BCchemie

Loved my visits at Stanford, MIT, and Columbia. Scripps and Berkeley were both awesome too but the facilities were just not as nice as some of the other schools. Probably leaning towards Stanford at this point.

I went the first weekend and I heard back the Monday that I got home.

I'll be there that weekend. Getting into SFO early Wednesday afternoon and then heading over to the symposia they hold on Wednesdays.

According to my research advisor and academic advisors (who know Trost), he will still be taking graduate students next fall.

I'm visiting 5 or 6 schools (out of 9) and will also be at the ACS meeting. Like many people above, I am in the position where 2 schools have the overlapping visit periods which is nice. Also, considering so many of the East Coast schools are no more than an hour flight away in my case, it makes easy to just head over to each of them, even though I may not make each school's specified visit day.

First, let me point out that you do have a competitive profile; however, as has been said many times on this forum, Letters of Recommendation are often a very substantial portion of the application. How do you think your letters of rec were? Were they from research advisors who could truly comment on your ability to do graduate level research? Were they from professors who have had you in high level chemistry courses? These are important factors that may sway an admissions committee's mind in selecting you for a Ph.D. program. How much did your Statement of Purpose stress the leadership positions and teaching positions you have attained? Focusing on this would be a very strong part of your application. Also, do you have any publications throughout your research? Many individuals on this forum do, but a good number (myself included) do not. Having one may be helpful to your application. Other points that are of note - your 720 on the Quantitative section of the GRE is somewhat low for an individual trying to apply for a science based degree at the schools you are talking about. 720 is below the 80th percentile, yet you are applying to many of the top 10 programs in the country (Stanford, MIT, Scripps) and many of the next 10 to 15 or so. This is something to keep in mind when you start hearing back from schools. With a 3.83, 720Q, 440V, 760Chem, your stats are somewhat below (on a pure numbers basis) many of the people on this forum who have received acceptance letters to the schools you are talking about. This is not to discourage you, just an assessment of what can be attained from reading this board. Perhaps applying to some middle tier programs would be a good next move (even though many deadlines have passed, speaking to the graduate coordinator at other schools you may be interested in could prove fruitful). In the meantime, my advice would be to contact the programs you are waiting to hear from and ask them if they have received all of your application materials. Normally, they would have e-mailed you if there were an issue, but it doesn't hurt to follow up! If, in the next couple of weeks, you have not heard back successfully, I would strongly consider searching for an internship (or full time position) in the industry you wish to pursue after your Ph.D. This will then allow you to make new contacts who can comment on your potential to do research, confirm your own reasoning for pursuing a Ph.D., and likely strengthen your application for next year! Good luck! Hopefully you will hear back soon!

I was admitted to Columbia on Monday via e-mail. Harvard is usually a little bit later.

Heard from Columbia, Penn, and UC Berkeley yesterday - all three by e-mail. Was a nice little birthday present and took some of the sting out of the first day of classes. Just waiting on Harvard now.

No, Dr. Sarah Reisman. Also invited to a Scripps interview today. Perhaps I will see some of you out there. I will probably head out on the earlier of the two sets of date.

Caltech - March 3rd - 5th or March 24th - 26th MIT - March 17th-18th (not sure if it goes into Saturday the 19th) Princeton - I will post when I get the official letter The two calls were from "members of the admissions committee." In the case of Caltech, this was a prof mention in my SOP but was not from MIT.

Accepted to Princeton by email on 1/7/11 Also accepted to MIT and Caltech by phone (both on 1/10/11) Still waiting on Scripps, Berkeley, Harvard, Penn, Columbia Good luck everyone!

How'd you hear? E-mail or snail mail?

CORRECTION TO WHAT I PREVIOUSLY POSTED Stanford Visitation Days are Feb 24th, March 3rd, March 10th, and March 17th (Thursdays). That is so Berkeley visit days can be the following Fridays. If visiting both, there is a shuttle provided between the two schools. @ccb - I look forward to meeting you. Good luck!

I submitted 3 letters of recommendations, all from professors at Boston College. My research advisor, academic advisor, and a professor I had taken both an Honors Organic course and graduate Physical Organic course with. I have not been published yet; however, am working independently on two projects which are pushing towards papers now.

I submitted all of my documents for Stanford on November 30th and my last recommendation was submitted on December 7th. Good luck to everyone else! Hopefully you'll all be receiving your first letters soon!