waddle

This is why I don't even bother trying until July.

You should select a PhD program with full funding.

PLZ HELP MA FRND IN SELECTIG THE BEST ..
Missouri S&T rolla (funding)(MANUFACTURING)
Kansas State- manhattan
Washington University in St. Louis
University of Missouri
plz rate them according to
job prospects after ms..brand value, fee, funding etc..

I've probably used about 30 undergrad transcripts while in my MA and PhD programs. I've used them for PhD applications, fellowship applications, and random other things. That said, I still have some that I haven't used, but that's because I couldn't find them once when I moved and had to order more. (I have a bunch because my undergrad charged a one-time fee during freshman year to cover all transcript requests for life. They also don't charge for mailing them, which is really nice.) I don't recommend losing the folder of them if you decide to go this route, btw. I've used way fewer transcripts from my MA program, but that's probably because I've been applying for more and more things that just let you scan and upload your transcripts. Whether or not I would order in bulk really depends on how the school deals with them. And, as someone else said, often you have to have things sent directly from the university to whomever wants the transcript, so having a folder of them at your house wouldn't really help.

I'll tack on to this:

Harvard graduate students in chemistry can work for PIs at several highly-visible institutes and campuses as well, including the Broad Institute, MGH, The Harvard Medical School, other Harvard Schools, and MIT. I noticed a lot of prospective students had no idea about this during visitation weekend and only met with PIs within the Chemistry department.

Four PhD offers:
OSU: medi chem;
EMory: chem;
UTSW: chem;
Stony Brook: chem.

I want to do medi chem in the long run. In OSU, I do medi chem. In UTSW I do chem and its chemistry program is closely related with biology, which is very important to medi chem. Emory has a very good comprehensive ranking and good reputation. Stony Brook is in a good location.
It is a difficult decison for me as to choose medi chem or chem as my PhD major and which institution wo choose?
what is your advice?

Hey chaospaladin, I hope I don't come off as a jerk, but for these sorts of things I think it's better if you did most of the legwork yourself. Questions like these are the types you could answer just as effectively on your own--Googling the right keywords works wonders. I'm sure if you spend some more time browsing department websites (my guess is that most people who applied to Ph.D. programs looked at the websites of >50 departments and narrowed down the field to 5-15 programs to which they applied), you'll find your answers pretty quickly.

In answer to your question, I found a few chemistry Ph.D. programs that don't appear to have GPA cutoffs: UC Riverside, UT El Paso, UT Dallas. I'm sure there are a lot more; you just have to look for them. I hope this helps.

waddle

Disappointment is in the air!! EndNote is the farthest thing from "sexy" I can imagine.

I also just upgraded to Papers2 and THAT is sexy. Absolutely fantastic piece of software.

lol, aye, although, it would be very, very strange to hear the opposite

"Dear Sir (or Madame),

We are unable to admit you to our program this season. However, please do not think that you are off the hook.

You are currently ineligible for the exploration of other graduate programs. We realize that this is not the news you were hoping to hear. However, please be assured that we have reviewed your application carefully and we are certain that we have made the right choice. No. Further. Exploration.

Sincerely,
The Admissions Committee

P.S. Rot in hell"

DENIED

Hey chaospaladin, I hope I don't come off as a jerk, but for these sorts of things I think it's better if you did most of the legwork yourself. Questions like these are the types you could answer just as effectively on your own--Googling the right keywords works wonders. I'm sure if you spend some more time browsing department websites (my guess is that most people who applied to Ph.D. programs looked at the websites of >50 departments and narrowed down the field to 5-15 programs to which they applied), you'll find your answers pretty quickly.

In answer to your question, I found a few chemistry Ph.D. programs that don't appear to have GPA cutoffs: UC Riverside, UT El Paso, UT Dallas. I'm sure there are a lot more; you just have to look for them. I hope this helps.

waddle

Guys, I'm screwed.

Does anyone know of any PhD Chemistry programs that they applied to that didn't have a strict 3.00 GPA cut off? My GPA is over 3.00 hence the title, but I'm looking into applying to a few more of the programs that don't have a strict 3.00 GPA cut off as well as the ones that do have a strict 3.00 GPA cut off. Thanks.

Chillax, db2290. The OP's just trying to get some advice regarding his application. I understand your vigilance for trolls, but I don't see any indication that the OP is anything troll-like. Hey, at least the post is (mostly) grammatically-correct, and we really shouldn't sound like we're driving first-time users away from the forum. (I know you try to be helpful, but your tone comes across as slightly bitter--could be an artifact of the Internets, but nonetheless ...)

Georgetownhopeful, I have no advice I can give (sorry!), as I'm not in your field. I'm sure others here will have much better advice, especially if you could give a few more details as to how this "verbal confirmation" was worded.

waddle

P.S. For the record, db2290, I canceled out your -1 rating.

The object of the game is to get as drunk as possible so you don't really care once the rejection e-mails start to roll in.

Take a drink every time...

A science program shows up, and you remember that you are in the humanities.

Someone posts an "Other" about a mass e-mail.
...two drinks if you received that e-mail as well.

A school that you have applied to shows up, and even though it's not your program your heart skips a beat.

A school that you have applied to shows up, and even though it's not your program you check your e-mail/voice mail on reflex.

A school that you have applied to shows up, and even though it's not your program you run to your mailbox to check for snail mail.
...two drinks if it's Sunday.

A program that you have applied to shows up as a rejection, you have no new e-mails, and you just get even more nervous.

A program that you have applied to shows up as an acceptance, you have no new e-mails, and you want to die inside.

You bookmarked the RSS feed for just the programs you applied to.

You bookmarked the RSS feed for programs you wish you had applied to, so you can torture yourself if you Would Have Known earlier.

Someone posts a rejection with a note expressing bitterness.
...Two drinks if it's, "Their loss."

Someone posts that they received a notification a program is accepting only one applicant this year.

Someone posts a result from a program without rolling admissions whose deadline has not yet passed.

There is a forum post asking, "Who posted this result?"

There is a results search listing that asks, "Who posted this result?"
...Two drinks if it asks for GRE and GPA.

You are waitlisted at a program, and someone posts they were accepted there but are turning it down.

Someone posts a result for a subject you have never heard of.

Someone posts a result for a subject you are fairly sure does not actually exist.

Chillax, db2290. The OP's just trying to get some advice regarding his application. I understand your vigilance for trolls, but I don't see any indication that the OP is anything troll-like. Hey, at least the post is (mostly) grammatically-correct, and we really shouldn't sound like we're driving first-time users away from the forum. (I know you try to be helpful, but your tone comes across as slightly bitter--could be an artifact of the Internets, but nonetheless ...)

Georgetownhopeful, I have no advice I can give (sorry!), as I'm not in your field. I'm sure others here will have much better advice, especially if you could give a few more details as to how this "verbal confirmation" was worded.

waddle

P.S. For the record, db2290, I canceled out your -1 rating.

Hello everybdy!!
I am from India..i have passed my bachelors with 75% aggregate and majors 80% & masters with 65%..I have applied to 8 univs for phd in organic chemistry ..my gre score is 1060 v-390 q-670, toefl is 94 s-24,l-27w-20,r-23...am workin with a reputed mnc since june 2009 (Stability Studies)...am waitin for the replies from universities bt this seems to be sooooooo depressing..when shall i expect an admit..is it on rollin basis o what!???am so panicyyyy..do i hold a chance??
i have applied to
U iowa...u delaware...FIT...FIU...GSU...U cincinnati...indiana bloomington...UTA


help me out plz !!!!!!!!!

Penguins. They waddle.

Hi All,

I just wanted to leave a note here in case anybody else ends up in my position.

I graduated from my MA in 2002, and left to travel the world. When I started thinking about going back to grad school in 2006, I recontacted the profs from my graduate committee. They all declined. Every single one. They didn't remember me, they had retired from academic, they were too busy....blah, blah, blah. I started trying other professors, but it had just been too long. I could only get one person to agree, and she was my teaching assistantship supervisor, rather than a prof I'd worked with. It wasn't ideal, but I was grateful. That left two spots vacant, and no ideas. I ended up not applying, because I was so discouraged by the whole LOR situation.

Fast forward to 2010. I decided the only way to fulfill my dream meant getting LOR the hard way. So I enrolled in 4 community college courses, going to school full time for just one semester. I figured I'd choose 2 of my four profs, the ones I liked the most and who might be sympathetic to my plight. I did everything I could to excel in those classes, often offering to help them with outside projects. It worked out.

Now, a lot of people say you shouldn't get LORs from community college profs, and that major universities will not look at you if you do. That is NOT TRUE. I was accepted into grad school this year, despite having community college profs do my LOR. I explained my situation in my SOP, and now I finally get to do what I want to do. So I guess I just wanted to tell people not to get discouraged by LOR. For me, getting LOR was the hardest part of the whole process!

Oh, I also recommend giving your profs a portfolio of your work, a CV, and other information, especially if they haven't had time to get to know you that well. I also kept my recommenders informed whenever I published anythting, so they felt part of my application process.

Good luck!

during my first week, i had to sit in front of a panel of 6 professors from all subfields and get grilled on my dissertation topic, even though i was just starting my MA. they were nice about it, splitting the 18 hour interrogation (department requirement) into three six-hour sessions, no break. at the end, they told me all my ideas were worthless and i had to go in front of the entire faculty to justify my existence. there, the faculty took turns ripping off a piece of cloth from my body and spitting in my face before commanding me to confine myself to the library microfilms for three weeks until i could emerge with a real thesis project. after that, all i had to do was eat some broken glass and then, by about november, they decided to start actually giving me my fellowship paycheck.

no biggie, really. you'll be fine.

I somehow made it onto the mailing list of the UC Riverside College of Engineering Ph.D. programs' recruitment campaign a few months ago (see, it's funny 'cause I've no intention of applying to engineering programs).

In the months leading up to their application deadline (I believe it was sometime in January), they blasted me with email reminders about how great it'd be to join their up-and-coming college and how they are "quickly gaining a reputation for producing world renowned research and world class students". They also waived the application fee for domestic students--a nice touch I guess. But this led me to wonder--if they needed to waive the application fee, how difficult is it really for UCR to get a good number of applicants? Well, turns out, it looks like it's been a rough year on their side of the fence. They've extended their deadline for applying for full funding consideration twice now (they're still accepting applications--at least for BioE--, if you're interested), and they've even allowed applicants to enter their estimated GRE score! (I quote, verbatim: "You can enter your estimated score and still submit if you are still waiting to take the GRE." ) Sounds like they're really getting pretty desperate now.

So for y'all who are having a rough time with admissions now, chin up--it can get pretty ugly for the grad schools too! Just wanted to share.

Some people will scream academic incest, but there are plenty of sucessful scientists who have done this. My impression is it won't really matter in the long run, though it's always good to get exposed to how things are done at other places.


Yes. The research process is more or less the same. Technical skills won't matter much, since you'll have to relearn most everything anyways once you move to a new research group.


Any specific interest in inorganic? If you're into applied research, material science or engineering labs often do stuff bordering on inorganic & analytical (microfluidics & whatnot). There are also plenty of inorganic environmental chemists, geochemists & oceanographers (particularly the latter at UCSB).


So you have no idea what you want to do. That's okay! Get more research experience, for a start. It'll help immensely in shaping your interests.

Penguins. They waddle.

I agree with Sparky and Fuzzylogician. Although, and I'm not sure if this was a dream or just some daytime delirium, but I was thinking...wouldn't it be kind of ridiculous if schools started notifying of admissions decisions via Facebook? The GradCafe results page would have entries like, "Accepted via Wall Post" or "I was Poked by my Top Choice. I checked my status on their website and I found out I was rejected."

Things not to say/do:


Well, it's not like you had a shot anyways. Reality check, eh? How does that feel, mate? <point and laugh> Cool story, bro. So where else did you get rejected from? Even <insert names of other people they know> got into there! And I thought you were better than them!