2xM

@DrFaustus666: Universities don't give credit for "fair share of life-problems". Your application is weak, from an academic point of view you've pretty much wasted your life. A perfect GRE result, whilst demonstrating your commitment, would not significantly strengthen your application. Prescience is not my strongest point, but there's no way in hell a top uni is going to accept you. It'll be tough enough to get accept *somewhere*.




sD.

I would frankly be surprised if there weren't cheating going on at top programs, particularly in sciences and Maths. The pressure to succeed is phenomenal, even more so at major research institutions. There's a lot of money and prestige caught up in the work going on at those places, and it's usually not just your a%$! on the line but also your professor's and in some cases your department's. Grad students freak out - heck, full professors freak out - under continued and sustained pressure to publish first on major research projects. It doesn't make it right, but it is certainly understandable, in our results-oriented culture - we SAY the process is important, but in the end we want to see the bottom line, faster than we ever have before. It is a cheating culture. Look at the big stories in the papers about our government leaders, celebrities, etc. etc. - really, is it at all surprising that someone in America today would attempt to take the fast way out?

It is still wrong. I would absolutely turn someone in and demand that person be brought to line before the honor council. But it would be silly to think it doesn't happen, and more often than we would like to think.

I felt the same way about my 760. I know the question that screwed me up, and I feel I should have done better.

I talked it over with the head of my department when I applied, and he told me that he didn't think it would make much, if any, difference when it came down to it. While an 800 is what you shoot for, a 760 is still respectable, and is only 1 or two questions off of an 800. Both show you know your basic math skills.

Honestly, at the level you need your math to be for a Chem PhD, the stuff that the quant section shows is relatively meaningless.

Your GRE score is fine, don't worry about it.

Most schools want to see, most importantly: Research experience and good letters of rec.

Good grades are also beneficial.

My score was only a bit higher than yours (660V/760Q) and I had no trouble with any of the schools I applied to (got full fellowship offers from Tulane, Vanderbilt, Penn State, the three schools I applied to). As with you, I applied more to the 10-30 schools, with Tulane as in in-state fall back.... Interestingly enough, their research program impressed me the most, hence why I'm here.

Make sure you research the prof's you want to work with well, and tailor at least a paragraph of your statement of purpose towards discussing their research and how you see yourself fitting into it.

Personally, I didn't take the Chem GRE... If you do well on it, it will help your application, I'm sure.

Bottom line, I would say your scores are fine. Focus on the other stuff.

And as for the writing scores? No one takes them seriously. The way they're scored is really hit or miss. The writing samples themselves are sent to the school, however, and they matter a little bit.

If you have previous publications they can look at, that will help significantly.

If you want to talk more, feel free to send me a PM and we can talk.