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Your stats are far from ideal (and I'm sure you know that already). How is your research experience? How many publications do you have? If you know a professor here that wants to take you in, then you might have a chance. Even in that case, your application might still be rejected by the grad school (your low GRE scores won't pass the cut-off of most schools - combined V+Q of 300 at least). So retaking GRE is a must, in your case. Most chemistry programs only admit students for Fall semester. Spring admissions are quite rare. Some schools give selected students early-bird fellowships to start research early before their first semester, but I wouldnt call it summer admissions.

From the webinar I attended a while ago, you should be notified in 6 months from the deadline. It makes sense since they require you to start your project within the awarded year. From my other post, you can see that they awarded 128 NSF fellows this year.

I personally know a business-software engineer who didnt major in Comp Sci. He liked coding so he built a portfolio on GitHub of various things he coded up and thats how he got interviewed with a few companies. My field values competent coders so I have started stocking up my codes on GitHub/Bitbucket as well. Just an idea!

How do you know that's what you want to do? Do you code? How strong is your math/comp sci background? To get a job like that, you need a strong knowledge base and that requires taking courses (online, community college classes, post-bacc etc.). A lot of programming you can learn by yourself. Many people in my field (theoretical chemistry) learn coding (by themselves) as part of learning quantum chemistry and developing tools for calculations, and end up getting serious coding jobs in Google, Intel etc. Some of them started knowing absolutely nothing about coding (like me) but, when there is a will, there is a way (and stackexchange)!

Just wait and hope for the best. What are you going to write to those professors? "Sorry, I decided to join your institution last minute and wrote shitty essays" ???

How about Dept of Materials Science and Engineering at Georgia Tech? They have quite a few polymer researchers.

This is incorrect! If you miss one of the rec letters, some programs will even send you an email reminder! And self-reported scores are sufficient for most adcoms. Queue, you should email them though to let them know your materials have been sent.

Your application is quite good (except for the low Verbal and writing GRE scores - red flags of English proficiency?). You might be able to find polymer researchers in Chemical Engineering departments as well. As a first year student, you should write your SOP very well, and explain why the new institution will be a better fit for you. I suggest contacting PIs before applying. I have heard that if you get a rec letter from your current grad school that attests your graduate performance, that would be helpful. Good luck!

Are you sure you cant get one from that PI? You worked for him/her for 2 years so it is pretty important that you have his/her letter. My undergrad advisor was in sabbatical in Europe and he wrote me all kinds of letters.

There are many possible reasons for expulsion, not all of them are related to academics performance. What the professors told you might just be a way to keep the matter confidential (since it is not your business to begin with). It is unfortunate, but life goes on and the best you can do is to respect your friend's privacy, and maybe to offer help with moving etc.

These intro courses (beside Orgo II) arent challenging so I think its fine to take 5... It gets harder when you get to the advanced courses though, if you put off now you might have a bad time later

Why do you want to pursue Chemistry grad school if you are failing Chemistry courses? Are you a bad test taker or you have some conditions that affect learning? Either way, you need to improve your way-below-average GPA through a MSc. Even if you are accepted to a PhD program, it is doubtful that you will be able to complete the graduate coursework.

I vote for the housing job!

Your questions are super vague and sound lazy (we read them as : "I dont know how to Google!"), thats why you got no reply. 1. Beside GPA, whats your research experience? research interests? why MSc not PhD? whats your career goal? Ultimately, it is YOU who decides if its a good fit or not. 2. How good your application is determines what kind of institutions you can get into. If you have done research, you would know the prominent researchers (and institutions) in the field. Read the Life Sciences + Applications threads for more info.

Interesting! Also it can cause confusion for publication search etc, so most professors I know do not change their names after marriage.

What topics in theoretical chemistry are you applying for? Some theo. profs have plenty of fundings, when others have very little (and wont take new students). It is something to think about when you apply to these programs. PM if you have specific q's.

Too long, awkward transitions, and no focus.

GRE: 150 (v) 162 (Q) 4 (AW) TOEFL: 99 (speaking 23) High school: ranked within top 0.05% students among 6, 00,000 in school leaving exam BSc in Chemistry:~75% (topper 77%, ranked 6th in class of 52 students, WES convention 4/4) from Top Indian University MSc in Chemistry: ~76% (WES 4/4, class topper in Inorganic chemistry) Work ex: 6 years as research executive at a Fortune 500 MNC's R & D lab in India Publications: 4 : ChemComm (IF: 6.718, 1st author), J Colloid and Interfacial Science (IF: 3.552, 1st and Communicating author), CrystEngComm (IF: 3.858, 2nd author), Crystal Growth and Design (IF: 4.558, 2nd author) Patents: 9 published and 2 filed Awards: 7 awards from my employer for research contribution Presentation: 2 posters at Unilever R & D convention Good LORs Applied to: USC, Duke, GaTech, U Maryland, U Mass Amherst, UNC chapel hill, UMich, Uwashington seattle, UT austin, CMU Please suggest! Arent you payel1986? It is not necessary (read: it is ANNOYING) to make 2 different accounts to post the exact same profile and ask the same questions.

What's worrisome about your profile is not only your Chemistry gpa is way too low, but also your verbal+writing portion of GRE is raising red flags (verbal %ile is 25%, which may be interpreted as low proficiency in English). How strong are your rec letters? Have you published? Does your undergrad research advisor have any connections with American profs? These can boost your apps, but unfortunately your chances in top 50 is low...

Learn how to Google. It's great!

You might be able to save up money if you pick a school in an area with cheaper cost of living. For a midwest bumfuck kind of place like my school, Chem students get paid roughly $1800 after tax and a one-bed one-bath rent is only $600. I know some peers who are supporting their families back home. Dont pick places like UCLA when the stipend-cost of living is low. Unfortunately, you cant count on external fellowships for intl students. They are so rare and competitive... Also, PhD students are not supposed to make banks and generally our stipends cant support more than ourselves :/

Imho, this is not the right attitude when it comes to applying to grants/fellowships. Following the rules is part of the professionalism expected of winners. If you can get away with 3%-off margin, good for you. If you are disqualified, let it be the lesson for next time. That is it. Have you ever seen professors prepping grant proposals? They care for every details like its their babies: proofreading a 1000 times, making the most beautiful figures etc. If you use a word processor thats not Word, be sure to copy it to Word and compare the 2 versions. It is not hard. I prepared my NSF GRFP application last year in LaTeX (made my own .cls file and everything), then double checked in Word to be sure everything looks right and consistent. This is a tip I learnt from a professor: Don't give them any excuse to reject you.

I was member of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK), then GK and Phi Kappa Phi (PKP). At my undergrad, there was no internal GK awards/scholarships, but I managed to get scholarships for both PTK and PKP. So I would say join GK if you are not invited to more prestigious societies (with more opportunities) and if money is not a problem. It adds a nice (although not so impressive) line on your CV so it doesnt hurt.

But if you cant follow the rules, you are not qualified, are you? I agree with GeoDUDE! completely. It is the applicant's sole responsibility to follow the (very simple, imho) guidelines. There are a lot of things one can do to maximize the use of 2 pages without "pushing the limit". This fellowship is so prestigious and $$$ that it is definitely worth your utmost care.

Yikes, that is definitely TMI...