NYLA
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Posts posted by NYLA
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Regarding transferring programs: this is definitely doable via a few avenues. These are things that I've seen or heard of people doing (either to or from the schools I went to)
1) If you have a contact (a PI at another program) that would be willing to take you in (and you know they are and the program is a better fit) you should try to contact them directly; but usually this requires a pre-existing connection with a PI
2) You can reapply to graduate schools in the next cycle. Ideally you would leave your current program with a masters degree; unfortunately a bad record at your current program will not help you here
3) Contact the chair of a department that you were previously admitted to and you may be able to arrange a transfer to that program
But before you do any of these you should really evaluate what it is that's making you miserable in graduate school; if it's the location, your advisor woes, and/or the subfield you have found yourself in then there might really be a better fit for you. If it's school itself or chemistry as a whole then I would advise you to spend some time really looking at what you want to do instead and go for it.
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I can't believe it but I was awarded this year ! Last year I didn't even get a third reader
Last Year:
E / FE / G
This Year:
VG / VG
E / EE / E
I'm feeling super lucky!
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Since when was UC Berkeley a safety school....
- TooMuchEntropy, DropTheBase and NYLA
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Just my two cents -
You should really just go to the visitations and speak to graduate students in the labs you are interested in. People from the outside have wildly different perspectives on lives in the labs you've mentioned. Some students will complain about how hard they work, others will say its great, even if they are working comparable hours and on similar projects. It's all related to how you perceive your own academic environment, so ignore everyone else and make the decision that is appropriate for you.
- BovaFett, Timmer Lin and NYLA
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I suspect it differs by department. My program coordinator (Chemistry) told me that she would send an email in the first week of June.
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@Eigen: I'm assuming this person is applying to be admitted for Fall 2013, which would correspond to this upcoming application season.
So I was in a similar situation; I had actually never taken inorganic chemistry prior to taking the GRE chemistry exam. I'm sure that it affected my score negatively, but you can still survive (I scored a 770 I think, which was not something I was terribly proud of but I was not ashamed either). I think the best thing you can do is identify specific subjects within the topic and learn them for the exam (For example I learned how to count ligand electron contributions onto a metal because I thought that it was one of the most common inorganic-type questions). Fortunately the way they divide their questions up leave a lot of general chemistry in what they define as the "physical chemistry" portion of the exam. I don't remember many questions that required really deep understanding of physical chemistry, just knowledge and remembering important formulas.
Alternatively I think a roughly equivalent approach point-wise would be to learn to identify questions you absolutely have no experience with and leaving them blank, and instead focusing entirely on material you've previously covered. I think this would be helpful if you don't have a fairly good textbook or friend/tutor to assist in your learning process.
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After several failed attempts at hitting the submit button I finally managed to accept Columbia University's offer! So stoked.
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Hi guys!
Is there someone who is still waiting for answers from Caltech and UC Berkeley?I don't know if it is worth to wait or I should decide among the offers I have already received...thanks!
I'm fairly sure that if you haven't heard by now it's a no for almost every school
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Hi,
So I'm sure I'm not the only one who is heavily considering who they will work for at the actual graduate school in the decision making process, and I'm having a hard time deciding because at each school I like very different people (although the overall research topic is roughly the same). What it's boiling down to is an argument for old-ish advisors (well established, recognized names) vs young-ish advisors (come from great backgrounds but relatively little experience as a PI).
I was just wondering if any current students would weigh in with their experiences to help us incoming students out?
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rejected from MIT
Me too. Oh well. Happy that they sent the email though.
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When do you all think it's time to give up hope...?
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They don't cover even close to the same topics (in my opinion) The GRE Chemistry, for instance, includes topics in inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry AND physical chemistry. The MCAT may have brief ventures into organic chemistry but definitely does not include most of the stuff on the chemistry GRE. The Princeton Review is the only company that I found made a prep book for the GRE chemistry (and it was soso).
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So I am still waiting to hear from three of the schools that I applied to.... does anyone else just want to KNOW at this point whether it's yes or no? For these schools I don't particularly care if I even get in, I just want to know one way or the other.
ARGH THE WAITING IS KILLING ME.
Agreed... I'd be happy to pick from what I've gotten but I feel like these other schools are just trying to drive me mad. (I'm really irked by Harvard at the moment because for some reason I feel like everyone has received their official notice except for me..)
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Does anyone know how funding works at UCLA? I received the offer letter about the "minimum" $27500 but no information on extra fellowships. I thought this was a little strange because UCLA would be the most expensive place for me to live and mostly everywhere else offered additional fellowships straight away. I believed it was pretty common in chemistry programs; a couple of them were just for the first year but that would help a lot with moving.
I don't know if I should e-mail and ask if there are possibly other forms of aid given + stipend or sit tight because maybe that info is still to come?
Not an expert but UCLA does offer a number of fellowships that they offer to entering students; but I don't believe they receive significantly more money than anyone else. After a year you are actually eligible to become a teaching fellow though, which does include a raise (brings you closer to 30k). But generally one of the complaints of graduate students at UCLA is that they don't have a lot of money to live, which is true because Los Angeles is flipping expensive
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I am kind of confused, what area did you apply to for Stanford? I am going for organic. I called yesterday and they told me that my application is still under review...?
I applied under organic as well and I received my admissions mail yesterday. I'm from California. My guess is that you'll hear back very soon.
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I received an email from a professor. In it he said he would have called me but my phone number was not on file
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Woop woop. Admitted to Stanford! Its not too late hahahah
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I think they just take paper copies of all of our applications, stand at the top of the Chemistry building, and throw them. Those who hit the ground last get rejected.
Now I'm all worried about the schools I applied to. In the time since applied I decided to apply to strictly organic programs, but half of the professors that I mentioned are Organic. I have no idea what to do-- a couple synthetic professors are great, but I'm still really, really nervous I'm going to end up in a lab I don't like.
Have faith! I was talking to the graduate students in my lab and they told me that it seems intimidating at first but most professors will find space to bring you in! Plus there is always faculty that are not on your radar that also may be totally wonderful! Plus if you really want to work for someone at a particular school you can do a summer rotation!
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My life has been reduced to obsessively refreshing my email and the gradcafe results page.
SAME HERE. In between class I'm frantically walking around to find wifi and during class i'm furiously refreshing my email and two pages on thegradcafe. (this page and the results page). Plus I frantically call my parents every hour to see if they mailed anything to my home address (which is not where I currently reside)
I seriously feel like I'm gonna get an ulcer from all this stress
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has anyone heard from Scripps Florida? or only CA?
I was invited to an interview from Scripps Florida on the 24th.
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For those of you that have received invites from Scripps, would you mind letting us know when you submitted your application? It says on their website that they are reviewed in the order they are received, so knowing when you submitted would give a good reference point for the rest of us.
Thanks!
I am not sure exactly when I submitted but I think it was on the last day. I remember panicking about the deadline...
But they may be reviewing it by the division of chemistry you are applying for, who knows. I wouldn't be too worried. Plenty of time left!
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CONGRATS! What field of chemistry are you studying?
(But dammit! This is the only thing I want for Christmas.)
I don't know if I specified but I'm sure it came out in my personal statement; I study Organic Chemistry though.
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I received an interview to Scripps La Jolla Today! I"M SO EXCITED. Applied to chemistry program on 12/1/2011
Columbia chemistry entrance exam?
in Chemistry Forum
Posted · Edited by NYLA
They are just acs subject exams. They are medium in difficulty, some people fail them. If you fail you get more chances to retake them, but you must eventually pass them all in order to progress to candidacy. Some of the details are a little foggy.
it’s probably not worth fretting about until you actually commit and arrive.