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and don't be too concerned with your statistics and whatnot. if you find some departments with research you're really passionate about and you are able to articulate that in your essays, somebody will give you a chance to show what you've got. you don't really have much to lose so be confident and apply to a good mix of schools

once again, comb through faculty pages. just do it. don't come here asking for people to talk about schools which engage in organic chemistry research; they all do! you asked a question and that's the advice you got. people on this board have gotten advice before you, and stick around to help others. this does not mean that people check this forum daily in hopes of a request to outline faculty profiles for persons throughout the country. there is nothing wrong with applying to some schools in the top 15. you should absolutely apply to some of those. like i said before. think about other schools which you've heard of and like the location of and look through the faculty pages to see what people are working on. the only way to do this comfortably is to get a handle on the research people are up to. you claim to be looking for phd programs, yes? this isn't going to be a coursework-based masters (which i believe you have already done). this is going to be dominated by research, so you should search through various departments accordingly. organic pharma research is extraordinarily broad. it's like going to a car dealership and saying you want an SUV with 4WD - nearly every SUV you look at with offer that feature. nearly every department has SOMEBODY working on organic research. one of the professors who wrote a recommendation for me said that applying to (and getting accepted to) grad school was the easiest part of grad school. if you're going to get serious about this, now is a good time. it will take tens of hours, and you will likely need to revisit the faculty pages. just do it now. if you work full time, do it a couple hours each night after you get home. if you think you're too busy to go through and find this information on your own, what makes you think any of us have the time to do it for you?? still, here are some of the schools that i initially looked at (i didn't apply to all): caltech, berkeley, harvard, stanford, upenn, columbia, yale, princeton, ucla, arizona, colorado state, usc, ut austin, unc, ucsb, uc san diego, scripps, oregon, penn state, illinois, wisconsin, northwestern that's a pretty good range and should be a good starting point. most departments are organized by discipline and have webpages which are very easy to navigate.

...so do you want to do physical organic/synthetic organic research? or do you want to do polymers/materials research... that's the big question. answer that and then sit down with your favorite beverage and sift through the websites of about 40 departments. cast a broad net in terms of rankings and what not. some top schools, strong, well known state schools, and smaller lesser known schools. look for places which have ~3 faculty whose research interests you. then narrow down further based on location preferences, how likely it is that you'll get in, etc.

just read the threads in the chemistry section! essentially all of the information you would/should need is in there somewhere. it's not as tedious as it may seem now and you'll have a ton of time to sift through it. in the "20_ _ Application Thread" threads most people post little bits about their profiles and what schools they applied to and what discipline, etc. if you look through this abundance of information and still have unique questions of your own, then ask them specifically in a new thread. seriously. you can't just read the old threads?? a more proactive approach to things will probably serve you well on this forum, in your applications, and eventually in grad school.

a stellar score guarantees nothing, and a not-so-great score (~700) isn't the kiss of death. the subject GRE seems to be one of the least important factors in what you will find is a mysterious and unpredictable process. if you prepare and take some practice tests, you'll do fine. spend the bulk of your time refining your statement of purpose for each school.

thanks guys, i'll just have to be very critical of the placement. it is super annoying that people can't see past that, though :/

I'm lookin to get a tattoo in the next few weeks before graduation and I know exactly what I want. The problem is location. I'm hoping some people on here might have some experience, or know of folks who have experience, in the actual consequences of having a visible tattoo. I'm not getting anything controversial tattooed on me, but in science and engineering could this really affect my future job prospects? I'd like to think that my degree and abilities will speak for themselves, but I'm not sure. Thanks in advance for the feedback!

I don't go to a huge science and engineering school, but I had success with grad school applications. I met people on my visits who went to very small programs. If you know your shit, you'll get in a few places. Getting into gradschool is far from an exact science, but the best thing you can do is give them every reason to believe that you have what it takes to be a great scientist in ______. So with that said, I agree with Eigen in that pursuing graduate studies in Chemistry with only a minor might be iffy. While the ULL brand isn't going to jump off the page to grad admissions officers, it's not going to be crippling like you seem to think. Good luck!

bump. anyone else going to caltech in the fall?

there's a non gradcafe forum dedicated solely to the SMART fellowship. it's pretty easy to find with a straightforward google search - that's probably your best bet.

bump there must be more people on here going to caltech in the fall!

so i got an email this morning about the SMART fellowship saying that the awards would be delayed. i hope this does not mean anything regarding NDSEG, but you never know... it seems like the DoD fellowships are chronically late

of course it's a given! my point was that some people try too hard to write what they think some DoD folks want to see and lose sight of that. i think your point about the reader's personal research interests are more likely to sway them than seeing military associations on your app.

I hope that my participation in NREIP (also run by ASEE) will help my chances, but at the end of the day I don't think that will weigh too heavily in the minds of the reviewers. The chief scientist in the building I worked for told me that he occasionally reviews applications for NDSEG but even so, I doubt it's that big of a deal. People who have received the award in previous years have said that it's more about selling yourself as a talented, capable, and independently thinking scientist rather than checking the most boxes on some imaginary checklist.

I definitely vote starting early. Even though many people claim that students tend to get their first choice for labs, it's best to get your foot in the door asap. I plan on starting a few weeks early, although my school is on the quarter system so a few weeks early still affords a full summer. Good luck!

I would talk to your potential advisor about this. A) I personally don't think it's that ridiculous, and I see little reason to panic. I get the impression that an NSF is more prestigious. I don't think it's leaps and bounds above the NDSEG, but I think it's a bit better. C) I know you can definitely defer the start of your funding for NSF (at least that's been allowed in the past) so that if your program requires you to TA for a year then you can be funded by the TAship before being funded by your external fellowship. Then honestly if you have 1-2 years remaining, hopefully your boss will have some $ to give you (a by this time senior grad student who has NEVER been a financial burden) an RA. Takeaway: if you win at least one of these two, you should be in good shape.

Caltech in the fall. Also stoked.

UT Austin is the only school that i haven't heard from. however, i have already selected a school out of those that i HAVE gained admission to. i suggest everyone do the same.

i only knew chemistry participants. there was one chemE person, i believe.

NSWC Indian Head, MD. You?

i'm certainly hoping it helps.

the grad housing (catalina apts) look pretty nice, and the prices are probably as good as one would find in pasadena. check out their housing website.

UPenn said theirs would be at least what it was this past year (29k)

i got an email from upenn this morning saying my online status was updated (i had already been contacted about my admission two weeks ago). their first visit is two weekends from now, and there's only one. i get the impression that they've made their decisions so far, but they mentioned in my letter that there was a waitlist

gradcafe makes it very clear that posts are not deleted.