Chemical Engineering PhD Fall 2020 Application Results

[omega_Fractals1337]

Hi all, I am starting this thread so that anyone who have applied or are going to apply this application season can share any good or bad news when offers are sent out!

I am not a traditional candidate so I am not posting my stats and accomplishments, or even schools applied. 

But feel free to share your credentials and choices of grad school!

[LHMQ]

On 11/28/2019 at 1:16 AM, omega_Fractals1337 said:

Hi all, I am starting this thread so that anyone who have applied or are going to apply this application season can share any good or bad news when offers are sent out!

I am not a traditional candidate so I am not posting my stats and accomplishments, or even schools applied. 

But feel free to share your credentials and choices of grad school!

Hi you might recognize me from the bioe thread. I’m also applying to some cheme programs so I’ll accompany you lol. Hopefully things will get more festive after people are finished with apps.

[clay_de_ron]

1 hour ago, LHMQ said:

Hi you might recognize me from the bioe thread. I’m also applying to some cheme programs so I’ll accompany you lol. Hopefully things will get more festive after people are finished with apps.

Yea I finished my applications early because one of my top choices had a deadline of Dec 1st. It should get festive towards the end of month when offers start sending out!

[shoyemiademola]

Hi guys, could someone please evaluate my profile. I'm from Nigeria btw

GPA: 4.82/5 (roughly a 3.87/4 on the US scale), from Covenant University, Nigeria (top ranked in Nigeria), 2nd in my class of around 70(class of 2018)

GRE: 160 Quant (73%)

          162 Verbal (91%)

            4.5 writing (81%)

I had two senior projects- one research, no publications.

LORs:

1 from my Research Supervisor

1 from my design project Supervisor

1 from a senior lecturer

I also have 18 months work experience. I'm applying to the following schools;

University of Michigan

Purdue university

University of Colorado boulder

University of Notre dame

Rensselaer polytechnic institute

University of Iowa

Stevens institute of technology

After going through some profiles here, I've been a little worried about my relative lack of research experience. I'm applying for the PhD program in ChemE

Edited December 3, 2019 by shoyemiademola

[AtLeastOneAdmission]

Hi there folks!

Anyone who applied to Umich Chem. eng, Ph.D. and got accepted?

Judging from the Results board, there are already 10 people, so I was wondering if anyone can share their stats and initials of the POI?

Thanks! I hope everyone hears back soon and happy holidays!

[LHMQ]

1 hour ago, AtLeastOneAdmission said:

Hi there folks!

Anyone who applied to Umich Chem. eng, Ph.D. and got accepted?

Judging from the Results board, there are already 10 people, so I was wondering if anyone can share their stats and initials of the POI?

Thanks! I hope everyone hears back soon and happy holidays!

I know one guy from my class who got in. From what I know he did research since sophomore year, got 1 paper and a couple of scholarships.

[ChE2020]

Does anyone know of admissions offers from MIT ChemE? From reading through these forums, it seems that the department typically contacts a few students around this time.

[omega_Fractals1337]

22 hours ago, ChE2020 said:

Does anyone know of admissions offers from MIT ChemE? From reading through these forums, it seems that the department typically contacts a few students around this time.

Yea seems like many departments, more than in the survey section, start to give some acceptances - usually by phone call - aroud this time of the year. 

So if anyone reading this have friends who have received acceptances, please share it!

[LHMQ]

UW Madison results are coming out ?

[shoyemiademola]

11 hours ago, LHMQ said:

UW Madison results are coming out ?

Purdue as well ?

[omega_Fractals1337]

Stanford results are out

[shoyemiademola]

Are they sending out decisions in batches?

[anoncheme]

On 12/18/2019 at 12:27 AM, ChE2020 said:

Does anyone know of admissions offers from MIT ChemE? From reading through these forums, it seems that the department typically contacts a few students around this time.

Yeah, a friend got a call yesterday offering admission. Said they'll send acceptance letters in the next couple weeks.

Edited December 20, 2019 by anoncheme

[ChE2020]

1 hour ago, anoncheme said:

Yeah, a friend got a call yesterday offering admission. Said they'll send acceptance letters in the next couple weeks.

Yes - I know of one person as well who got the call yesterday (perhaps the same person!). I guess the rest of us just sit tight for now. 

Edited December 20, 2019 by ChE2020

[ChemEBear]

Has anyone else hear back from Caltech ChE?

I'm wondering if

1. Anyone who had an online video interview heard back, or

2. Anyone got accepted without an interview? (I have a suspicion that Caltech was only interviewing edge cases, like me)

[wearenolongerlost]

Hi all,

 

do you know when the visit/recruitment weekend dates are for the following schools?

- MIT

- Johns Hopkins

- Princeton

- Minnesota

 

I'd appreciate the help! The dates from previous years would help as well.

[wearenolongerlost]

On 12/17/2019 at 9:08 PM, AtLeastOneAdmission said:

Hi there folks!

Anyone who applied to Umich Chem. eng, Ph.D. and got accepted?

Judging from the Results board, there are already 10 people, so I was wondering if anyone can share their stats and initials of the POI?

Thanks! I hope everyone hears back soon and happy holidays!

Hi! I applied and got in. I got a call about a week after. What is POI? 

[AtLeastOneAdmission]

1 hour ago, wearenolongerlost said:

Hi! I applied and got in. I got a call about a week after. What is POI? 

Hi! Thank you for the reply! POI: person of interest ( more like potential principal investigator). I've applied in late November, my POI's initials are  S.N. and I still didn't get any updates. Did you contact your POI before the application? 

 

[ChemEBear]

On 12/17/2019 at 6:08 PM, AtLeastOneAdmission said:

Hi there folks!

Anyone who applied to Umich Chem. eng, Ph.D. and got accepted?

Judging from the Results board, there are already 10 people, so I was wondering if anyone can share their stats and initials of the POI?

Thanks! I hope everyone hears back soon and happy holidays!

I applied a day before the deadline and heard back on 12/10. POI's I wrote about on my SOP are FW, HM, and PT. I didn't contact them before the application.

As for my stats, I have 3.9/4.0 GPA, high GRE (>90% on Q and writing). 0 pubs. I've worked for 1.5 years in a full time RA position in industry that's closely related to the field of research I am interested in. I'm convinced that this last part probably helped me a lot because the company I worked for is well-known in the space.

I hope you have happy holidays too!

[anoncheme]

On 12/21/2019 at 2:26 PM, ChemEBear said:

Has anyone else hear back from Caltech ChE?

I'm wondering if

1. Anyone who had an online video interview heard back, or

2. Anyone got accepted without an interview? (I have a suspicion that Caltech was only interviewing edge cases, like me)

I had an online video interview but have not heard back yet. Based on the email I got originally, it sounded like they were interviewing all top candidates for the program.

Edited December 26, 2019 by anoncheme

[anoncheme]

On 12/21/2019 at 10:05 PM, wearenolongerlost said:

Hi all,

 

do you know when the visit/recruitment weekend dates are for the following schools?

- MIT

- Johns Hopkins

- Princeton

- Minnesota

 

I'd appreciate the help! The dates from previous years would help as well.

MIT is holding chemE recruitment weekends on March 6-7 and March 20-21. You can always email the other schools to ask. The schools I applied to were pretty open about their dates before they sent out decisions.

[redox9797]

15 hours ago, anoncheme said:

MIT is holding chemE recruitment weekends on March 6-7 and March 20-21. You can always email the other schools to ask. The schools I applied to were pretty open about their dates before they sent out decisions.

Were you admitted as well?

Edited December 26, 2019 by redox9797

[ChemEBear]

Pretty bored during this holiday season so I'll upload my stats as well! DM me if you want to talk or have any specific questions.

Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM):  Top 5 engineering (USA)

Major(s): Chemical Engineering, Class of 2018
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 3.90/4.00
Overall GPA: (also) 3.90/4.00
Demographics/Background: Male Asian
GRE Scores: Low verbal (73%), high math & writing (>90%)

LOR:

• 1 strong letter from a chemE professor (2 semesters of part-time research)
• 1 medium-strong letter from a bioE professor (2 semesters of part-time research)
• 1 super strong letter from Ph.D. scientist at my company who worked closely with me

Research Experience: 

• 2 semesters part-time in chemE lab, unrelated to desired field of research
• 2 semesters part-time in bioE lab, closely related to my desired field of research
• 1.5 years full-time as research assistant in industry, closely related to my desired field of research

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

• 0 publications (!)
• 2 poster presentations on campus
• 1 poster presentation at international conference

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

• Received >$100,000 in merit-based scholarships throughout undergrad
  • Includes scholarships from undergrad institution + scholarships & awards from companies (Chevron, Genentech, etc) and institutions like AIChE
• Received an award at graduation given to one senior for volunteerism and campus involvement
• Dean's List numerous times
• Honor Societies (TBP, BioEHS, etc)

Fellowships/Funding:

• Applied to NSF GRFP (pending)
• Applied to P. D. Soros (pending)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

• Been working 1.5 years thus far at a company well-known in academia in my desired field of research. I have been told by co-workers / professors / graduate students that the company name and my experience there will boost my chances for Ph.D. programs.
• Had two summer R&D intern positions in industries unrelated to my desired field of research. I didn't write about them in my SOPs; they are only detailed in my CV.
• Extensive undergrad club activities and leadership positions in teaching, mentorship, volunteer/outreach, campus sustainability projects

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

• Nope!

Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.):

• Like mentioned above, my full-time research experience at my company is likely to boost my chances (and based on where I've heard back so far, I am convinced myself.)

Research Interests:

• Synthetic biology, protein engineering, protein therapeutics

Institutions/Programs: 10 chemE Ph.D. programs, 2 bioE Ph.D. programs

ChemE Ph.D. programs:

• MIT
• Stanford
• Caltech
• UT Austin
• Princeton
• UMinnesota
• UWisconsin
• UMichigan
• Northwestern
• GeorgiaTech

I'll be updating my results below in my signature, so check below if you're reading this at a later date and you're curious what my results were. If you're on mobile, signatures may be omitted, so request "Desktop View" to see my signature.

Comments:

• My DM's are open

Edited December 31, 2019 by ChemEBear

[LHMQ]

3 hours ago, ChemEBear said:

Pretty bored during this holiday season so I'll upload my stats as well! DM me if you want to talk or have any specific questions.

Undergrad Institution (approx. rank/reputation in STEM):  Top 5 engineering (USA)

Major(s): Chemical Engineering, Class of 2018
Minor(s): None
GPA in Major: 3.90/4.00
Overall GPA: (also) 3.90/4.00
Demographics/Background: Male Asian
GRE Scores: Low verbal (73%), high math & writing (>90%)

LOR:

• 1 strong letter from a chemE professor (2 semesters of part-time research)
• 1 medium-strong letter from a bioE professor (2 semesters of part-time research)
• 1 super strong letter from Ph.D. scientist at my company who worked closely with me

Research Experience: 

• 2 semesters part-time in chemE lab, unrelated to desired field of research
• 2 semesters part-time in bioE lab, closely related to my desired field of research
• 1.5 years full-time as research assistant in industry, closely related to my desired field of research

Publications/Abstracts/Presentations:

• 0 publications (!)
• 2 poster presentations on campus
• 1 poster presentation at international conference

Awards/Honors/Recognitions: 

• Received >$100,000 in merit-based scholarships throughout undergrad
  • Includes scholarships from undergrad institution + scholarships & awards from companies (Chevron, Genentech, etc) and institutions like AIChE
• Received an award at graduation given to one senior for volunteerism and campus involvement
• Dean's List numerous times
• Honor Societies (TBP, BioEHS, etc)

Fellowships/Funding:

• Applied to NSF GRFP (pending)
• Applied to P. D. Soros (pending)

Pertinent Activities or Jobs: 

• Been working 1.5 years thus far at a company well-known in academia in my desired field of research. I have been told by co-workers / professors / graduate students that the company name and my experience there will boost my chances for Ph.D. programs.
• Had two summer R&D intern positions in industries unrelated to my desired field of research. I didn't write about them in my SOPs; they are only detailed in my CV.
• Extensive undergrad club activities and leadership positions in teaching, mentorship, volunteer/outreach, campus sustainability projects

Other Miscellaneous Accomplishments:

• Nope!

Anything else in your application that might matter (faculty connections, etc.):

• Like mentioned above, my full-time research experience at my company is likely to boost my chances (and based on where I've heard back so far, I am convinced myself.)

Research Interests:

• Synthetic biology, protein engineering, protein therapeutics

Institutions/Programs: 10 chemE Ph.D. programs, 2 bioE Ph.D. programs

ChemE Ph.D. programs:

• MIT
• Stanford
• Caltech
• UT Austin
• Princeton
• UMinnesota
• UWisconsin
• UMichigan
• Northwestern
• GeorgiaTech

I'll be updating my results below in my signature, so check below if you're reading this at a later date and you're curious what my results were. If you're on mobile, signatures may be omitted, so request "Desktop View" to see my signature.

Comments:

• My DM's are open

Hey, glad to see another person interested in protein engineering. We seem rare lol. Hopefully we will run into each other during visits.

[shoyemiademola]

Unrelated but what research field do you guys think is most popular among ChemE departments?