sareth

http://db.tt/CtOFj6Vj As others have noted, if you use your .edu email address, we each get 500 MB instead of 250 MB

I only studied for the math and writing, but I had the Kaplan book and it served me well. I agree with Physwimic - the Kaplan writing section was excellent. I also liked the format of the math review at the back of the book; it was well organized and made it easy to glance through and find the concepts I needed to review (for example, I hadn't thought about similar triangles for years!).

I have a (good, I guess) dilemma. I've picked a school, accepted an offer (far from home, ~2000 miles away) , and now I have offers from a few different professors at the school to come for (funded) summer research the summer before I begin my Ph.D. (aka in a few months). I also have a job offer to teach chemistry this summer near my current home, working with people I like and respect. What would you do? I like the idea of a psuedo-rotation at my Ph.D. institution, but a summer away from research before embarking on 4-5 years of same might be nice...

I received an email that my application status had changed this morning (a rejection, no surprise). In any case, I've already accepted an offer elsewhere.

One of my letter writers was a professor who actually left academia because she hated the career so much. She also strongly discouraged me from applying to a few of the schools on my list because she felt that I'd be miserable at them. After we talked, she still wrote me VERY strong letters, so strong that professors at various programs commented on how impressive my letters were. I think it comes down to what the professor thinks of _your_ potential. Good luck!

From my undergrad experience, I know that professors and current students tended to find it more annoying than anything else when visitors spoke up in class (unless asked for an opinion/input). This is really their chance to impress you; don't worry too hard about impressing them, just don't do anything that would make a bad impression. As far as questions to ask about the program (bearing in mind that I come from a very different discipline and this is a non-exhaustive list): To grad students: What factors made you choose this program? If you had to make the decision again, would you still come here? What are the best (and worst) features of this program? How long does it typically take to graduate? What's it like to live in TOWN/CITY? Where do graduate students typically live? If you're thinking about working with a specific professor I'd ask this type of question to both the professor him/herself and his/her grad students: What is it like to work with Prof. X? (management style, expectations for productivity, etc.) Does Prof. X fund his/her students from grants or TA? Are his/her students happy with their choice? <- maybe don't ask the prof this one How many publications do X's students typically have? And a big one: if there's a prof you'd like to work with ASK if he/she will be accepting new students this cycle. Good luck!

They've already extended all of their offers and had all of their visits. Sorry!

Same here. I was not attempting to negotiate, but I was asked about my other offers during a post-acceptance interview. I said (truthfully) that I felt the program I was visiting was a better fit, but that I had a much larger financial offer elsewhere. I mentioned that the ~$8k difference was a factor even though I was trying very hard not to let money sway my decision. I received a written offer for a significant ($10k) additional fellowship the same day.

Thanks all!

I've been asked to give a talk (tomorrow! short notice!) to the junior chemistry majors about applying to graduate school. I thought I'd ask you all: what do you wish you'd known going into the process? Thanks!

Yes. My only research experience was my thesis research - I worked on the same project for three years (including summers). I also have a fair amount of tutoring experience and a year of teaching experience, so ymmv.

Seconded. I've found department admins/graduate admissions coordinators to be a great resource for these questions.

That depends on the school and the department. Some of the programs I applied to wanted my total GPA for all undergraduate courses, regardless of institution (yes, even that one night class at a community college that was completely unrelated to my major); others asked me to calculate a GPA for the last two years/60 credits of study; still others wanted my GPA for all courses in the major. Your best bet is to contact the program(s) to which you're considering applying.

Good to hear, thanks.

A friend of mine (domestic applicant) was accepted to UPenn chemistry in the second week of January.

Yup. My understanding is they're making ~40 offers, approximately 20 domestic/20 international.

California Institute of Technology (Caltech): March 1-3 or March 22-24 Cornell: March 2-4 or March 30-April 1 Colorado State: Feb 17-19, March 9-11 Georgia Tech: March 15-17, April 5-7 Montana State: March 1-4 MIT: March 30-April 1 New York University: Feb 16-18, Mar 8-10 Northwestern University: March 8-10, 15-17, 29-31 Ohio State University: March 2-3, 16-17 Princeton: Feb 24-27, March 2-4, March 16-18 Rice : Feb 23-26 or March 9-10 Scripps: Feb 23-25 or March 1-3 Stanford: March 1, 8, 15 or 22 (may combine with a Friday visit to Berkeley) SUNY Stony Brook: March 9, March 23 UC Berkeley: March 1-3, March 8-10, March 15-17 or March 22-24 UC Davis: February 16-18, March 11-12 (one is more condensed than the other) UCI: March 2, 9, 16 UC LA: January 27, March 2 or March 23 U Chicago: February 16-18 or March 8-10 University of Colorado at Boulder: March 9-10, 15-17 U Florida: February 17-19 or March 16-18 UIUC: Feb 17-18 or March 2-3 or March 23-24 or March 9-10 (Pchem) or March 30-31 (Pchem) UMich: February 2-5 UNC Chapel Hill: March 9-12 or March 30 - April 1 U Oregon: March 16-18 UPenn: March 16th-18 U Rochester: March 17 USC (Southern Cal): Feb 16-19 or March 1-4 or March 22-25 UT Southwestern (Interview): Feb 2-4 UVA: March 15th-16th University of Washington: March 9-10 Yale (General Chemistry): March 22-24

Congrats! Me too Will you be at the 2/24 visit weekend?

I don't think all Purdue invites can possibly be out - the international deadline was January 1, but the domestic deadline isn't until February 15th.

I think the fact that you took the GRE after the deadline may have prevented some adcoms from reviewing your file in the first batch (some graduate schools don't forward the file to the department until it's complete) so you may hear from the next round at those schools. Besides that, some schools are just slow. UC Boulder's deadline was December 15th and I still don't know that anyone's heard from them.

I'm seriously considering unsubscribing from the Express mailing list for this very reason. I'm glad I'm not the only one obsessing (and worrying about UT Austin...)

As far as "lack of options" - I didn't think I was a strong candidate, so I applied to 9 programs. My undergraduate GPA was strong but not stellar, and my GREs were solid (bizarrely, I did much better on the verbal than the quantitative). I worked all through school, both as an UTA & off campus, and have three years of research experience in a field completely unrelated to what I want to do in grad school. So far I'm 5/5 in terms of acceptances (including Purdue). I'm pretty sure if you write a strong personal statement and have good LORs you'll be fine. What area of chemistry are you looking to go into?

I don't know if it affects your chances, but I was accepted by three schools well before the deadlines posted on their websites (in one case almost a month before the deadline). I'm guessing it depends on the school and how closely your profile matches what they're looking for this year.