way that I can take to achieve my professional goal other than this.  And I am not so sure if I could take another chance, applying all again, asking for the recommendation letters again from the professors of the university I've already graduated from, because, honestly, I am not sure what I could do to significantly improve my application if I were given another chance. Of course, it doesn't mean that there is no possibility of improvement. I just don't know 'how.'  I have poured in much effort in my SOP and my writing sample. I guess I could probably try to improve my GRE scores a little bit, but I am not so sure if that would make such a difference in my application.  
Also, I have this anxiety that, even if I do get in, I won't do very well. I think that part of this feeling comes from my status as an international student and the fact that my major is English (literature). Although I had lived in the States for a few years when I was much younger, I haven't had any higher education in the States, and I often feel unconfident if I could catch up with others who are native English speakers and who must have read so many more literary texts written in English than I have. I know it might be silly to worry this much about what would happen if I got in, since it's either too late or too early to do that. (I should have thought about this more before the application process. Or, I could start worrying about this later if I am accepted, since I haven't actually been accepted to any.) And that's why I'm talking about it here, without censoring my emotions and leaving them as they are.
This is my first post in the gradcafe. Thank you for your post and this chance to talk about it.

I am a first generation college student. Neither of my parents even graduated high school. When I applied to undergrad it took 3 application tries before I got accepted to my undergrad institution. Therefore this whole process has a sore spot in my mind. 
 
I applied to only 4 schools. I expected a couple of out right rejections. Well at this point I have had 7 interviews, and 3 schools are flying me to see them. I’m a bit overwhelmed with this process. I work 6 days a week 60 hour weeks between two jobs. I am always worked up and having quite some trouble sleeping. While I know the interviews and meet and greets are good signs, I do not know how people do this when they have applied to 10+ schools.