ChemEBear

Reviews are up! Undergrad, Chemical Engineering - G/E, E/E, E/E - offer awarded One reviewer (the G/E) was extremely blunt in his review for my intellectual merit: "The skill of independent research is not supported by reference letters." Ouch. My imposter syndrome. ? Meanwhile, another reviewer (E/E) said: "Based on the recommendation letters, it is clear that [Applicant] is not only talented but also thoughtful and independent." Really goes to show the bias in the process and how luck (who reads my application, what mood they are in, whether they are rushing through the application, etc) really is a significant component.

Looks like the GRFP website goes in maintenance to upload reviews, just like they did to upload award offer/HM results. If they don't run into any problems, we may have the reviews/reviewers' feedbacks by later today (4/20). Excited to see those feedbacks!

My city is in near-lock down for 3 weeks, and I already know I'm gonna be checking NSF GRFP fastlane every. single. day. now that I'm stuck home 24/7.

If anyone here got admitted to Stanford bioE, could you PM me? I'm curious about how the funding works for students in that department, given that I am mostly interested in getting advised by bioE faculty there.

tfw in-person Stanford visit is cancelled due to COVID-19

Minnesota is 2/27-3/1 or 3/26-3/29

I heard from a current 1st year graduate student at MIT ChE that people got accepted late Jan/early Feb last year. They be dragging our hopes and dreams further before disappointing us ?

I agree the (much) lower number of successful GradCafe users reporting their results is strange, but the fact that they sent invitations to forward applications to the Masters program already tells me they have sent all the interview invites for PhD. ?

I wish you were right but I decided to keep my hopes low and go through the 5 stages of loss for now LOL

I really hope you are right but UCSF probably already sent out all their interview invites, and those like us who didn't get invites will get our rejection emails early next week. This also seems to be the trend for previous years.

No interview invite for me either, am crying everytime ?

Wow, did you make that yourself? I like GPA plot especially!

Princeton chemical & biological engineering sent out their acceptance batch yesterday and likely won't be admitting much more, unless enough people turn down offers.

Yes, for UT Austin. Thanks!

Please update us on the call! My status says "submitted".

Princeton has not yet. They should be released tomorrow (Wednesday 1/15). Source: insider knowledge from friend at Princeton & I talked with one of my POI at a conference yesterday

I have a feeling this week will be the craziest week with the most acceptances sent out. Good luck everyone!!

Rejected by email on 1/9/2020. Not surprised at all :P. Good luck to the finalists!!

I have a friend/former colleague who is a graduate student in Princeton's CBE PhD program. His PI (who is one of my POI I wrote about in my SOP) asked him about me, and told my friend about the 1/15 email date. My friend just delivered the same message to me. Princeton does have campus visits! No interviews. My friend shared with me that there will be two weekends we can choose between to attend, if accepted: 2/13-16 or 2/27-3/1.

Just got some insider's news about Princeton: They will be sending out acceptance letters on Jan 15th.

Pretty bored during this holiday season so I'll upload my stats as well! DM me if you want to talk or have any specific questions. Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): Top 5 engineering (USA) Major(s): Chemical Engineering, Class of 2018 Minor(s): None GPA in Major: 3.90/4.00 Overall GPA: (also) 3.90/4.00 Demographics/Background: Male Asian GRE Scores: Low verbal (73%), high math & writing (>90%) LOR: 1 strong letter from a chemE professor (2 semesters of part-time research) 1 medium-strong letter from a bioE professor (2 semesters of part-time research) 1 super strong letter from Ph.D. scientist at my company who worked closely with me Research Experience: 2 semesters part-time in chemE lab, unrelated to desired field of research 2 semesters part-time in bioE lab, closely related to my desired field of research 1.5 years full-time as research assistant in industry, closely related to my desired field of research Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 0 publications (!) 2 poster presentations on campus 1 poster presentation at international conference Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Received >$100,000 in merit-based scholarships throughout undergrad Includes scholarships from undergrad institution + scholarships & awards from companies (Chevron, Genentech, etc) and institutions like AIChE Received an award at graduation given to one senior for volunteerism and campus involvement Dean's List numerous times Honor Societies (TBP, BioEHS, etc) Fellowships/Funding: Applied to NSF GRFP (pending) Applied to P. D. Soros (pending) Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Been working 1.5 years thus far at a company well-known in academia in my desired field of research. I have been told by co-workers / professors / graduate students that the company name and my experience there will boost my chances for Ph.D. programs. Had two summer R&D intern positions in industries unrelated to my desired field of research. I didn't write about them in my SOPs; they are only detailed in my CV. Extensive undergrad club activities and leadership positions in teaching, mentorship, volunteer/outreach, campus sustainability projects Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: Nope! Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.): Like mentioned above, my full-time research experience at my company is likely to boost my chances (and based on where I've heard back so far, I am convinced myself.) Research Interests: Synthetic biology, protein engineering, protein therapeutics Institutions/Programs: 10 chemE Ph.D. programs, 2 bioE Ph.D. programs ChemE Ph.D. programs: MIT Stanford Caltech UT Austin Princeton UMinnesota UWisconsin UMichigan Northwestern GeorgiaTech I'll be updating my results below in my signature, so check below if you're reading this at a later date and you're curious what my results were. If you're on mobile, signatures may be omitted, so request "Desktop View" to see my signature. Comments: My DM's are open

Pretty bored during this holiday season so I'll upload my stats as well! DM me if you want to talk or have any specific questions. Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM): Top 5 engineering (USA) Major(s): Chemical Engineering, Class of 2018 Minor(s): None GPA in Major: 3.90/4.00 Overall GPA: (also) 3.90/4.00 Demographics/Background: Male Asian GRE Scores: Low verbal (73%), high math & writing (>90%) LOR: 1 strong letter from a chemE professor (2 semesters of part-time research) 1 medium-strong letter from a bioE professor (2 semesters of part-time research) 1 super strong letter from Ph.D. scientist at my company who worked closely with me Research Experience: 2 semesters part-time in chemE lab, unrelated to desired field of research 2 semesters part-time in bioE lab, closely related to my desired field of research 1.5 years full-time as research assistant in industry, closely related to my desired field of research Publications/Abstracts/Presentations: 0 publications (!) 2 poster presentations on campus 1 poster presentation at international conference Awards/Honors/Recognitions: Received >$100,000 in merit-based scholarships throughout undergrad Includes scholarships from undergrad institution + scholarships & awards from companies (Chevron, Genentech, etc) and institutions like AIChE Received an award at graduation given to one senior for volunteerism and campus involvement Dean's List numerous times Honor Societies (TBP, BioEHS, etc) Fellowships/Funding: Applied to NSF GRFP (pending) Applied to P. D. Soros (pending) Pertinent Activities or Jobs: Been working 1.5 years thus far at a company well-known in academia in my desired field of research. I have been told by co-workers / professors / graduate students that the company name and my experience there will boost my chances for Ph.D. programs. Had two summer R&D intern positions in industries unrelated to my desired field of research. I didn't write about them in my SOPs; they are only detailed in my CV. Extensive undergrad club activities and leadership positions in teaching, mentorship, volunteer/outreach, campus sustainability projects Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments: Nope! Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.): Like mentioned above, my full-time research experience at my company is likely to boost my chances (and based on where I've heard back so far, I am convinced myself.) Research Interests: Synthetic biology, protein engineering, protein therapeutics Institutions/Programs: 10 chemE Ph.D. programs, 2 bioE Ph.D. programs BioE Ph.D. programs: UCB-UCSF, UWashington (Seattle, WA) I'll be updating my results below in my signature, so check below if you're reading this at a later date and you're curious what my results were. If you're on mobile, signatures may be omitted, so request "Desktop View" to see my signature. Comments: My DM's are open

Patiently waiting for March/April!

Thanks for making it! Seems like they received record number of applications this year (~2200). Super low chance but I will be staring at my phone this January anyways as I wait for Ph.D. admissions results. ? Good luck everyone!

I applied a day before the deadline and heard back on 12/10. POI's I wrote about on my SOP are FW, HM, and PT. I didn't contact them before the application. As for my stats, I have 3.9/4.0 GPA, high GRE (>90% on Q and writing). 0 pubs. I've worked for 1.5 years in a full time RA position in industry that's closely related to the field of research I am interested in. I'm convinced that this last part probably helped me a lot because the company I worked for is well-known in the space. I hope you have happy holidays too!